BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Continuous sciatic nerve blockade at the popliteal level effectively alleviates postoperative pain after major foot and ankle surgery. No randomized controlled trials have previously compared the success rate of continuous sciatic nerve sensory blockade between ultrasound and nerve stimulation guidance. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that ultrasound-gui...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine if the use of ultrasound guidance (vs non-ultrasound techniques) improves the success rate of nerve blocks. DESIGN Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the published literature. SETTING University medical center. MEASUREMENTS 16 RCTs of patients undergoing elective surgical procedures were studied. Patients underwent ultrasound-guided or non...

Nerve orientation in response to electrical guidance cues in one direction and contact guidance cues in an orthogonal direction has been studied. Where neurites had a free choice between following contact guidance cues or electrical cues, the direction of nerve growth was determined predominantly by the vector of the applied electric field.

Scorpion venom toxicity is one of the major medical concerns from old years, due to its influence on human activities and health. From many years ago a lot of researches established to examine different aspects of venom toxicity and its effects on different organs. During these years researchers are doing more specific studies on the cytotoxicity of scorpion venom. In Iran, Odonthobuthus doriae...

Scorpion venom toxicity is one of the major medical concerns from old years, due to its influence on human activities and health. From many years ago a lot of researches established to examine different aspects of venom toxicity and its effects on different organs. During these years researchers are doing more specific studies on the cytotoxicity of scorpion venom. In Iran, Odonthobuthus doriae...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the ability of a tissue-engineered nerve construct composed of a nerve guidance channel and neurally differentiated human adipose tissue-derived stem cells (hASCs) to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration in a rat sciatic nerve model. DESIGN A 13-mm sciatic nerve gap was bridged with silastic conduits in 64 athymic nude rats, and differentiated hASCs were implanted into ...

We have developed a method to create longitudinally oriented channels within poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA) hydrogels for neural tissue engineering applications. Incorporated into an entubulation strategy, these scaffolds have the potential to enhance nerve regeneration after transection injuries of either the spinal cord or the peripheral nerve by increasing the available surface ar...

Directed sensory axon regeneration has the potential to promote functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury. Using a novel guidance assay to generate precisely controllable nerve growth factor gradients, we show for the first time that the guidance and outgrowth response of rat dorsal root ganglion neurons to identical nerve growth factor gradients depends on the rostrocaudal origin of th...