A comparative study between plating versus titanium elastic nail system in mid-shaft clavicle fracture management

Background: Clavicle fracture is one of most common bony injuries. Despite of high frequency, choice of proper treatment is still a challenge. So a comparative randomized study was planned to compare Plating verses TENS for clavicle fractures management.Methods: Study was conducted in Department of Orthopedics, M.K.C.G Medical College, Berhampur from November 2015 to October 2017.Patients aged from 20-55 years with closed displaced were included in study. Patients were randomized in two groups- One group (25 pateints) treated with TENS and second group (25) with plate. Outcome assessed by pain VAS score, Constant & Murley score, DASH score, cosmetic result, radiological fracture healing time.Results: Mean fracture union time in TENS group was 11.4±2.12 weeks and in plate group 13.4±3.46 weeks (difference was significant p=0.016). Mean pain VAS score in TENS group was 2.56±0.91 and in plating group 3.12±0.8 (p=0.023). Tens group were cosmetically more satisfied (mean score 4.48±0.7) than plate group (mean score 3.8±1.0, p=0.009). Mean DASH and Constant Shoulder Score in TENS group were 1.87±3.4, 9.36±7.04 and plate group 4.8±9.0 and 15.08±9.4 respectively. Both were significant (p=0.039, p=0.000).Conclusions: Our study found that patients treated with TENS showed excellent outcome in 84% cases while 60% in plating group for displaces mid-shaft clavicle fracture. Patients in TENS group better in terms of Constant & Murley score and DASH score than treated with plate

Hf-based high-k materials for Si nanocrystal floating gate memories

Pure and Si-rich HfO2 layers fabricated by radio frequency sputtering were utilized as alternative tunnel oxide layers for high-k/Si-nanocrystals-SiO2/SiO2 memory structures. The effect of Si incorporation on the properties of Hf-based tunnel layer was investigated. The Si-rich SiO2 active layers were used as charge storage layers, and their properties were studied versus deposition conditions and annealing treatment. The capacitance-voltage measurements were performed to study the charge trapping characteristics of these structures. It was shown that with specific deposition conditions and annealing treatment, a large memory window of about 6.8 V is achievable at a sweeping voltage of ± 6 V, indicating the utility of these stack structures for low-operating-voltage nonvolatile memory devices

Pfcrt haplotypes and in-vivo chloroquine response in Sundergarh district, Orissa, India

The Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (Pfcrt) K76T mutation and haplotype (amino acids 72-76) were analyzed as markers of chloroquine (CQ) resistance in the blood samples of patients from two sites of different intensities of malaria transmission (high, n = 70; low, n = 68) in Sundergarh district of Orissa, India and correlated with the in-vivo response. Early treatment failure (ETF) was significantly more frequent in the high endemic area (32.9 vs. 7.4%, P < 0.001), with children below 5 years suffering more. A high frequency of pfcrt K76T mutation was observed in both the areas (87.1 vs. 79.4%, P = 0.22). Patients carrying pfcrt 76T were the most likely to develop ETF (odds ratio 36; 95% CI 3.35-1653.3; P < 0.001). The ratio of 76T:K76 was 22:9 and 11:14, respectively, in high and low endemic areas (odds ratio 3.1; 95% CI 0.9-11.03; P = 0.04), which may be used as a measure of drug pressure. Sequences of pfcrt codons 72-76 showed 16 of the CQ-resistant haplotypes to be SVMNT, 5 CVMNT and 12 CVIET. The CQ-sensitive haplotypes were mostly CVMNK in 10 samples; CVIEK in 2 samples. Both Southeast Asian and South American haplotypes were present, with the latter predominating

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN