Prognosis of traumatic spinal cord injury in children: Follow-up of 86 patients.

PURPOSE: The long-term situation of children with spinal cord injury (SCI) was investigated, and suggestions for helping them better return to the society were provided. METHODS: SCI patients less than 18 years old hospitalized in Beijing Boai Hospital from January 2011 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Information including motor function, complications, characteristic changes, self-care abilities, school attendance and social participation were collected by telephone interview and electronic questionnaire. All the answers were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 86 cases were enrolled, 77 girls and 9 boys, with a median injury age of 6 years and 2 months. The follow-up time was 3-130 months. The main cause of trauma in these children was sport injury (66.3%), the thoracic spinal cord was involved the most (91.9%), and complete SCIs accounted for the majority (76.7%). In terms of complications, children with complete SCIs were more likely to have urinary incontinence, constipation and characteristic changes (p < 0.05); whereas the incomplete SCIs often have spasticity (p < 0.05). As to the daily living abilities, children with incomplete lumbar SCIs were more capable to accomplish personal hygiene, transfer, and bathing independently than those with complete injuries, or cervical/thoracic SCIs, respectively (p < 0.05). Moreover, children older than 9 years care more able to dress and transfer independently than the youngers (p < 0.05). Wheelchair users accounted for 84.9% and more than half of them were able to propel wheelchair independently, and those who move passively in wheelchairs were mostly introverted kids (p < 0.05). Almost all (93.8%) children with incomplete injuries were able to walk independently. Most (79.1%) children continued to attending school, and 41.9% participated in interest classes. Unfortunately, 67.4% of the children spent less time playing with their peers than before the injury. CONCLUSION: SCIs impair physical structures and function of children, affect their independence in daily living, and restrict school attendance and social interaction. Comprehensive rehabilitation after injury is a systematic work. Medical staff and caregivers should not only pay attention to neurological function, but also help them improve self-care abilities. It is also important to balance rehabilitation training and school work and social participation.

Ischemic damage may play an important role in spinal cord injury during dancing.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis. SETTING: China Rehabilitation Research Center, Beijing, China. OBJECTIVE: To explore possible mechanisms underlying spinal cord injury (SCI) in children caused by hyperextension of the spine while dancing. METHODS: The clinical records of 88 children with SCI (mean age, 5.97 years; age range, 4-10 years) admitted to our hospital from January 1989 to October 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging were performed on the day of injury. The time from injury to development of paralysis, as well as post-injury activities were surveyed, while abnormal patterns on images, the range of the involved vertebrae, and the extents of edema and atrophy were assessed. RESULTS: Among the 88 patients, 6 (6.8%) were unable to move immediately after SCI, while paralysis occurred in 42, 23, and 17 patients at <30, 30-60, and >60 min after SCI, respectively. The neurological level of injury of 84 patients was between T4 and T12. On sagittal T2-weighted images (T2WIs), the longitudinal range of spinal cord edema was more than one vertebral body in 65 patients, while spinal cord atrophy below T8 was found in 40 patients. On axial T2WIs, although three patients had none, long T2 signals were found in the central gray matter of seven patients. Meanwhile, necrosis of the central area combined with the peripheral white matter was observed in 57 patients, while three patients had total involvement on a cross section. CONCLUSION: Ischemia-related damage, rather than direct trauma to the spinal cord, may play an important role in SCI due to spinal hyperextension during dancing.

Heterogeneity among traumatic spinal cord injuries at the thoracolumbar junction: helping select patients for clinical trials.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis. SETTING: China Rehabilitation Research Center, Beijing, China. OBJECTIVE: A retrospective study that documents the modalities and clarifies the heterogeneity among spinal cord injuries (SCIs) caused by trauma to the thoracolumbar vertebral junction. METHODS: X-ray and MRI imaging, neurological records, and the urodynamics results of 190 patients were reviewed and used to categorize different SCI modalities. First, injuries were divided into complete and incomplete injuries using the International Standard for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury. Next, the complete injuries were further grouped using the neurological level of injury and Long T2 signal from mid-sagittal MRI images, whereas the bulboconvernosus reflexes were also used as a reference to detect injury to the sacral cord. RESULTS: The SCI modalities were classified into five categories: pure complete epiconus lesion with caudal cord intact (G1), complete epiconus injury with conus medullaris (CM) totally involved in the lesion (G2), CM syndrome, cauda equine syndrome without sacral sparing (G3 and G4), and incomplete injury (G5). CONCLUSIONS: The heterogeneity of SCIs at the thoracolumbar junction was documented, a criterion we propose to be of great significance when selecting patients for clinical trials. In particular, the G2 group, which comprises nearly one third of the patients with epiconus lesions, is sometimes mistaken as G1, an observation that has thus far received insufficient attention.

