The termination of superior sagittal sinus and drainage patterns of the lateral, occipital at confluens sinuum in newborns: clinical and embryological implications.

Drainage patterns of dural venous sinuses at confluens sinuum are variable and clinically significant. It has been generally investigated in adults; however, we thought that neonatal cadaver study might be more informative in views of embryological and clinical. A total of 33 skull bases of neonatal cadavers were resected to identify termination patterns of lateral sinus (LS), superior sagittal sinus (SSS) and occipital sinus (OS) at the confluens sinuum. Termination patterns of these sinuses were classified into six types: the SSS showed continuity with right transverse sinus (TS) (with OSs) (30.3%) (Type I); or multiple OSs (21.2%) (Type II). The SSS continued with left TS (with OSs) (12.1% (Type III); or with multiple OSs (6.1%) (Type IV). The SSS shows continuity with both TS (9.1%) (Type V). SSS symmetrically bifurcated, the confluens sinuum has a large OS (21.2%) (Type VI). Understanding of the cerebral venous drainage and large variation of the posterior fossa dural sinuses is crucially important for planning surgical intervention to some tumors in the neck which may require ligation of the internal jugular vein.

There are no estrogen and progesterone receptors in cerebral cavernomas: a preliminary immunohistochemical study.

BACKGROUND: Literature consistently mentions that pregnancy and hormonal therapy probably increase the bleeding rate and seizure expression of cerebral cavernomas. Either increased hormonal activity or embryogenesis related abundant expression of some growth factors such as VEGF, bFGF, and placental growth factor during pregnancy were proposed to initiate angiogenic process and vascular proliferation in cavernomas, thereby increasing their bleeding rate and seizure expression. METHODS: To reveal whether estrogen and/or progesterone have direct effect on cerebral cavernomas, their receptor expressions were studied immunohistochemically in recently excised 12 cerebral cavernomas. RESULTS: Study showed no expression of either estrogen or progesterone receptors in cerebral cavernomas even the staining worked well in positive control tissues of infiltrative ductal carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Aggressive behavior of cerebral cavernomas during pregnancy is a commonly proven observation and attributed to some hormonal effects. However, this effect seems not related to effect of estrogen or progesterone on cavernoma tissue via receptor binding.

Increased electrical and metabolic activity in the dorsal raphe nucleus of Parkinsonian rats.

Serotonin (5-HT) containing neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) may play important roles in Parkinson's disease (PD). This study investigated neural and metabolic activity of the DRN in animal PD models based on dopamine depletion. The data show both increased firing rate of DRN 5-HT neurons and increased cytochrome oxidase activity in dopamine-depleted rats, as compared to controls. These data support the hypothesis that the DRN 5-HT system is hyperactive in the dopamine-depleted brain.

Simple technique for removing broken pedicular screw with plain and serviceable screwdriver.

Removing the broken pedicular screw after spinal hardware failure is usually problematic. A specially designed simple screwdriver and easy removal technique of broken pedicular screw with this screwdriver are described in this article.