Upper extremity fractures in the elderly: consequences on utilization of rehabilitation care

Background and aims: While hip fractures represent the most dramatic consequence of osteoporosis, fractures of the humerus, forearm and wrist account for one-third of the total incidence of fractures due to osteoporosis in the older population. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to evaluate rehabilitation care utilization and associated factors in elderly individuals with upper limb fracture. Methods: Over two years, 667 patients 65 years of age or older were studied, who presented to the emergency department either from their private homes or nursing homes with an upper extremity fracture. The following outcome variables were collected: gender; age; residence; location of fracture; treatment; discharge destination; length of hospitalization; length of stay in a rehabilitation facility; and ultimate place of habitation after the event. Results: The most frequent sites of fracture were distal radius (37.2%) and proximal humerus (29.1%). Two-thirds of the patients were treated non-operatively. Inpatient rehabilitation care was necessary for 248 patients (37.2%; length of stay, 46 days). Factors associated with increased care included older age (≥80 years), coming from private home, sustaining two fractures, fractures of the humerus, and operative treatment. Six percent of the patients required permanent nursing home care. Conclusions: Upper extremity fractures in older people often require prolonged hospitalization and therefore account for considerable health care costs. Reasons are more related to advanced age and living conditions than to particular injury or treatmen

A singular large deviations phenomenon

Consider {X(t,epsilon) : t>=0} (epsilon>0), the solution starting from 0 of a stochastic differential equation, which is a small Brownian perturbation of the one-dimensional ordinary differential equation x'(t)=sgn(x(t))|x(t)|^{γ} (

Anwendbarkeit der Nah- Infrarotspektroskopie zur Qualitätsbeurteilung von Komposten

Die Verwendung hochwertiger Komposte als organische Dünger hat positive Effekte auf den Boden und das Pflanzenwachstum. Komposte können beispielsweise die Stickstoffumsetzung und die Bildung von organischer Substanz erhöhen. Zudem sind viele Komposte in der Lage Pflanzen-krankheiten zu unterdrücken (Hoitink et al., 2006). Die Kompostqualität ist dabei von entscheidender Bedeutung. Die Einteilung erfolgt durch die Analyse von ausgewählten physikalischen, chemischen und bio-logischen Parametern, die zur Güte-klassifizierung herangezogen werden. Bislang werden sämtliche Parameter kostenintensiv und unter hohem Zeitaufwand, meist mit einer aufwendigen Probenvorbereitung, nasschemisch untersucht. Die Nahinfrarot-Spektroskopie (NIRS), ist eine präzise Messtechnik, die mehrere Analysen in einem Arbeitsgang durchführen kann, welches den Zeit- und Kostenaufwand von Analysen deutlich reduzieren könnte. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war es, die Anwendbarkeit der NIRS zur Beurteilung der Kompostqualität, insbesondere biologischer Parameter, zu untersuchen. Die folgenden Fragestellungen wurden bearbeitet: • Können Basisparameter, biologische Parameter, Keim- und Suppressivitäts-tests mit NIRS vorhergesagt werden? • Wie hoch ist der Einfluss der Homogenität der Proben auf die Abschätzungsgenauigkeit der NIRS

Meson Properties in the 1/N_c-corrected NJL model

Properties of mesons are investigated within the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. We include meson-loop corrections, which are generated via a systematic 1/N_c-expansion in next-to-leading order. We show that our scheme is consistent with chiral symmetry, in particular with the Goldstone theorem and the Gell-Mann Oakes Renner relation. The numerical part focuses on the pion and the rho-meson sector. For the latter the 1/N_c-corrections are crucial in order to include the dominant rho -> pi pi-decay channel, while the leading-order approximation only contains unphysical q\bar q-decay channels. We show that a satisfactory description of the pion electromagnetic form factor can be obtained. Similarities and differences to hadronic models are discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures include

