EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL VALIDATION OF DOUBLE COLUMN INTERNAL FIXATION THEORY FOR DISTAL FEMORAL FRACTURES

Purpose of the study – to experimentally compare efficiency of lateral and bilateral (lateral and medial) plate fixation of distal femoral fractures and to validate the appropriateness of double column theory of distal femur anatomy for internal fixation for these fractures.Material and methods. The authors performed a biomechanical study in two series on polyurethane models of right femur corresponding in dimensions to natural femur. After simulating a 33 C2 fracture type it was fixed by one lateral plate or two (lateral and medial) plates. After fixation the models were tested in six load ranges with maximal load from 20 to 120 kgf in cyclic mode.Results. The authors obtained a significant difference in absolute values of fragments displacement amplitude depending on fixation method. In the first series of the experiment – one plate fixed on the lateral surface of the femur – under minimal load the displacement value was reported as0.3 mm and under maximal load —1.9 mm; in the second series of experiment – two plates fixed on the lateral and medial surfaces of the femur – displacement values were reported as0.35 mm and0.95 mm respectively. Conclusion. The presence or absence of medial support after internal fixation has a profound impact on ensuring stability in cases of comminuted fractures of distal femoral fractures. In this context the use of double column theory of distal femur anatomy for internal fixation can significantly improve the treatment outcomes for such patients. After trials of minimally invasive fixation method on anatomical specimen the described theory can be implemented into the clinical practice

Genetic dissimilarity in varieties of Artemisia annua L. based on agronomic, physiological and phytochemical characters

O presente estudo objetivou estimar a variabilidade genética existente entre caracteres agronômicos, fisiológicos e fitoquímicos em variedades de A. annua. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado e os tratamentos foram as variedades Artemis, 2/39x5x3M, e 2/39x1V de A. annua, submetidas a avaliações agronômicas, fisiológicas e fitoquímicas. Para a realização das estimativas de distância genética foram geradas matrizes de dissimilaridade utilizando a distância Euclidiana e os métodos de agrupamento de Tocher e UPGMA. Além disso, avaliou-se a importância relativa dos caracteres para divergência genética pelo método de Singh. As análises foram realizadas pelo software Genes e os dendrogramas obtidos pelo NTSYS. A presença de variabilidade genética dentro das variedades permitiu a identificação de acessos dissimilares e com média elevada para as características estudadas. O número de ramificações, concentração intracelular de CO2, e o rendimento de óleo essencial foram os caracteres que mais contribuíram para a dissimilaridade genética de A. annua. Os acessos B24, C5 e C32 foram os mais promissores dentro das variedades e devem ser conservados para futuras hibridações, sendo que as hibridações mais promissoras na obtenção de populações segregantes desejadas são B24 x C5, B24 x C32 e C5 x C321621356363COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESsem informaçãoThis study aimed to estimate the genetic variability among agronomic, physiological, and phytochemical characters in varieties of A. annua. The experimental design was completely randomized and the treatments were the varieties Artemis, 2/39x5x3M and 2/39x1V of A. annua, subject to agronomic, physiological and phytochemical evaluations. To estimate the genetic distances, dissimilarity matrices were generated using the Euclidean distance and the Tocher and UPGMA grouping methods. Moreover, we evaluated the relative importance of the characters for genetic divergence through the method of Singh. The analyses were performed in the Genes software and the dendrograms were obtained from the NTSYS program. The presence of genetic variability within the varieties allowed the identification of dissimilar accessions with high average for all traits. The number of branches, intracellular concentration of CO2 and oil yield were the traits that contributed most to the genetic dissimilarity of A. annua. The accessions B24, C5 and C32 were the most promising within the populations and must be conserved for future crossings, and the most promising crosses to obtain the desired segregant populations were B24 x C5, B24 x C32 and C5 x C3

Assessment of the economic efficiency of application of foreign manufactured expensive cutting tools in Ukraine

