Posterior condylar offset changes and its effect on clinical outcomes after posterior-substituting, fixed-bearing total knee arthroplasty: anterior versus posterior referencing

Background We sought to determine whether there was a difference in the posterior condylar offset (PCO), posterior condylar offset ratio (PCOR) and clinical outcomes following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) with anterior referencing (AR) or posterior referencing (PR) systems. We also assessed whether the PCO and PCOR changes, as well as patient factors were related to range of motion (ROM) in each referencing system. Methods This retrospective study included 130 consecutive patients (184 knees) with osteoarthritis who underwent primary posterior cruciate ligament (PCL)-substituting fixed-bearing TKA. The difference between preoperative and postoperative PCO and PCOR values were calculated. Clinical outcomes including ROM and Western Ontario and McMaster University (WOMAC) scores were evaluated. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine the factors related to postoperative ROM in each referencing system. Results The postoperative PCO was greater in the AR group (28.4 mm) than in the PR group (27.4 mm), whereas the PCO was more consistently preserved in the PR group. The mean postoperative ROM after TKA was greater in the AR group (129°) than in the PR group (122°), whereas improvement in WOMAC score did not differ between the two groups. Preoperative ROM was the only factor related to postoperative ROM in both groups. Conclusions There was no difference in postoperative PCO in AR and PR group and the PCO was not associated with postoperative ROM. PCO was more consistently preserved after surgery in the PR group. The postoperative PCO and PCOR changes did not affect the postoperative ROM. Furthermore, similar clinical outcomes were achieved in the AR and PR groups. Trial registration Retrospectively registered (Trial registration number: 06-2010-110).This research was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science & ICT (2017M3A9D8063538)

A Safe Delegation Method for Web Services in Pervasive Computing Environments

Web Services are the new building block of today’s Internet, and provides interoperability among heterogeneous distributed systems. In this environment, security is one of the most critical issues. An attacker may expose user privacy and service information without authentication. Furthermore, in the pervasive computing environment, the users of web services must temporarily delegate some or all of their rights to an agent to perform actions on their behalf. This results in the exposure of user’s privacy information by agents. We present a delegation model to support secure web services in pervasive computing environments. In order to support privacy protection, service confidentiality, and assertion integrity, encryption and a digital signature mechanism is deployed. We build web service management server based on XACML, in order to manage services and policies of web service providers. SAML is extended, in order to declare delegation assertions transferred to web service providers, by delegation among agents. Key words: XACML, SAML, Agen

A Portable Diagnostic Assay, Genetic Diversity, and Isolation of Seoul Virus from <i>Rattus norvegicus</i> Collected in Gangwon Province, Republic of Korea

Seoul virus (SEOV), an etiological agent for hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, poses a significant public health threat worldwide. This study evaluated the feasibility of a mobile Biomeme platform for facilitating rapid decision making of SEOV infection. A total of 27 Rattus norvegicus were collected from Seoul Metropolitan City and Gangwon Province in Republic of Korea (ROK), during 2016–2020. The serological and molecular prevalence of SEOV was 5/27 (18.5%) and 2/27 (7.4%), respectively. SEOV RNA was detected in multiple tissues of rodents using the Biomeme device, with differences in Ct values ranging from 0.6 to 2.1 cycles compared to a laboratory benchtop system. Using amplicon-based next-generation sequencing, whole-genome sequences of SEOV were acquired from lung tissues of Rn18-1 and Rn19-5 collected in Gangwon Province. Phylogenetic analysis showed a phylogeographical diversity of rat-borne orthohantavirus collected in Gangwon Province. We report a novel isolate of SEOV Rn19-5 from Gangwon Province. Our findings demonstrated that the Biomeme system can be applied for the molecular diagnosis of SEOV comparably to the laboratory-based platform. Whole-genome sequencing of SEOV revealed the phylogeographical diversity of orthohantavirus in the ROK. This study provides important insights into the field-deployable diagnostic assays and genetic diversity of orthohantaviruses for the rapid response to hantaviral outbreaks in the ROK