Long-term results after Boston brace treatment in late-onset juvenile and adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is recommended that research in patients with idiopathic scoliosis should focus on short- and long-term patient-centred outcome. The aim of the present study was to evaluate outcome in patients with late-onset juvenile or adolescent idiopathic scoliosis 16 years or more after Boston brace treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>272 (78%) of 360 patients, 251 (92%) women, responded to follow-up examination at a mean of 24.7 (range 16 - 32) years after Boston brace treatment. Fifty-eight (21%) patients had late-onset juvenile and 214 had adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. All patients had clinical and radiological examination and answered a standardised questionnaire including work status, demographics, General Function Score (GFS) (100 - worst possible) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) (100 - worst possible), EuroQol (EQ-5D) (1 - best possible), EQ-VAS (100 - best possible), and Scoliosis Research Society - 22 (SRS - 22) (5 - best possible).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean age at follow-up was 40.4 (31-48) years. The prebrace major curve was in average 33.2 (20 - 57)°. At weaning and at the last follow-up the corresponding values were 28.3 (1 - 58)° and 32.5 (7 - 80)°, respectively. Curve development was similar in patients with late-onset juvenile and adolescent start. The prebrace curve increased > 5° in 31% and decreased > 5° in 26%. Twenty-five patients had surgery. Those who did not attend follow-up (n = 88) had a lower mean curve at weaning: 25.4 (6-53)°. Work status was 76% full-time and 10% part-time. Eighty-seven percent had delivered a baby, 50% had pain in pregnancy. The mean (SD) GFS was 7.4 (10.8), ODI 9.3 (11.0), EQ-5D 0.82 (0.2), EQ-VAS 77.6 (17.8), SRS-22: pain 4.1 (0.8), mental health 4.1 (0.6), self-image 3.7 (0.7), function 4.0 (0.6), satisfaction with treatment 3.7 (1.0). Surgical patients had significantly reduced scores for SRS-physical function and self-image, and patients with curves ≥ 45° had reduced self-image.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Long-term results were satisfactory in most braced patients and similar in late-onset juvenile and idiopathic adolescent scoliosis.</p

Symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measure and probability representation of quantum mechanics

Symmetric informationally complete positive operator valued measures (SIC-POVMs) are studied within the framework of the probability representation of quantum mechanics. A SIC-POVM is shown to be a special case of the probability representation. The problem of SIC-POVM existence is formulated in terms of symbols of operators associated with a star-product quantization scheme. We show that SIC-POVMs (if they do exist) must obey general rules of the star product, and, starting from this fact, we derive new relations on SIC-projectors. The case of qubits is considered in detail, in particular, the relation between the SIC probability representation and other probability representations is established, the connection with mutually unbiased bases is discussed, and comments to the Lie algebraic structure of SIC-POVMs are presented.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure, LaTeX, partially presented at the Workshop "Nonlinearity and Coherence in Classical and Quantum Systems" held at the University "Federico II" in Naples, Italy on December 4, 2009 in honor of Prof. Margarita A. Man'ko in connection with her 70th birthday, minor misprints are corrected in the second versio

High Resolution Intravital Imaging of Subcellular Structures of Mouse Abdominal Organs Using a Microstage Device

Intravital imaging of brain and bone marrow cells in the skull with subcellular resolution has revolutionized neurobiology, immunology and hematology. However, the application of this powerful technology in studies of abdominal organs has long been impeded by organ motion caused by breathing and heartbeat. Here we describe for the first time a simple device designated ‘microstage’ that effectively reduces organ motions without causing tissue lesions. Combining this microstage device with an upright intravital laser scanning microscope equipped with a unique stick-type objective lens, the system enables subcellular-level imaging of abdominal organs in live mice. We demonstrate that this technique allows for the quantitative analysis of subcellular structures and gene expressions in cells, the tracking of intracellular processes in real-time as well as three-dimensional image construction in the pancreas and liver of the live mouse. As the aforementioned analyses based on subcellular imaging could be extended to other intraperitoneal organs, the technique should offer great potential for investigation of physiological and disease-specific events of abdominal organs. The microstage approach adds an exciting new technique to the in vivo imaging toolbox

