OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects on health-related quality of life after short-segment pedicle fixation of thoracolumbar fractures without neurologic injury.

METHODSA total of 55 patients suffered from thoracolumbar fractures without neurological deficit from January 2007 to October 2010 were included in this retrospective study. Of the 55 patients, 35 were male and 20 were female. The mean age was (44.0±10.5) years old (ranged, 7 to 75). Preoperatively, the main clinical symptoms in patients were thoracolumbar pain without neurologic injury and the imaging findings mainly showed that the injured vertebra became wedging or flat with the loss of height. Three questionnaires (ODI, EQ-5D and SF-36) were applied to follow-up in this study.

RESULTSAll operations were successful and incisions got primary healing. The function of thoracolumbar spine fully or basiclly restored and postoperative imagings showed fractures healed without loose screws, broken screws or broken rods. The completion rates of all the queasionnaires were 100% while the mean follow-up period was 4.2 years (ranged, 3 to 6). The ODI scores were 25.8±18.7, which were statistically higher than those of the general population in our country (P<0.05). The EQ-5D index scores were 0.70, which were statistically lower than those of the normal Chinese population (P<0.05). Compared with the normal scores in our country, the scores of 8 items in the SF-36 questionnaire were obviously lower with significant difference (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONCompared with the normal Chinese population, it should be paid more attention to that the health-related quality of life in patients after short-segment pedicle fixation of thoracolumbar fractures without neurologic injury because of lower scores.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Female ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Humans ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Quality of Life ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Fractures ; psychology ; surgery ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Young Adult

Nerve injury including peripheral nerve injury and central nerve injury has been a global problem. With the development of technology, many innovative approaches for nerve repair have been tested and some of the results are meaningful. It becomes a hot point that repair nerve injured by biological scaffold (nerve conduit). This article reviewed and analyzed several kinds of biological scaffold materials and microenvironment with better effect in recent years. Some new ideas were raised from the three aspects: appropriate materials, microstructure, and bionic microenvironment. It is better to combine multiple measures and achieve the best effect. In addition, nerve scaffold have a bright future in repair of central nervous system.
Cellular Microenvironment ; Humans ; Neurobiology ; methods ; Tissue Scaffolds ; Trauma, Nervous System ; pathology ; therapy

Spinal cord injury is a serious disabling disease caused by a series of internal and external factors in the field of orthopaedics and neuroscience, which is a big problem for doctors all over the world. Lithium has been used to treat dipolar disorder for over 100 years. It has been reported that lithium is benefit for brain neuron. The treatment effect for spinal cord injury gets more and more attention. Researches indicate that lithium is benefit for spinal cord injury by protecting neuron,reducing after-injury inflammation increasing the produce and release of neurotrophins, stimulating neurogenesis, enhancing autophagy and inhibiting apoptosis. This article summaries advances in mechanism of treatment for spinal cord injury with lithium by reviewing and analyzing researches. Therapy combined with lithium has a good application prospect.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Humans ; Lithium ; therapeutic use ; Neurons ; cytology ; drug effects ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; drug therapy ; physiopathology

OBJECTIVETo explore the value of the application of oil red O staining in spinal cord injury (SCI) of rats.

METHODSWith simple randomization, 24 Spargue-Dawley male rats were divided into normal control group including 6, and SCI group including 18. Spinal cord was transected at spinal lever T10 to build SCI model. Six rats of SCI group were sacrificed randomly at 1, 2, 4 weeks after surgery. After the spinal cord tissue sections were made, oil red O staining methods were used to observe the changes at the end of transected spinal cord. Images were analyzed by Image-Pro Plus 6.0 and SPSS 20.0 software.

RESULTSThe oil red O staining of normal control group showed that white matter surrounded by myelin sheath was clear and obviously distinctive from grey matter. Uneven and strengthened staining in oil O was observed in grey matter of SCI group at 1, 2, 4 weeks post-SCI.

CONCLUSIONIt is a good method to label the myelin sheath in spinal cord and distinct white matter from grey matter by oil red O staining. Analysis of the images showed that lipid may become another target for drugs, which needs more researches.

Animals ; Azo Compounds ; Gray Matter ; pathology ; Male ; Nerve Fibers ; physiology ; Nerve Regeneration ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; pathology ; Staining and Labeling

Cervical Vertebrae ; surgery ; Humans ; Orthopedic Procedures ; methods ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; surgery ; Spondylosis ; surgery

By using routine H. E method and measuring the absolute weight and growth index of thymus and ANAE positive ratios, 1 to 49 days Tianfu duckling were selected to study the changing trends in the normal development of the thymus. The results are as follows:the thymus of duckling develops slowly from 1 to 14 days,and quickly from 21 to 35 days,then steadily from 35 to 49 days. By the 28th day,most T-lymphocytes have well differentiated and the thymus has reached its maturation. There are three types of thymie corpuscles whose functions have been discussed.

OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical outcomes of anterior cervical decompression plus sublevel fusion and posterior cervical laminoplasty in treating multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy.

