Spinal Metaplastic Meningioma with Osseous Differentiation in the Ventral Thoracic Spinal Canal

Ossified meningioma is classified histologically as a phenotype of metaplastic meningioma, and it is extremely rare. There are only 12 cases involving ossified spinal meningiomas in the literature. We present the case of a 61-year-old female with a primary tumor within the ventral spinal canal at T12. Although we performed a total tumor excision using an ultrasonic bone aspirator, a temporary deterioration of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) was observed during curettage with a Kerrison rongeur. The neurologic findings worsened immediately after surgery. Histologically, the tumor was diagnosed as a metaplastic meningioma with osseous differentiation. In order to avoid spinal cord injury, great care must be taken when removing an ossified meningioma located on the ventral spinal cord

Factors Predicting Clinical Impairment after Surgery for Cervical Spinal Schwannoma

Cervical spinal schwannoma is benign, and outcomes after surgical resection are generally excellent. A surgical dilemma sometimes arises as to whether to perform total tumor removal, which carries a risk of sacrificing the nerve root, or subtotal removal, where the risk can be tumor recurrence. The purpose of this study was to identify factors with the potential to predict clinical impairment after surgery for cervical spinal schwannomas. Thirty cases of cervical schwannomas treated surgically in our institute were retrospectively reviewed;initial symptoms, tumor location, Eden classification, surgical method, functional outcome, and tumor recurrence were investigated. All permanent motor deficits were the result of resecting functionally relevant nerve roots (i.e., C5-8). The rate of permanent sensory deficit was 11% after C1-4 nerve root resection, and 67% after C5-8 nerve root resection. Permanent neurological deficits occurred in 14% of patients younger than 40 years and 38% of those older than 40. Dumbbell tumors were associated with the need for total or ventral nerve root transection, as well as with a high incidence of tumor recurrence. The incidence of permanent neurological deficit was significantly higher in patients undergoing C5-8 nerve root resection, and tended to be higher in those over 40

Impact of Rotation Correction after Brace Treatment on Prognosis in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Study DesignLevel 4 retrospective review.PurposeBrace treatment is the standard nonoperative treatment for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Rotation correction is also important, because AIS involves a rotation deformity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of rotation correction after Osaka Medical College (OMC) brace treatment on clinical outcomes in AIS.Overview of LiteratureBrace treatment has a significant effect on the progression of AIS. However, few reports have examined rotation correction after brace treatment.MethodsA total of 46 patients who wore the OMC brace were retrospectively reviewed. The curve magnitude was determined according to the Cobb method, and the rotation angle of the apical vertebrae was measured by the modified Nash-Moe method. Based on the difference in the rotation angle before and after the initial brace treatment, patients were divided into two groups. Group A (n=33) was defined as no change or improvement of the rotation angle; group B (n=13) was defined as deterioration of the rotation angle. If the patients had curve or rotation progression of 5° or more at skeletal maturity, or had undergone surgery, the treatment was considered a failure.ResultsDifferences of rotation angle between before and after the initial brace treatment were 2°±2° in group A and –3°±2° in group B (p<0.001). The rates of treatment failure were 42% in group A and 77% in group B (p<0.05). This study included 25 patients with Lenke type 1 (54%). Group A (24%) with Lenke type 1 also had a significantly better success rate of brace treatment than group B (75%) (p<0.05).ConclusionsInsufficient rotation correction increased brace treatment failure. Better rotation correction resulted in a higher success rate of brace treatment in patients with Lenke type 1

Continuous in-vIvo measurement of the brain tissue and the ischemic muscle gas tension using MEDSPECT, MS-8

I MEDSPECT is a medical mass spectrometer for continuous in-vivo measurement of tissue, blood and respiratory gases. Interfacing catheter for tissue in measurement has Teflon membrane. The permeability and perfusion rate for various gases through its membrane varied with temperature. The temperature coefficient of Teflon catheter in the range of 15℃-40℃ is approximately constant with -2% of correction per degree for oxygen and carbon dioxide. Linear correlation was confirmed experimentally. II The brain tissue gas tensions were measured in ten dogs with intra-venous anesthesia at normothermia and deep hypothermia using perfusion cooling, including circulatory arrest for 30 minutes at 20°C of cerebral temperature. On average, the brain tissue P(O2) was 15mmHg in normothermia when the arterial P(O2) showed 95mmHg and the brain tissue P(CO2) was 49mmHg when the arterial PC02 showed 30mmHg. The brain tissue carbon dioxide tension gradually decreased by cooling and increased during circulatory arrest for 30 minutes; from 45mmHg to 72mmHg. The brain tissue oxygen tension increased during cooling from 15mmHg to 41mmHg and decreased in the circulatory arrest; from 41mmHg to 36mmHg. III The ischemic muscle gas tension was measured in a 22-year-old man, who was suffered from thromboangiitis obliterans bilaterally, and had the popliteal autovein bypass surgery 3 months ago. Control oxygen tensions in the both anterior tibial muscles showed about the same; 35mmHg and 36mmHg respectivelly, and the P(O2) of the non-operated side showed remarkable low level of 18mmHg as compared with the side of arterial reconstruction surgery after 5-minutes ankle exercise

A 4.8-μVrms-Noise CMOS-Microelectrode Array With Density-Scalable Active Readout Pixels via Disaggregated Differential Amplifier Implementation

We demonstrate a 4.8-μVrms noise microelectrode array (MEA) based on the complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor active-pixel-sensors readout technique with disaggregated differential amplifier implementation. The circuit elements of the differential amplifier are divided into a readout pixel, a reference pixel, and a column circuit. This disaggregation contributes to the small area of the readout pixel, which is less than 81 μm2. We observed neuron signals around 100 μV with 432 electrodes in a fabricated prototype chip. The implementation has technological feasibility of up to 12-μm-pitch electrode density and 6,912 readout channels for high-spatial resolution mapping of neuron network activity

Oxidative Neurodegeneration Is Prevented by UCP0045037, an Allosteric Modulator for the Reduced Form of DJ-1, a Wild-Type of Familial Parkinson’s Disease-Linked PARK7

Although a loss-of-function mutation has been identified in familial Parkinson’s disease PARK7, the wild-type of DJ-1 is known to act as an oxidative stress sensor in neuronal cells. Recently, we identified UCP0045037 as a compound that bound to the reduced form of DJ-1 by in silico virtual screening. In this study, we determined the neuroprotective effects of UCP0045037 against focal cerebral ischemia-induced neurodegeneration in rats. Hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death was significantly inhibited by UCP0045037 in both rat mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons and human normal SH-SY5Y cells. In contrast, DJ-1-knockdown SH-SY5Y cells lost the protective activity of UCP0045037. These results suggest that UCP0045037 interacts with endogenous DJ-1 and produces a neuroprotective response

Identification and characterization of a dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitor from aronia juice

Aronia berries have many potential effects on health, including an antioxidant effect, effect for antimutagenesis, hepatoprotection and cardioprotection, an antidiabetic effect and inhibition of cancer cell proliferation. Previous human studies have shown that aronia juice may be useful for treatment of obesity disorders. In this study, we found that aronia juice has an inhibitory effect against dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV) (EC 3.4.14.5). DPP IV is a peptidase that cleaves the N-terminal region of incretins such as glucagon-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). Inactivation of incretins by DPP IV induces reduction of insulin secretion. Furthermore, we identified that cyanidin 3, 5-diglucoside as the DPP IV inhibitor in aronia juice. DPP IV was inhibited more strongly by cyanidin 3, 5-diglucoside than by cyanidin and cyanidin 3-glucoside. The results suggest that DPP IV is inhibited by cyanidin 3, 5-diglucoside present in aronia juice. The antidiabetic effect of aronia juice may be mediated through DPP IV inhibition by cyanidin 3, 5-diglucoside

Lactic Acid Bacteria from Kefir Increase Cytotoxicity of Natural Killer Cells to Tumor Cells

The Japanese fermented beverage, homemade kefir, contains six lactic acid bacteria: Lactococcus. lactis subsp. Lactis, Lactococcus. lactis subsp. Cremoris, Lactococcus. Lactis subsp. Lactis biovar diacetylactis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Leuconostoc meseuteroides subsp. Cremoris and Lactobacillus casei. In this study, we found that a mixture of the six lactic acid bacteria from kefir increased the cytotoxicity of human natural killer KHYG-1 cells to human chronic myelogenous leukemia K562 cells and colorectal tumor HCT116 cells. Furthermore, levels of mRNA expression and secretion of IFN-γ (interferon gamma) increased in KHYG-1 cells that had been treated with the six lactic acid bacteria mixture from kefir. The results suggest that the six lactic acid bacteria mixture from kefir has strong effects on natural immunity and tumor cell cytotoxicity