Validation of a Core Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for Life Participation in Kidney Transplant Recipients: the SONG Life Participation Instrument.

Introduction: Life participation has been established as a critically important core for trials in kidney transplantation. We aimed to validate a patient-reported outcome measure for life participation in kidney transplant recipients. Methods: A psychometric evaluation of the Standardized Outcomes in Nephrology life participation (SONG-LP) measure was conducted in adult kidney transplant recipients. The measure includes 4 items of life participation (leisure, family, work, and social) each with a 5-point Likert scale. Each item is scored from 0 (never) to 4 (always) and the summary measure score the average of each item. Results: A total of 249 adult kidney transplant recipients from 20 countries participated. The SONG-LP instrument demonstrated internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.87; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.83-0.90, baseline) and test-retest reliability over 1 week (intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.62; 95% CI: 0.54-0.70). There was moderate to high correlation (0.65; 95% CI: 0.57-0.72) with the PROMIS Ability to Participate in Social Roles and Activities Short Form 8a that assessed a similar construct, and moderate correlation with measures that assessed related concepts (i.e., EQ5D 0.57; 95% CI: 0.49-0.65), PROMIS Cognitive Functional Abilities Subset Short Form 4a (0.40; 95% CI: 0.29-0.50). Conclusion: The SONG-LP instrument is a simple, internally consistent, reliable measure for kidney transplant recipients and correlates with similar measures. Routine incorporation in clinical trials will ensure consistent and appropriate assessment of life participation for informed patient-centered decision-making.

The Lateral Ventricles: A Detailed Review of Anatomy, Development, and Anatomic Variations.

The cerebral ventricles have been studied since the fourth century BC and were originally thought to harbor the soul and higher executive functions. During the infancy of neuroradiology, alterations to the ventricular shape and position on pneumoencephalography and ventriculography were signs of mass effect or volume loss. However, in the current era of high-resolution cross-sectional imaging, variation in ventricular anatomy is more easily detectable and its clinical significance is still being investigated. Interpreting radiologists must be aware of anatomic variations of the ventricular system to prevent mistaking normal variants for pathology. We will review of the anatomy and development of the lateral ventricles and discuss several ventricular variations.

[The importance of interspinous spacers in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis]. / Stellenwert der interspinösen Implantate in der Therapie der lumbalen Spinalkanalstenose.

INTRODUCTION: In the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis, interspinous spacers can be used in a tissue and time sparing technique. Relief of low back pain might be achieved by stress reduction of facet joints and limitation of segmental mobility. AIM: Presentation of dynamic stabilization by means of an interspinous spacer with and without decompression and to compare it with the outcome of decompression and fusion. MATERIAL AND METHODS: As part of a PubMed search, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs from high-quality controlled clinical trials were selected and contrasted with our own experience. RESULTS: The current literature was evaluated, which assesses interspinous spacers with and without decompression in comparison with the "gold standard", the microsurgical interlaminar decompression. CONCLUSION: Published data indicate that the use of interspinous spacers with or without decompression for the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis is not less effective than stand-alone decompression. The reoperation rate can only be proven for implants without decompression on the basis of Level I studies. However, as a link between decompression alone and fusion, it cannot yet provide a scientifically clear solution.

[Lumbar spinal canal stenosis : A historical perspective]. / Die lumbale Spinalkanalstenose : Eine historische Perspektive.

To know the history of a disease and its treatment is always instructive and helps us to understand the contexts better. It also shows what unbelievable preliminary work was necessary for us be able to treat patients today in the way we are used to. This article attempts to shed light on spinal canal stenosis from a historical perspective and to identify the pioneers who contributed to the understanding of the epidemiology, anatomy, pathogenesis, classification and diagnostic work-up of spinal canal stenosis. In addition, the efforts of scientists and clinicians who have participated in developing the treatment of lumbar spinal canal stenosis in the last seven decades should be recognized.

[Lumbar synovial cysts: literature review and original long-term results after microsurgical resection]. / Die lumbalen Synovialzysten: Literaturreview und originäre Langzeitergebnisse nach mikrochirurgischer Resektion.

BACKGROUND: Intraspinal lumbar vertebral joint cysts are an unusual cause of nerve root compression symptoms and do not differ clinically from the symptoms of a herniated disc. PATHOGENESIS: The cysts originate from the small vertebral joints and, depending on their size, compress the nerval structures. The affected vertebral joints typically show activated arthritic circumstances, which are associated with degenerative spondylolisthesis in about 50% of cases. In the majority of cases, MRT and CT can be used for diagnostic purposes. The exact etiology has not been fully clarified; various factors such as activated arthritis of the vertebral joints appear to be the major cause. TREATMENT: Treatment options include conservative, semi-invasive and surgical therapy. Conservative and semi-invasive treatment methods lead to temporary improvement. The result of surgical treatment, however, is excellent in a complete resection of synovial cysts. In In rare cases, an initial fusion is necessary in rare cases.