Бенин Е. Ю. Оценка экономической эффективности применения на предприятиях Украины дорогостоящих режущих инструментов зарубежного производства / Е. Ю. Бенин, Ф. В. Новиков, В. А. Андилахай // Вісник Приазовського державного технічного університету : зб. наукових праць / ПДТУ. - Маріуполь, 2013. - Вип. 26. - С. 25-31. - (Серія : Економічні науки).Применение прогрессивных высокопроизводительных сборных твердосплавных режущих инструментов с износостойкими покрытиями зарубежного производства, характеризующихся чрезвычайно высокими режущими свойствами, в связи с их высокой стоимостью в Украине приводит к увеличению себестоимости и снижению производительности обработки, что при определенных условиях лишает их преимуществ по сравнению с применяемыми на практике устаревшими конструкциями отечественных твердосплавных режущих инструментов. При условии приобретения режущих инструментов зарубежного производства по цене фирмы-изготовителя появляется возможность их экономически эффективного применения на машиностроительных предприятиях Украины. При этом себестоимость обработки ниже, чем у фирмы-изготовителя инструментов за рубежом, т.к. в Украине тарифная ставка рабочего меньше, чем в экономически развитых странах. Это позволяет эффективно использовать инструменты как в условиях обычного, так и высокоскоростного резания.Застосування прогресивних високопродуктивних збірних твердосплавних різальних інструментів зі зносостійкими покриттями закордонного виробництва, які характеризуються надзвичайно високими ріжучими властивостями, у зв'язку з їхньою високою ціною в Україні приводить до збільшення собівартості й зниження продуктивності обробки, що за певних умов позбавляє їхніх переваг у порівнянні зі застосовуваними на практиці застарілими конструкціями вітчизняних твердосплавних різальних інструментів. За умови придбання різальних інструментів закордонного виробництва за ціною фірми-виготовлювача з'являється можливість їх економічного ефективного застосування на машинобудівних підприємствах України. При цьому собівартість обробки нижче, ніж у закордонної фірми-виготовлювача інструментів, тому що в Україні тарифна ставка робітника менше, ніж в економічно розвинених країнах. Це дозволяє ефективно використовувати інструменти як в умовах звичайного, так і високошвидкісного різання.Application of advance hard-alloy cutting tools with wear-resistant coating of foreign production, characterized by extremely high cutting properties, due to their high cost in Ukraine leads to increased production costs and reduced processing capacity and under certain conditions this deprive them of advantages in comparison with obsolete cutting tools of domestic production. Moreover, the production costs could be lower in this case, as labour costs in this allows you to use efficiently the tools, both in the conventional and high-speed cutting

Laboratory-based evaluation of legionellosis epidemiology in Ontario, Canada, 1978 to 2006

BACKGROUND: Legionellosis is a common cause of severe community acquired pneumonia and respiratory disease outbreaks. The Ontario Public Health Laboratory (OPHL) has conducted most testing for Legionella species in the Canadian province of Ontario since 1978, and represents a multi-decade repository of population-based data on legionellosis epidemiology. We sought to provide a laboratory-based review of the epidemiology of legionellosis in Ontario over the past 3 decades, with a focus on changing rates of disease and species associated with legionellosis during that time period. METHODS: We analyzed cases that were submitted and tested positive for legionellosis from 1978 to 2006 using Poisson regression models incorporating temporal, spatial, and demographic covariates. Predictors of infection with culture-confirmed L. pneumophila serogroup 1 (LP1) were evaluated with logistic regression models. Results: 1,401 cases of legionellosis tested positive from 1978 to 2006. As in other studies, we found a late summer to early autumn seasonality in disease occurrence with disease risk increasing with age and in males. In contrast to other studies, we found a decreasing trend in cases in the recent decade (IRR 0.93, 95% CI 0.91 to 0.95, P-value = 0.001); only 66% of culture-confirmed isolates were found to be LP1. CONCLUSION: Despite similarities with disease epidemiology in other regions, legionellosis appears to have declined in the past decade in Ontario, in contrast to trends observed in the United States and parts of Europe. Furthermore, a different range of Legionella species is responsible for illness, suggesting a distinctive legionellosis epidemiology in this North American region

Does crop diversity contribute to dietary diversity? Evidence from integration of vegetables into maize-based farming systems

