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Have you ever been curious about what a Chiari
surgery is really like? If you have, then mark March 16th on your
calendar. On that day, Dr. Stephen Fletcher, a pediatric neurosurgeon,
will perform a Chiari surgery which will be broadcast live on the web (see
Chiari Surgery To Be
Broadcast Live On The Web). Dr. Fletcher contacted me regarding
this event and I encourage anyone who can to watch it and learn what you
can. The doctors will field email questions during the surgery as
well, so it should be quite an event. I wanted to take
an opportunity to again thank everyone who took the time to make a donation
during our recent drive. While we did not achieve our goal, I was
especially touched by the personal notes. While the vast majority of
people wanted to stay anonymous, a couple of people did want to send out
messages and be recognized:
* Judith Engel in honor of Roswski, Dewan, and Bangero families
* Burkhard Wagner in honor of Ruben
* Nelson Weiss
Thanks again.
Finally, I saw an interesting article which I couldn't write up for the
newsletter because it's in Chinese. The article would have been a nice
complement to the Research Update Rats
Reveal Clues To The Damage Syrinxes Do because the researchers used a
similar method to create syrinxes in each case. In the Chinese
article, the researchers showed that Ginko Extract actually reduced the
cellular damage around the syrinx. If anyone thinks they can
translate, please let me know, but for now, here's the abstract:
Di Yi Jun Yi Da Xue Xue Bao. 2005 Jan;25(1):83-6.
Effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on neuronal apoptosis in rabbit with
kaolin-induced syringomyelia.
[Article in Chinese]
Yang GF, Wang LN, Yang LB, Zhang QJ.
Departments of Geriatric Neurology, General Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100853,
China.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) on neuronal
apoptosis in rabbits with kaolin-induced syringomyelia. METHODS: Twenty-four
of 30 Chinese white rabbits were subjected to injection of 25% kaolin mixed
with equal volume (0.6 ml) of cerebrospinal fluid drawn from the cisterna
magna under ketamine anesthesia. Twelve of these 24 rabbits then received
intravenous injection of 5 ml of GBE (5 ml/days for 14 days, GBE treatment
group) while the other 12 were treated with the same amount of saline
administered in similar manner (saline group). The 6 rabbits without kaolin
treatment received a sham operation to serve as the control group. At
different time points after the operation, the rabbits were killed and the
spinal cord samples examined by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS:
Histologically, ischemia and edema in the cervical cord of rabbits in GBE
treatment group were less severe than those in saline group. TUNEL-positive
and bax-positive neurons were less numerous in GBE treatment group than in
saline group, and the former group showed more Bcl-2-positive neurons. The
number of apoptotic neurons reached the peak level on day 7 after kaolin
injection. CONCLUSION: GBE can ameliorate kaolin-induced hydrocephalus in
the upper cervical cord and inhibit kaolin-induced neuron apoptosis.
--Rick Labuda |