Dear Spinal Cord reader,

Now that we are all preparing to attend the 53th ISCOS Annual Scientific Meeting in Maastricht, September 2–4, I thought it appropriate to include an epidemiological study on traumatic SCI in The Netherlands (Nijendijk et al.). The country has been very well organized for decades in acute care and rehabilitation of individuals with SCI. However, in recent years many individuals were not referred to a specialized SCI Unit as is seen worldwide. This needs our full attention so we can try and understand the reasons and the eventual impact for the SCI individual in the short and long-term.

This issue of Spinal Cord contains many other interesting contributions from various parts of the world. I am convinced you will enjoy them very much.

Epidemiology: Aito et al. found in a retrospective evaluation over 30 years that SCI due to two wheels road traffic accidents have increased due to greater use of such a vehicle: this is important for future prevention strategies. Katoh et al. found in a rural population the incidence of incomplete cervical SCI to be increasing, and significant regional differences in incidences across Japan. They speculate that factors other than age are contributing to this increase.

Bone metabolism: Alavizadeh et al. revealed a high prevalence of T-score (the number of standard deviations above or below the mean for a healthy 30 year old adult of the same sex and ethnicity as the patient) discordance in SCI. Physicians should therefore be encouraged to determine bone mineral density at three sites.

Urology: Cetinel et al. studied the urological health condition of SCI individuals living in Turkey. Mitsui et al. report that after ileocystoplasty postoperative metabolic acidosis was significantly related to preoperative renal scars as seen on imaging. Bartel et al. confirmed that in SCI patients, bladder management plays an important role in the development of bladder stones. Yoon et al. found a wide variety of organisms and higher frequency of antibiotic-resistant strains, including ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae in hospital derived specimens in individuals with SCI newly admitted. Furthermore, in areas with high prevalence of fluoroquinolone resistance, fluoroquinolones should be used with caution during empirical treatment for UTI in SCI patients.

Blood: Guerra et al., from a marked difference in incidence of deep venous thrombosis in patients with acute and chronic SCI, evaluated the basis for thrombophilia in relation to clinical factors, risk factors and family history of thrombosis. Currie et al. found aortic pulse wave velocity measurements collected using applanation tonometry to be reliable and suitable for repeated measures study designs.

Motor and general function: Amatachaya et al. confirm the utility of the 10 min walk test as an alternative monitoring tool to the 6 min test, but only for the patients with rather good walking ability.

Gorman et al. saw high reproducibility of VO2 peak during robotically assisted body weight supported treadmill training and arm cycle ergometry in individuals with chronic motor incomplete SCI, and a moderate correlation between the two in individuals with tetraplegia. Barbetta et al. present experience with the Functional Independence Measure in Brazil.

Sexuality: Nikoobakht et al. discuss the sexuality in patients with chronic low back pain in Iran. Coskun Celik et al studied sexual problems of women with SCI in Turkey.

Pain: Widerström-Noga et al. present the International SCI Pain Basic Data Set (version 2.0). DiPiro et al. found pain and fatigue to mediate the relationship between usage of certain mobility aids and depressive symptomatology.

In letters to the editor previous publications ‘Soft—plastic brace for lower limb fracture’ and ‘History of cervical spine surgery’ are further discussed. Enjoy reading.