An 808-nm near-infrared laser was chosen to stimulate the auditory nerve in the guinea pig cochlea. The infrared

pulse was delivered by an optical fiber that was surgically inserted near the round window membrane and oriented toward the spiral ganglion cells in the basal turn of the cochlea. The 2-Hz infrared pulses were used to stimulate the cochlea before and after the deafness with different pulse durations (100-1,000 mu s). Optically evoked compound action potentials (oCAPs) were recorded during the infrared radiation. We successfully recorded oCAPs from both Stem Cell Compound Library normal hearing animals and deafened animals. The oCAP amplitude increased with the infrared radiation energy. The preliminary experiment suggests that the near-infrared with lower absorption coefficients can effectively pass through the lymph filled in the cochlea and stimulate the auditory nerve. Further studies will optimize the deafness animal model and determine the optimal stimulation

parameters.”
“Decompression for lumbar spinal stenosis is one of the most frequent operations on the spine today. The most common complication seems to be a peroperative dural www.selleckchem.com/products/hsp990-nvp-hsp990.html lesion. There are few prospective studies on this complication regarding incidence and effect on long-term outcome; this is the background for the current study.

Swespine, the Swedish Spine Register documents the majority (> 80%) of lumbar spine operations in

Sweden today. Within the framework of this register, totally 3,699 operations for spinal stenosis during a 5-year period were studied regarding complications and 1-year postoperative outcome. Mean patient age was 66 (37-92) years and 44% were males. Fourteen percent were smokers and 19% had undergone previous lumbar spine surgery.

The overall incidence of a peroperative dural lesion was 7.4%, 8.5% of patients undergoing decompressive surgery only and 5.5% of patients undergoing decompressive surgery + fusion (p AZD4547 concentration < 0.001). A logistic regression analysis demonstrated that (high) age (p < 0.0004), previous surgery (p < 0.036) and smoking (p < 0.049) were significantly predictive factors for dural lesions. An odds ratio estimate demonstrated an age-related risk increase with 2.7% per year. The risk for dural lesions also increased with number of levels decompressed. The 1-year outcome was identical in the two groups with and without a dural lesion.

A dural lesion was seen in 7.4% of decompressive operations for spinal stenosis. High age, previous surgery and smoking were risk factors for sustaining a lesion, which, however, did not affect the 1-year outcome negatively.”
“Radical prostatectomy is performed on approximately 40% of men with organ-confined prostate cancer.