Comparison of post surgical results in medial and lateral lumbar spine herniated discs: Own case series experience

Abstract Lumbar disc herniation is a frequent condition. It causes radicular pain with irradiation along a lower limb or localized to the back. Disc herniation can be lateral or medial, with different clinical features. Medial disc herniation is more frequent, characterized by immediate good outcome after surgical treatment. Lateral disc herniation shows a greater delay in improvement on pain after surgical treatment, especially in the elderly. Some factors affect the surgical outcome, such as old age, alterations of the vertebral body, ligaments, intervertebral level. Our study is in line with these data, highlighting the better outcome, immediately after the surgical treatment in patients with medial disc herniation, while results has not been immediate in patients with lateral disc herniation, Finally, there was disappearance of the pain for both groups, as demonstrated in the long-term follow-up, after the surgical treatment

DOWN AND DIRTY LOMBROSO’S BORN TO CRIME, THE MORPHOANTHROPOLOGY AND THE IGNORED HUMAN NEUROPHYSIOLOGY: A CRITICAL REVIEW ON A HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Lombroso\u27s theories, in 1800s, gave a strong shock in the international scientific community , regarding the correlation between the human morphology and its tendency to crime. They were followed, especially out of the Europe, and still are being discussed. But, in that century, they were enriched researches on human neurophysiology, which then would be further down to our time and that they denied sharply the Lombroso concepts. In short, the ignored neurophysiology, to the detriment of hypothesis which theorized the tendency to crime as an expression of the physical features of the individual, the whole body, from the face, limbs, ears, the shape of the skull. In this review, are made some critical remarks about Lombroso concepts, on \u27atavism, the people considered inferior on the basis of their physical appearance, in other words what was called morphoanthropology. At the same time, this work emphasizes instead the \u27importance of neurophysiological aspects of\u27 individual tending to crime, that are the basis of abnormal acts against the society \u27and that are related to the dysfunction of certain brain areas, such as the frontal cortex and limbic cortex, under the influence of genotype and environmental factors

Focus on the Endogenous Cannabinoid System in Migraine

Migraine prophylaxis represents a better choice than symptomatic drugs, both for safety and for effectiveness. Today, drugs such as calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, and topiramate are still used to treat migraine with and without aura, often with satisfactory results but in some cases with adverse effects, thus limiting their use. A new class of drugs in migraine prophylaxis are endocannabinoids, substances which modulate the mechanisms of neuroinflammation that cause migraine pain. Anandamide and palmitoylethanolamide have proven useful in migraine prophylaxis, suggesting their influence in neuroinflammatory processes and opening the way for new therapeutic perspectives

New-onset hemodialysis-related headache presenting as migraine aura

Hemodialysis headache (HDH) is an infrequent new-onset symptom, occurring mainly in old uremic patients. Type of pain is nonspecific, occurs during hemodialysis treatment, assuming features similar to tension-type headache and representing a problem, also as regards the therapy to be taken. International Headache Society (IHS) has placed this form of headache among the headaches disorders of homeostasis. We found a case of new-onset HDH in old uremic man, presenting with migraine aura features. A similar case has not been reported in literature, placing us some questions: why and how does this happen? What are the mechanisms involved? Role of trigeminal-vascular system and cortical spreading depression as regards the aura could be considered, through the activation of neuroinflammatory events, lastly causing migraine aura. Moreover, the administration of flunarizine strongly improved migraine symptoms in our patient, as happens in migraine syndromes. Definitely, this case leads us to think that some mechanisms involved in headaches will need to be further clarified

Reconstruction of comminuted frontal bone fracture with titanium plates and acrylic resin: Report of two cases

Abstract Fractures of the frontal bone are quite common in the context of head and neck injuries representing 5–15% of facial fractures. In this work we report two cases of comminuted fractures of frontal bone following a car crash submitted to surgical reconstruction of fractures by osteosynthesis and application of an acrylic resin. The patients, after the stabilization of the clinical conditions, were treated by our Maxillofacial Surgery Unit of University Magna Grecia in Catanzaro in collaboration with Neurosurgery Unit in the same University. The use of osteosynthesis associated with the application of an acrylic resin in a single time represents the best surgical approach for the treatment of fractures of the frontal bone allowing to obtain a better definition of anatomical structures and also a good aesthetic result. The advantages of this double approach consist of reduced surgical times, hospitalization stay and costs, and a good aesthetic impact with positive psychological implications on the patient

Deep Brain Stimulation in Treatment-Refractory Addiction

Surgical treatment for addiction has been proposed after the successful efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of neurological movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). In the field of psychiatric diseases, DBS has been used firstly for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and treatment-resistant depression. The role in addiction has been proposed only recently. The target areas for DBS in treatment-refractory addiction are nucleus accumbens (NAcc), lateral hypothalamus (LH), amigdala, lateral habenula (LHb), dorsal striatum, prefrontal cortex (PFC) and subthalamic nucleus (STN). A well-documented rationale for the choice of the target is required in order to investigate the effectiveness, safety and feasibility. NAcc appears to be the most effective and safe target for DBS followed by STN; PFC is another promising target but needs further exploration to establish its suitability for clinical purposes. DBS is not free of risks, so every patient has to be carefully evaluated and precise ethical standards must be defined in the form of inclusion and exclusion criteria

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements