BACKGROUND:The treatment difficulties of thoracolumbar angular kyphosis surgery are:low correction rate, hard to rebuild sagittal plane, easily induce neurological complications, postoperative loss of balance, high incidence of pseudarthrosis and postoperative loss of correction degree.
OBJECTIVE:To explore the safety and efficacy of modified posterior vertebral column resection osteotomy and bilateral pedicle screw combined with echelon tight closure spinal cord technique and implant fixation for severe spinal angular kyphosis.
METHODS:A total of 87 severe spinal angular kyphosis patients, 36 males and 51 females, who were treated in the Department of Orthopedics, the 306 Hospital of Chinese PLA from January 2006 to December 2013, were enrol ed in this study. They underwent posterior vertebral column resection, bilateral pedicle screw combined with echelon tight closure spinal cord, and implant fixation. Kyphosis, spinal sagittal imbalance, offset rate towards trunk side, operation time and intraoperative blood loss were observed before and after treatment.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The preoperative average kyphosis was 90.1° (31°-138°). The postoperative average kyphosis was 27.9° (15°-57°). The improvement rate was 76%. The improvement rate of trunk sagittal offset was 76%. Intraoperative blood loss was 800-3 000 mL, and average blood loss was 2 300 mL. The operation time was 5-7 hours, averagely 5.9 hours. Before treatment, two patients affected neurologic symptoms in double lower extremity, and their Frankel classification was grade C and became grade E after treatment. Al patients were fol owed up for 9-57 months. Bony fusion was achieved in al patients. No complications of spinal cord injury appeared, and no orthopedic angle missing occurred. These results indicate that during posterior vertebral column resection for treating severe angular stiffness of the thoracic kyphosis, blood vessels could be maintained greatly. Blood vessel injury-induced ischemic changes in spinal cord and ischemic reperfusion injury could be avoided. To reduce hemorrhage and to keep effective blood volume in patients with low body mass are effective for early recovery after treatment. Bilateral pedicle screw combined with echelon tight closure spinal cord technique greatly protected spinal cord cells against injury. We should pay attention to the protection and loose of nerve root to avoid postoperative nerve root irritation. Sufficient bone fusion ensures kyphosis correction, avoids spine lateral offset, and plays a key role in spinal function and postoperative orthopedic effect.

Objective:To compare the differences in important parameters between the articulation assessment and training system of intelligently extracted speech with those from the Praat acoustic software and those manually extracted.Methods:The speech of thirty-two normal subjects was captured using the intelligent articulation assessment and training system and using Praat acoustic software. The former analyzed the mean fundamental frequencies (mF0s), the first formant peaks (F1s) and the second formant peak (F2s) of the sustained vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/. The speech parameters collected by the traditional Praat software were extracted and analyzed by professionals. The two tools′ consistency in terms of these important acoustic parameters was analyzed.Results:The results with all 32 subjects when retested returned ICC values above 0.9 with all three vowels with the exception of mF0 for /u/ (ICC=0.75), indicating excellent retest reliability for the articulation assessment and training system. The ICC values also indicated excellent consistency between the two kinds of software in analyzing mF0, F1 and F2 of the three vowels. The mF0, F1, F2, FCR, VAI, tongue spacing, VSA, and mandibular spacing of all three vowels were mostly distributed within the 95% confidence interval of the data points in Bland-Altman plots, indicating the high accuracy of both acoustic analysis systems in speech measurement. The mean fundamental frequency values of the male long vowels /a/, /i/ and /u/ were all significantly lower than for the female long versions.Conclusions:The retest reliability of the articulation assessment and training system was good, and the results of the articulation check in the natural state were in good consistency compared to the Praat check and were interchangeable in the articulation check.

Objective: To study the clinical efficacy of biological ceramics (iRoot BP Plus ) and mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) in direct pulp capping of mature permanent teeth, to provide referrence for clinical application. Methods : Seventy-four patients with pulp exposure due to deep caries or reversible pulpitis in 75 mature permanent teeth were selected and were randomly divided into two groups. iRoot BP Plus were used as pulp capping agents in the treatment group and MTA were used as pulp capping agents in the control group respectively. The clinical efficacy and imaging analysis were performed at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after operation. Treatment success rate of the two groups were calculated, and the influence of various factors including gender, age, tooth position, cavity, number and size of pulp exposure on the efficacy of direct pulp capping were analyzed. Results : Sixty patients with 61 mature permanent teeth were selected. Twelve mouths after treatment, 61 teeth of 60 patents were completely investigated (iRoot group: 31 teeth 30 patients; MTA group: 30 teeth 30 patients). The success rates of the 2 groups were 90.3% (iRoot BP Plus) and 90.0% (MTA), respectively. There was no statistical difference between 2 groups (P>0.05). Statistical analysis also showed that gender, age, tooth position, cavity, number and size of pulp exposure had no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Both iRoot BP Plus and MTA are effective in direct pulp capping of mature permanent teeth with carious pulp exposure, while the operation of iRoot is simple and convenient.