Primate-specific segmental duplications are considered important in human disease and evolution. The inability to distinguish between allelic and duplication sequence overlap has hampered their characterization as well as assembly and annotation of our genome. We developed a method whereby each public sequence is analyzed at the clone level for overrepresentation within a whole-genome shotgun s...

The optimal management approach for patients with mild forms of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (MCSM) has not been well established. The aim of the present study was to investigate the outcome of conservative treatment, identify prognostic factors and provide evidence for the timing of surgical intervention. A total of 90 patients with MCSM attending hospital between February 2007 and January ...

Low back pain is described as a deep pain surrounding the waist in a “belt style,” frequently seen in the midline, but which may spread to the hips and upper thighs. In recent years, degenerative disc disease has been observed as the most important result of low back pain. Tearing of the disc capsule, including nerve root irritation from the chemical substances that are expelled (chemical nocic...

BACKGROUND When spinal fusion is applied to degenerative lumbar spinal disease with instability, adjacent segment disorder will be an issue in the future. However, decompression alone could cause recurrence of spinal canal stenosis because of increased instability on operated segments and lead to revision surgery. Covering the disadvantages of both procedures, we applied nonfusion stabilization...

PURPOSE To evaluate the outcome of osteoplastic laminotomy after excision of primary tumours of the thoracolumbar and lumbar spine. METHODS Records of 10 male and 11 female consecutive patients aged 15 to 57 (mean, 37) years who underwent osteoplastic laminotomy for excision of spinal cord tumours in the thoracolumbar (n=13) and lumbar (n=8) spine were reviewed. After tumour resection, the re...

Duplicated sequences are substrates for the emergence of new genes and are an important source of genetic instability associated with rare and common disease. Analyses of primate genomes have shown an increase in the proportion of interspersed segmental duplications within the genomes of humans and great apes. This is in contrast to other mammalian genomes that appear to have their recently dup...

BACKGROUND Cervical orthoses are commonly used for extrication, transportation, and definitive immobilization for cervical trauma patients. Various designs have been tested frequently in young, healthy individuals. To date, no one has reported the effectiveness of collar immobilization in the presence of an unstable mid-cervical spine. STUDY OBJECTIVES To determine the extent to which cervica...