3,945 research outputs found
Postoperative complications associated with external skeletal fixators in cats
OBJECTIVES:
The objective of this study was to quantify complications associated with external skeletal fixators (ESFs) in cats and to identify potential risk factors.
METHODS:
A retrospective review of medical records and radiographs following ESF placement was performed.
RESULTS:
Case records of 140 cats were reviewed; fixator-associated complications (FACs) occurred in 19% of cats. The region of ESF placement was significantly associated with complication development. Complications developed most frequently in the femur (50%), tarsus (35%) and radius/ulna (33%). Superficial pin tract infection (SPTI) and implant failure accounted for 45% and 41% of all FACs, respectively. SPTI occurred more frequently in the femur, humerus and tibia, with implant failure more frequent in the tarsus. No association between breed, age, sex, weight, fracture type (open vs closed), ESF classification, number of pins per bone segment, degree of fracture load sharing, and the incidence or type of FAC was identified. No association between region of placement, breed, age, sex, weight, fracture type (open vs closed), ESF classification, number of pins per bone segment, fracture load sharing and the time to complication development was identified.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE:
Complication development is not uncommon in cats following ESF placement. The higher complication rate in the femur, tarsus and radius/ulna should be considered when reviewing options for fracture management. However, cats appear to have a lower rate of pin tract infections than dogs
Recommended from our members
What makes a social practice? Being, knowing, doing and leading
Despite several decades of work on social practice, many open intriguing questions remain about their existence and functions within an organizational context. In this article, we discuss the âinherent logicsâ of social practiceâbeing, knowing, and doingâto depict the meaning and mainspring of its conservation within an organizational context. We argue that the understanding of social practice in organization and management studies has predominantly focused on the internal workings of social practice, and we propose that a contextualization of the inherent logics of social practice may be a next step in advancing theory and empirical research. We propose a contested coexistence of social practices in organizations and thereby argue that the conservation of social practice protrudes another element belonging to its inherent logics, i.e., leading. We suggest that leadership in distributed and adaptive organizations responds to innovation and competitive challenges with wisdom, care, and fluidity
Analysis of the Copenhagen Accord pledges and its global climatic impactsâ a snapshot of dissonant ambitions
This analysis of the Copenhagen Accord evaluates emission reduction pledges by individual countries against the Accord's climate-related objectives. Probabilistic estimates of the climatic consequences for a set of resulting multi-gas scenarios over the 21st century are calculated with a reduced complexity climate model, yielding global temperature increase and atmospheric CO2 and CO2-equivalent concentrations. Provisions for banked surplus emission allowances and credits from land use, land-use change and forestry are assessed and are shown to have the potential to lead to significant deterioration of the ambition levels implied by the pledges in 2020. This analysis demonstrates that the Copenhagen Accord and the pledges made under it represent a set of dissonant ambitions. The ambition level of the current pledges for 2020 and the lack of commonly agreed goals for 2050 place in peril the Accord's own ambition: to limit global warming to below 2 °C, and even more so for 1.5 °C, which is referenced in the Accord in association with potentially strengthening the long-term temperature goal in 2015. Due to the limited level of ambition by 2020, the ability to limit emissions afterwards to pathways consistent with either the 2 or 1.5 °C goal is likely to become less feasibl
Statistical Mechanics of Linear and Nonlinear Time-Domain Ensemble Learning
Conventional ensemble learning combines students in the space domain. In this
paper, however, we combine students in the time domain and call it time-domain
ensemble learning. We analyze, compare, and discuss the generalization
performances regarding time-domain ensemble learning of both a linear model and
a nonlinear model. Analyzing in the framework of online learning using a
statistical mechanical method, we show the qualitatively different behaviors
between the two models. In a linear model, the dynamical behaviors of the
generalization error are monotonic. We analytically show that time-domain
ensemble learning is twice as effective as conventional ensemble learning.