Unquenching the Rho Meson

Two-pion induced self-energy contributions to the $\rho$-meson mass are examined in relation to the quenched approximation of QCD, where the physics associated with two-pion intermediate states has been excluded from vector-isovector correlation functions. Corrections to quenched QCD calculations of the $\rho$-meson mass are estimated to be small at the order of a few percent of the $\rho$-meson mass. The two-pion contributions display nonanalytic behavior as a function of the pion mass as the two-pion cut is encountered. The implications of this nonanalytic behavior in extrapolations of full QCD calculations are also discussed. We note that for full QCD, the error made in making a linear extrapolation of the $\rho$ mass, neglecting nonanalytic behavior, increases as one approaches the two-pion cut.Comment: RevTeX 3.0 manuscript. UU-File is a single postscript file of paper including figures. 13 pages. (References and Intro. to Sec. II and III revised.) U. MD PP \#94-00

The Ursinus Weekly, January 11, 1954

MSGA hears second case of cheating • Dr. James Martin is speaker at pre-med meeting • Dr. Garrett reads works of Proust • FTA hears talk by county school official • Alumni Office reports news of past graduates • Campus Chest reports total of $1,037.70 • F. W. Hankins is Bus. Ad. speaker • Baker, Miller debate on communist China in U.N. • Curtain Club schedules two one-act plays • French Club to discuss French art at next meeting • Greek columns • Editorials: Thanks, faculty • Recently announced engagements, pinnings • New Year\u27s congratulations • Examinations open for government positions • Practice teacher recalls woes, joys of high school life • Swami foresees U.C. fifty-four; Tells of strange revolutions • Matmen win thrilling Swarthmore opener: Dawkins, Paolone, Padula, Nunn pin; Briner decisions • Cubs remain undefeated in two league encounters • Cagers down Swarthmore; 77-67, on fast-breaking game • PMC and F&M defeat netmen • Knull illness hinders Bears • Philadelphia art museum exhibiting Van Gogh workshttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1486/thumbnail.jp

Effect of substrate thermal resistance on space-domain microchannel

In recent years, Fluorescent Melting Curve Analysis (FMCA) has become an almost ubiquitous feature of commercial quantitative PCR (qPCR) thermal cyclers. Here a micro-fluidic device is presented capable of performing FMCA within a microchannel. The device consists of modular thermally conductive blocks which can sandwich a microfluidic substrate. Opposing ends of the blocks are held at differing temperatures and a linear thermal gradient is generated along the microfluidic channel. Fluorescent measurements taken from a sample as it passes along the micro-fluidic channel permits fluorescent melting curves to be generated. In this study we measure DNA melting temperature from two plasmid fragments. The effects of flow velocity and ramp-rate are investigated, and measured melting curves are compared to those acquired from a commercially available PCR thermocycler

Damage Spreading in a Driven Lattice Gas Model

We studied damage spreading in a Driven Lattice Gas (DLG) model as a function of the temperature $T$, the magnitude of the external driving field $E$, and the lattice size. The DLG model undergoes an order-disorder second-order phase transition at the critical temperature $T_c(E)$, such that the ordered phase is characterized by high-density strips running along the direction of the applied field; while in the disordered phase one has a lattice-gas-like behaviour. It is found that the damage always spreads for all the investigated temperatures and reaches a saturation value $D_{sat}$ that depends only on $T$. $D_{sat}$ increases for $TT_c(E=\infty)$ and is free of finite-size effects. This behaviour can be explained as due to the existence of interfaces between the high-density strips and the lattice-gas-like phase whose roughness depends on $T$. Also, we investigated damage spreading for a range of finite fields as a function of $T$, finding a behaviour similar to that of the case with $E=\infty$.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to "Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment

Complete Relativistic Description of the N*(1520)

A relativistic description of spin 3/2 resonances and their decay channels is presented by calculating their selfenergies and spectral functions. The full vector-spinor structure is taken into account. Special emphasis is put on the N*(1520) and its decay channels pi N, rho N and pi \Delta. All interactions are formulated such that only the correct number of degrees of freedom of a spin 3/2 state is propagated. The obtained results are compared with several approximations frequently used to avoid the complicated vector-spinor structure. Since this structure is taken fully into account here, the quality of the approximations can be judged.Comment: 32 pages, 40 figure