[Research of influence factors on spectral recognition for cotton leaf infected by Verticillium wilt].

Through carrying out spectral test experiment, the influence factors of spectrum test were analyzed, the influence degree of various factors in spectral recognition was explicated and the method of spectra test was optimized for cotton leaf infected by verticillium wilt. The results indicated that under different severity levels, the shape and value of reflectance of disease symptoms part were Significantly higher than healthy part on cotton leaf, compared with the black board as baseboard, the spectral values of disease leaves were slightly higher in visible light wavebands and significantly higher in others wavebands than healthy leaves on white baseboard. Different position of leaf on cotton plant has different effect degree to the recognition of disease, the effect of stem leaf was more obvious than that of else leaf, the identical leaf position was less influenced by disease than band. Test time and cotton varieties had less influence on recognizing disease by spectra, and the effect of the same condition was acceptable. Test site had no effect on disease recognition by spectra. The effect of each factor was different for recognizing disease leaf by spectra, and this study will provide reference for the researchers of crop disease diagnosis by spectra.

Hip subluxation in children with spinal cord injury: Incidence and influencing factors.

OBJECTIVE: Hip subluxation is a common complication in children with spinal cord injury. This study aimed to investigate the incidence and influencing factors of hip subluxation and discuss prevention strategies. METHODS: Medical records of children with spinal cord injury were reviewed. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) the patient was younger than 18 years old when injured; (2) absence of traumatic or congenital pathological changes of the hip at the time of injury. The migration percentage and acetabular index were selected to evaluate hip stability and acetabulum development. Influencing factors of sex, age, injury duration, severity, level, and spasticity were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 146 children were enrolled. Twenty-eight children presented with hip subluxation and were significantly younger at the time of injury than those with normal hips (P = 0.002). The incidence of hip subluxation increased with the prolonged injury duration. Injury before age 6, complete injury, and flaccid lower extremities were significant influencing factors (P = 0.003, 0.004, and 0.015, respectively). The risk of hip subluxation decreased by 18% for every year older in injury age (P = 0.031) and decreased by 85% in children with spasticity (P = 0.018) than those without. However, the risk of hip subluxation in children with injury duration longer than 1 year was 7.1 times higher than those with shorter injury duration (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of hip subluxation in children with spinal cord injury increased with the injury duration. Younger children had immature hip development. Due to complete injury and flaccid muscle, lack of protection around the hip may lead to subluxation. Follow-up and prevention of hip subluxation need the joint effort of medical staff and families.

[Estimated nitrogen nutrition index based on the hyperspectral for wheat of drip irrigation under mulch].

The accurate wheat management needs a reasonable nitrogen application, and it is one of the key measures for real-time and quantitatively monitoring of nitrogen status to gain the higher yield of wheat. In the present study, two field experiments were conducted with different nitrogen stress and wheat cultivars, the relationship was analyzed between spectral parameters and the partial factor productivity from applied N (PFPn), and the estimating model was established for PFP, in the growth stages of wheat. The result indicated that there was a highly significant correlation between the PFP, and GreenNDVI at jointing, the correlation coefficient (r) was 0.6404, the estimating model of PFPn was established, and the root mean square errors (RMSE) was 0.4597. The result indicated that the PFPn can be effectively estimated by using spectral parameters.

The Effect of GABAergic Cells Transplantation on Allodynia and Hyperalgesia in Neuropathic Animals: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.

