La laminoartrectomía en el tratamiento de la estenosis de canal lumbar

Los autores presentan una revisión de 42 pacientes, 33 varones y 9 mujeres, con estenosis del canal lumbar, tratados quirúrgicamente y con un seguimiento medio de 3 años y 8 meses. El tratamiento quirúrgico empleado ha sido la laminoartrectomía a uno o varios niveles, combinada o no con artrodesis. Los mejores resultados se obtuvieron en los pacientes tratados con laminoartrectomía, artrodesis e instrumentación vertebral.The authors present a review of 42 patients, 33 male and 9 female, with lumbar spinal canal stenosis, treated surgically and with a mean follow-up of 3 years-8 months. The surgical treatment was wide laminoarthrectomy involving one o more levels, combined in some cases with spinal fusion. The best results were obtained in patients treated with laminoarthrectomy, arthrodesis and vertebral instrumentation

The TREX1 Dinosaur Bites the Brain through the LINE

In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Thomas et al. (2017) define the nature of accumulated ssDNA present in the neuron and astrocyte cytoplasm of TREX1 mutated stem cell-derived organoids. Accumulated ssDNAs are derived from LINE-1 endogenous retroelements, providing new clues as to the development of Aicardi-Goutières syndrome in the neural system

Probing H2 autoionizing states with femto and attosecond laser pulses.

ABSTRACT: We show the relevance that molecular autoionizing states display in some recent experiments related to the symmetry-breaking in molecular-frame photoelectron angular distributions in H2 when exposed to intense xuv femtosecond laser pulses, and others related to the electron (proton) localization when subject to attosecond pump-probe laser schemes. Our theoretical method solves the time-dependent Schr¨odinger equation with an spectral method that expands the wave function in terms of H2 correlated stationary vibronic states including all electronic and vibrational degrees of motion. Time-resolved asymmetric electron angular distributions are obtained at specific proton kinetic energies due to the delayed autoionization from H2 doubly excited states, which induces interferences between gerade (1s(sigma)g) and ungerade (2p(sigma)u) ionization channels. We also study photoionization of H2 exposed to a xuv attosecond pump pulse plus a time-delayed IR femtosecond probe pulse. Fast alternating asymmetries in the proton ejection (electron localization) are obtained as a function of the time delay between the pump and the probe pulses. Finally, we deal with the process of (xuv) two-photon double ionization of H2 under the assumption of having both sequential and non-sequential absorption processes

The imprint of global climate cycles in the Fuentillejo maar-lake record during the last 50 ka cal BP (central Spain)

We have analysed the geochemical (element analysis), mineralogical and sedimentary facies to characterize the sedimentary record in Fuentillejo maar-lake in the central Spanish volcanic field of Campo de Calatrava and thus be able to reconstruct the cyclicity of the sedimentary and paleoclimatic processes involved. The upper 20 m of core FUENT-1 show variations in clastic input and water chemistry in the lake throughout the last 50 ka cal BP. Being a closed system, the water level in this maar-lake depends primarily on the balance between precipitation and evaporatio

Overcoming chemotherapy resistance in low-grade gliomas: A computational approach.

Low-grade gliomas are primary brain tumors that arise from glial cells and are usually treated with temozolomide (TMZ) as a chemotherapeutic option. They are often incurable, but patients have a prolonged survival. One of the shortcomings of the treatment is that patients eventually develop drug resistance. Recent findings show that persisters, cells that enter a dormancy state to resist treatment, play an important role in the development of resistance to TMZ. In this study we constructed a mathematical model of low-grade glioma response to TMZ incorporating a persister population. The model was able to describe the volumetric longitudinal dynamics, observed in routine FLAIR 3D sequences, of low-grade glioma patients acquiring TMZ resistance. We used the model to explore different TMZ administration protocols, first on virtual clones of real patients and afterwards on virtual patients preserving the relationships between parameters of real patients. In silico clinical trials showed that resistance development was deferred by protocols in which individual doses are administered after rest periods, rather than the 28-days cycle standard protocol. This led to median survival gains in virtual patients of more than 15 months when using resting periods between two and three weeks and agreed with recent experimental observations in animal models. Additionally, we tested adaptive variations of these new protocols, what showed a potential reduction in toxicity, but no survival gain. Our computational results highlight the need of further clinical trials that could obtain better results from treatment with TMZ in low grade gliomas

