Two-stage decompression for combined epiconus and cauda equina syndrome due to multilevel spinal canal stenosis of the thoracolumbar spine: a case report

INTRODUCTION: A case of combined epiconus and cauda equina syndrome due to multilevel spinal canal stenosis of the thoracolumbar spine is reported. METHODS: A 76-year-old man with multilevel spinal canal stenosis of the thoracolumbar spine (Th11-12, L2-S) who showed symptoms of epiconus syndrome was reported. First, we performed anterior decompression and fusion at the thoracolumbar junction (decompression: Th11-12, fusion: Th10-L2), which ameliorated his symptom partially. However, he presented cauda equina symptoms. Then, he underwent posterior spinal decompression (L3-5) and fusion (Th12-L5). RESULTS: After anterior decompression, several symptoms disappeared. However, motor and sensory disturbance below L4 and bladder-bowel disturbance remained. We then performed a secondary operation. At three years' follow-up, he was able to walk with the aid of a cane. CONCLUSIONS: Combined epiconus and cauda equina syndrome due to multilevel spinal canal stenosis was treated by combined two-stage anterior and posterior decompression. In this case, multilevel decompression via anterior and posterior approaches was necessary to relieve the symptoms.     

A real-time assessment of the effect of exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) report substantial symptom worsening after exercise. However, the time course over which this develops has not been explored. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the influence of exercise on subjective symptoms and on cognitive function in CFS patients in natural settings using a computerized ecological momentary assessment method, which allowed us to track the effects of exercise within and across days. Subjects were 9 female patients with CFS and 9 healthy women. A watch-type computer was used to collect real-time data on physical and psychological symptoms and cognitive function for 1week before and 2weeks after a maximal exercise test. For each variable, we investigated temporal changes after exercise using multilevel modeling. Following exercise, physical symptoms did get worse but not until a five-day delay in CFS patients. Despite this, there was no difference in the temporal pattern of changes in psychological symptoms or in cognitive function after exercise between CFS patients and controls. In conclusion, physical symptoms worsened after several days delay in patients with CFS following exercise while psychological symptoms or cognitive function did not change after exercise.     

Places, people and mental health: a multilevel analysis of economic inactivity

This paper investigates multilevel associations between the common mental disorders of anxiety, depression and economic inactivity measured at the level of the individual and the UK 2001 census ward. The data set comes from the Caerphilly Health & Social Needs study, in which a representative survey of adults aged 18-74 years was carried out to collect a wide range of information which included mental health status (using the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) scale of the Short Form-36 health status questionnaire), and socio-economic status (including employment status, social class, household income, housing tenure and property value). Ward level economic inactivity was measured using non-means tested benefits data from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) on long-term Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance. Estimates from multilevel linear regression models of 10,653 individuals nested within 36 census wards showed that individual mental health status was significantly associated with ward-level economic inactivity, after adjusting for individual-level variables, with a moderate effect size of -0.668 (standard error=0.258). There was a significant cross-level interaction between ward-level and individual economic inactivity from permanent sickness or disability, such that the effect of permanent sickness or disability on mental health was significantly greater for people living in wards with high levels of economic inactivity. This supports the hypothesis that living in a deprived neighbourhood has the most negative health effects on poorer individuals and is further evidence for a substantive effect of the place where you live on mental health.     

多节段ProDisc-C人工颈椎椎间盘置换5年临床随访报道

目的初步评估多节段ProDisc-C人工颈椎间盘置换术的安全性和有效性。方法回顾分析2010年10月~2011年10月在我院行多节段ProDisc-C人工颈椎间盘置换术患者21例的临床和影像资料,采用VAS评分、日本骨科协会(JOA)脊髓功能评分及颈椎功能障碍指数(NDI)评估患者术后临床疗效,测量患者颈椎整体活动度和置换节段活动度,观察评估患者术后假体位置、颈椎曲度、异位骨化、吞咽功能等情况。结果最终纳入21例多节段ProDisc-C人工颈椎间盘置换术患者,男性13例,女性8例,其中20例行双节段置换,1例患者行三节段置换。术后患者临床症状有明显缓解,JOA、NDI、VAS评分较术前有明显改善,值均0.05,术后3个月患者颈椎整体活动度以及置换节段平均活动度在术后3个月较术前略下降,值均0.05,随后历次随访患者颈椎整体活动度以及置换节段平均活动度较术前无明显差异,值均0.05。未发生假体材料过敏、人工椎间盘假体移位脱出、置换节段过度活动、术后颈椎生理曲度变直以及术后反弓等并发症。结论本研究结果初步表明多节段ProDisc-C人工颈椎间盘置换术是一种安全有效的可以选择的治疗多节段颈椎病的手术方式,能够明显改善患者临床症状,保留置换节段活动度以及颈椎整体活动度,维持颈椎生理曲度,且无假体移位脱出、过度活动、反弓等严重并发症。     

A comparison of anterior cervical discectomy and corpectomy in patients with multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy

Background  

The optimal surgical approach for multilevel cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) has not been defined, and the relative merits of multilevel anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) and anterior cervical corpectomy (2-level or skip 1-level corpectomy) and fusion (ACCF) remain controversial. However, few comparative studies have been conducted on these two surgical approaches.     

