The effects of intramuscular tenotomy on the lengthening characteristics of tibialis posterior: high versus low intramuscular tenotomy

BACKGROUND: Lengthening of soft-tissue contractures is frequently required in children with a wide variety of congenital and acquired deformities. However, little is known about the biomechanics of surgical procedures which are commonly used in contracture surgery, or if variations in technique may have a bearing on surgical outcomes. We investigated the hypothesis that the site of intramuscular tenotomy (IMT) within the muscle-tendon-unit (MTU) of the tibialis posterior (TP) would affect the lengthening characteristics. METHODS: We performed a randomized trial on paired cadaver tibialis posterior muscle-tendon-units (TP-MTUs). By random allocation, one of each pair of formalin-preserved TP-MTUs received a high IMT, and the other a low IMT. These were individually tensile-tested with an Instron(®) machine under controlled conditions. A graph of load (Newtons) versus displacement (millimetres) was generated for each pair of tests. The differences in lengthening and load at failure for each pair of TP-MTUs were noted and compared using paired t tests. RESULTS: We found 48% greater lengthening for low IMT compared to high IMT for a given load (P = 0.004, two tailed t test). Load at failure was also significantly lower for the low IMT. These findings confirm our hypothesis that the site of the tenotomy affects the amount of lengthening achieved. This may contribute to the reported variability in clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the relationship between tenotomy site and lengthening may allow surgeons to vary the site of the tenotomy in order to achieve pre-determined surgical goals. It may be possible to control the surgical "dose" by altering the position of the intramuscular tenotomy within the muscle-tendon-unit

Covariant Quantization of d=4 Brink-Schwarz Superparticle with Lorentz Harmonics

Covariant first and second quantization of the free d=4 massless superparticle are implemented with the introduction of purely gauge auxiliary spinor Lorentz harmonics. It is shown that the general solution of the condition of maslessness is a sum of two independent chiral superfields with each of them corresponding to finite superspin. A translationally covariant, in general bijective correspondence between harmonic and massless superfields is constructed. By calculation of the commutation function it is shown that in the considered approach only harmonic fields with correct connection between spin and statistics and with integer negative homogeneity index satisfy the microcausality condition. It is emphasized that harmonic fields that arise are reducible at integer points. The index spinor technique is used to describe infinite-component fields of finite spin; the equations of motion of such fields are obtained, and for them Weinberg's theorem on the connection between massless helicity particles and the type of nongauge field that describes them is generalized.Comment: V2: 1 + 26 pages, published versio

Kinetics of stochastically-gated diffusion-limited reactions and geometry of random walk trajectories

In this paper we study the kinetics of diffusion-limited, pseudo-first-order A + B -> B reactions in situations in which the particles' intrinsic reactivities vary randomly in time. That is, we suppose that the particles are bearing "gates" which interchange randomly and independently of each other between two states - an active state, when the reaction may take place, and a blocked state, when the reaction is completly inhibited. We consider four different models, such that the A particle can be either mobile or immobile, gated or ungated, as well as ungated or gated B particles can be fixed at random positions or move randomly. All models are formulated on a $d$-dimensional regular lattice and we suppose that the mobile species perform independent, homogeneous, discrete-time lattice random walks. The model involving a single, immobile, ungated target A and a concentration of mobile, gated B particles is solved exactly. For the remaining three models we determine exactly, in form of rigorous lower and upper bounds, the large-N asymptotical behavior of the A particle survival probability. We also realize that for all four models studied here such a probalibity can be interpreted as the moment generating function of some functionals of random walk trajectories, such as, e.g., the number of self-intersections, the number of sites visited exactly a given number of times, "residence time" on a random array of lattice sites and etc. Our results thus apply to the asymptotical behavior of the corresponding generating functions which has not been known as yet.Comment: Latex, 45 pages, 5 ps-figures, submitted to PR

Superextendons with a modified measure

For superstrings, the consequences of replacing the measure of integration $\sqrt{-\gamma}d^2 x$ in the Polyakov's action by $\Phi d^2 x$ where $\Phi$ is a density built out of degrees of freedom independent of the metric $\gamma_{ab}$ defined in the string are studied. As in Siegel reformulation of the Green Schwarz formalism the Wess-Zumino term is the square of supersymmetric currents. As opposed to the Siegel case, the compensating fields needed for this do not enter into the action just as in a total derivative. They instead play a crucial role to make up a consistent dynamics. The string tension appears as an integration constant of the equations of motion. The generalization to higher dimensional extended objects is also studied using in this case the Bergshoeff and Sezgin formalism with the associated additional fields, which again are dynamically relevant unlike the standard formulation. Also unlike the standard formulation, there is no need of a cosmological term on the world brane.Comment: typos corrected, references adde

