Effect of a Traction Exercise Neck Brace on Cervical Spondylopathy Radiculopathy: A Clinical Study and Finite Element Analysis.

Traction of cervical spine is an effective method for the treatment of cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR). In this study, a cervical tractor named traction exercise neck brace (TENB) was used to evaluate its effect on the patients with CSR. Forty CSR volunteers were recruited and randomly divided into two groups. One group was subjected to cervical muscle exercise with TENB under static traction condition. Another group was subjected to (JOBT) as controls. Symptoms of CSR were evaluated by the visual analogue scale (VAS) and neck disability index (NDI). Imaging characteristics were assessed by curvature of the cervical spine and size of the intervertebral foramen. A finite element (FE) analysis model of cervical spine was established by 3D reconstruction to simulate the TENB traction, which evaluates the biomechanical performance. Results showed that TENB significantly reduced scores of VAS and NDI in subjects, and this improved effect on symptoms of pain and radiculopathy is better than that of JOBT. TENB also improved the cervical curvature and enlarged intervertebral foramen at the C4-C6 level. Moreover, FE analysis found that simulated TENB traction increased the spacing of intervertebral foramen, intervertebral disc, and zygapophyseal and uncovertebral joints and changed the stress distribution on the facet joints and nucleus pulposus. This study demonstrates that TENB relieves the symptoms of CSR by adjusting structure of cervical vertebra and restoring its biomechanical performance, which may be a promising instrument in the treatment of CSR.

Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry analyses of vancomycin.

As an antibiotic that prevents and treats infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin incorporated in a biodegradable polymer poly(lactide-co-glycolide) provides opportunities to construct controlled-release drug delivery systems. Developments associated with this promising system have been largely concentrated on areas of drug delivery kinetics and biodegradability. In order to provide surface analytical approaches to this important system, the authors demonstrate applicability of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) in three-dimensional molecular imaging for a model system consisting of alternating layers of ploy(lactide-co-glycolide) and vancomycin. TOF-SIMS imaging clarified that the two chemicals can undergo phase separation when dimethyl sulfoxide is used as the solvent. The authors identified two diagnostic ions that are abundant and structural moieties of vancomycin. The results on TOF-SIMS imaging and depth profiling vancomycin provide useful information for further applications of TOF-SIMS in the development of antibiotic drug delivery systems involving the use of vancomycin.

Scaffold composed of porous vancomycin-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microspheres: A controlled-release drug delivery system with shape-memory effect.

Loading antibiotics in a biodegradable polymer matrix is an excellent way to control its release kinetics, which eliminates side effects caused by conventional administrations of the drug. This approach is especially beneficial for bone regeneration when using a scaffold made of a biodegradable polymer loaded with drug agents capable of controllable releases. In this case, the scaffold serves as a mechanical support to tissue formation and the drug agents may provide biomolecules to assist the tissue formation and/or provide antibiotics to prevent tissues from infections. Towards this goal, we have developed an approach to make vancomycin-loaded poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) microspheres, from which we made scaffolds by compression molding. In this article we concentrate on characterizing the porosity and drug release profiles, as well as verifying shape-memory effect of the scaffolds. The scaffold was biodegradable and showed a much slower drug release profile than microspheres. We confirmed that our PLGA scaffolds recovered to their permanent shapes when heated to 45°C. We believe that these scaffolds will find applications in bone regeneration where both the use of antibiotics against infection and accommodation to spatial restrictions may be required.