Standardised cement augmentation of the PFNA using a perforated blade: A new technique and preliminary clinical results. A prospective multicentre trial

Producción CientíficaPertrochanteric fractures are a rising major health-care problem in the elderly and their operative stabilisation techniques are still under discussion. Furthermore, complications like cut-out are reported to be high and implant failure often is associated with poor bone quality. The PFNA1 with perforated blade offers a possibility for standardised cement augmentation using a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) cement which is injected through the perforated blade to enlarge the load-bearing surface and to diminish the stresses on the trabecular bone. The current prospective multicentre study was undertaken to evaluate the technical performance and the early clinical results of this new device. In nine European clinics, 59 patients (45 female, mean age 84.5 years) suffering from an osteoporotic pertrochanteric fracture (Arbeitsgemeinschaft fu¨ r Osteosynthesefragen, AO-31) were treated with the augmented PFNA1. Primary objectives were assessment of operative and postoperative complications, whereas activities of daily living, pain, mobility and radiologic parameters, such as cement distribution around the blade and the cortical thickness index, were secondary objectives. The mean follow-up time was 4 months where we observed callus healing in all cases. The surgical complication rate was 3.4% with no complication related to the cement augmentation. More than onehalf of the patients reached their prefracture mobility level within the study period. A mean volume of 4.2 ml of cement was injected. We did not find any cut-out, cut through, unexpected blade migration, implant loosening or implant breakage within the study period. Our findings lead us to conclude that the standardised cement augmentation using the perforated blade for pertrochanteric fracture fixation enhances the implant anchorage within the head–neck fragment and leads to good functional results

Probing conformational states of glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase by fragment screening

The first crystal structure is reported of a glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase in the apo state without flavin adenine dinucleotide cofactor bound. Additional structures with small molecules complexed in the catalytic active site were obtained by fragment-based screening

In Memoriam: Professor Richard S. Harnsberger

This volume of the NEBRASKA LAW REVIEW is dedicated to the memory of Professor Richard S. Harnsberger, who passed away on March 29, 2012. Professor Harnsberger was a native of Ashland, Nebraska and a 1949 graduate of the College of Law. A decorated officer in World War II who fought in the European theater, including Normandy, he attained the rank of Captain and earned five bronze stars. Professor Harnsberger joined the faculty of the College of Law in 1956 and took emeritus status in 1992. While at the Law College, he held the Cline Williams–Flavel A. Wright Professorship. He taught Constitutional Law, Water Law, Legal Profession, Oil and Gas, and Civil Procedure. He was a prolific scholar whose work gained national attention. In 1999, he was honored with the Groundwater Foundation’s 1999 Maurice Kremer Groundwater Achievement Award. The Nebraska State Bar Foundation presented him with its 2001 Outstanding Legal Educator Award. The Lawrence Berger and Richard S. Harnsberger Faculty Wing of the College of Law was dedicated in 2003. After taking emeritus status in 1992, he continued to teach or co-teach classes and seminars. Professor Harnsberger personified what we all hoped and wished the law school could be, and what we on the faculty could be as teachers and scholars. Dick was incredibly smart and incredibly kind. He had a wicked sense of humor, and was admired, nay, adored, by generations of students, and by generations of colleagues