Surgical results of Hybrid Mita method to idiopathic scoliosis: minimum two years follow-up.

Hybrid Mita (Suzuki) method is a newly developed technique of scoliosis surgery. This concept consists of three components: rib mobilization, rod rotation maneuver and hook rotation maneuver, which does not require intra-operative CT scan with lower risk of screw malposition. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacies of this method for correction in scoliosis. : This is a retrospective observational study, consist of eighty-nine idiopathic scoliosis patients who underwent this method between 2009 and 2016 with minimum 2-years follow-up. The curve pattern, Cobb angle, hump height and angle, peri-operative events and complications were analyzed. The mean pre- and post-operative Cobb angle was 50.9° and 10.1°, respectively. The average correction rate was 80.5%. Hump height was reduced from 20.2 mm to 9.8 mm and hump angle reduced from 13.1° to 6.1° in average. The correction loss at the final follow-up was 0.3° in average. There were two local superficial infection cases, but there was no instrumentation failure such as malposition or dislodgement, or pseudarthrosis. This novel method is promising to provide excellent clinical correction to idiopathic scoliosis, which is no less than all pedicle screw constructs. The technique of the skillful utilization of hooks in spinal surgery should not perish from the stage.

Systematic evaluation of magnetic sensitivities of anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors at liquid helium temperature for superconducting cavities.

Trapped magnetic flux in bulk superconductors reduces the quality factor Q in superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities. However, the mechanisms underlying flux trapping and radio-frequency loss are not well understood. Detailed observation of the magnetic distributions is important for understanding such phenomena. Magnetic field mapping is useful for observing the magnetic field distribution around SRF cavities. Measuring the change in the magnetic field around the cavity elucidates the flux trapping behavior. Anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) sensors are inexpensive and small devices that can detect magnetic flux density. The magnetic sensitivities of AMR sensors need to be evaluated at liquid helium temperature for the magnetic field mapping of SRF cavities. In this study, a test stand was constructed to calibrate the magnetic sensitivities of AMR sensors in liquid helium, and 110 AMR sensors were tested using this stand. The magnetic sensitivities were evaluated systematically. A solenoid coil was used to control the uniform external magnetic field and to measure the magnetic sensitivity at low temperatures. All AMR sensors exhibited suitable sensitivities to the magnetic field around the SRF cavity. The variation in these sensitivities in all AMR sensors was ∼1%. The AMR sensors were found to have sufficient sensitivity for mapping the magnetic field around the exterior surface of the SRF cavity.

Helical Phase Structure of Radiation from an Electron in Circular Motion.

We theoretically show that a single free electron in circular motion radiates an electromagnetic wave possessing helical phase structure, which is closely related to orbital angular momentum carried by it. We experimentally demonstrate it by interference and double-slit diffraction experiments on radiation from relativistic electrons in spiral motion. Our results indicate that photons carrying orbital angular momentum should be created naturally by cyclotron/synchrotron radiations or Compton scatterings in various situations in cosmic space. We propose promising laboratory vortex photon sources in various wavelengths ranging from radio wave to gamma-rays.

Teriparatide improves volumetric bone mineral density and fine bone structure in the UIV+1 vertebra, and reduces bone failure type PJK after surgery for adult spinal deformity.