The role of GABAergic cell transplantation in improving neuropathic pain is controversial. We comprehensively searched the relevant literature to identify animal studies of GABAergic cell transplantation that recorded pain behaviors as an outcome according to the Cochrane Handbook 5.0.2. Controlled studies assessing the administration of GABAergic neurons or GABAergic neuronal progenitor cells to rat or mouse neuropathic pain animal models were included. Basic design information and mechanical allodynia thresholds and heat hyperalgesia thresholds data were collected. The risk of bias for the animal experiments was assessed according to the SYRCLE's tool. This study included 10 full-text articles. GABAergic cells transplantation leads to a statistically significant improvement of allodynia (SMD = 5.26; 95% confidence interval: 3.02-7.51; P < 0.001) and hyperalgesia (SMD: 4.10; 95% confidence interval: 1.84-6.35; P < 0.001). Differentiated GABAergic cells and without antibiotics using may have a better effect for improving neuropathic pain. GABAergic cell transplantation is a promising treatment for improving neuropathic pain. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effects of GABAergic cell transplantation on neuropathic pain, which can guide future clinical trials and possible clinical treatments, and better attenuate neuropathic pain caused by abnormal circuit hyperexcitability.

Clinical characteristics of pediatric traumatic spinal cord injury in China: A single center retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical characteristics of children with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) admitted to a research rehabilitation center between 2011 and 2020, with a view to generate crucial data for understanding and prevention of pediatric traumatic SCI. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: The National Rehabilitation Research Center of China, Beijing, China. PARTICIPANTS: Medical records and imaging data of children with traumatic SCI admitted to the rehabilitation research center from 2011 to 2020. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. OUTCOME MEASURES: Data on age, sex, cause of injury, neurological level of injury, impairment scale of SCI and details of spine fracture or dislocation were all collected and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 351 patients were included in the study, including 133 males (37.9%) and 218 females (62.1%). There were 231 cases (65.8%) without spine fracture or dislocation. SCI without fracture or dislocation (SCIWORA) was the most common in children between the age of 5 and 14 years (77.9%), and injuries caused by sports were the most common in girls (90.8%). Among sports injuries, those due to a special dance movement called "Xia-Yao" in Chinese, which involves hyperextension of the trunk, constituted the majority, with the neurological level of injuries located predominantly in the middle (34.6%) and lower (44.2%) thoracic levels. CONCLUSION: Girls between the ages of 5 and 14 years constituted the majority of SCIWORA injuries at the thoracic levels, which were caused mainly by "Xia-Yao". Overall, careful attention should be paid to prevent this kind of injury in children.

[Monitoring models of the plant nitrogen content based on cotton canopy hyperspectral reflectance].

Cotton production for accurate non-destructive, rapid monitoring of plant nitrogen content there is an urgent demand. Canopy spectral characteristics of the cotton plant and its quantitative relationship between nitrogen content, can achieve non-destructive monitoring of cotton nitrogen. Two consecutive years by different nitrogen test, cotton canopy hyperspectral data collection and simultaneous determination of canopy nitrogen content, analysis of different fertilizer treatments of cotton canopy spectral characteristics and the relationship between nitrogen content of cotton, the results show that: nitrogen content of cotton plant in different periods and spectral reflectance in the visible band (400-700 nm) was negatively related to the near-infrared 700-1300 nm band was a significant positive correlation, and in the short-wave infrared 1300-1800 nm band correlation is more complicated. Canopy scale, the whole growth stage of cotton, the visible band are sensitive to nitrogen content in cotton band, and near-infrared only is the cotton boll nitrogen content of the sensitive band; short-wave infrared band only in the budding period Cotton nitrogen sensitive band. Using nitrogen-sensitive bands in different periods can be constructed Cotton Cotton Nitrogen monitoring indicators.

Traumatic spinal cord injury caused by low falls and high falls: a comparative study.