The relationship between social capital and self-rated health in a Japanese population: a multilevel analysis

Objective  

The aim of this study was to use a multilevel analysis to examine whether cognitive and structural dimensions of regional social capital were associated with individual health outcomes after adjusting for compositional factors.     

Factors Affecting Public Prejudice and Social Distance on Mental Illness: Analysis of Contextual Effect by Multi-level Analysis

Objectives

While there have been many quantitative studies on the public''s attitude towards mental illnesses, it is hard to find quantitative study which focused on the contextual effect on the public''s attitude. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that affect the public''s beliefs and attitudes including contextual effects.

Methods

We analyzed survey on the public''s beliefs and attitudes towards mental illness in Korea with multi-level analysis. We analyzed the public''s beliefs and attitudes in terms of prejudice as an intermediate outcome and social distance as a final outcome. Then, we focused on the associations of factors, which were individual and regional socio-economic factors, familiarity, and knowledge based on the comparison of the intermediate and final outcomes.

Results

Prejudice was not explained by regional variables but was only correlated with individual factors. Prejudice increased with age and decreased by high education level. However, social distance controlling for prejudice increased in females, in people with a high education level, and in regions with a high education level and a high proportion of the old. Therefore, social distance without controlling for prejudice increased in females, in the elderly, in highly educated people, and in regions with a high education and aged community.

Conclusions

The result of the multi-level analysis for the regional variables suggests that social distance for mental illness are not only determined by individual factors but also influenced by the surroundings so that it could be tackled sufficiently with appropriate considering of the relevant regional context with individual characteristics.     

Social capital and neo-materialist contextual determinants of sense of insecurity in the neighbourhood: a multilevel analysis in Southern Sweden

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of contextual (social capital and neo-materialist) and individual factors on sense of insecurity in the neighbourhood. METHODS: The 2000 public health survey in Scania is a cross-sectional study. A total of 13,715 persons answered a postal questionnaire, which is 59% of the random sample. A multilevel logistic regression model, with individuals at the first level and municipalities at the second, was performed. The effect (median odds ratios, intra-class correlation, cross-level modification and odds ratios) of individual and municipality/city quarter (social capital and police district) factors on sense of insecurity was analysed. RESULTS: The crude variance between municipalities/city quarters was not affected by individual factors. The introduction of administrative police district in the model reduced the municipality variance, although some of the significant variance between municipalities remained. The introduction of social capital did not affect the municipality variance. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the neo-materialist factor administrative police district may partly explain the individual's sense of insecurity in the neighbourhood.     

A multilevel analysis of socioeconomic status and prostate cancer risk

PURPOSE: We investigated whether prostate cancer was associated with socioeconomic status (SES) at the individual level, area level, or a combination of both levels. METHODS: This population-based case-control study of prostate cancer in men aged 65 to 79 years was conducted between 2000 and 2002 in South Carolina. Complete interviews were available for 407 incident prostate cancer cases and 393 controls (with respective response rates of 61% and 64%). We used educational level to measure individual-level SES and a composite variable capturing income and education from 2000 Census data to measure area-level SES. RESULTS: After adjustment for race, age, geographic region, and prostate-specific antigen testing, men with some college were at reduced risk for prostate cancer (odds ratio [OR], 0.44; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.27-0.72), as were men in the highest quartile of area-level SES (OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.34-0.80). When assessing individual-level and area-level SES simultaneously and accounting for their nonindependence, the independent negative associations persisted and appeared to be more striking for men with a diagnosis of localized disease, rather than advanced disease. CONCLUSION: The independent effects of area-level and individual-level SES on prostate cancer risk seen in our study may help explain the conflicting results of previous studies conducted at both levels.     

Mixed-Effects Variance Components Models for Biometric Family Analyses

Recent substantive research on biometric analyses of twin and family data has used both a biometric path analysis model (PAM) and a biometric variance components model (VCM). Methodological research on these same topics have suggested benefits of using linear structural equation model algorithms (SEMA) as well as mixed effect multilevel algorithms (MEMA). To better understand the potential similarities and differences among these approaches we first highlight the algebraic equivalence between the standard biometric PAM and the corresponding biometric VCM models for family data. Second, we demonstrate how several SEMA programs based on either the PAM or VCM approach produce equivalent estimates for all phenotypic and biometric parameters. Third, we show how the biometric VCM approach (but not the PAM approach) can be easily programmed using current MEMA programs (e.g., SAS PROC MIXED). We then expand the scope of these different approaches to include measured covariates, observed variable interactions and multiple relatives within each family. MEMA software is compared to SEMA software for programming complex models, including the flexibility of data input, treatment of missing data, inclusion of covariates, and ease of accommodating varying numbers of observations (per family or individual).