Historical analysis of present goals in modern skull base surgery echoes the principles established through an approach described almost 150 years ago minimal invasion, minimal morbidity, and priority of patient satisfaction. The progression of the transorbital approach not only reflects psychosocial influences on medical therapy, as well as the competition of surgical pioneers for supremacy, but also describes the diversification of skull base techniques, the impact of microsurgical mastery on circumferential neurosurgical corridors, the influence of technology on modernizing skull base surgery, and the advancing trend of multidisciplinary surgical excellence.
  Surgical treatment for nonforaminal syringomyelia related to spinal arachnoiditis is still controversial.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/cbl0137-cbl-0137.html  The authors sought to assess respective outcomes and rates of reintervention for shunting and spinal cord untethering (arachnolysis) in spinal arachnoiditis with syringomyelia.
 
  This retrospective cohort study was conducted at a single reference center for syringomyelia. Patients undergoing arachnolysis and/or shunting interventions for nonforaminal syringomyelia were screened.
 
  The study included 75 patients undergoing 130 interventions. Arachnolysis without shunting was performed in 48 patients, while 27 patients underwent shunting. The mean follow-up between the first surgery and the last outpatient visit was 65.0 months (range 12-379 months, median 53 months). At the last follow-up, the modified McCormick score was improved or stabilized in 83.4% of patients after arachnolysis versus 66.7% after shunting. Thirty-one (41.3%) patients underwent reintervention during follow-up, with a mean delay of 3opathies, irrespective of the surgical technique.
  The objective of this study was to evaluate a novel connector design and compare it with traditional side connectors, such as a fixed-angle connector (FAC) and a variable-angle connector (VAC), with respect to lumbosacral stability and instrumentation strain.
 
  Standard nondestructive flexibility tests (7.5 Nm) and compression tests (400 N) were performed using 7 human cadaveric specimens (L1-ilium) to compare range of motion (ROM) stability, posterior rod strain (RS), and sacral screw bending moment (SM). Directions of motion included flexion, extension, left and right lateral bending, left and right axial rotation, and compression. Conditions included 1) the standard 2-rod construct (2R); 2) the dual-tulip head (DTH) with 4-rod construct (4R); 3) FACs with 4R; and 4) VACs with 4R. Data were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA.
 
  Overall, there were no statistically significant differences in ROM across the lumbosacral junction among conditions (p > 0.07). Compared with 2R, DTH and FAC significantly across the lumbosacral junction. However, the greatest reduction in RS and SM was achieved with a VAC that allowed for straight (uncontoured) accessory rod placement.
  The aim of this study was to investigate diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an objective and noninvasive neuroimaging technique, for its potential as an imaging biomarker to predict the need and timing of CSF diversion surgery in patients after prenatal myelomeningocele (MMC) repair.
 
  This was a retrospective analysis of data based on 35 pediatric patients after prenatal MMC repair (gestational age at birth 32.68 ± 3.42 weeks, range 24-38 weeks; 15 females and 20 males). A logistic regression analysis was used to classify patients to determine the need for CSF diversion surgery. The model performance was compared between using the frontooccipital horn ratio (FOHR) alone and using the FOHR combined with DTI values (the genu of the corpus callosum [gCC] and the posterior limb of the internal capsule [PLIC]). For patients who needed to be treated surgically, timing of the procedure was used as the clinical outcome to test the predictive value of DTI acquired prior to surgery based on a linear regression analysis = -0.6830, p = 0.010; both adjusted for age and FOHR).
 
  The authors' data demonstrated that DTI could potentially serve as an objective biomarker differentiating patients after prenatal MMC repair regarding those who may require surgery for MMC-associated hydrocephalus. The predictive value for the need and timing of CSF diversion surgery is highly clinically relevant for improving and optimizing decision-making for the treatment of hydrocephalus in this patient population.
 The authors' data demonstrated that DTI could potentially serve as an objective biomarker differentiating patients after prenatal MMC repair regarding those who may require surgery for MMC-associated hydrocephalus. The predictive value for the need and timing of CSF diversion surgery is highly clinically relevant for improving and optimizing decision-making for the treatment of hydrocephalus in this patient population.
  Medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain malignancy, has Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) and group 3 (Myc driven) subtypes that are associated with the activity of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E), a critical mediator of translation, and enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a histone methyltransferase and master regulator of transcription. Recent drug repurposing efforts in multiple solid and hematologic malignancies have demonstrated that eIF4E and EZH2 are both pharmacologically inhibited by the FDA-approved antiviral drug ribavirin. Given the molecular overlap between medulloblastoma biology and known ribavirin activity, the authors investigated the preclinical efficacy of repurposing ribavirin as a targeted therapeutic in cell and animal models of medulloblastoma.
 
  Multiple in vitro assays were performed using human ONS-76 (a primitive SHH model) and D425 (an aggressive group 3 model) cells. The impacts of ribavirin on cellular growth, death, migration, and invasion were quantified using proliferatin multiple preclinical models of medulloblastoma, including an aggressive group 3 animal model. Ribavirin may represent a promising targeted therapeutic in medulloblastoma.
 The authors demonstrate that ribavirin, a clinically used drug known to inhibit eIF4E and EZH2, has significant antitumor effects in multiple preclinical models of medulloblastoma, including an aggressive group 3 animal model. Ribavirin may represent a promising targeted therapeutic in medulloblastoma.