Our findings demonstrate significant changes of muscle fiber redistribution in the paraspinal muscles of AIS with increased proportion of type I on the convexity corresponding to a significantly higher amplitude of MUPs on the same side. A possible explanation of this alteration is a secondary adaptation due to chronic high load demand.

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A prospective 3-year randomized study comparing conservative and surgical treatment of spondylotic cervical myelopathy to establish predictive factors for outcome after conservative treatment and surgery. The clinical, electrophysiological and imaging parameters were examined to reveal how they characterized the clinical outcome. Statistically, pair-wise and multiple comparisons of different were used with the independent t-test and on one-way anova models followed by Tukey multiple-range tests. The patients with a good outcome in the conservatively treated group were of older age before treatment, had normal central motor conduction time (CMCT), and possessed a larger transverse area of the spinal cord. The patients with a good outcome in the surgically treated group had a more serious clinical picture (expressed in mJOA score and slower walk). Patients should rather be treated conservatively if they a spinal transverse area larger than 70 mm2, are of older age, and have normal CMCT. Surgery is more suitable for patients with clinically worse status and a lesser transverse area of spinal cord.

The 3-year follow-up study did not show, on the average, that the surgery is superior to conservative treatment for mild and moderate forms of spondylotic cervical myelopathy.

A total of 478 malformations were found in 417 patients, which constituted 27.6 % of the entire group. Malformations occurred in 250 women (25.4 % of all women) and 167 men (31.6 % of all men) and the female to male ratio in affected individuals was 1.5:1. The predominance of the occurrence of malformations observed in men was statistically significant (p = 0.009). The most frequently occurring malformations were the presence of six sacral vertebrae (179 patients) and megatransversus at L5 (150 patients). The study confirmed a high incidence of congenital malformations in the area of the lumbosacral transitional vertebrae and demonstrated a higher incidence in males. Unilaterally occurring megatransversus at L5 was significantly more common on the left side.

A prospective 3-year randomized study comparing conservative and surgical treatment of spondylotic cervical myelopathy to establish predictive factors for outcome after conservative treatment and surgery. The clinical, electrophysiological and imaging parameters were examined to reveal how they characterized the clinical outcome. The patients with a good outcome in the conservatively treated group were of older age before treatment, had normal central motor conduction time (CMCT), and possessed a larger transverse area of the spinal cord. The patients with a good outcome in the surgically treated group had a more serious clinical picture (expressed in mJOA score and slower walk). Patients should rather be treated conservatively if they have a spinal transverse area larger than 70 mm2, are of older age and have normal CMCT. Surgery is more suitable for patients with clinically worse status and a lesser transverse area of spinal cord.

Our work aimed at extending the search for abnormalities of trace elements in patients with idiopathic scoliosis to the content of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and selenium (Se) in these subject's hair and serum. A total of 59 patients (54 girls and 4 boys) with idiopathic scoliosis, aged 13 on the average (range, 10-18 years), were examined. The degree of spine curvature deformity ranged between 128 and 828. The hair of scoliotic patients under examination showed significantly increased content of zinc 263 AE 108 mg/g (p < 0.01) and copper 46.2 AE 37.1 mg/g (p < 0.01), and decreased content of selenium 0.194 AE 0.114 mg/g (p < 0.01) in comparison with the control group. In scoliotic patients, the Cu/ Zn ratio in hair (0.186 AE 0.139) did not differ significantly from the values found in the probands of the control group (0.115 AE 0.09). The Cu/Se ratio in this group of patients (254.9 AE 215.9) was significantly higher (p < 0.001) due to a higher Cu value and a lower Se value in comparison with the controls (47.9 AE 23.7). In comparison with controls, the serum selenium concentration in the group of scoliotic patients was significantly decreased p < 0.05 (0.74 AE 0.13 mmol/L and 0.98 AE 0.12 mmol/L). Various changes in the content of trace elements in biological samples taken from patients with idiopathic scoliosis are not accidental. What might bring about a shift in our knowledge is speciation of various forms of trace elements in the organism in relation to idiopathic scoliosis. ß

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