Plos One
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Meta Analysis
Meta-analysis of pre-clinical studies of early decompression in acute spinal cord injury: a battle of time and pressure.
The use of early decompression in the management of acute spinal cord injury (SCI) remains contentious despite many pre-clinical studies demonstrating benefits and a small number of supportive clinical studies. Although the pre-clinical literature favours the concept of early decompression, translation is hindered by uncertainties regarding overall treatment efficacy and timing of decompression. ⋯ These data suggest early decompression improves neurobehavioural deficits in animal models of SCI. Although much of the literature had limited internal validity, benefit was maintained across high quality studies. The close relationship of compressive pressure to the rate of development of severe neurological injury suggests that pressure local to the site of injury might be a useful parameter determining the urgency of decompression.
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Epidemiologic studies have evaluated the association between cruciferous vegetables(CV) intake and the risk of renal cell carcinoma(RCC); however, the existing results are controversial. The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the association between CV intake and RCC risk. ⋯ The findings of this meta-analysis suggested that high intake of CV was inversely associated with RCC risk among Americans. More studies, especially high quality cohort studies with larger sample size, well controlled confounding factors are warranted to confirm this association.