Does primary stability of pedicle screws depend on the screw positioning and alignment?
These results provide adjunctive criteria to evaluate more accurately the fate of a spine instrumentation. Particular care should be placed in the screw evaluation regarding the craniocaudal positioning and alignment.
These data suggest that colitis models associated with high endogenous TGF-beta1 levels and defective TGF-beta1 signaling due to high levels of Smad7 can be ameliorated by down-regulation of Smad7 and by oral administration of Smad7 antisense oligonucleotide. This may represent a new approach to the control of IBD, particularly during active phases when its Smad7 profile resembles that of hapten-induced colitis.