Furthermore, the generalization error of a nonlinear model features
nonmonotonic dynamical behaviors when the learning rate is small. We
numerically show that the generalization performance can be improved remarkably
by using this phenomenon and the divergence of students in the time domain.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
In situ gastrointestinal protection against anthrax edema toxin by single-chain antibody fragment producing lactobacilli
<p/> <p>Background</p> <p>Anthrax is caused by the bacterium <it>Bacillus anthracis </it>and is regarded as one of the most prominent bioterrorism threats. Anthrax toxicity is induced by the tripartite toxin complex, composed of the receptor-binding anthrax protective antigen and the two enzymatic subunits, lethal factor and edema factor. Recombinant lactobacilli have previously been used to deliver antibody fragments directed against surface epitopes of a variety of pathogens, including <it>Streptococcus mutans, Porphyromonas gingivalis</it>, and rotavirus. Here, we addressed whether or not anthrax toxins could be targeted and neutralised in the gastrointestinal tract by lactobacilli producing recombinant antibody fragments as a model system for toxin neutralisation in the gastrointestinal lumen.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The neutralising anti-PA scFv, 1H, was expressed in <it>L. paracasei </it>as a secreted protein, a cell wall-anchored protein or both secreted and wall-anchored protein. Cell wall display on lactobacilli and PA binding of the anchored constructs was confirmed by flow cytometry analysis. Binding of secreted or attached scFv produced by lactobacilli to PA were verified by ELISA. Both construct were able to protect macrophages in an <it>in vitro </it>cytotoxicity assay. Finally, lactobacilli producing the cell wall attached scFv were able to neutralise the activity of anthrax edema toxin in the GI tract of mice, <it>in vivo</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have developed lactobacilli expressing a neutralising scFv fragment against the PA antigen of the anthrax toxin, which can provide protection against anthrax toxins both <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo</it>. Utilising engineered lactobacilli therapeutically for neutralising toxins in the gastrointestinal tract can potential be expanded to provide protection against a range of additional gastrointestinal pathogens. The ability of lactobacilli to colonise the gastrointestinal tract may allow the system to be used both prophylactically and therapeutically.</p
Mars and frame-dragging: study for a dedicated mission
In this paper we preliminarily explore the possibility of designing a
dedicated satellite-based mission to measure the general relativistic
gravitomagnetic Lense-Thirring effect in the gravitational field of Mars. The
focus is on the systematic error induced by the multipolar expansion of the
areopotential and on possible strategies to reduce it. It turns out that the
major sources of bias are the Mars'equatorial radius R and the even zonal
harmonics J_L, L = 2,4,6... of the areopotential. An optimal solution, in
principle, consists of using two probes at high-altitudes (a\approx 9500-9600
km) and different inclinations, and suitably combining their nodes in order to
entirely cancel out the bias due to \delta R. The remaining uncancelled
mismodelled terms due to \delta J_L, L = 2,4,6,... would induce a bias \lesssim
1%, according to the present-day MGS95J gravity model, over a wide range of
admissible values of the inclinations. The Lense-Thirring out-of-plane shifts
of the two probes would amount to about 10 cm yr^-1.Comment: LaTex2e, 16 pages, 5 figures, no tables. To appear in General
Relativity and Gravitatio
Dyons in N=4 Supersymmetric Theories and Three-Pronged Strings
We construct and explore BPS states that preserve 1/4 of supersymmetry in N=4
Yang-Mills theories. Such states are also realized as three-pronged strings
ending on D3-branes. We correct the electric part of the BPS equation and
relate its solutions to the unbroken abelian gauge group generators. Generic
1/4-BPS solitons are not spherically symmetric, but consist of two or more
dyonic components held apart by a delicate balance between static
electromagnetic force and scalar Higgs force. The instability previously found
in three-pronged string configurations is due to excessive repulsion by one of
these static forces. We also present an alternate construction of these 1/4-BPS
states from quantum excitations around a magnetic monopole, and build up the
supermultiplet for arbitrary (quantized) electric charge. The degeneracy and
the highest spin of the supermultiplet increase linearly with a relative
electric charge. We conclude with comments.Comment: 33 pages, two figures, LaTex, a footnote added, the figure caption of
Fig.2 expanded, one more referenc
Some comments about Schwarzschield black holes in Matrix theory
In the present paper we calculate the statistical partition function for any
number of extended objects in Matrix theory in the one loop approximation. As
an application, we calculate the statistical properties of K clusters of D0
branes and then the statistical properties of K membranes which are wound on a
torus.Comment: 15 page
Momentum modes of M5-branes in a 2d space
We study M5 branes by considering the selfdual strings parallel to a plane.
With the internal oscillation frozen, each selfdual string gives a 5d SYM
field. All selfdual strings together give a 6d field with 5 scalars, 3 gauge
degrees of freedom and 8 fermionic degrees of freedom in adjoint representation
of U(N). Selfdual strings with the same orientation have the SYM-type
interaction. For selfdual strings with the different orientations, which could
also be taken as the unparallel momentum modes of the 6d field on that plane or
the (p,q) (r,s) strings on D3 with (p,q)\neq (r,s), the [i,j]+[j,k]\rightarrow
[i,k] relation is not valid, so the coupling cannot be written in terms of the
standard N \times N matrix multiplication. 3-string junction, which is the
bound state of the unparallel [i,j] [j,k] selfdual strings, may play a role
here.Comment: 37 pages, 5 figures, to appear in JHEP; v2: reference adde
- âŚ