The catatonic dilemma expanded

Catatonia is a common syndrome that was first described in the literature by Karl Kahlbaum in 1874. The literature is still developing and remains unclear on many issues, especially classification, diagnosis, and pathophysiology. Clinicians caring for psychiatric patients with catatonic syndromes continue to face many dilemmas in diagnosis and treatment. We discuss many of the common problems encountered in the care of a catatonic patient, and discuss each problem with a review of the literature. Focus is on practical aspects of classification, epidemiology, differential diagnosis, treatment, medical comorbidity, cognition, emotion, prognosis, and areas for future research in catatonic syndromes

Coexpression Network Analysis in Abdominal and Gluteal Adipose Tissue Reveals Regulatory Genetic Loci for Metabolic Syndrome and Related Phenotypes

Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is highly prevalent and has considerable public health impact, but its underlying genetic factors remain elusive. To identify gene networks involved in MetS, we conducted whole-genome expression and genotype profiling on abdominal (ABD) and gluteal (GLU) adipose tissue, and whole blood (WB), from 29 MetS cases and 44 controls. Co-expression network analysis for each tissue independently identified nine, six, and zero MetS–associated modules of coexpressed genes in ABD, GLU, and WB, respectively. Of 8,992 probesets expressed in ABD or GLU, 685 (7.6%) were expressed in ABD and 51 (0.6%) in GLU only. Differential eigengene network analysis of 8,256 shared probesets detected 22 shared modules with high preservation across adipose depots (DABD-GLU = 0.89), seven of which were associated with MetS (FDR P<0.01). The strongest associated module, significantly enriched for immune response–related processes, contained 94/620 (15%) genes with inter-depot differences. In an independent cohort of 145/141 twins with ABD and WB longitudinal expression data, median variability in ABD due to familiality was greater for MetS–associated versus un-associated modules (ABD: 0.48 versus 0.18, P = 0.08; GLU: 0.54 versus 0.20, P = 7.8×10−4). Cis-eQTL analysis of probesets associated with MetS (FDR P<0.01) and/or inter-depot differences (FDR P<0.01) provided evidence for 32 eQTLs. Corresponding eSNPs were tested for association with MetS–related phenotypes in two GWAS of >100,000 individuals; rs10282458, affecting expression of RARRES2 (encoding chemerin), was associated with body mass index (BMI) (P = 6.0×10−4); and rs2395185, affecting inter-depot differences of HLA-DRB1 expression, was associated with high-density lipoprotein (P = 8.7×10−4) and BMI–adjusted waist-to-hip ratio (P = 2.4×10−4). Since many genes and their interactions influence complex traits such as MetS, integrated analysis of genotypes and coexpression networks across multiple tissues relevant to clinical traits is an efficient strategy to identify novel associations

Genes Involved in Systemic and Arterial Bed Dependent Atherosclerosis - Tampere Vascular Study

BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is a complex disease with hundreds of genes influencing its progression. In addition, the phenotype of the disease varies significantly depending on the arterial bed. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We characterized the genes generally involved in human advanced atherosclerotic (AHA type V-VI) plaques in carotid and femoral arteries as well as aortas from 24 subjects of Tampere Vascular study and compared the results to non-atherosclerotic internal thoracic arteries (n=6) using genome-wide expression array and QRT-PCR. In addition we determined genes that were typical for each arterial plaque studied. To gain a comprehensive insight into the pathologic processes in the plaques we also analyzed pathways and gene sets dysregulated in this disease using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). According to the selection criteria used (>3.0 fold change and p-value <0.05), 235 genes were up-regulated and 68 genes down-regulated in the carotid plaques, 242 genes up-regulated and 116 down-regulated in the femoral plaques and 256 genes up-regulated and 49 genes down-regulated in the aortic plaques. Nine genes were found to be specifically induced predominantly in aortic plaques, e.g., lactoferrin, and three genes in femoral plaques, e.g., chondroadherin, whereas no gene was found to be specific for carotid plaques. In pathway analysis, a total of 28 pathways or gene sets were found to be significantly dysregulated in atherosclerotic plaques (false discovery rate [FDR] <0.25). CONCLUSIONS: This study describes comprehensively the gene expression changes that generally prevail in human atherosclerotic plaques. In addition, site specific genes induced only in femoral or aortic plaques were found, reflecting that atherosclerotic process has unique features in different vascular beds