OBJECTIVE The objective of this biomechanical study was to evaluate the stability provided by a newly developed shape memory alloy hook (SMAH) in a cadaveric transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) model. METHODS Six human cadaveric spines (L1-S2) were tested in an in vitro flexibility experiment by applying pure moments of ±8 Nm in flexion/extension, left/right lateral bending, and lef...

To the Editor: The incidence of unilateral spatial neglect (USN) has been described in up to 30%270% after an injury to the right hemisphere. USN is one of the strongest predictors of poor functional recovery, which can lead to more prolonged hospitalization and disrupt rehabilitation and recovery of functional disabilities after stroke, thus limiting independence. However, USN is not usually a...

Unilateral laterothoracic exanthem (ULE) (also termed asymmetric periflexural exanthem of childhood APEC) has been linked to viral infection, in particular parvovirus B-19, citomegalovirus and Ebstein Barr virus. Its prevalence is higher during spring and winter, most published reports involve white people. The diagnosis is clinical, the virusological tests, in most of the cases, are negative. ...

The difficulty that patients with unilateral spatial neglect (USN) have in exploring into the contralesional space may be explained by motor or attentional disorder. We experienced a patient with severe USN following cerebral infarction in the right postrolandic region, who showed a strong resistance to leftward movement. We devised two sets of tasks using a whiteboard. In the first experiment,...

PURPOSE To evaluate the relationship between unilateral or bilateral criptorchidism, patient age, primary location of the gonad and modality of treatment with testicular volume and hormonal status at 18 years in patients diagnosed and treated for cryptorchidism during childhood. MATERIALS AND METHODS Testicular volume, LH, FSH, and testosterone were evaluated in 143 young men at 18 years trea...

Purpose Urologic diseases affected by testosterone can be associated with smaller penis size compared to the normal population. We sought to compare penile length in children with unilateral cryptorchidism and normative data from a cohort of healthy Korean boys. Materials and Methods This study was performed in 259 Korean boys (212, normal cohort; 47, cryptorchidism) aged 6-24 months, each of...

The performance of patients with unilateral neglect (UN) in tasks demanding visual attention is characterized by contralesional disadvantage which is markedly unstable in magnitude. Such instability of the attentional system is seen very clearly in clinical practice and thus far has no satisfying explanation. Here we examined the immediate effect of exposure to non-lateralized emotional stimuli...

Focal cortical dysplasia is a well-known cause of intractable epilepsy with early onset of seizures, and is potentially amenable to surgical therapy. It was first described by Taylor in 1971 as a peculiar malformative disorganisation of the neocortex characterised at histology by loss of cortical lamination and accompanied by giant, dysmorphic neurones and, most frequently, by "balloon cells" l...

A 28-month female with a clinical diagnosis of neurocutaneous melanosis and numerous intracranial abnormalities (including a right choroid plexus tumor and left hemimegalencephaly) presented with a rapidly expanding tumor in the left occipital cerebrum. Microscopic examination of the resected specimen revealed a myxoid mesenchymal neoplasm consisting of fusiform cells that were immunoreactive f...