BACKGROUND: Quite a few traumatic spinal cord injuries (TSCI) were caused by falls. However, the comparison of different causes of TSCI or the epidemiological characteristics of TSCI caused by falls of different heights are rare. This study investigated the epidemiological characteristics of TSCI caused by falls and conducted a comparison between low falls and high falls. METHOD: Data from cases with TSCI admitted to China Rehabilitation Research Center from 2010 to 2019 were collected, including age, gender, occupation, cause, neurological level, and severity of the injury in admission, combined injuries, complications, and rehabilitation length of stay. Mann-Whitney U and chi-square (χ2) tests were used to assess the differences between two groups at a statistical significance level of 0.05. RESULT: A total of 1858 TSCI cases were included and 41.7% were caused by falls, 11.4% by low falls and 30.3% by high falls, respectively. Patients with fall-induced TSCI were older and had a shorter rehabilitation length of stay than those with non-fall-induced TSCI. Patients with high fall-induced TSCI were younger and more likely to suffer from paraplegia, severer injuries, and combined injuries, and had longer time from injury to rehabilitation and rehabilitation length of stay, compared with patients with low fall-induced TSCI. CONCLUSION: Falls is the leading causes of TSCI and high fall is becoming more common. Attention not only should be paid to high falls for the severe injury and longer hospitalization, but also low falls due to the higher neurological level of the injury and the aging of population in China.

[Study on hyperspectral estimation of pigment contents in leaves of cotton under disease stress].

The spectrum reflectance and pigment contents of cotton leaves infected with Verticillium wilt were measured in cotton disease nursery and field in different growth phases, and severity level of Verticillium wilt was investigated. The correlation between pigment contents of cotton leaves with Verticillium wilt and spectra reflectance, the first derivative of reflectance and spectral characteristic parameters were analyzed respectively. The estimation models about leaves pigment contents of disease cotton were established and tested. The results indicated that the correlations were best significant between chlorophyll a, b and a+b contents of leaves and spectral reflectance in visible wave bands, the first derivative spectrum at the wavelength regions of blue edge, yellow edge and red edge, and all spectral characteristic parameters (excluding red edge swing Dr). The models of transformed chlorophyll absorption in reflectance index (TCAR) and the new model of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI [702,758]) had best estimated precision, and the relative errors were in average within 1.3%. Given that the model of NDVI [702,758] is very simple and practical, it was commended as a best model to estimate chlorophyll a, b and a+b contents of disease cotton. This study shows that leaves hyperspectra data can be used to estimate the pigment contents of cotton leaves quantitatively. This conclusion has also great practice and application value for monitoring the growth state and disease influence evaluation on cotton by using hyperspectral remote sensing.

[Monitoring canopy nitrogen status in winter wheat of growth anaphase with hyperspectral remote sensing].

Biomass, leaf area index (LAI) and nitrogen status are important parameters for indicating crop growth potential and photosynthetic productivity in wheat. Nondestructive, quick assessment of leaf dry weight, LAI and nitrogen content is necessary for nitrogen nutrition diagnosis and cultural regulation in wheat production. In order to establish the monitoring model of nitrogen richness in winter wheat of growth anaphase, studying the relationship between the nitrogen richness (NR) containing nitrogen density, LAI and leaf dry weight and the difference of hyperspectral reflectance rates (deltaR), we conducted a comparable experiment with five winter wheat varieties under nitrogen application level of 0, 100, 200 and 400 kg x N x ha(-1). The results indicated the NRs of the different varieties of winter wheat leaves increased with increasing growth stage while in the different nitrogen levels it was sequenced as: NO>N3>N1>N2. Twelve vegetation indices were compared with corresponding NR. The NR had significantly negative correlation to TCARI and VD672 in those vegetation indices, and their correlations (r) arrived at 0.870 and 0.855, respectively. The coefficients of determination (R2) of two models were 0.757 and 0.731 by erecting model with the two indexes and NR Root mean square error (RMSE), relative error (RE) and determination coefficient between measured and estimated NR were employed to test the model reliability and predicting accuracy. Accuracy rates of the models based on TCARI and VD672 achieved 84.56% and 80.13%. The overall results suggested that leaf nitrogen status of growth anaphase in winter wheat has stable relationships with some vegetation indexes, especially index of TCARI and VD672.

[Characteristic of diagnosis and treatment of spinal cord stab injury].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical characteristics of the incidence, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of stab injury of spinal cord. METHODS: Retrospective study of the clinical materials of 42 stab spinal cord injury patients who were treated in our hospital from 1992 to 2004. RESULTS: Among the patients, 38 were male, and 4 were female. 80% of the cases were thoracic spinal cord injury patients. Incomplete injury cases accounted for 71.4% of all the cases. Of all the 30 incomplete injury cases, 14 had the sign of standard Brown-Sequard syndrome, 6 had the sign of non-standard Brown-Sequard syndrome and 10 do not have the sign of Brown-Sequard syndrome. Magnetic resonance image was very useful to the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Debridement was a routine to do in acute stage. Operations such as scrutinization of the spinal canal, clean-up of the hematoma, extraction of foreign bodies were optional according to different conditions. After treatment, most of the patients got good recovery as far as ASIA scale and ADL scale were concerned. CONCLUSION: According to the results above, it is recommended that enough attention should be given to the unique aspects of the disease to effectively facilitate recovery of such cases.

