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Acute Spinal Cord Injury (acute + spinal_cord_injury)
Selected AbstractsCervical spinal cord injury following cephalic presentation and delivery by Caesarean sectionDEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 4 2001C Morgan MD MRCP MRCPCH We describe a term infant with an acute spinal cord injury following emergency Caesarean section. Foetal movements were normal on the day that the mother was admitted for postterm induction of labour. Caesarean section was performed because of foetal distress and failure to progress during labour. The initial clinical picture suggested acute birth asphyxia. The presence of a high cervical spine injury became more obvious as the clinical picture evolved over the next 7 days. A discontinuity of the cervical spinal cord at C4,5 was confirmed on MRI. Spontaneous respiration failed to develop and intensive care was withdrawn on day 15. No evidence of trauma, or a vascular, neurological, or congenital anomaly of the cervical spinal cord was found at post mortem. The absence of a similar case following cephalic presentation and Caesarean section made bereavement couselling of the parents especially difficult. [source] Methylprednisolone inhibits the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans in reactivated astrocytesGLIA, Issue 13 2008Wei-Lin Liu Abstract Reactive gliosis caused by post-traumatic injury often results in marked expression of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (CSPG), which inhibits neurite outgrowth and regeneration. Methylprednisolone (MP), a synthetic glucocorticoid, has been shown to have neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects for the treatment of acute spinal cord injury (SCI). However, the effect of MP on CSPG expression in reactive glial cells remains unclear. In our study, we induced astrocyte reactivation using ,-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate (AMPA) and cyclothiazide to mimic the excitotoxic stimuli of SCI. The expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker of astrocyte reactivation, and CSPG neurocan and phosphacan were significantly elevated by AMPA treatment. The conditioned media from AMPA-treated astrocytes strongly inhibited neurite outgrowth of rat dorsal root ganglion neurons, and this effect was reversed by pretreatment with MP. Furthermore, MP downregulated GFAP and CSPG expression in adult rats with SCI. Additionally, both the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) antagonist RU486 and GR siRNA reversed the inhibitory effects of MP on GFAP and neurocan expression. Taken together, these results suggest that MP may improve neuronal repair and promote neurite outgrowth after excitotoxic insult via GR-mediated downregulation of astrocyte reactivation and inhibition of CSPG expression. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Patients' experiences of hope and suffering during the first year following acute spinal cord injuryJOURNAL OF CLINICAL NURSING, Issue 3 2005Vibeke Lohne MNSc Aims and objectives., The aim of this study was to explore patients' experiences of hope during the first year suffering from spinal cord injury. Background., There is a lack of substantial precision with regard to the concept of hope. Very few qualitative studies focusing on experiences of hope in spinal cord-injured patients have been identified in the literature. In this study, ,hope' was defined as future oriented towards improvement. Design and methods., Data were collected by means of personal interviews (n = 10) at the participants' homes in Norway. A phenomenological-hermeneutic approach, inspired by Ricoeur, was used to extract the meaning of the patients' experiences. The analysis was performed in several steps, as a hermeneutic process. Results., In this study, the findings revealed two main themes: ,The Vicious Circle' and ,Longing'. The vicious circle constituted aspects of suffering, and the common hope experienced by the subjects was therefore to leave the vicious circle. Experiences of suffering were experienced as feelings of loneliness, impatience, disappointment, bitterness and dependency. The ,Longing' was based on the subject's former life and was the source of awaked new hopes, which again was experienced comforting. Conclusions., Experiences of suffering created hope and longing. The meaning of hope was to find a possible way out of the circle and the hoping was experienced as a comfort. Relevance to clinical practice., Implications to nursing practice are listening to the suffering and longing individual and comforting the suffering by pointing towards possible future roads of hope. [source] GeneChip® analysis after acute spinal cord injury in ratJOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2001Guoqing Song Spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to induction and/or suppression of several genes, the interplay of which governs the neuronal death and subsequent loss of motor function. Using GeneChip®, the present study analyzed changes in the mRNA abundance at 3 and 24 h after SCI in adult rats. SCI was induced at T9 level by the New York University impactor by dropping a 10-g weight from a height of 25 mm. Several transcription factors, immediate early genes, heat-shock proteins, pro-inflammatory genes were up-regulated by 3 h, and persisted at 24 h, after SCI. On the other hand, some neurotransmitter receptors and transporters, ion channels, kinases and structural proteins were down-regulated by 3 h, and persisted at 24 h, after SCI. Several genes that play a role in growth/differentiation, survival and neuroprotection were up-regulated at 24 h after SCI. Using real-time quantitative PCR, the changes observed by GeneChip® were confirmed for seven up-regulated (interleukin-6, heat-shock protein-70, heme oxygenase-1, suppressor of cytokine signaling 2, suppressor of cytokine signaling 3, interferon regulatory factor-1, neuropeptide Y), two down-regulated (vesicular GABA transporter and cholecystokinin precursor) and two unchanged (Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase and phosphatidyl inositol-3-kinase) genes. The present study shows that inflammation, neurotransmitter dysfunction, increased transcription, ionic imbalance and cytoskeletal damage starts as early as 3 h after SCI. In addition to these effects, 24 h after SCI the repair and regeneration process begins in an attempt to stabilize the injured spinal cord. [source] Estrogen attenuated markers of inflammation and decreased lesion volume in acute spinal cord injury in ratsJOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH, Issue 2 2005Eric Anthony Sribnick Abstract Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating neurologic injury with functional deficits for which the only currently recommended pharmacotherapy is high-dose methylprednisolone, which has limited efficacy. Estrogen is a multiactive steroid that has shown antiinflammatory and antioxidant effects, and estrogen may modulate intracellular Ca2+ and attenuate apoptosis. For this study, male rats were divided into three groups. Sham group animals received a laminectomy at T12. Injured rats received both laminectomy and 40 g · cm force SCI. Estrogen-group rats received 4 mg/kg 17,-estradiol (estrogen) at 15 min and 24 hr post-injury, and vehicle-group rats received equal volumes of dimethyl sulfoxide (vehicle). Animals were sacrificed at 48 hr post-injury, and 1-cm-long segments of the lesion, rostral penumbra, and caudal penumbra were excised. Inflammation was assessed by examining tissue edema, infiltration of macrophages/microglia, and levels of cytosolic and nuclear NF,B and inhibitor of kappa B (I,B,). Myelin integrity was examined using Luxol fast blue staining. When compared to sham, vehicle-treated animals revealed increased tissue edema, increased infiltration of inflammatory cells, decreased cytosolic levels of NF,B and I,B,, increased levels of nuclear NF,B, and increased myelin loss. Treatment of SCI rats with estrogen reduced edema and decreased inflammation and myelin loss in the lesion and penumbral areas, suggesting its potential as a therapeutic agent. Further work needs to be done, however, to elucidate the neuroprotective mechanism of estrogen. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||