World Spinors - Construction and Some Applications

The existence of a topological double-covering for the $GL(n,R)$ and diffeomorphism groups is reviewed. These groups do not have finite-dimensional faithful representations. An explicit construction and the classification of all $\bar{SL}(n,R)$, $n=3,4$ unitary irreducible representations is presented. Infinite-component spinorial and tensorial $\bar{SL}(4,R)$ fields, "manifields", are introduced. Particle content of the ladder manifields, as given by the $\bar{SL}(3,R)$ "little" group is determined. The manifields are lifted to the corresponding world spinorial and tensorial manifields by making use of generalized infinite-component frame fields. World manifields transform w.r.t. corresponding $\bar{Diff}(4,R)$ representations, that are constructed explicitly.Comment: 19 pages, Te

Crossover phenomena in spin models with medium-range interactions and self-avoiding walks with medium-range jumps

We study crossover phenomena in a model of self-avoiding walks with medium-range jumps, that corresponds to the limit $N\to 0$ of an $N$-vector spin system with medium-range interactions. In particular, we consider the critical crossover limit that interpolates between the Gaussian and the Wilson-Fisher fixed point. The corresponding crossover functions are computed using field-theoretical methods and an appropriate mean-field expansion. The critical crossover limit is accurately studied by numerical Monte Carlo simulations, which are much more efficient for walk models than for spin systems. Monte Carlo data are compared with the field-theoretical predictions concerning the critical crossover functions, finding a good agreement. We also verify the predictions for the scaling behavior of the leading nonuniversal corrections. We determine phenomenological parametrizations that are exact in the critical crossover limit, have the correct scaling behavior for the leading correction, and describe the nonuniversal lscrossover behavior of our data for any finite range.Comment: 43 pages, revte

Homogenization of weakly coupled systems of Hamilton--Jacobi equations with fast switching rates

We consider homogenization for weakly coupled systems of Hamilton--Jacobi equations with fast switching rates. The fast switching rate terms force the solutions converge to the same limit, which is a solution of the effective equation. We discover the appearance of the initial layers, which appear naturally when we consider the systems with different initial data and analyze them rigorously. In particular, we obtain matched asymptotic solutions of the systems and rate of convergence. We also investigate properties of the effective Hamiltonian of weakly coupled systems and show some examples which do not appear in the context of single equations.Comment: final version, to appear in Arch. Ration. Mech. Ana

Critical Exponents, Hyperscaling and Universal Amplitude Ratios for Two- and Three-Dimensional Self-Avoiding Walks

We make a high-precision Monte Carlo study of two- and three-dimensional self-avoiding walks (SAWs) of length up to 80000 steps, using the pivot algorithm and the Karp-Luby algorithm. We study the critical exponents $\nu$ and $2\Delta_4 -\gamma$ as well as several universal amplitude ratios; in particular, we make an extremely sensitive test of the hyperscaling relation $d\nu = 2\Delta_4 -\gamma$. In two dimensions, we confirm the predicted exponent $\nu = 3/4$ and the hyperscaling relation; we estimate the universal ratios $\ / \ = 0.14026 \pm 0.00007$, $\ / \ = 0.43961 \pm 0.00034$ and $\Psi^* = 0.66296 \pm 0.00043$ (68\% confidence limits). In three dimensions, we estimate $\nu = 0.5877 \pm 0.0006$ with a correction-to-scaling exponent $\Delta_1 = 0.56 \pm 0.03$ (subjective 68\% confidence limits). This value for $\nu$ agrees excellently with the field-theoretic renormalization-group prediction, but there is some discrepancy for $\Delta_1$. Earlier Monte Carlo estimates of $\nu$, which were $\approx\! 0.592$, are now seen to be biased by corrections to scaling. We estimate the universal ratios $\ / \ = 0.1599 \pm 0.0002$ and $\Psi^* = 0.2471 \pm 0.0003$; since $\Psi^* > 0$, hyperscaling holds. The approach to $\Psi^*$ is from above, contrary to the prediction of the two-parameter renormalization-group theory. We critically reexamine this theory, and explain where the error lies.Comment: 87 pages including 12 figures, 1029558 bytes Postscript (NYU-TH-94/09/01

Facing the threat of influenza pandemic - roles of and implications to general practitioners

The 2009 pandemic of H1N1 influenza, compounded with seasonal influenza, posed a global challenge. Despite the announcement of post-pandemic period on 10 August 2010 by theWHO, H1N1 (2009) virus would continue to circulate as a seasonal virus for some years and national health authorities should remain vigilant due to unpredictable behaviour of the virus. Majority of the world population is living in countries with inadequate resources to purchase vaccines and stockpile antiviral drugs. Basic hygienic measures such as wearing face masks and the hygienic practice of hand washing could reduce the spread of the respiratory viruses. However, the imminent issue is translating these measures into day-to-day practice. The experience from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong has shown that general practitioners (GPs) were willing to discharge their duties despite risks of getting infected themselves. SARS event has highlighted the inadequate interface between primary and secondary care and valuable health care resources were thus inappropriately matched to community needs