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• The HS was comparable to the ACDF for the treatment of contiguous two-level CDDD. • The HS provided better preservation for the global ROM of cervical spine. • Bone resorption may be an integral component in the early stage of bony fusion. • Long-term follow-ups are still needed to observe the clinical efficacy. Although the Mobi-C artificial disc and the ROI-C cervical cage have been widely used in the treatment of cervical degenerative disc diseases (CDDD), few reports addressed the features of combined application of both devices. This study is aimed at comparing the clinical and radiological outcomes of treating contiguous two-level CDDD using Mobi-C and ROI-C combined in a hybrid surgery (HS) with anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) using ROI-C. We reviewed ninety-one patients who underwent HS (n = 48) or ACDF (n = 43) surgery for symptomatic contiguous two-level CDDD. >2 years' clinical and radiological outcomes were reviewed and evaluated retrospectively. At the last follow-up, significant improvement in the mean VAS, JOA, and NDI scores was found both in the HS and ACDF groups (p < 0.05), while the differences between groups were not significant (p > 0.05). The global range of motion (ROM) in the HS group was significantly larger than that in the ACDF group (p < 0.05). The local lordosis improved significantly after surgery in all patients (p < 0.05). Bone resorption and heterotopic ossification (HO) were found after surgery. The result showed that, for the selected patients, HS may provide an alternative approach for the treatment of contiguous two-level CDDD. HS also offers the benefit of both greater global ROM and greater ROM at the Mobi-C index level. Some degree of bone resorption may be an integral component in the early stage of bony fusion in the cage index level. Further studies and long-term follow-up are still needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, based on the asymptotic expansion of Mittag-Leffler function and the fractional comparison principle, an improved fractional Halanay inequality with time-varying coefficients is proved by introducing parameters λ i and δ. The fractional autonomous Halanay inequality is generalized to the fractional non-autonomous case. Moreover, based on the improved fractional Halanay inequality and Lyapunov functional method, a novel sufficient condition on self synchronization of the fractional non-autonomous Hopfield neural networks with time delay is obtained. Finally, three numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the exponential stability of delayed neural networks. Combined the Legendre polynomials with free-weighting matrices technique, an improved free-matrix-based single integral inequality is given, which includes the general single integral inequality and the free-matrix-based single integral inequality as special cases. Furthermore, a free-matrix-based double integral inequality which improves the existing results is derived. As applications of these novel free-matrix-based integral inequalities, several exponential stability criteria with less conservatism for the delayed neural networks are obtained. The effectiveness of our main results is illustrated by three numerical examples from the literatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Auxiliary function-based summation inequalities are addressed in this technical note. By constructing appropriate auxiliary functions, several new summation inequalities are obtained. A novel sufficient criterion for asymptotic stability of discrete-time systems with time-varying delay is obtained in terms of linear matrix inequalities. The advantage of the proposed method is demonstrated by two classical examples from the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-locking stand-alone cages can achieve satisfactory clinical results and fusion rate. However, there have been no reports on the causes and relationship of different fusion state. This study is to classify the different fusion states of the index level and to explore the potential contributing factors and links of them. From June 2008 to October 2011, 42 patients underwent anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with MC+ cages. More than 5 years' follow-up was reviewed. The fusion state and the relevant clinical and radiologic records were reviewed retrospectively. At the last follow-up, the fusion proportion of type I, II, III, and IV was 11.7%, 16.9%, 26.9%, and 42.9%, respectively. The overall fusion rate was 97.4%. For all the fused types, significant improvement for the visual analog scale, Japanese Orthopaedic Association, and Neck Disability Index scores was found at the last follow-up (P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences between the 4 types (P > 0.05). For sagittal vertical axis, type IV was significantly larger than that of type I, II, and III (P < 0.05), and for range of motion, type III was significantly larger than that of type II and IV (P < 0.05). For anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with self-locking stand-alone cages, the fusion of the index level seems to be a progressive dynamic process during the mid-term follow-up, which may be influenced by the location of the cage, the aagittal vertical axis of the index level, and the global range of motion of the cervical spine. Satisfactory clinical results could be achieved by all the fused types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]