Safety, effectiveness and predictors for early reoperation in therapeutic and prophylactic vertebroplasty: short-term results of a prospective case series of patients with osteoporotic vertebral fractures

Abstract Introduction Vertebroplasty (VP) is a cost-efficient alternative to kyphoplasty; however, regarding safety and vertebral body (VB) height restoration, it is considered inferior. We assessed the safety and efficacy of VP in alleviating pain, improving quality of life (QoL) and restoring alignment. Methods In a prospective monocenter case series from May 2007 until July 2008, there were 1,408 vertebroplasties performed during 319 interventions in 306 patients with traumatic, lytic and osteoporotic fractures. The 249 interventions in 233 patients performed because of osteoporotic vertebral fractures were analyzed regarding demographics, treatment and radiographic details, pain alleviation (VAS), QoL improvement (NASS and EQ-5D), complications and predictors for new fractures requiring a reoperation. Results The osteoporotic patient sample consisted of 76.7% (179) females with a median age of 80 years. A total of 54 males had a median age of 77 years. On average, there were 1.8 VBs fractured and 5 VBs treated. The preoperative pain was assessed by the visual analog scale (VAS) and decreased from 54.9 to 40.4 pts after 2 months and 31.2 pts after 6 months. Accordingly, the QoL on the EQ-5D measure (−0.6 to 1) improved from 0.35 pts before surgery to 0.56 pts after 2 and to 0.68 pts after 6 months. The preoperative Beck Index (anterior height/posterior height) improved from a mean of 0.64 preoperative to 0.76 postoperative, remained stable at 2 months and slightly deteriorated to 0.72 at 6 months postoperatively. There were cement leakages in 26% of the fractured VBs and in 1.4% of the prophylactically cemented VBs; there were symptoms in 4.3%, and most of them were temporary hypotension and one pulmonary cement embolism that remained asymptomatic. The univariate regression model revealed a tendency for a reduced risk for new or refractures on radiographs (OR = 2.61, 95% CI 0.92–7.38, p = 0.12) and reoperations (OR = 2.9, 95% CI 0.94–8.949, p = 0.1) when prophylactic augmentation was performed. The final multivariate regression model revealed male patients to have an about three times higher refracture risk (radiographic) (OR = 2.78, p = 0.02) at 6 months after surgery. Patients with a lumbar index fracture had an about three to five times higher refracture/reoperation risk than patients with a thoracic (OR = 0.33/0.35, p = 0.009/0.01) or thoracolumbar (OR = 0.32/0.22, p = 0.099/0.01) index fracture. Conclusion If routinely used, VP is a safe and efficacious treatment option for osteoporotic vertebral fractures with regard to pain relief and improvement of the QoL. Even segmental realignment can be partially achieved with proper patient positioning. Certain patient or fracture characteristics increase the risk for early radiographic refractures or new fractures, or a reoperation; a consequent prophylactic augmentation showed protective tendencies, but the study was underpowered for a final conclusion.

Individual Differences in First and Fourth Year College Women’s Short Term Mating Strategy Preferences and Perceptions

Using survey methodology, a cross sectional study was undertaken to ascertain whether first and fourth year college women have different perceptions and behavior associated with short term mating preferences. It was hypothesized that after incurring significant negative or costly experiences associated with hooking up, fourth year women would prefer men who had qualities associated with a desired long term partner as opposed to characteristics associated with short term mating partners. The results were partially consistent with the hypothesis. Reported preferences in a desired partner and perspective on hooking up differ between first and fourth year groups. No difference was found between frequency and willingness to hookup between the two groups. The findings are explained in terms of evolutionary theory, social exchange theory, and sexual script concepts.

Interactions between short-term and long-term plasticity: shooting for a moving target

