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Intramedullary dermoid tumors are rare benign neoplasms that correspond to 1 to 2% of all intramedullary tumors, affecting specially the lumbosacral region. Those tumors are composed of remnants of embryonic tissue derived from the ectoderm, whose walls secretions cause slow growth rate. Despite its benign character, neurological injury comes from the tumor's expansive process and the collateral damage derived from the complete resection of the cyst wall, which can cause hypoesthesia and radicular pain, besides other effects as neuromuscular scoliosis. The primary treatment for intramedullary tumor is resection surgery. The case reported involves an infant with an extensive dorsal intramedullary dermoid tumor without association with spinal dysraphism, presenting clinically complete paraplegia, lower limbs atrophy, hypoesthesia from the T4 level and urinary incontinence. The physical examination revealed upper motor neuron syndrome in the lower limbs, mild cognitive delay and a significant scoliosis. Image exams showed a Cobb angle from T3 to L2 with 115º sitting and 68º with traction, besides a massive expansive intramedullary formation extending from C5 to the T9 plane. The patient underwent extensive cervical and thoracic laminotomy followed by median myelotomy and the resection of the lesion. An arthrodesis treated the secondary vertebral deformity. The postoperative period showed good surgical recovery and the control exams revealed ample resection of the lesion and adequate control of scoliosis with partial maintenance of rotational deformity.

Aims: This study examined how vision, base of support (BOS) and surface compliance affected postural sway and electromyography (EMG) activity of hip and ankle muscles during eight balance training tasks in young adults. Methods: Postural sway and EMG activity of gluteus maximus (GMAX), gluteus medius (GMED), tibialis anterior (TA), and medial gastrocnemius (GAST) were measured during eight balance tasks with eyes open or closed, feet in tandem or apart, and on foam or a firm surface. Results: Postural sway and EMG activity of hip and ankle muscles were significantly affected by the alteration of vision, surface compliance or BOS during eight balance tasks (PConclusions: Balance exercises may be progressed according to the rank of the task’s difficulty by increasing the number of sensory factors altered in a balance task. There was significant recruitment of hip and ankle muscles in the balance tasks indicating the importance of these muscles in postural control.

Background Vitamin D is a modulator of the immune system. There is some limited evidence that it also increases local blood flow in response to stress. Material and methods In the present study, we examined 20 age matched subjects; 10 whom were from India and 10 Caucasians from the United States. Subjects were administered 4000 IU of Vitamin D3 for 3 weeks at breakfast. The function of the endothelial cells was evaluated in 2 ways; first, the response to 4 minutes of vascular occlusion was measured with a laser Doppler flow meter and second, the blood flow response to local heat at 42°C for 6 minutes. Results The results of the experiments showed that, as reported previously, the endothelial function in people from India was less than their Caucasian counterparts. The blood flow response to heat was reduced after 3 weeks administration of vitamin D in both groups and the response to vascular occlusion in the Caucasian group. But there was only a 20% reduction in the blood flow response to heat in the Caucasian group and a 50% reduction in the group from India. Conclusions Thus acute doses of vitamin D may increase vascular tone and reduce blood flow to tissue during stressors. Dosages administered for a longer duration may have beneficial effects on endothelial function but this was not examined here.

Background It is well established that there is a reduction in the skin blood flow (SBF) in response to heat with age and diabetes. While it is known that high BMI creates a stress on the cardiovascular system and increases the risk of all cause of morbidity and mortality, little is known of the effect of high BMI on SBF response to heat. Since diabetes is associated with age and a higher BMI, the interrelationship between age, BMI and SBF needs to be investigated to better understand the contribution diabetes alone has to endothelial impairment. Material/Methods This study examined the SBF to heat in young and old people with low and high BMI and people with diabetes with high BMI to determine the contribution these variables have on SBF. Subjects were ten young and older people with BMI 20 and ten subjects with diabetes with BMI >20. The SBF response, above the quadriceps, was determined during a 6 minutes exposure to heat at 44°C. Results Even in young people, SBF after the stress of heat exposure was reduced in subjects with a high BMI. The effect of BMI was greatest in young people and lowest in older people and people with diabetes; in people with diabetes, BMI was a more significant variable than diabetes in causing impairment of blood flow to heat. BMI, for example, was responsible for 49% of the reduction in blood flow after stress heat exposure (R=−0.7) while ageing only accounted for 16% of the blood flow reduction (R=−0.397). Conclusions These results would suggest the importance of keeping BMI low not only in people with diabetes to minimize further circulatory vascular damage, but also in young people to diminish long term circulatory vascular compromise.