Escoliosis congénitas causadas por hemivertebras

Presentamos un estudio retrospectivo de 26 pacientes diagnosticados de escoliosis congénitas causadas por hemivertebras, liemos analizado la evolución de las curvas según el tipo de hemivértebra, su localización y el tratamiento recibido. Se han obtenido los peores resultados en las niñas, cuando el diagnóstico se realizó después de los 10 años de edad, en las curvas localizadas en la región toracolumbar, en las hemivértebras múltiples y, dentro de ellas, en las unilaterales segmentadas no adyacentes y en los pacientes tratados ortopédicamente.A retrospective study of 26 patients with congenital scoliosis due to hemivertebra was conducted. Curve progression was analysed regarding the type of hemivertebra, its localization, and the applied treatment. The worst results were found in girls, in cases who were diagnosed with more than to years of age, in thoraco-lumbar curves, in multiple hemivertebra, especially in non-adjacent segmented unilateral hemivertebra and, finally, in patients treated with orthopaedic methods

Association of Accelerated Dynamics of Telomere Sequence Loss in Peripheral Blood Leukocytes With Incident Knee Osteoarthritis in Osteoarthritis Initiative Cohort

[Abstract] Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic degenerative joint disease, being the main cause of laboral inability. Decreased telomere size in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) has been correlated with age-related pathologies, like knee OA. In a dynamic approach, telomere-qPCR was performed to evaluate the relative percentage of PBL telomere loss after a 6-year follow-up, in 281 subjects from the prospective osteoarthritis initiative (OAI) cohort. A radiological Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade ≥ 2 was indicative of knee OA. Individuals with knee OA at recruitment (n = 144) showed a higher PBL telomere loss after 6 years than those without knee OA at baseline (n = 137; p = 0.018). Moreover, individuals that developed knee OA during the follow-up (n = 39) exhibited a higher telomere loss compared to those that remained without OA (n = 98; p < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis showed that PBLs telomere loss was not significantly associated with knee OA at recruitment, but behaves as an independent risk factor associated with incidence after follow-up (OR: 1.043; p = 0.041), together with maximum KL grade (OR: 3.627; p = 0.011), body mass index-BMI (OR: 1.252; p < 0.001) and WOMAC-index (OR: 1.247; p = 0.021), at recruitment. The telomere decay in PBLs is faster in individuals with incident knee OA, possibly reflecting a systemic-global accelerated aging that enhances the cartilage degeneration.The work was supported by grants PI17/01987 and PI16/02124 from Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain, a part of the National Plan for Scientific Program, Development and Technological Innovation, 2013–2016, and the ISCIII-General Subdirection of Assessment and Promotion of Research-European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) ‘A way of making Europe’, and grant IN607A 2021/07 from Xunta de Galicia.Xunta de Galicia; IN607A 2021/0

Biology (growth and reproduction) of the Mediterranean deep-water rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris (Lucas, 1846), Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Alicante Gulf (s.e. Spain).

The deep-water rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris) is a demersal species and an important resource for the trawl fishery in the Alicante Gulf (S.E. Spain). This paper describes, for first time in this area, certain biometric relationships, as well as growth parameters and reproductive patterns of the species. The results showed a sexual size dimorphism, with a negative allometry of relative growth and high rates of absolute growth, both particularly in males. However, females dominated in the catch proportion. The spawning period occurred throughout the year, but especially in June-July and in October-November and the maturation stage for females takes place within the second year of life