[Investigation of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of mannan-binding lectin gene in a Han population from Guangdong].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the promoter region of mannan-binding lectin (MBL) gene in a Han population in Guangdong Province. METHODS: A total of 167 blood samples were obtained from this Han population to isolate the genomic DNA from the leucocytes. The polymorphism alleles -550(G/C, named H/L alleles), -220(G/C, X/Y alleles) and +4(C/Tr, P/Q alleles) in the promoter region of MBL gene were detected by PCR with sequence-specific primers and molecular beacon real-time fluorescent PCR, and the frequencies of haplotypes and genotypes were analyzed. RESULTS: The frequencies of several genotypes in the 167 samples were: LYP/LYP, 10(5.9%); HYP/LYQ, 7(4.2%); LYP/LYQ, 94(56.3%); LXP/LXP, 6(3.6%); LYQ/LYQ, 4(2.4%); LXP/LYQ, 29(17.4%); HYP/LYP, 3(1.8%); HYP/LXP, 2(1.2%); HYP/HYP, 12(7.2%). CONCLUSION: The polymorphism genotypes in the promoter region of MBL gene in this chosen population are mostly LYP/LYQ and LXP/LYQ.

Estimation of wheat agronomic parameters using new spectral indices.

Crop agronomic parameters (leaf area index (LAI), nitrogen (N) uptake, total chlorophyll (Chl) content ) are very important for the prediction of crop growth. The objective of this experiment was to investigate whether the wheat LAI, N uptake, and total Chl content could be accurately predicted using spectral indices collected at different stages of wheat growth. Firstly, the product of the optimized soil-adjusted vegetation index and wheat biomass dry weight (OSAVI×BDW) were used to estimate LAI, N uptake, and total Chl content; secondly, BDW was replaced by spectral indices to establish new spectral indices (OSAVI×OSAVI, OSAVI×SIPI, OSAVI×CIred edge, OSAVI×CIgreen mode and OSAVI×EVI2); finally, we used the new spectral indices for estimating LAI, N uptake, and total Chl content. The results showed that the new spectral indices could be used to accurately estimate LAI, N uptake, and total Chl content. The highest R(2) and the lowest RMSEs were 0.711 and 0.78 (OSAVI×EVI2), 0.785 and 3.98 g/m(2) (OSAVI×CIred edge) and 0.846 and 0.65 g/m(2) (OSAVI×CIred edge) for LAI, nitrogen uptake and total Chl content, respectively. The new spectral indices performed better than the OSAVI alone, and the problems of a lack of sensitivity at earlier growth stages and saturation at later growth stages, which are typically associated with the OSAVI, were improved. The overall results indicated that this new spectral indices provided the best approximation for the estimation of agronomic indices for all growth stages of wheat.

[Frequencies of CGT52TGT, GGC54GAC and GGA57GAA point mutations in MBL gene in Chinese Uyghur population].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the frequencies of three point mutations, CGT52TGT, GGC54GAC and GGA57GAA, in exon 1 of mannan-binding lectin (MBL) structural gene in Chinese Uyghur population. METHODS: Blood samples were collected from a Uyghur population in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and the genomic DNA was extracted from the leucocytes and the target gene fragment amplified by PCR. The three point mutations in exon 1 of MBL gene were detected by fluorogenic probe hybridization technique with visual monitoring. RESULTS: In 95 Uyghur individuals, 2 were identified as homozygous for codon 54 mutations, 28 were heterozygous for codon 54 mutation, and no CGT52TGT and GGA57GAA point mutations were found. CONCLUSION: The frequencies of CGT52TGT, GGC54GAC and GGA57GAA mutant alleles in exon 1 of MBL structural gene are 0, 0.168 and 0 respectively in the Chinese Uyghur population.