Spine
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Giovanni Alfonso Borelli is often described as the father of biomechanics. He was born in Naples in 1608. ⋯ Borelli died in Rome on December 31, 1679, but his impressive body of original work helped inspire a great number of future scientists, microscopists, and inventors. The highest honor bestowed by the American Society of Biomechanics is the Giovanni Borelli Award.
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A prospective cohort. ⋯ Lifetime prevalence of back pain increased sharply during nursing school but slowly after that. Back pain at entering the nursing school was a predictor for back-related pain and disability. Self- reported occupational physical work load was associated with back pain and related disability. The nature of the association is unclear, but it is likely that back pain is exacerbated during nursing.
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Retrospective chart review. ⋯ Gunshot wounds to the head and neck had a high rate of concomitant cervical spine fracture. Neurologically intact patients have a lower rate of fracture than those presenting with a spinal cord injury or altered mental status. In this small series of patients, the only unstable cervical spine injuries were detected in patients with a spinal cord injury. The data suggest that spinal precautions and/or a hard cervical collar should not be maintained at the expense of delaying or hindering emergent life-saving airway or hemodynamically stabilizing procedures, particularly in awake, neurologically intact patients. However, the cervical collar and spinal precautions should be resumed after such procedures are completed and continued until a more definitive evaluation of spinal stability can be performed.
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A new proposed classification system for thoracolumbar (TL) spine injuries, including injury severity assessment, designed to assist in clinical management. ⋯ Although there will always be limitations to any cataloging system, the TLICS reflects accepted features cited in the literature important in predicting spinal stability, future deformity, and progressive neurologic compromise. This classification system is intended to be easy to apply and to facilitate clinical decision-making as a practical alternative to cumbersome classification systems already in use. The TLICS may improve communication between spine trauma physicians and the education of residents and fellows. Further studies are underway to determine the reliability and validity of this tool.
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A retrospective study of 15 cases of pure foraminal type cervical disc herniation (CDH) was performed. ⋯ Pure foraminal-type CDH may be overlooked with conventional MRI or CTM, so CTD should be performed. It provides valuable and additional information in difficult or ambiguous cases such as pure foraminal type.