Exostosis of the Foot: Clinical Features and Outcome After Surgery

Background/Purpose: There are two common diagnoses for exostosis occurring in the foot—osteochondromas and subungal exostoses. Methods: A retrospective study of patients with a diagnosis of exostosis receiving surgery from 2000 to 2011 was conducted. Sixty-five patients were reviewed. Fourteen cases of exostosis on the foot were identified. Results: Out of fourteen cases of exostosis on the foot, nine had a subungal location and five were located on the foot. Four out of five cases on the foot showed histology of hyaline cartilage cap while fibrocartilage was shown in seven out of nine cases with lesions on the toes. In cases of subungal exostosis, excision was done via a transungal approach or wedge excision. Surgical outcome was satisfactory in terms of improvement in pain, cosmetic concern, and functional disturbance. Conclusion: Osteochondroma and subungal exostosis are not uncommonly encountered diagnoses for bony outgrowths occurring over the foot region. Surgical outcome was satisfactory

Adverse lifestyle leads to an annual excess of 2 million deaths in china

BACKGROUND: Adverse lifestyle factors have been associated with increased mortality, but data are lacking on their combined effect in developing populations, which we address in the present study. METHODS: In a death registry-based, case-control study among Hong Kong Chinese aged 30+y, proxy-reported lifestyle factors 10 y ago were collected for 21,363 cases (81% of all deaths) and 12,048 living controls. Risks associated with poor diet, inactivity, heavy alcohol intake, and smoking for all-cause and cause-specific mortality, adjusting for potential confounders, were determined, and excess deaths for the Chinese population were calculated. RESULTS: Adjusted odds ratios for all-cause mortality were 1.15 (95% CI 1.09, 1.23), 1.34 (1.27, 1.43), 1.36 (1.21, 1.52), and 1.58 (1.46, 1.70) for poor diet, inactivity, heavy alcohol intake and smoking, respectively. Increasing numbers of adverse lifestyle factors were associated with a dose-dependent increase in adjusted odds ratios of 1.30 (1.20, 1.40), 1.67 (1.54, 1.81), 2.32 (2.08, 2.60), and 3.85 (3.12, 4.75) for 1, 2, 3, and 4 risk factors relative to those with none. The population attributable fraction for all-cause, all-CVD and all-cancer mortality were 26.6%, 15.0%, and 32.1%, resulting in an excess of 2,017,541; 489,884; and 607,517 deaths annually, respectively. Although smoking was associated with the greatest excess loss of life (867,530), heavy drinking (680,466), and physical inactivity (678,317) were similarly important. CONCLUSION: Adverse lifestyle factors contribute to one quarter of all deaths in China. Improving lifestyle practices, particularly focussing on moderating alcohol intake and increasing activity, and smoking cessation are critical to reducing the lifestyle-associated health burden

Real Time Embedded Control System Development for Wireless Mobile Platforms

MCP is the chosen acrynum for Mini-Car Pro a wireless mobile robotic platform designed for research and education in embedded system development and wireless sensor network. The hardware architecture consists of a 200MIPS ARM9 32-bit SoC, ultrasonic sensors, an IEEE 802.15.4 based Telos mote (a wireless sensor network node) for wireless communications, and a differential motor driven base platform with shaft mounted optical encoder for closed loop motion control. MCP is controlled remotely via a console software client running on a Windows based PC. Through the graphical user interface, the operator sends motion commands to and receives status from the MCP through a pair of Telos, one connecting to the PC's USB port and the other to the MCP's. One of the key features of the MCP is automated obstacle avoidance empowered by on-board ultrasonic detection of the surrounding environment. To achieve the goal (if real-time system control, multi-thread software architecture is adopted, and along with a real-time Linux operating system framework. This paper describes the design of the MCP, and in particular highlights the real time software engineering development aspects which are generically applicable to similar mobile robotic platforms

Data from: Adjunctive use of modified Yunu-Jian in the non-surgical treatment of male smokers with chronic periodontitis: a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial

Background: Yunu-Jian (YJ) is a Chinese medicine (CM) heat purging formula, which is used to reduce wei huo (stomach-heat, SH) and enrich shen yin (kidney-yin, KY). This formula is also commonly used to manage diabetes mellitus and gum/oral inflammation. The activity of YJ can be modified or refined by the addition of other CM herbs and/or minor changes to one of its five key ingredients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adjunctive use of modified YJ (mYJ) or YJ containing additional osteoblast-stimulating and inflammation-modulating CM herbs in the non-surgical periodontal treatment of smokers with chronic periodontitis in a randomized, double-blind, prospective, placebo-controlled study. Methods: Healthy adult male smokers with untreated chronic periodontitis who showed CM syndrome of SH and KY deficiency (KYD) whilst attending a dental teaching hospital from October to December, 2005, were invited to participate in a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. The trial itself involved the once-daily oral administration of a placebo or mYJ for 3 months as an adjunct to non-surgical periodontal therapy. Several periodontal parameters, including radiographic alveolar bone density, were measured by computer-assisted densitometric image analysis (CADIA) on selected sites, and CM signs of SH and KYD were followed from their baseline values to various time points up to 12 months or the end of study. Results: Twenty-five smokers (consumed 25.0 ± 15.3 smoking-pack years, ranged 7.5–80; aged 46.3 ± 6.8 years) with periodontitis and SH and KYD were recruited (Placebo, n = 14; mYJ, n = 11). All of the participants showed good tolerance towards the CM recipe. All of the periodontal parameters had improved after 12-month follow-up, and no statistically significant differences were detected between the control group and test group, except for the higher CADIA values observed compared with the baseline at 12 months for test sites (P = 0.025). 4/3/3 test vs 14/13/13 control participants had persisting SH and KYD at 6, 9 and 12 months (P < 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: The adjunctive use of mYJ preserved the post-treatment increases in the radiographic alveolar bone density at the study sites and led to an overall improvement in SH and KYD compared with the controls