Objective. The authors present the clinical results obtained in patients who underwent interspinous fusion device (IFD) implantation following posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). The purpose of this study is investigating the feasibility of IFD with PLIF in the treatment of lumbar spondylolisthesis. Methods. Between September 2013 and November 2014, 39 patients underwent PLIF and subseque...

STUDY DESIGN Prospective longitudinal study. PURPOSE To determine if preoperative psychological status affects outcome in spinal surgery. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Low back pain is known to have a psychosomatic component. Increased bodily awareness (somatization) and depressive symptoms are two factors that may affect outcome. It is possible to measure these components using questionnaires. ...

Degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS) has become increasingly common and is characterized by multilevel disc herniation and lumbar spondylolisthesis, which are difficult to treat. The current study aimed to evaluate the short-term clinical outcomes and value of the combined use of microendoscopic discectomy (MED) and minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MI-TLIF) for t...

BACKGROUND The traditional posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) technique usually involves implantation of two cages through a bilateral approach and bilateral laminectomy, which requires bilateral transpedicle screw fixation. The procedure itself has several negative impacts. Therefore, a modified PLIF procedure that includes insertion of a unilateral cage through the symptomatic side with...

We present the recent advances made in fiber-coupled laser-diagnostic methods that are being developed for practical combustion applications. In particular, we describe fiber-coupled, picosecond, coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (ps-CARS) spectroscopy, fiber-coupled, nanosecond, ultraviolet planar-laser-induced-fluorescence (ns-UVPLIF) spectroscopy, and fiber-coupled, particle-image veloci...

Heat release rate is a fundamental property of great importance for the theoretical and experimental elucidation of unsteady flame behaviors such as combustion noise, combustion instabilities, and pulsed combustion. Investigations of such thermoacoustic interactions require a reliable indicator of heat release rate capable of resolving spatial structures in turbulent flames. Traditionally, heat...

Research carried out from 2003-2005 at the Explosion Dynamics Laboratories at Caltech under an ONR contract has examined many issues critical to Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) development. These include: detonation structure imaging using OH PLIF; a narrow channel facility for examining regular and irregular detonations; detonation diffraction; mechanism of soot track generation; fundamental and...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the surgical technique and outcome of mini-open posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) under circumferential releasing technique. METHODS Fourty patients who underwent mini-open PLIF using the percutaneous screw fixation system for Meyerding Grade II spondylolisthesis or more were retrospectively studied. After complete circumferential rel...

The Frame Problem (FP) is a puzzle in philosophy of mind and epistemology, articulated by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as follows: “How do we account for our apparent ability to make decisions on the basis only of what is relevant to an ongoing situation without having explicitly to consider all that is not relevant?” In this work, we focus on the causal variant of the FP, the Causal...

Posterolateral fusion has long been considered the "gold standard" technique for surgical treatment of adult spondylolisthesis. Superior results have subsequently been reported with interbody fusion with cages and posterior instrumentation. The goal of this prospective study was to compare the two techniques regarding their clinical outcomes and fusion rates. Fifty-two patients with isthmic spo...