epidural abscess of the spinal column is a rare condition that can be fatal if left untreated. it promptly progresses and can cause neurologic paralysis, urinary retention or cauda equina syndrome. compromised immune system that occurs in patients with diabetes mellitus, aids, chronic renal failure, alcoholism, or cancer is a predisposing factor. it mostly occurs in adults. here we would like t...

The spine rod in the spinal fixation system should be tough enough to support the dynamic force and flexible also for flexible movement. 5.5 mm ~ 6 mm diameter spine rods made of Ti-6Al-4V ELI are common products. Two possibilities are studied. The one is that while keeping the flexibility unchanged (using 6mm diameter), how much the fatigue strength can be increased. The other is while the fle...

Rugose projections on the anterior and posterior aspects of vertebral neural spines appear throughout Amniota and result from the mineralization of the supraspinous and interspinous ligaments via metaplasia, the process of permanent tissue-type transformation. In mammals, this metaplasia is generally pathological or stress induced, but is a normal part of development in some clades of birds. Su...

Traditionally, treatment of spinal cord injury seemed frustrating and hopeless because of the remarkable morbidity and mortality, and restricted therapeutic options. Recent advances in neural injury and repair, and the progress towards development of neuroprotective and regenerative interventions are basis for increased optimism. Neural stem cells have opened a new arena of discovery for the fi...

The histological assessment of spinal cord tissue in three dimensions has previously been very time consuming and prone to errors of interpretation. Advances in tissue clearing have significantly improved visualization of fluorescently labelled axons. While recent proof-of-concept studies have been performed with transgenic mice in which axons were prelabeled with GFP, investigating axonal rege...

Amorphous mesoporous silica nanoparticles ('protocells') that support surface lipid bilayers recently characterized in vitro as carrier constructs for small drug and DNA delivery are reported here as highly biocompatible both in vitro and in vivo, involving the brain and spinal cord following spinal delivery into the lumbosacral subarachnoid space (intrathecal; i.t.). Specifically, positively c...

OBJECTIVES Community reentry after a spinal cord injury is a long-term integrative process, because individuals must adjust to an extraordinary new set of circumstances. In this study, quality-of-life and work satisfaction variables associated with employed or unemployed individuals with spinal cord injury were examined. METHODS Quality-of-life and work satisfaction variables associated with ...

This is the first attempt of empirical investigation of language mediated concept activation (LMCA) in bilingual memory as a cognitive mechanism facilitating divergent thinking. Russian-English bilingual and Russian monolingual college students were tested on a battery of tests including among others Abbreviated Torrance Tests for Adults assessing divergent thinking traits and translingual prim...

Cognitive flexibility is a central component of executive functions that allow us to behave meaningful in an ever changing environment. Here, we support a distinction between two different types of cognitive flexibility, shifting flexibility and spreading flexibility, based on independent underlying mechanisms commonly subsumed under the ability to shift cognitive sets. We use a homonym related...