Study designA prospective clinical study assessing new vertebral compression fracture after previous treatment.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence and associated risk factors of new symptomatic osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) in patients treated by percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and kyphoplasty (PKP) versus conservative treatment, and to elucidate our findings.Summary of background dataThere are a lot of reports concerning the feasibility and efficacy of this minimally invasive procedure compared with conservative treatment, especially in pain soothing. However, it is still unclear whether the risk of subsequent fracture has increased among operative treatment patients in the long term.MethodsFrom November 2005 to July 2009, 290 consecutive patients with 363 OVCFs were randomly selected for PVP/PKP or conservative treatment and evaluated with a mean follow-up of 49.4 months (36–80 months). Some parameters were characterized and statistically compared in this study. Telephone questionnaires, clinical reexamine, and plain radiographs were performed in the follow-up.ResultsThirty-one of 290 (10.7 %) patients had experienced 42 newly developed symptomatic secondary OVCFs. Among 169 operation (53.3 % vertebroplasty, 46.7 % kyphoplasty) and 121 comparison patients, there is no significant statistical difference of new OVCFs incidence between the two groups calculated by patient proportion. However, in separate, the rate of secondary adjacent fractures calculated by vertebral refracture number is significantly higher than non-adjacent levels in PVP/PKP group but no significant statistical difference was observed in conservative group. The time interval of recompression after operative procedure was much shorter than that for comparison group (9.7 ± 17.8 versus 22.4 ± 7.99 months, p = 0.017). In addition, older age, gender, fracture times, location of original fracture segment, the amount of cement, cement leakage, operation modality (PVP or PKP),and initial number of OVCFs were documented, but these were not the influencing factors in this study (p > 0.05).Conclusions Patients who had experienced PVP/PKP were not associated with an increased risk of recompression in new levels. However, recompression in new levels of PVP/PKP group occurred much sooner than that of conservative group in the follow-up period. The incidence of new vertebral fractures observed at adjacent levels was substantially higher but no sooner than at distant levels in PVP/PKP group. No major risk factors involving new OVCFs have been found in this study and  augmentation for sandwich situation is not necessary.

Helicobacter pylori lipopolysaccharide promotes chronic gastric colonisation through O-antigen host mimicry and resistance to mucosal antimicrobial peptides mediated primarily by modifications of the lipid A. The structural organisation of the core and O-antigen domains of H. pylori lipopolysaccharide remains unclear, as the O-antigen attachment site has still to be identified experimentally. Here, structural investigations of lipopolysaccharides purified from two wild-type strains and the O-antigen ligase mutant revealed that the H. pylori core-oligosaccharide domain is a short conserved hexasaccharide (Glc-Gal-DD-Hep-LD-Hep-LD-Hep-KDO) decorated with the O-antigen domain encompassing a conserved trisaccharide (-DD-Hep-Fuc-GlcNAc-) and variable glucan, heptan and Lewis antigens. Furthermore, the putative heptosyltransferase HP1284 was found to be required for the transfer of the third heptose residue to the core-oligosaccharide. Interestingly, mutation of HP1284 did not affect the ligation of the O-antigen and resulted in the attachment of the O-antigen onto an incomplete core-oligosaccharide missing the third heptose and the adjoining Glc-Gal residues. Mutants deficient in either HP1284 or O-antigen ligase displayed a moderate increase in susceptibility to polymyxin B but were unable to colonise the mouse gastric mucosa. Finally, mapping mutagenesis and colonisation data of previous studies onto the redefined organisation of H. pylori lipopolysaccharide revealed that only the conserved motifs were essential for colonisation. In conclusion, H. pylori lipopolysaccharide is missing the canonical inner and outer core organisation. Instead it displays a short core and a longer O-antigen encompassing residues previously assigned as the outer core domain. The redefinition of H. pylori lipopolysaccharide domains warrants future studies to dissect the role of each domain in host-pathogen interactions. Also enzymes involved in the assembly of the conserved core structure, such as HP1284, could be attractive targets for the design of new therapeutic agents for managing persistent H. pylori infection causing peptic ulcers and gastric cancer.

