This series is published by ODI, an independent non-profit policy research institute, with financial support from the Department for International Development (formerly the Overseas Development Administration). Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of either ODI or DFID. DFID Department for Internat ional Development REDISTRIBUTIVE LAND REFORM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA Martin Adams a...

There are limited data on the evolution of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) during continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy and whether this treatment is required every night. 125 OSA patients with an original oxygen desaturation index (ODI) >10 events per hour, established on CPAP, were asked to withdraw CPAP for four nights and performed ambulatory nocturnal pulse oximetry on the four...

Previous studies indicate that lumbar radicular pain following disc herniation may be associated with release of several pro-inflammatory mediators, including interleukin-1 (IL1). In the present study, we examined how genetic variability in IL1A (rs1800587 C>T), IL1B (rs1143627 T>C) and IL1RN (rs2234677 G>A) influenced the clinical outcome the first year after disc herniation. Patients (n = 258...

Brain white matter connections have become a focus of major interest with important maturational processes occurring in newborns. To study the complex microstructural developmental changes in-vivo, it is imperative that non-invasive neuroimaging approaches are developed for this age-group. Multi-b-value diffusion weighted imaging data were acquired in 13 newborns, and the biophysical compartmen...

BACKGROUND To investigate and analyze MRI findings in relation to visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), psychological-factor, sleep-quality, and Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) scores among patients with central lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) for the purpose of elucidating a correlation. METHODS From July 2013 to May 2014, 117 consecutive patients with central LSS were ...

OBJECTIVES To comprehensively evaluate the ability and reliability of the representative previously proposed oxyhemoglobin indexes derived automatically for predicting the severity of obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). METHODS Patients with a diagnosis of OSAHS by standard polysomnography were recruited from China Medical University Hospital Centre. There were 257 patients in ...

I would like to acknowledge Gaetani et al. for their excellent study assessing functional outcome after instrumented stabilization for lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis (1). I wish to point out an interesting aspect of the methods used in this study. The average pre-operative Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) score in this study of 76 patients was 49.4 and average Roland Morris scale (RM) sco...

The responses of cells in the visual cortex to stimulation of the two eyes changes dramatically following a period of monocular visual deprivation (MD) during a critical period in early life. This phenomenon, referred to as ocular dominance (OD) plasticity, is a widespread model for understanding cortical plasticity. In this study, we designed stimulus patterns and quantification methods to ana...

BACKGROUND The association of Modic changes (MC) with low back pain (LBP) is unclear. The purpose of our study was to investigate the associations between the extent of Type 1 (M1) and Type 2 (M2) MC and low back symptoms over a two-year period. METHODS The subjects (n = 64, mean age 43.8 y; 55 [86%] women) were consecutive chronic LBP patients who had M1 or mixed M1/M2 on lumbar spine magnet...