METHODSThe clinical data of 56 patients with multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy were retrospectively analyzed from July 2009 to June 2012. There were 32 males and 24 females, aged from 42 to 79 years old with an average of (56.9 +/- 12.8) years. All patients had the typical clinical features of cervical spondylotic myelopathy,radiological evidences, and courses of disease were from 2 months to 16 years with an average of (10.6 +/- 3.2)years. Of them,34 patients were treated with anterior cervical decompression plus sublevel fusion (anterior fusion group) and 22 patients with posterior cervical laminoplasty (posterior laminoplasty group). JOA score and radiological data were used to evaluate the clinical results:

RESULTSNo complications about nerve and blood vessel was found and the patients were followed up from 24 to 36 months with an average of 28.6 months. In anterior fusion group, the cervical anterior column height was significantly increased and the anterior cervical curvature angle was significantly decreased at 2 weeks after surgery (P < 0.05). In posterior laminoplasty group, there was no significant difference in above items between preoperative and postoperative at 2 weeks,final follow-up. Postoperative at 2 weeks and final follow-up, there was significant difference in anterior cervical curvature angle between two groups (P<0.05). Postoperative JOA score had obviously improved in all patients, at 3 months after operation and final follow-up, anterior fusion group was better than that of posterior laminoplasty group (P < .05).

CONCLUSIONThe anterior sublevel fusion can effectively restore cervical anterior column height, and compared with the posterior cervical laminoplasty, it can obviously improve the spinal cord function. It is an effective method for the multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathv.

Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Cervical Vertebrae ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Decompression, Surgical ; Female ; Humans ; Laminectomy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Radiography ; Retrospective Studies ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery ; Spinal Fusion ; Spondylosis ; diagnostic imaging ; surgery

By measuring the absolute weight and growth index of the bursa of Fabricius and using routine H.E method,the growth and histological development of the bursa in 1 to 49 days duckling were studied.The results showed that the absolute weight of the bursa increased as the ducklings grew.The growth index of the bursa reached its peak at 21 days.The height and width of both the large plica and projection formed by the follicle-associated epithelium(FAE)enlarged gradually,the same as the lymphoid follicle area and cortex width.The results indicated that the bursa of Fabricius in duckling develops slowly from 1 to 14 days,and quickly from 14 to 35 days(especially from 21 to 28 days),then steadily from 35 to 49 days.Histologically,the duckling bursa has approached its maturation by the 28th day.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of Xianzhong Injection (XI) on morphology of knee and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in rabbits with early stage osteoarthritis (OA).

METHODSOne hundred and twenty rabbits were randomly divided into 5 groups, the blank group, the model group treated with 0.5 mL normal saline once a week, the positive control group treated with 0.5 mL hyaluronate once a week, and the XI 1 group and XI 2 group with 0.5 mL XI once and twice a week, respectively, all the medicines were medicated via intra-articular injection. Knee joint function was examined 8 weeks after modeling, IGF-1 content in serum and synovia was detected, and the histologic examination of articular cartilage was observed by Mallory staining as well.

RESULTSThe improvement of knee joint function was better in the XI 1 and 2 groups than that in the model group (P < 0.01), and that in the XI 1 group was equivalent to that in the positive control group (P > 0.05). Histologic examination showed there was no calcification in all the layers of cartilage in the positive control group and the XI 1 group with complete cartilaginous bluish-green collagen preserved. The content of IGF-1 increased in synovia and serum in the positive control group and the two XI groups as compared with that in the model group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONXI can improve knee joint function to certain extent in early OA, and repair the degenerative cartilage.

Animals ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Insulin-Like Growth Factor I ; metabolism ; Male ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Phytotherapy ; Rabbits ; Random Allocation ; Synovial Membrane ; metabolism ; Time Factors

AIM: To observe the influence of the selective decontamination of the digestive tract (SDD) and caecosomy/colonic irrigation on gut endotoxin/bacteria translocation following acute severe pancreatitis (ASP). METHODS: Twenty three pigs weighing 16-22 kg were divided into four groups. Group I (n=5): sham-control; Group Ⅱ (n=6): ASP-control; Group Ⅲ (n=6): gntamicin [(8.55?10~5?5.70?10~4) units/time] and nystatin [(1.37?10~5?9.00?10~3) units/time] were fed orally every 8 h for 1 week before the induction of ASP; Group Ⅳ (n=6): caecostomy was performed before the induction of ASP. ASP was induced by infecting 1 mL/kg BW of combined solution of 5% sodium taurocholate and (8-10)?10~6 BAEE units/L of trypsin into pancreas via pancreatic duct. Systemic plasma endotoxin levels were quantified by the chromogenic limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) technique. Specimens of tissue from mesenteriolum and mesocolon lymph nodes, lung, lymph nodes in hilus pulmonis, pancreas and the samples of both portal and systemic blood were collected before and at 72 h following ASP and cultured for aerobic as well as anaerobic bacteria growth. Positive specimens were subcultured and the bacteria identified by standard procedure. RESULTS: Preventive SDD not only effectively reduced the amount of bacteria in stool (P