UW Neurological Surgery Recent PubMed Publications

Osteoarthritis is the third most rapidly growing health condition associated with disability, after dementia and diabetes¹. By 2050, the total number of patients with osteoarthritis is estimated to reach 1 billion worldwide². As no disease-modifying treatments exist for osteoarthritis, a better understanding of disease aetiopathology is urgently needed. Here we perform a genome-wide association study meta-analyses across up to 489,975 cases and 1,472,094 controls, establishing 962 independent...

Neurons in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) receive and transmit sensory information from the tissues they innervate and from the external environment. Upper cervical (C1-C2) DRGs are functionally unique as they receive input from the neck, head, and occipital cranial dura, the latter two of which are also innervated by the trigeminal ganglion (TG). The C2 DRG also plays an important role in neck pain, a common and disabling disorder that is poorly understood. Advanced transcriptomic approaches...

CONCLUSIONS: This initial ex vivo clinical study demonstrated the ability of TumorID to rapidly differentiate and classify various pathologies and surrounding brain in a configuration that can be easily translated to scan in vivo. This classification power could allow TumorID to augment surgical decision-making by enabling rapid intraoperative tissue diagnostics and border delineation, potentially improving patient outcomes by allowing for a more informed and complete resection.

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CONCLUSION: Activities of transcriptional programs offer significantly better prognostic and predictive assessments of treatments across different stages of MM in an individual patient.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The objective was to evaluate the association of subacute postconcussion symptoms (with the total Rivermead Post-Concussion Questionnaire [RPQ] score) with persistent symptoms, functional limitations, and quality of life at 6 months in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).

CONCLUSIONS: Standardizing QA parameters via injection bias correction improves occlusion prediction accuracy for flow diverter-treated IAs. Adding explainable AI (e.g., LIME) clarifies model decisions, demonstrating the feasibility of clinically interpretable AI-based outcome prediction.

Astrocytes play vital roles in regulating brain states across organisms. Specifically, they serve several roles in regulating breathing behaviors and associated brain states, including facilitating transitions between phases of breathing by sensing small changes in O(2) and CO(2) levels, regulating the sleep-wake cycle, and impacting arousal and wakefulness. Here, we tested the hypothesis that astrocytes in the ventral respiratory column (VRC) are important for arousal and sigh generation in...

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In the NOTIFY-LVH randomized clinical trial, a centralized population health coordinator-led notification and clinical support pathway for individuals with LVH on prior echocardiograms increased the initial treatment of hypertension. This work highlights the potential benefit of leveraging preexisting but potentially underutilized cardiovascular data to improve health care delivery through mechanisms augmenting the traditional ambulatory care system.

Spetzler-Martin Grade IV arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) are challenging due to high risks associated with both treatment and natural progression. This study compares the outcomes of microsurgical resection and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in high-grade AVMs, analyzing obliteration rates, complications, and functional outcomes. A retrospective cohort of 96 patients treated with either microsurgical resection (33 patients) or SRS (63 patients) was analyzed. Propensity-score matching was...

Radiation is an effective treatment for many brain tumors, but often causes cognitive impairment. Ultra-high dose rate (FLASH) radiotherapy is less toxic to many normal tissues and may protect against adverse cognitive effects of cranial irradiation. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats received a single 18 Gy fraction of cranial irradiation with protons at 1 Gy/s (CV), 60 Gy/s (FLASH-60), 95 Gy/s (FLASH-95), or sham treatment (Control) (n ≥ 22/group). Rats were tested in open-field, acoustic (ASR)...

Cercospora leaf spot (CLS), caused by the fungus Cercospora beticola, is an important determinant of table beet foliar health. Primary inoculum sources include infested crop residues and alternative hosts, but seed-to-seedling transmission has also been reported. We evaluated the localization of C. beticola in table beet seeds and contribution of infested seeds to CLS outbreaks in field studies. In seed dissection experiments, C. beticola was more frequently isolated from the pericarp (95.6%)...

CONCLUSIONS: FDS treatment for recurrent/residual aneurysms after SAC represents a viable treatment option for these challenging cases with acceptable safety and reasonable occlusion rates, although lower than de novo FDS occlusion rates.

CONCLUSIONS: Onyx, a liquid embolic agent, reduces EBL which may explain the shorter surgery duration, higher GTR rates, and lower retreatment rates. Procedural risks and patient selection require further investigation.

CONCLUSIONS: This international survey of spine surgeons demonstrated that currently, there is limited use of IOUS in the surgical management of acute SCI. Understanding the needs of spine surgeons and tailoring educational opportunities may increase the role of IOUS. Given the importance of surgical decompression in enhancing outcomes after acute SCI coupled with the ability of IOUS to assess decompression, greater adoption of IOUS could further enhance the efficacy of decompressive surgery.

Monitoring the quality of water resources is essential to determine environmental impacts and seek sustainable management solutions. In this work, we demonstrated the toxicity of effluents and surface water of an important river in Central Brazil, the Meia Ponte River, using not just physicochemical parameters but also ecotoxicological bioindicators, such as Aliivibrio fischeri, Allium cepa, Lactuca sativa, and Salmonella typhimurium. To complement this data, we analyzed soil toxicity and...

CONCLUSIONS: Results from the first eleven distributions indicate that the EQA scheme has facilitated improved performance of laboratories over time, highlighting the value of implementing such programmes. EQA schemes are critical to safeguarding the reliability of data and diagnoses, especially in situations where NAAT methodologies and protocols are used. In future, funders should make participation in an EQA scheme a requirement for laboratories, and countries can take initiatives to embed...

CONCLUSIONS: Vascular operations, on average, generate 108.47 kg of CO2e from waste and fluoroscopy, the equivalent of driving an average gasoline-powered vehicle for 278 miles. This study found a correlation between increased fluoroscopy time and CO2e. It also found that the rate of emissions differs between different operations, suggesting a role in optimizing fluoroscopy and intraoperative techniques to lower emissions. Efforts to track current energy output from imaging devices, investing in...

In the retina, Ca^(2+) influx through Ca(v)1.4 Ca^(2+) channels triggers neurotransmitter release from rod and cone photoreceptors. Changes in extracellular pH modify channel opening, enabling a feedback regulation of photoreceptor output that contributes to the encoding of color and contrast. However, the mechanisms underlying pH-dependent modulation of Ca(v)1.4 are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the role of the C-terminal domain (CTD) of Ca(v)1.4 in pH-dependent modulation of Ba^(2+)...

OBJECTIVE: To educate health care professionals and nurses on buprenorphine initiations in pregnancy, establish a mutual care agreement to promote therapeutic partnership, and standardize buprenorphine initiation using the Epic electronic health record (EHR) order set.