BACKGROUND Intervertebral disc degeneration is emphasized as an important cause of low back pain. Current surgical treatment provides relief to the accompanying pain and disability but does not restore the biological function of the intervertebral disc. NOVOCART™ Disc plus, an autologous cell compound for autologous disc chondrocyte transplantation, was developed to reduce the degenerative sequ...

purpose: to report a case who had optic disc duplication, a rare congenital disorder characterized by two well-defined discs in one eye. case report: a 19 months-old child presented with unilateral epiphora in the right eye since birthday. the right eye was smaller than the left eye and mild ptosis was apparent. nasolacrimal duct probing was performed under general anesthesia. the examination r...

The clinical effectiveness of percutaneous and transforaminal endoscopic discectomy procedures has been evaluated by the system used or compared to open laminectomy or micro-discectomy but are not evaluated based on the location and characteristics of the abnormal disc. This review proposes that outcomes are primarily related to disc size, biomechanics, location, and associated segmental fibrot...

Potamotrygon limai, sp. nov., is described from the Jamari River, upper Madeira River system (Amazon basin), state of Rondônia, Brazil. This new species differs from congeners by presenting unique polygonal or concentric patterns formed by small whitish spots better defined over the posterior disc and tail-base regions. Potamotrygon limai, sp. nov., can be further distinguished from congeners i...

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is the most common cause of back pain. Presently there is no medical treatment, leaving surgery as the only offered option. Here we evaluate the potential of Link-N to promote extracellular matrix regeneration in human IVDs. Human disc cells cultured in alginate and intact human discs were exposed to a combination of Link-N and ³⁵SO₄ in the presence or abs...

Bone-morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) is a growth factor that plays a major role in mediating anabolism and anti-catabolism of the intervertebral disc matrix and cell homeostasis. In osteoblasts, Forkhead box protein C2 (FoxC2) is a downstream target of BMPs and promotes cell proliferation and differentiation. However, the role FoxC2 may play in degenerative human intervertebral disc tissue and ...

BACKGROUND CONTEXT Retrolisthesis is relatively rare but when present has been associated with increased back pain and impaired back function. Neither the prevalence of this condition in individuals with lumbar disc herniations nor its possible relation to preoperative back pain and dysfunction has been well studied. PURPOSE The purposes of this study were as follows: (1) to determine the pre...

a woman presenting with severe right lower quadrant (rlq) abdominal pain is presented here. she was evaluated for all usual cause of such pain. laboratory tests and abdominal and pelvic sonography was normal. mri revealed l1-l2 disc herniation.

BACKGROUND In previous studies, Propionibacterium acnes was cultured from intervertebral disc tissue of ~25% of patients undergoing microdiscectomy, suggesting a possible link between chronic bacterial infection and disc degeneration. However, given the prominence of P. acnes as a skin commensal, such analyses often struggled to exclude the alternate possibility that these organisms represent p...

The Milky Way has distinct structural stellar components linked to its formation and subsequent evolution, but disentangling them is nontrivial. With the recent availability of high-quality data for a large numbers stars in Way, it natural next step research evolution Galaxy perform automated explorations with unsupervised methods structures hidden combination large-scale spectroscopic, astrome...