The use of temperature data from poorly sited stations can lead to a false sense of confidence in the robustness of multidecadal surface air temperature trend assessments.

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Background: Ventral and dorsal sides of urethra were chosen to place grafts in free graft onlay urethroplasty. As the advantages and disadvantages of these two sites are still unclear, we systemically analyzed clinical articles reported in the literature. Materials and Methods: The literature till October 2007 regarding the use of ventral/dorsal graft urethroplasty in anterior urethral strictures was searched using the MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE databases. ‘Urethral stricture’ or ‘urethral stenosis’ and ‘urethroplasty’ or ‘urethral reconstruction’ were used as search terms. Data were analyzed independently by two reviewers. Results: 49 studies (1,263 cases) were included. The success rates of ventral onlay urethroplasty (750 cases) and dorsal onlay (513 cases) were 82.5 and 86.9% (p = 0.034). Buccal mucosa graft had the highest success rate (88.1%) and had a similar rate between the dorsal and ventral onlay techniques (89.2 vs. 87.6%, p = 0.472). For free skin graft, the dorsal onlay success rate was higher than ventral (84.7 vs. 74.7, p = 0.016). Bulbar urethral stricture achieved the higher success rate than pendulous urethral stricture (87.4 vs. 77.6%, p = 0.019). Conclusions: Dorsal onlay is better than ventral onlay in free skin graft urethroplasty. Bulbar urethra is the most suitable site for graft onlay urethroplasty, and buccal mucosa graft is helpful for achieving good results.

Magnetic stimulation (MS) is a novel approach for treating urinary incontinence (UI), but its applicability remains unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to evaluate the effects of MS treatment on UI. A literature search was performed in EMBASE, PubMed and Cochrane Library (from May 2018 to August 2018), and all randomized control trials (RCTs) published in English were screened to determine whether they met the inclusion criteria. A manual search of the reference lists of the retrieved studies was also performed. Eleven studies involving 612 patients were included in this review. According to the results of the meta-analysis, MS therapy relieved UI symptoms evaluated using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF) score (mean difference [MD] −3.03, 95% CI −3.27 to −2.79). In addition, the frequency of UI in the MS treatment group was also alleviated compared with sham group (MD −1.42, 95% CI −2.15 to −0.69). Finally, MS treatment improved the quality of life of patients with UI (standardized mean difference [SMD] −1.00, 95% CI −1.24 to −0.76). Our meta-analysis preliminarily indicates that MS treatment is an effective therapeutic modality for patients with UI. Nevertheless, additional large, high quality RCTs with a longer follow-up period that use consistent stimulation methods and analyse comparable outcomes are required to validate the efficacy.

Cervical spondylosis patients with sympathetic symptoms may be managed successfully with ACDF using PEEK cages. Successful clinical results regarding symptom improvement and general satisfaction with the surgical procedure depend on obtaining successful decompression and radiographic fusion.

A total of 25 consecutive patients suffering from degenerative cervical disc disease who underwent three-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) including polyetheretherketone (PEEK) cages packed with allograft were followed up for at least two years. The fusion rate reached 72% (18/25), and asymptomatic pseudarthrosis was seen in 6 patients but without mobility on flexion-extension radiographs, and revision surgery was not needed. Cage subsidence occurred at one level (C67), but it was not progressive, and reoperation was not necessary. A significant increase (P < 0.001) in fused segment angle (FSA) and fused segment height (FSH) was observed postoperatively. Similarly, a significant clinical improvement (P < 0.001) was demonstrated postoperatively in terms of Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score and visual analog scales (VASs) score. PEEK cages alone with allograft proved to be a safe and effective surgical option in the treatment of three-level degenerative cervical disc disease. Although the fusion rate was not high, this technique may offer improvement of symptomatology and maintenance of cervical spine's sagittal profile.