Background: Maize is the most important staple crop for food security and livelihood of smallholder farmers in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, but it alone cannot ensure food security. Cropping patterns must be diversified to ensure an adequate supply and economic access to greater variety of foods for smallholder farm households. This study measured the effect of crop diversification on household dietary diversity in a selected study locale using a survey of 300 randomly stratified farm households in 10 villages located in the Babati, Kongwa and Kiteto districts of Tanzania. Results: Based on multiple regression analysis, the study found that simply increasing Simpson’s Index does not influence dietary diversity of farm households due to the presence of interaction effect between Simpson’s Index and crop income. It is much more critical and significant to increase the revenue generated from diversified crops along with other socioeconomic endowment and behavioral characteristics of farm households. This is particularly applicable to poorer smallholder farmers who receive crop income less than US$85 per sales transaction and per season. Particularly, marginal and smallholders might be exposed to the effects of crop diversification and crop income toward increasing in their household dietary diversity score. Conclusion: Under average crop income scenarios, households that diversify their crop production tend to increase their dietary diversity from their existing dietary diversity score at a decreasing rate. However, under below average crop income threshold scenarios, farmers tend to increase their dietary diversity score from their existing score at an increasing rate when they diversify into high-value crops that attract relatively high farm gate values and accrue higher net revenues from the market. Monthly food expenditure also tends to positively influence household dietary diversity, indicating that farm households that spend more on market-purchased food have consistent increases in their dietary diversity scores at the household level. This study concludes that improving economic access to variety of foods at the smallholder household level by diversifying diets through increased crop diversification should be encouraged within maize-based farming systems of the study locale, through integration of micronutrient-rich foods such as vegetables

Clinical features and predictors of mortality in admitted patients with community- and hospital-acquired legionellosis: A Danish historical cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Legionella is a common cause of bacterial pneumonia. Community-acquired [CAL] and hospital-acquired legionellosis [HAL] may have different presentations and outcome. We aimed to compare clinical characteristics and examine predictors of mortality for CAL and HAL.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We identified hospitalized cases of legionellosis in 4 Danish counties from January 1995 to December 2005 using the Danish national surveillance system and databases at departments of clinical microbiology. Clinical and laboratory data were retrieved from medical records; vital status was obtained from the Danish Civil Registration System. We calculated 30- and 90-day case fatality rates and identified independent predictors of mortality using logistic regression analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We included 272 cases of CAL and 60 cases of HAL. Signs and symptoms of HAL were less pronounced than for CAL and time from in-hospital symptoms to legionellosis diagnosis was shorter for CAL than for HAL (5.5 days vs. 12 days p < 0.001). Thirty-day case fatality was 12.9% for CAL and 33.3% for HAL; similarly 90-day case fatalities in the two groups were 15.8% and 55.0%, respectively. In a logistic regression analysis (excluding symptoms and laboratory tests) age >65 years (OR = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.1-5.9) and Charlson comorbidty index ≥2 (OR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.1-6.5) were associated with an increased risk of death in CAL. We identified no statistically significant predictors of 30-day mortality in HAL.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Signs and symptoms were less pronounced in HAL compared to CAL. Conversely, 30-day case fatality was almost 3 times higher. Clinical awareness is important for the timely diagnosis and treatment especially of HAL. There is a need for further studies of prognostic factors in order to improve the therapeutic approach to legionellosis and potentially reduce mortality.</p

An exploratory qualitative assessment of factors influencing childhood vaccine providers' intention to recommend immunization in the Netherlands

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Under the Dutch national immunization program (NIP), childhood vaccination is not mandatory, but its recommendation by childhood vaccine providers (CVP) is important for maintaining high vaccination coverage. We therefore examined factors related to providers' intentions to recommend vaccinations to parents of young children.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted four focus group discussions with nurses and physicians who provide vaccines to children 0-4 years old in diverse regions of the Netherlands. Three groups represented CVPs at child welfare centers (CWCs) serving the general population, with the fourth representing anthroposophical CWCs. Elements of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) were used to design the groups; thematic analysis was used to structure and analyze the dataset.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four main themes emerged, including 1) perceived responsibility: to promote vaccines and discuss pros and cons with parents (although this was usually not done if parents readily accepted the vaccination); 2) attitudes toward the NIP: mainly positive, but doubts as to NIP plans to vaccinate against diseases with a low perceived burden; 3) organizational factors: limited time and information can hamper discussions with parents; 4) relationship with parents: crucial and based mainly on communication to establish trust. Compared to CVPs at standard CWCs, the anthroposophical CWCs spent more time communicating and were more willing to adapt the NIP to individual cases.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our qualitative assessment provides an overview of beliefs associated with providers' intention to recommend vaccinations. They were motivated to support the NIP, but their intentions to recommend vaccinations were affected by the perceived relevance of the vaccines, practical issues like limited time and by certain types of resistant parents. These results will inform future studies to test the magnitude and relative impact of these factors.</p