We conducted a prospective comparative study of the effect of teriparatide therapy for preventing vertebral-failure-type PJK after reconstructive surgery for adult spinal deformity. Prophylactic teriparatide improved the volumetric bone mineral density and fine bone structure of the vertebra above the upper-instrumented vertebra and reduced the incidence of vertebral-failure-type PJK. INTRODUCTION: Proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) is a complication after corrective surgery for spinal deformity. This study sought to determine whether teriparatide (TP) is an effective prophylactic against PJK type 2 (vertebral fracture) in surgically treated patients with adult spinal deformity (ASD). METHODS: Forty-three patients who started TP therapy immediately after surgery and 33 patients who did not receive TP were enrolled in this prospective case series. These patients were female, over 50, surgically treated for ASD, and followed for at least 2 years. Preoperative and postoperative standing whole-spine X-rays and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans, and multidetector CT images obtained before and 6 months after surgery were used to analyze the bone strength in the vertebra above the upper-instrumented vertebra (UIV+1). RESULTS: Mean age was 67.9 years. After 6 months of treatment, mean hip-bone mineral density (BMD) increased from 0.721 to 0.771 g/cm2 in the TP group and decreased from 0.759 to 0.729 g/cm2 in the control group. This percent BMD change between groups was significant (p < 0.05). The volumetric BMD (326 to 366 mg/cm3) and bone mineral content (BMC) (553 to 622 mg) at UIV+1 were also significantly increased in TP group. The bone volume/tissue volume ratio increased from 46 to 54 % in the TP group, and the trabecular bone thickness and number increased by 14 and 5 %, respectively. At the 2-year follow-up, the PJK type 2 incidence was significantly lower in the TP group (4.6 %) than in the control group (15.2 %; p = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic TP treatment improved the volumetric BMD and fine bone structure at UIV+1 and reduced the PJK-type 2 incidence.

Characteristics of neuropathic pain and its relationship with quality of life in 72 patients with spinal cord injury.

STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. OBJECTIVES: Neuropathic pain (NP) after spinal cord injury (SCI) tends to be hard to treat, and its heterogeneous properties make it difficult to identify and characterize. This study was conducted to assess the characteristics of SCI-related NP in detail. SETTING: A single hospital for SCI rehabilitation. METHODS: This study included 72 patients who were seen at our hospital in 2012 and 2013 and who had sustained SCI at least 3 months before enrollment. The patients completed the Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory (NPSI) and the Short Form (SF)-36 Health Inventory. The NPSI score was analyzed for correlations with clinical presentations of SCI and SF-36 subitems. RESULTS: Paresthesia/dysesthesia was the most common subtype of NP after SCI. With regard to location, below-level superficial NP was significantly more intense than at-level pain. Patients who underwent surgery showed significantly less evoked pain compared with patients with non-surgery. Patients reported significantly more severe pain if >1 year had elapsed after the SCI. Patients with an American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grade of B for completeness of injury reported more intense NP than those with other grades. Among the SF-36 subitems, NP correlated significantly with bodily pain, general health and mental health. CONCLUSION: NP in SCI patients was significantly associated with the location of pain, the time period since the injury, surgery and quality-of-life factors. A more detailed understanding of the characteristics of NP may contribute to better strategies for relieving the pain associated with SCI.

Microbunching instability in relativistic electron bunches: direct observations of the microstructures using ultrafast YBCO detectors.

Relativistic electron bunches circulating in accelerators are subjected to a dynamical instability leading to microstructures at millimeter to centimeter scale. Although this is a well-known fact, direct experimental observations of the structures, or the field that they emit, remained up to now an open problem. Here, we report the direct, shot-by-shot, time-resolved recording of the shapes (including envelope and carrier) of the pulses of coherent synchrotron radiation that are emitted, and that are a "signature" of the electron bunch microstructure. The experiments are performed on the UVSOR-III storage ring, using electrical field sensitive YBa2Cu3O(7-x) thin-film ultrafast detectors. The observed patterns are subjected to permanent drifts, that can be explained from a reasoning in phase space, using macroparticle simulations.

Biosynthesis of bicyclomycin. II. Biosynthetic conditions and incorporation of radioactive precursors into bicyclomycin by washed mycelium.

The biosynthesis of bicyclomycin by Streptomyces sapporonensis was studied using suspensions of washed mycelium. Nicotinamide and Fe2+ were found to be essential cofactors in the biosynthesis. Production of bicyclomycin was enhanced most effectively in the presence of equal moles of L-leucine and L-isoleucine, which in experiments with radioactively labeled compounds were found to be incorporated into bicyclomycin at equivalent rates. These facts strongly suggest that bicyclomycin biosynthesis involves coupling of equal moles of these two amino acids.

