Orthopaedists in the Czech Republic use corrective braces of type Cheneau or Cerny for conservative treatment of non skeletal scoliosis. The brace has force effects on a child spine and if it is used for enough long time the spine defect is corrected. The brace is made individually for each patient in this way: first, the negative plaster form of a child trunk and then the positive plaster form are made. The positive plaster form is deepened in the places where brace has to push on the patient trunk. The laminate brace made according to this plaster form pushes the child trunk like a tight shoe principle. The paper shows the manner of determination and computer algorithms for solving of the stress state in vertebrae and inter-vertebrae discs and the spinal curve correction under brace force effects for a concrete child patient. The pathologic spinal curve deformities are measured on the X-ray of patient. The spine stress state and spine deformation correction are solved as a beam (spine) on an elastic ground (soft tissue). There are used two algorithms. The 1st algorithm solves the spine stress state and deformation under brace force effect given by displacements of trunk surface. The 2nd algorithm has as input the spinal curves of a patient with and without brace measured on the X-rays. The difference of the two curves is the spine deformity corretions and the spine stress state and necessary trunk surface displacement are the results. If the ideal spine curve is set as the curve under brace effect then the trunk surface is equal to the optimal brace form. The calculation algorithm and parameters ware verified with treatment courses. The trunk surface load was checked by sensor plates which ware put into braces to measure the load values between the brace and the child trunk surface. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The aim of this study was to determine the role of the tumor
necrosis factor like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) as
a serum biomarker of neuropsychiatric involvement in systemic
lupus erythematosus (NPSLE). Levels of TWEAK levels were
measured in sera of 92 patients with systemic lupus
erythematosus (SLE), including 28 patients with neuropsychiatric
lupus, and in 59 healthy controls using ELISA. All SLE patients
underwent rheumatological, neurological and psychiatric
assessments. We found no significant differences in TWEAK
levels, between SLE patients and the healthy controls
(p=0.2411). Similarly, no difference was observed between the
subgroup of NPSLE and healthy controls (p=0.7658). The mean
SLE disease activity (SLEDAI) was 13.25. No correlations
between TWEAK levels with disease activity (SLEDAI, r=0.2113,
p= 0.2805) or the most common NPSLE manifestations such as
headache (r=0.2079), seizures (r=0.1101), cerebrovascular
disease (r=- 0.2347), cognitive dysfunction (r=0.1597) and
anxiety (r=0.1397) were observed. Our data do not support the
use of serum TWEAK as a discriminating biomarker for NPSLE.
The role of the TWEAK in NPSLE remains to be investigated.