Recurrent arachnoid cyst of Meckel's cave mimicking a brain stem ischaemia. Report of a rare case.

UNLABELLED: A 44-years old man developed TIA-like symptoms with dysaesthesia around the mouth, vertigo and diplopia. MRI revealed a cystic space-occupying lesion on the right Meckel's cave, which spread out into cerebellopontine angle in a further examination. Therefore surgical exploration was performed using a suboccipital approach. An arachnoidal cyst was found and removed including its wall. About three months later the patient suffered again from dysaesthesias of the right side of the face and a new MRI revealed a recurrence of the lesion, with extension into the cerebellopontine angle, too. Surgical revision was done using the same approach and the recurrent cyst was removed. Postoperatively, there were a transient hypaesthesia in the distribution area of the right trigeminal nerve and a light pulmonary embolism occurred as a complication. No symptoms have returned during an observation period of 15 months. CONCLUSION: An arachnoidal cyst must be considered as a rare cause, when a lesion is found at the Meckel's cave with intermittent clinical symptoms of a trigeminal nerve affection. As surgical treatment we favour fenestration and cyst wall resection.

Identification of Enterococcus species and phenotypically similar Lactococcus and Vagococcus species by reverse checkerboard hybridization to chaperonin 60 gene sequences.

Data from four recent studies (S. H. Goh et al., J. Clin. Microbiol. 36:2164-2166, 1998; S. H. Goh et al., J. Clin. Microbiol. 34:818-823, 1996; S. H. Goh et al., J. Clin. Microbiol. 35:3116-3121, 1997; A. Y. C. Kwok et al., Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 49:1181-1192, 1999) suggest that an approximately 600-bp region of the chaperonin 60 (Cpn60) gene, amplified by PCR with a single pair of degenerate primers, has utility as a potentially universal target for bacterial identification (ID). This Cpn60 gene ID method correctly identified isolates representative of numerous staphylococcal species and Streptococcus iniae, a human and animal pathogen. We report herein that this method enabled us to distinguish clearly between 17 Enterococcus species (Enterococcus asini, Enterococcus rattus, Enterococcus dispar, Enterococcus gallinarum, Enterococcus hirae, Enterococcus durans, Enterococcus cecorum, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus mundtii, Enterococcus casseliflavus, Enterococcus faecium, Enterococcus malodoratus, Enterococcus raffinosus, Enterococcus avium, Enterococcus pseudoavium, Enterococcus new sp. strain Facklam, and Enterococcus saccharolyticus), and Vagococcus fluvialis, Lactococcus lactis, and Lactococcus garvieae. From 123 blind-tested samples, only two discrepancies were observed between the Facklam and Collins phenotyping method (R. R. Facklam and M. D. Collins, J. Clin. Microbiol. 27:731-734, 1989) and the Cpn60 ID method. In each case, the discrepancies were resolved in favor of the Cpn60 ID method. The species distributions of the 123 blind-tested isolates were Enterococcus new sp. strain Facklam (ATCC 700913), 3; E. asini, 1; E. rattus, 4; E. dispar, 2; E. gallinarum, 20; E. hirae, 9; E. durans, 9; E. faecalis, 12; E. mundtii, 3; E. casseliflavus, 8; E. faecium, 25; E. malodoratus, 3; E. raffinosus, 8; E. avium, 4; E. pseudoavium, 1; an unknown Enterococcus clinical isolate, sp. strain R871; Vagococcus fluvialis, 4; Lactococcus garvieae, 3; Lactococcus lactis, 3; Leuconostoc sp., 1; and Pediococcus sp., 1. The Cpn60 gene ID method, coupled with reverse checkerboard hybridization, is an effective method for the identification of Enterococcus and related organisms.

Parapharyngeal space mesenchymal chondrosarcoma in childhood.

A case of extra osseous mesenchymal chondrosarcoma occuring in the parapharyngeal space in a 7-year-old girl, is being presented for its rarity. It is a slow growing, locally aggressive tumour with a high incidence of local recurrence as well as distant metastasis. It is rare in the pediatric age group and rarer in the parapharyngeal space. It has a poor prognosis, the 5-year survival rate varies between 30 and 50%. Radical surgery is the treatment of choice. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy have an adjuvant role. More experience with this tumour is required to evaluate the most effective treatment. Current literature on this subject has been reviewed.