STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal study on the anthropometric parameters and growth pattern of girls with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). OBJECTIVE To investigate the growth pattern of girls with AIS with different severities, using cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal data set in comparison with age-matched healthy controls. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DA...

The aim of this letter is to facilitate the standardisation of Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) codesets used to code injuries in trauma registries. We have compiled a definitive list of the changes which have been implemented between the AIS 2005 and Update 2008 versions. While the AIS 2008 codeset appears to have remained consistent since its release, we have identified discrepancies between th...

This paper describes issues, technologies, challenges, and directions for Assured Information Sharing (AIS). AIS is about organizations sharing information but at the same time enforcing policies and procedures so that the data is integrated and mined to extract nuggets. This is the first in a series of papers we are writing on AIS. It provides an overview including architectures, functions and...

To make a nuclear pore, just relax S taying limber is crucial not just for yoga enthusiasts, but for cells installing nuclear pores, as Scarcelli et al. report on page 799. They identify a protein that helps the passageways assemble by boosting the fl exibility of the nuclear membrane. Every molecule that enters or exits the nucleus passes through a nuclear pore complex. How cells build these c...

The axon initial segment (AIS) is positioned between the axonal and somato-dendritic compartments and plays a pivotal role in triggering action potentials (APs) and determining neuronal output. It is now widely accepted that structural properties of the AIS, such as length and/or location relative to the soma, change in an activity-dependent manner. This structural plasticity of the AIS is know...

The axon initial segment (AIS) is a specialized neuronal subcompartment located at the beginning of the axon that is crucially involved in both the generation of action potentials and the regulation of neuronal polarity. We recently showed that prolonged neuronal depolarization produces a distal shift of the entire AIS structure away from the cell body, a change associated with a decrease in ne...

The axon initial segment (AIS) of differentiated neurons regulates action potential initiation and axon-dendritic polarity. The latter function depends on actin dynamics, but actin structure and functions at the AIS remain unclear. Using platinum replica electron microscopy (PREM), we have characterized the architecture of the AIS cytoskeleton in mature and developing hippocampal neurons. The A...

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) causes spinal deformity in 3% of children. Despite a strong genetic basis, few genes have been associated with AIS and the pathogenesis remains poorly understood. In a genome-wide rare variant burden analysis using exome sequence data, we identified fibrillin-1 (FBN1) as the most significantly associated gene with AIS. Based on these results, FBN1 and a rel...

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a complex spine deformity, affecting approximately 1-3% adolescents. Earlier diagnosis could increase the likelihood of successful conservative treatment and hence reduce the need for surgical intervention. We conducted a serum metabonomic study to explore the potential biomarkers of AIS for early diagnosis. Serum metabolic profiles were firstly explored...

Traditional risk factors associated with adult arterial ischemic stroke (AIS; ie, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, smoking, and atherosclerosis) are relatively rare in children. Childhood AIS is instead associated with a variety of conditions including cerebral arteriopathies, congenital heart disease, infection, head and neck trauma, sickle cell anemia, and prothrombotic abnormalities. ...