67 research outputs found
Presentation and Outcomes After Medical and Surgical Treatment Versus Medical Treatment Alone of Spontaneous Infectious Spondylodiscitis: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.
Study Design: Systematic literature review.
Objectives: The aims of this study were to (1) describe the clinical features, disabilities, and incidence of neurologic deficits of pyogenic spondylodiscitis prior to treatment and (2) compare the functional outcomes between patients who underwent medical treatment alone or in combination with surgery for pyogenic spondylodiscitis.
Methods: A systematic literature review was performed using PubMed according to PRISMA guidelines. No year restriction was put in place. Statistical analysis of pooled data, when documented in the original report (ie, number of patients with desired variable and number of patients evaluated), was conducted to determine the most common presenting symptoms, incidence of pre- and postoperative neurologic deficits, associated comorbidities, infectious pathogens, approach for surgery when performed, and duration of hospitalization. Outcomes data, including return to work status, resolution of back pain, and functional recovery were also pooled among all studies and surgery-specific studies alone. Meta-analysis of studies with subgroup analysis of pain-free outcome in surgical and medical patients was performed.
Results: Fifty of 1286 studies were included, comprising 4173 patients undergoing either medical treatment alone or in combination with surgery. Back pain was the most common presenting symptom, reported in 91% of patients. Neurologic deficit was noted in 31% of patients.
Conclusion: Medical management remains first-line treatment of infectious pyogenic spondylodiscitis. Surgery may be indicated for progressive pain, persistent infection on imaging, deformity or neurologic deficits. If surgery is required, reported literature shows potential for significant pain reduction, improved neurologic function and a high number of patients returning to a normal functional/work status
Thoracic Epidural Abscesses: A Systematic Review.
Study Design: Systematic review.
Objectives: Past research has demonstrated increased speed and severity of progression for spinal epidural abscesses (SEAs) of the thoracic level, specifically, when compared with SEAs of other spinal cord levels. Untreated, this infection can result in permanent neurological sequelae with eventual progression to death if inadequately managed. Despite the seriousness of this disease, no articles have focused on the presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of SEAs of the thoracic level. For this reason, specific focus on SEAs of the thoracic level occurred when researchers designed and implemented the following systematic review.
Methods: A query of Ovid-Medline and EMBASE, Cochrane Central, and additional review sources was conducted. Search criteria focused on articles specific to thoracic epidural abscesses.
Results: Twenty-five articles met inclusion criteria. The most commonly reported symptoms present on admission included back pain, paraparesis/paraplegia, fever, and loss of bowel/bladder control. Significant risk factors included diabetes, intravenous drug use, and advanced age (
Conclusions: For the first time researchers have focused specifically on SEAs of the thoracic level, as opposed to previously published general analysis of SEAs as a whole. Based on the results, investigators recommend early magnetic resonance imaging of the spine, laboratory workup (sedimentation rate/C-reactive protein, complete blood count), abscess culture followed by empiric antibiotics, and immediate surgical decompression when neurological deficits are present
Search for light-to-heavy quark flavor changing neutral currents in and scattering at the Tevatron
We report on a search for flavor-changing neutral-currents (FCNC) in the
production of heavy quarks in deep inelastic and scattering by the NuTeV experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. This
measurement, made possible by the high-purity NuTeV sign-selected beams, probes
for FCNC in heavy flavors at the quark level and is uniquely sensitive to
neutrino couplings of potential FCNC mediators. All searches are consistent
with zero, and limits on the effective mixing strengths , , and are obtained
Measurement of the Boson Mass
A measurement of the mass of the boson is presented based on a sample of
5982 decays observed in collisions at
= 1.8~TeV with the D\O\ detector during the 1992--1993 run. From a
fit to the transverse mass spectrum, combined with measurements of the
boson mass, the boson mass is measured to be .Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, style Revtex, including 3 postscript figures
(submitted to PRL
The Azimuthal Decorrelation of Jets Widely Separated in Rapidity
This study reports the first measurement of the azimuthal decorrelation
between jets with pseudorapidity separation up to five units. The data were
accumulated using the D{\O}detector during the 1992--1993 collider run of the
Fermilab Tevatron at 1.8 TeV. These results are compared to
next--to--leading order (NLO) QCD predictions and to two leading--log
approximations (LLA) where the leading--log terms are resummed to all orders in
. The final state jets as predicted by NLO QCD
show less azimuthal decorrelation than the data. The parton showering LLA Monte
Carlo {\small HERWIG} describes the data well; an analytical LLA prediction
based on BFKL resummation shows more decorrelation than the data.Comment: 6 pages with 4 figures, all uuencoded and gzippe
Search for Production via Trilepton Final States in collisions at TeV
We have searched for associated production of the lightest chargino,
, and next-to-lightest neutralino, , of the
Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in collisions at
\mbox{ = 1.8 TeV} using the \D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
collider. Data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 12.5 \ipb
were examined for events containing three isolated leptons. No evidence for
pair production was found. Limits on
BrBr are
presented.Comment: 17 pages (13 + 1 page table + 3 pages figures). 3 PostScript figures
will follow in a UUEncoded, gzip'd, tar file. Text in LaTex format. Submitted
to Physical Review Letters. Replace comments - Had to resumbmit version with
EPSF directive
Second Generation Leptoquark Search in p\bar{p} Collisions at = 1.8 TeV
We report on a search for second generation leptoquarks with the D\O\
detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider at = 1.8 TeV.
This search is based on 12.7 pb of data. Second generation leptoquarks
are assumed to be produced in pairs and to decay into a muon and quark with
branching ratio or to neutrino and quark with branching ratio
. We obtain cross section times branching ratio limits as a function
of leptoquark mass and set a lower limit on the leptoquark mass of 111
GeV/c for and 89 GeV/c for at the 95%\
confidence level.Comment: 18 pages, FERMILAB-PUB-95/185-
Jet Production via Strongly-Interacting Color-Singlet Exchange in Collisions
A study of the particle multiplicity between jets with large rapidity
separation has been performed using the D{\O}detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider operating at TeV. A significant excess of
low-multiplicity events is observed above the expectation for color-exchange
processes. The measured fractional excess is , which is consistent with a strongly-interacting
color-singlet (colorless) exchange process and cannot be explained by
electroweak exchange alone. A lower limit of 0.80% (95% C.L.) is obtained on
the fraction of dijet events with color-singlet exchange, independent of the
rapidity gap survival probability.Comment: 15 pages (REVTeX), 3 PS figs (uuencoded/tar compressed, epsf.sty)
Complete postscript available at http://d0sgi0.fnal.gov/d0pubs/journals.html
Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Endothelial SARS-CoV-2 infection is not the underlying cause of COVID-19-associated vascular pathology in mice
Endothelial damage and vascular pathology have been recognized as major features of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. Two main theories regarding how severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) damages endothelial cells and causes vascular pathology have been proposed: direct viral infection of endothelial cells or indirect damage mediated by circulating inflammatory molecules and immune mechanisms. However, these proposed mechanisms remain largely untested in vivo. In the present study, we utilized a set of new mouse genetic tools developed in our lab to test both the necessity and sufficiency of endothelial human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) in COVID-19 pathogenesis. Our results demonstrate that endothelial ACE2 and direct infection of vascular endothelial cells do not contribute significantly to the diverse vascular pathology associated with COVID-19
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