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Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing worldwide. Thereby, an increasing rate of patients with DM are subjecting to spine surgery. Reviewing the literature, a higher rate of surgery-related complications is reported in DM patients. There is no prospective study comparing the outcomes of lumbar fusion surgery in patients with and without DM. We aimed to investigate whether DM is associated with worse patientreported outcomes, lower fusion rate, and higher complication rate in subjects undergoing spinal lumbar fusion surgery. Methods: Forty-eight subjects with DM (DM group) and 48 controls (control group) were recruited. Data regarding age, duration of diabetes, comorbidities, fasting blood sugar, HbA1c, insulin dependence, duration of operation and the volume of bleeding, and the number of infused packed cell were recorded for all patients. Pain and functional status of the patients using the visual analogue scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) were measured before operation and 2 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year after lumbar spinal fusion surgery. Using lumbar computed tomography scan and anteroposterior and lateral x-ray 1 year after the surgery, fusion was assessed. Results: Fusion rate after 1 year was 78% in the control group and 53% in the DM group (P ¼ .02). Patients with DM had higher VAS scores comparing to controls 1 year after the operation, but the difference was not significant (P ¼ .07). However, comparing the functional status of the subjects, significantly higher ODI scores were found among DM patients comparing to controls (P ¼ .002). Conclusion: Rate of fusion among diabetic patients who undergo lumbar spinal fusion surgery is lower than healthy controls. Spine surgeons should consider this to provide the best possible facilities during the surgery to increase the fusion rate in these patients.

The data suggest that the glycaemic response to an OGTT may predict the risk of development of diabetes in first-degree relatives of DM patients.

Objective: To determine whether addition of letrozole to a misoprostol-based abortion regimen can increase the rate of complete abortion. Methods: The randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial enrolled women with missed abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy attending Sadooghi Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, from 2016 to 2018. The women were randomly assigned to the study group, which received 10 mg of letrozole daily for 3 days, followed by two doses of 800 μg of vaginal misoprostol at a 4-hour interval, or the control group, which received a placebo, followed by the same dose of misoprostol. Sonography was performed to check the abortion status. Results: In total, 120 women completed the study: 60 in the misoprostol plus letrozole group, and 60 in the misoprostol only group. Complete abortion was documented for 93 (77.5%) women: 48 (80.0%) in the misoprostol plus letrozole group and 45 (75.0%) in the misoprostol only group (P=0.80). The mean duration of induction in the misoprostol plus letrozole and misoprostol only groups was 7.35 ± 3.54 hours and 8.2 ± 3.84 hours, respectively (P=0.21). Conclusion: Administration of misoprostol alone was found to be as effective as the administration of misoprostol plus letrozole for first-trimester missed abortion.

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Our data suggest that decreased levels of adiponectin might be associated with developing complications of diabetes. This study did not provide any supportive results for the association of increased sd-LDL concentrations with CVD; neither for its association with other complications of diabetes.

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This study aimed to investigate the cervical collar impact on the functional outcomes of patients after posterior cervical laminectomy and lateral mass screw fixation (PCLF) surgery. Overview of Literature: The safety and possible benefits of implementing rigid cervical collars subsequent to PCLF are insufficiently investigated. Methods: Patients who underwent PCLF and received postoperative cervical collars from 2018 to 2020 were included in this retrospective cohort study. Their data were compared with an age-and sex-matched group of subjects who did not receive collars after PCLF during the same period. Pain intensity (using the Visual Analog Scale), Neck Disability Index, and quality of life (using 36-item Short Form Health Survey) of the patients were compared at baseline, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Results: A total of 36 patients who received cervical collars after surgery and 40 controls were included. At baseline and 1-month follow-up, there were no differences in pain intensity, functional status, and quality of life between the groups. However, at 3 months postoperatively, the quality of life of the subjects with no orthosis was higher than those who received cervical collars (p=0.01). At 6and 12-month follow-up, there were no differences between the groups in pain intensity, functional status, and quality of life. Conclusions: No difference in the pain intensity and functional status of patients who used cervical collars and controls was shown in our study. Patients who did not wear cervical collars had a higher quality of life during the 3-month postoperative evaluation. Future prospective, well-controlled studies with longer follow-ups are needed to further investigate the effects of cervical orthosis on the clinical outcome of patients after PCLF.