Far from being static transmission units, synapses are highly dynamical elements that change over multiple time scales depending on the history of the neural activity of both the pre- and postsynaptic neuron. Moreover, synaptic changes on different time scales interact: long-term plasticity (LTP) can modify the properties of short-term plasticity (STP) in the same synapse. Most existing theories of synaptic plasticity focus on only one of these time scales (either STP or LTP or late-LTP) and the theoretical principles underlying their interactions are thus largely unknown. Here we develop a normative model of synaptic plasticity that combines both STP and LTP and predicts specific patterns for their interactions. Recently, it has been proposed that STP arranges for the local postsynaptic membrane potential at a synapse to behave as an optimal estimator of the presynaptic membrane potential based on the incoming spikes. Here we generalize this approach by considering an optimal estimator of a non-linear function of the membrane potential and the long-term synaptic efficacy—which itself may be subject to change on a slower time scale. We find that an increase in the long-term synaptic efficacy necessitates changes in the dynamics of STP. More precisely, for a realistic non-linear function to be estimated, our model predicts that after the induction of LTP, causing long-term synaptic efficacy to increase, a depressing synapse should become even more depressing. That is, in a protocol using trains of presynaptic stimuli, as the initial EPSP becomes stronger due to LTP, subsequent EPSPs should become weakened and this weakening should be more pronounced with LTP. This form of redistribution of synaptic efficacies agrees well with electrophysiological data on synapses connecting layer 5 pyramidal neurons.

Individual differences in first and fourth year college women’s short term mating strategy preferences and perceptions

Using survey methodology, a cross sectional study was undertaken to ascertain whether first and fourth year college women have different perceptions and behavior associated with short term mating preferences. It was hypothesized that after incurring significant negative or costly experiences associated with hooking up, fourth year women would prefer men who had qualities associated with a desired long term partner as opposed to characteristics associated with short term mating partners. The results were partially consistent with the hypothesis. Reported preferences in a desired partner and perspective on hooking up differ between first and fourth year groups. No difference was found between frequency and willingness to hookup between the two groups. The findings are explained in terms of evolutionary theory, social exchange theory, and sexual script concepts.

Short-Term Effects of Social Exclusion at work and Worries on Sleep

The present study investigated short-term effects of daily social exclusion at work on various indicators of sleep quality and tested the mediating role of work-related worries using a time-based diary study with ambulatory assessments of sleep quality. Ninety full-time employees participated in a 2-week data collection. Multilevel analyses revealed that daily workplace social exclusion and work-related worries were positively related to sleep fragmentation in the following night. Daily social exclusion, however, was unrelated to sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency and self-reported sleep quality. Moreover, worries did not mediate the effect of social exclusion at work on sleep fragmentation. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

International Service-Learning and the Development of Civic Identity: Understanding the Role of Short-Term International Service-Learning and its Influence on the Development of Civic Identity in College Students Using a Mixed Methodological Approach

Higher education has a responsibility to educate a democratic citizenry and recent research indicates civic engagement is on the decline in the United States. Through a mixed methodological approach, I demonstrate that the potential exists for well structured short-term international service-learning programming to develop college students’ civic identities. Quantitative analysis of questionnaire data, collected from American college students immediately prior to their participation in a short-term service-learning experience in Northern Ireland and again upon their return to the United States, revealed increases in civic accountability, political efficacy, justice oriented citizenship, and service-learning. Subsequent qualitative analysis of interview transcripts, student journals, and field notes suggested that facilitated critical reflection before, during, and after the experience promoted transformational learning. Emergent themes included: (a) responsibilities to others, (b) the value of international service-learning, (c) crosspollination of ideas, (d) stepping outside the daily routine to facilitate divergent thinking, and (e) the necessity of precursory thinking for sustaining transformations in thinking. The first theme, responsibilities to others, was further divided into subthemes of thinking beyond oneself, raising awareness of responsibility to others, and voting responsibly.

Predictors of short term treatment outcome in patients with achalasia following endoscopic or surgical therapy

Pneumatic balloon dilation and surgical myotomy are the most effective treatments for achalasia. While there is controversy which method is best, the aim of the current study was to identify predictors of symptom recurrence after endoscopic or surgical therapy.

The Choice of Expedient Regulatory Controls on Housing Market Using Short-Term Equilibria Model

Khutoretsky dealt with the problem of maximising a linear utility function (MUF) over the set of short-term equilibria in a housing market by reducing it to a linear programming problem, and suggested a combinatorial algorithm for this problem. Two approaches to the market adjustment were considered: the funding of housing construction and the granting of housing allowances. In both cases, locally optimal regulatory measures can be developed using the corresponding dual prices. The optimal effects (with the regulation expenditures restricted by an amount K) can be found using specialised models based on MUF: a model M1 for choice of the optimum structure of investment in housing construction, and a model M2 for optimum distribution of housing allowances. The linear integer optimisation problems corresponding to these models are initially difficult but can be solved after slight modifications of the parameters. In particular, the necessary modification of K does not exceed the maximum construction cost of one dwelling (for M1) or the maximum size of one housing allowance (for M2). The result is particularly useful since slight modification of K is not essential in practice.