According to the general definition of scoliosis, it is an abnormal curvature of the spine. Rotation or more accurately twisting of the spine, may lead to a gradual curve, and it is almost always painless. Scoliosis is not a disease, it is a descriptive term. Curvatures of the spine in the frontal plane are present in order to maintain the upper body part in proper balance. However, when there are lateral curvatures of the spine, scoliosis exists as well. People with a family history of spinal deformity are at greater risk for scoliosis development. The early detection is essential. The risk factors for worsening of scoliosis curvatures, except for growth include: gender (scoliosis curvature in girls more often worsens during growth, as one compared to boys), age (when scoliosis appears in the younger child, the greater is the chance that the curvature will get worse), size of the curvature (with the higher degree of curvature, goes the greater probability that it will worsen over time), location (scoliosis curvature in the lower spine are with less opportunities of promotion than those in the upper spine). Unfortunately, scoliosis often becomes evident in the time when children become selfconscious about their bodies (10 to 15 years of age), so that parents and others have even less likelihood to see the problem. Scoliosis can lead to serious health problems, such as severe back pain, difficulty in breathing, physical deformities, and even injuries of lung and heart.

BackgroundHead motions can severely affect dual-axis cervical acceloremetry signals. A complete understanding of the effects of head motion is required before a robust accelerometry-based medical device can be developed. In this paper, we examine the spectral characteristics of dual-axis cervical accelerometry signals in the absence of swallowing but in the presence of head motions.FindingsData from 50 healthy adults were collected while participants performed five different head motions. Three different spectral features were extracted from each recording: peak frequency, spectral centroid and bandwidth. Statistical analyses showed that peak frequencies are independent of the type of head motion, participant gender and age. However, spectral centroids are statistically different between the anterior-posterior (A-P) and superior-inferior (S-I) directions and between different motion. Additionally, statistically different bandwidths are observed for head tilts down and back between the A-P and the S-I directions.ConclusionsThese differences indicate that head motions induce additional non-dominant spectral components in dual-axis cervical recordings. The results presented here suggest that head motion ought to be considered in the development of medical devices based on dual-axis cervical accelerometery signals.

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As the vCJD outbreak evolves we are alert to possible changes in the clinicopathological phenotype, investigations and genetic analysis. MRI typically shows high signal in the pulvinar nucleus on T2W images and has recently been added to the CJD diagnostic criteria. Here we report MRI findings prompting a diagnosis of sporadic CJD by the current WHO criteria in two recent British patients seen by the NHS National Prion Clinic. Quantitative analysis confirmed greater T2W signal hyperintensity in caudate and putamen than the pulvinar. The neuropathological analysis showed characteristic PrP deposition diagnostic of vCJD, in addition to intense and widespread accumulation of abnormally phosphorylated tau protein. PRNP sequencing revealed methionine homozygosity at codon 129 in both patients. Correct diagnosis during life might have been obtained by tonsillar biopsy. Our retrospective blinded review of 60 suspected vCJD patients showed that while MRI had considerable diagnostic value, there were false positive and negative studies, particularly in early vCJD. Tonsillar biopsy had 100% sensitivity and specificity at all disease stages. Biopsy may allow early diagnosis in atypical clinico-pathological phenotypes of vCJD, avoiding unnecessary investigations, and allow rapid inclusion in therapeutic trials. A conclusive diagnosis during life can be of importance to patients and carers.