STUDY DESIGN Retrospective consecutive case series. OBJECTIVE The objective of this case series was to demonstrate the safety of a modified transfacet pedicle-sparing decompression and instrumented fusion in patients with thoracic disc herniations (TDHs). METHODS Consecutive patients undergoing operative management of TDH from July 2007 to December 2011 using a posterior unilateral modified...

OBJECTIVE Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) recurrence necessitating reoperation can pose problems following spinal surgery, with an overall reported incidence of approximately (3-13%). The purpose of this study is to identify the rate of recurrent disc herniation, to discuss the radiologic indications for herniotomy and to analyze clinical outcomes compared with conventional discectomy. METHODS T...

BACKGROUND The effect of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on the EuroQol Group's 5-dimension questionnaire (EQ-5D) in COPD has been poorly investigated. In addition, conflicting results were reported about the visual analog scale component of EQ-5D (EQ-VAS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the responsiveness of EQ-VAS to PR and its relationship with clinical and functional parameters in ...

Numerical rating scales and mechanical visual analogue scales (M-VAS) were compared for their capacity to provide ratio scale measures of experimental pain. Separate estimates of experimental pain sensation intensity and pain unpleasantness were obtained by each method, as were estimates of clinical pain. Orofacial pain patients made numerical scale and VAS ratings in response to noxious therma...

The maternally expressed Drosophila melanogaster DEAD-box helicase Vasa (Vas) is necessary for many cellular and developmental processes, including specification of primordial germ cells (pole cells), posterior patterning of the embryo, piRNA-mediated repression of transposon-encoded mRNAs, translational activation of gurken (grk) mRNA, and completion of oogenesis itself. Vas protein accumulate...

In statistical process control, the primary method used to monitor the number of nonconformities is the c-chart. The conventional c-chart is based on the assumption that the occurrence of nonconformities in samples is well modeled by a Poisson distribution. When the Poisson assumption is not met, the X-chart (individuals chart) is often used as an alternative charting scheme in practice. In thi...

INTRODUCTION Longer-term outcomes of patients with geriatric type II odontoid fracture nonunion remain unclear. METHODS Thirty-four consecutive geriatric patients (>70 years old) with minimally displaced (<50% displacement) type II odontoid fractures were treated 24 hours a day for 12 weeks with rigid collar immobilization between the years 2003 and 2011. Radiographic and medical record revie...

BACKGROUND Zygapophysial joint arthrosis is a pathology related with axial lumbar pain. The most accepted treatment, after failure of medical management, is the thermal denervation of the medial branch. Nonetheless, the placement of the heat probe remains a challenge to surgeons, even when using the fluoroscope. Using a variation of Shealy's and Bogduk's original techniques, which includes abla...