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Objective: To determine the functional relevance of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics and conventional MRI (signal intensity change in T2, compression ratio) by measuring the correlation of these parameters with clinical outcome measured by the modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) score.Materials and Methods: A total of 20 cervical myelopathy (CM) patients participated in this prospective cohort study. The severities of CM were assessed using the mJOA score. Conventional MRIs (T2-weighted images) measuring the signal changes of spinal cords and the degree of compression at the lesion level and DTI metrics [fractional anisotropy (FA), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)] at each lesion and below each lesion (C7/T1) level were acquired using a 3-T Achieva MRI. These parameters were correlated with the mJOA scores to determine the functional relevance.Results: Ninety percent of CM patients showed signal changes and 30 % of patients noted a more than 40% canal compression ratio in conventional MRIs at the lesion level; however, these findings were not correlated with the mJOA score (p < 0.05). In contrast, FA values on DTI showed high sensitivity to CM (100%), which was well correlated with the mJOA score (p = 0.034, r = 0.475) below the lesion level (C7/T1).Conclusions: This study showed a meaningful symptomatic correlation between mJOA scores and FA values below the lesion levels in CM patients. It could give us more understanding of the pathological changes in spinal cords matched with various clinical findings in CM patients than the results from conventional MRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Vitamin D receptor (VDR) has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). There has been no case-control study examining the association between VDR polymorphisms and T1DM among Korean subjects with a low incidence of T1DM. Methods Eighty-one T1DM patients and 113 unrelated healthy controls with no history of DM or other autoimmune diseases were investigated at either Pusan National University Children's Hospital or Korea University Anam Hospital between March 2009 and September 2013. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was utilized to genotype single nucleotide substitutions at TaqI, BsmI, and ApaI alleles. Results All frequencies in T1DM and control subjects were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, although ApaI in controls and TaqI in T1DM showed relatively weak equilibrium. TaqI and BsmI differences were significant ( P = 0.045 and P = 0.012, respectively) after applying Bonferroni correction. The TT genotype carrier frequency among controls was higher than among the T1DM patients ( P = 0.015; OR, 2.98; 95%CI: 1.19-7.42). T allele frequency was higher among controls than T1DM patients ( P = 0.019; OR, 2.78; 95%CI: 1.15-6.72). The frequency of bb genotype carriers among controls was higher than among T1DM patients ( P = 0.004; OR, 4.13; 95%CI: 1.4-12.10). The frequency of the b allele among controls was higher than that among T1DM patients ( P = 0.016; OR, 3.20; 95%CI: 1.19-8.60). Conclusions T and b TaqI and BsmI alleles are protective against T1DM in Korean subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]