Purpose To clarify the relative frequency of various histopathological primary spinal cord tumors and their features in Japanese people and to compare this data with other reports. Methods Primary spinal cord tumor surgical cases from 2000 to 2009, which were registered in our affiliated hospital database were collected. We examined age at surgery, sex, anatomical location, vertebral level of the tumor, and pathological diagnosis in each case.Results Of the 678 patients in our study, 377 patients (55.6 %) were males and 301 patients (44.4 %) were females (male/female ratio 1.25). The mean age at surgery was 52.4 years. Of these tumors, 123 cases (18.1 %) were intramedullary, 371 cases (54.7 %) were intradural extramedullary, 28 cases (4.1 %) were epidural, and 155 cases (22.9 %) were dumbbell tumors. The pathological diagnoses included 388 schwannomas (57.2 %), 79 meningiomas (11.6 %), 54 ependymomas (8.0 %), 27 hemangiomas (4.0 %), 23 hemangioblastomas (3.4 %), 23 neurofibromas (3.4 %), and 9 astrocytomas (1.3 %). The male/female ratios for schwannomas, meningiomas, ependymomas,Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65, Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8560, Japan e-mail: imagama@med.nagoya-u.ac.jp K. Sato Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Nagoya Daini Red Cross Hospital, 2-9, Myoken-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8650, Japan (2012( ) 21:2019( -2026( DOI 10.1007( /s00586-012-2345 hemangiomas, hemangioblastomas, neurofibromas, malignant lymphomas, and lipomas are 1.4, 0.34, 1.3, 1.5, 2.3, 1.3, 2.7 and 2.3, respectively. Conclusion This is the first published research in English on the epidemiology of primary spinal cord tumors in Japanese people. Similar to other reports from Asian countries, our data indicates a higher male/female ratio overall for spinal cord tumors, a higher proportion of nerve sheath cell tumors, and a lower proportion of meningiomas and neuroepithelial tumors compared to reports from non-Asian countries. Data in the current study represent the characteristics of primary spinal cord tumors in Asian countries.

This study demonstrates the feasibility of placing percutaneous posterior lumbar pedicle screws with the assistance of Iso-C 3-dimensional navigation.

The effect of uni-axial cyclic mechanical stretch on the activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) was investigated in a human fibroblast cell line (TIG-1). In response to uni-axial cyclic stretch, NF-kappaB was found to be translocated into the nucleus. The NF-kappaB was first detectable 2 min after the onset of stretch and then peaked at 4 min and returned to the basal level within 10 min. To investigate whether NF-kappaB is activated following the translocation into the nucleus, we measured the luciferase activity in the cells transfected with pNF-kappaB-luciferase. The activity of luciferase increased 4 min after the initiation of cyclic stretch, peaked at 15 min (6.4-fold increase), and decreased gradually. We examined the involvement of the stretch-activated (SA) channel in the stretch-induced NF-kappaB activation. The application of Gd3+, a blocker of the SA channel, or the removal of extracellular Ca2+ inhibited both the translocation into the nucleus and the activation of NF-kB, which suggests that NF-kappaB is activated by uni-axial cyclic stretch via SA channel activation in human lung fibroblasts.

Early surgery is recommended for CSA patients in whom conservative treatment has not been successful. We also recommend surgery for patients who have severe preoperative muscle weakness or have the distal type of CSA.

Findings from this study show that scoliosis develops in 60% to 80% of chickens pinealectomized within 18 days after hatching, and that scoliotic development is not influenced by the age at which pinealectomy is performed. However, this study suggests that melatonin plays a complicated role in spinal development, inasmuch as the serum melatonin levels after pinealectomy approximated zero. Yet scoliosis did not develop in all pinealectomized chickens.