Biosynthesis of bicyclomycin. I. Appearance of aerial mycelia negative strains (am-).

The degeneration of bicyclomycin-producing strains of Streptomyces sapporonensis resulted in sharply depressed bicyclomycin formation in a large scale fermentation. Degenerated strains, whose productivities were only 1/30 to 1/100 of normal strains, could not form aerial mycelia on glucose-BENNETT's agar; they were aerial mycelia negative strains (am-). Repeated transfers of culture, treatment of mycelia with acriflavin, mechanical agitation shock on mycelia or higher growth conditions stimulated the degeneration of producing strains, suggesting the involvement of extrachromosomal elements or plasmids in biosynthesis of bicyclomycin. Shake flask fermentation inoculated with a mixture of a normal high-producing strain and a degenerated low-producing strain resulted in sharply depressed bicyclomycin formation in proportion to the increase of low-producing strain added. It appears that the low-producing strain outgrew the high-producing strain.

Recent biosynthetic studies on beta-lactam antibiotics.

Recent experimental observations on the cell-free formation of penicillins and cephalosporins in protoplast lysates from C. acremonium are described. Conversion of radiolabelled penicillin N into deacetoxycephalosporin C is described. A proposal is made about the general types of mechanism involved in these conversions.

Cell-free conversion of delta-(L-alpha-aminoadipyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine into an antibiotic with the properties of isopenicillin N in Cephalosporium acremonium.

Cell-free extracts of antibiotic-negative mutants of Cephalosporium acremonium converted delta-(L-alpha-aminoadipyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine (LLD-tripeptide) into an antibiotic that was destroyed by penicillinase. The enzymic activity of the extracts was destroyed by boiling, but was not inhibited by cycloheximide. LLL-Tripeptide was totally inactive as substrate. The product resembled isopenicillin N, but not penicillin N, in its antibacterial spectrum. We propose that isopenicillin N is the first product of cyclization of LLD-tripeptide.

Cell-free ring expansion of penicillin N to deacetoxycephalosporin C by Cephalosporium acremonium CW-19 and its mutants.

To examine microbiological ring expansion of penicillin N to a cephalosporin, we obtained five mutants of Cephalosporium acremonium blocked in beta-lactam antibiotic biosynthesis from 2500 survivors of mutagenesis. In submerged fermentation, mutants M-0198, M-0199, and M-2351 produced no beta-lactam antibiotic (type A), whereas mutants M-1443 and M-1836 formed penicillin N but not cephalosporin C (type B). Cell-free extracts of type A mutants converted penicillin N to a cephalosporin; those of type B mutants did not. The product of the cell-free reaction was identified as deacetoxycephalosporin C by thin-layer chromatography, paper chromatography, paper electrophoresis, and enzyme tests. These data strongly support our hypothesis that penicillin N is an intermediate of cephalosporin biosynthesis.

Nocardicin A, a new monocyclic beta-lactam antibiotic. I. Discovery, isolation and characterization.

Nocardicin A is a new monocyclic beta-lactam antibiotic obtained from the fermentation broth of a strain of actinomycetes. The producing organism, strain WS 1571, was identified as Nocardia uniformis subsp. tsuyamanensis ATCC 21806. The antibiotic, obtained as colorless crystals, exhibits moderate in vitro antibacterial activity against a broad-spectrum of Gram-negative bacteria including Proteus and Pseudomonas. It has low toxicity in laboratory animals.

Enterocin, a new antibiotic taxonomy, isolation and characterization.

Enterocin is a new antibiotic isolated from cultures of two strains of Streptomyces, which were given the names Streptomyces candidus var. enterostaticus WS-8096 and variant M-127 of Streptomyces viridochromogenes. Its elementary analysis and mass spectroscopic measurement suggest the molecular formula is C22H20010. The ultraviolet absorption gave two maximal peaks at 250 nm and 283 nm in methanol. Enterocin has static activities against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and no activity against fungi and yeast.