[Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion:Safe Surgical Operation Based on Detailed Anatomical Knowledge].

Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion(ACDF)was developed by R.B. Cloward in the 1950s and it has spread over the world for the treatment of the spinal degenerative disorders. It is considered to be the most effective treatment for patients with anterior compression of the spinal cord. Because most of the surgical complications reportedly occur while approaching the vertebral column through the subcutaneous tissues, precise knowledge of the topographic anatomy of the neck is crucial for effective and safe surgery. In this paper, we describe the appropriate surgical maneuvers in each surgical step, based on anatomical knowledge, for avoiding surgery-related complications. We would like to emphasize that anatomical features differ with individual patients; therefore, careful preoperative evaluation is very important. Surgical strategy, based on adequate preoperative evaluation, will lead to good postoperative results.

Metal-Peptide Nonafoil Knots and Decafoil Supercoils.

Despite the frequent occurrence of knotted frameworks in protein structures, the latent potential of peptide strands to form entangled structures is rarely discussed in peptide chemistry. Here we report the construction of highly entangled molecular topologies from Ag(I) ions and tripeptide ligands. The efficient entanglement of metal-peptide strands and the wide scope for design of the amino acid side chains in these ligands enabled the construction of metal-peptide 91 torus knots and 1012 torus links. Moreover, steric control of the peptide side chain induced ring opening and twisting of the torus framework, which resulted in an infinite toroidal supercoil nanostructure.

A metal-peptide capsule by multiple ring threading.

Cavity creation is a key to the origin of biological functions. Small cavities such as enzyme pockets are created simply through liner peptide folding. Nature can create much larger cavities by threading and entangling large peptide rings, as learned from gigantic virus capsids, where not only chemical structures but the topology of threaded rings must be controlled. Although interlocked molecules are a topic of current interest, they have for decades been explored merely as elements of molecular machines, or as a synthetic challenge. No research has specifically targeted them for, and succesfully achieved, cavity creation. Here we report the emergence of a huge capsular framework via multiple threading of metal-peptide rings. Six equivalent C4-propeller-shaped rings, each consisting of four oligopeptides and Ag+, are threaded by each other a total of twelve times (crossing number: 24) to assemble into a well-defined 4 nm-sized sphere, which acts as a huge molecular capsule.