Objective To utilize the magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) as a feasible tool for measuring the anatomical parameters of lumbar spinal nerves, and further to evaluate the neuro-safety of interlaminar percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy.Methods Thirty healthy adult volunteers without significant history of low back pain or lumbar deformity were selected in our hospital from September 2016 to December 2016. All subjects accepted MRN. The nerve roots of L2-S1 were measured at the starting point of dural sac, and the angles between nerve roots and dural sac were measured. The distances between L2-L5 nerve roots and the edge of ipsilateral dural sac were measured and analyzed statistically.Results All MRN showed a gradual increase in the origin of the nerve roots from L2 to S1. The origin of the root was found to be below the corresponding disc for the L2 to L4 roots. There were 70％ of the L5 roots originated below the L4/5 disc, 26.7％ at the L4/5 disc, and 3.3％ above the L4/5 disc; about 70％ of the S1 roots originated above the L5/S1 disc. There were no statistically significant differences in the angles between dural sac and both left and right nerve roots (P>0.05). The angels between the nerve root and the dural sac from L5 and S1 was smaller than those from L2, L3, and L4 (P<0.05); that from S1 was significantly smaller than that from L5 (P<0.05). The distance of the nerve root and the ipsilateral dural sac was significantly increased in each side from L2 to L5 (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the distances between the left and right nerve roots and the edge of the ipsilateral dural sac in the same segment (P>0.05).Conclusion MRN is a feasible tool to measure the anatomical parameters of the lumbar spinal nerve, and there is a safe neurological area of the percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy through the interlaminar approach.

Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) analysis has pioneered genome-wide gene discovery and expression profiling. In order to establish a gene expression index in the rice cultivar indica, we sequenced and analyzed 86,136 ESTs from nine rice cDNA libraries from the super hybrid cultivar LYP9 and its parental cultivars. We assembled these ESTs into 13,232 contigs and leave 8,976 singletons. Overall, 7,497 sequences were found similar to existing sequences in GenBank and 14,711 are novel. These sequences are classified by molecular function, biological process and pathways according to the Gene Ontology. We compared our sequenced ESTs with the publicly available 95,000 ESTs from japonica, and found little sequence variation, despite the large difference between genome sequences. We then assembled the combined 173,000 rice ESTs for further analysis. Using the pooled ESTs, we compared gene expression in metabolism pathway between rice and Arabidopsis according to KEGG. We further profiled gene expression patterns in different tissues, developmental stages, and in a conditional sterile mutant, after checking the libraries are comparable by means of sequence coverage. We also identified some possible library specific genes and a number of enzymes and transcription factors that contribute to rice development.
Arabidopsis ; genetics ; DNA, Complementary ; metabolism ; Databases as Topic ; Expressed Sequence Tags ; Gene Library ; Genome, Plant ; Genomics ; methods ; Multigene Family ; Open Reading Frames ; Oryza ; genetics ; Quality Control ; Software

Humans ; Fractures, Compression/surgery* ; Spinal Fractures/surgery* ; Multiple Myeloma/drug therapy* ; Vertebroplasty ; Osteoporotic Fractures/therapy* ; Treatment Outcome ; Bone Cements

Mandibular defects caused by injuries, tumors, and infections are common and can severely affect mandibular function and the patient's appearance. However, mandible reconstruction with a mandibular bionic structure remains challenging. Inspired by the process of intramembranous ossification in mandibular development, a hierarchical vascularized engineered bone consisting of angiogenesis and osteogenesis modules has been produced. Moreover, the hierarchical vascular network and bone structure generated by these hierarchical vascularized engineered bone modules match the particular anatomical structure of the mandible. The ultra-tough polyion complex has been used as the basic scaffold for hierarchical vascularized engineered bone for ensuring better reconstruction of mandible function. According to the results of in vivo experiments, the bone regenerated using hierarchical vascularized engineered bone is similar to the natural mandibular bone in terms of morphology and genomics. The sonic hedgehog signaling pathway is specifically activated in hierarchical vascularized engineered bone, indicating that the new bone in hierarchical vascularized engineered bone underwent a process of intramembranous ossification identical to that of mandible development. Thus, hierarchical vascularized engineered bone has a high potential for clinical application in mandibular defect reconstruction. Moreover, the concept based on developmental processes and bionic structures provides an effective strategy for tissue regeneration.
Bone Regeneration ; Bone Transplantation/methods* ; Hedgehog Proteins ; Humans ; Mandible/surgery* ; Osteogenesis