Muscle fatty infiltration in rotator cuff tears: Descriptive analysis of 1688 cases

SummaryIntroductionFatty infiltration (FI) is an important prognosis factor in the anatomical and functional outcomes of rotator cuff repairs. The objective of this study was to analyze the natural history of muscle FI and better evaluate its onset and aggravation time frame.Material and methodsA total of 1688 medical charts of patients operated on for rotator cuff tear and whit a preoperative CT arthrogram (82%) or an MRI (18%) were reviewed. Surgery was performed between 1988 and 2005. The FI of each muscle was assessed as minimal (in Goutallier's stages 0 and 1), intermediate (in stage 2), and severe (in stages 3 and 4). Regarding supraspinatus, we retained the mean FI observed in the sagittal, coronal, and axial planes; for the infraspinatus and the subscapularis, we retained the observed mean on two views at the upper and lower levels of the glenoid in the axial plane.ResultsWe found a statistically significant correlation (p<0.0005) between FI, the type of tendon lesion, and patient age for the supraspinatus, the infraspinatus, and the subscapularis. Statistically, the FI significantly increased (p<0.0005) with time elapsed for the supraspinatus and the infraspinatus but not significantly for the subscapularis. The mean time to tendon rupture observed for intermediate FI was three years for the supraspinatus and 2.5 years for the infraspinatus and the subscapularis when their tendons ruptured. The mean time observed to severe FI was five, four, and three years for the supraspinatus, the infraspinatus, and the subscapularis, respectively.Discussion and conclusionThe more extensive the lesion, the longer the time following rupture, and the older the patient is, the more severe the FI is. The objective of surgery is to intervene before intermediate FI sets in, which means irreversible functional loss.Level of evidence: Level IV. Diagnostic Retrospective Study

Expression and function profiling of orphan nuclear receptors using bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgenesis.

The long term goal of the Nuclear Receptor Signaling Atlas (NURSA) resides in unraveling the physiological and pathological functions of nuclear receptors (NRs) at the molecular, biochemical and cellular levels. This multi-oriented task requires complementary approaches in order to determine the specific function(s) and precise expression and receptor activity patterns for each individual conventional or orphan receptor. To attain this objective, we have chose to turn to technologies recently made available to engineer bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs)

Leading Proton Production in e \u3csup\u3e+\u3c/sup\u3e p Collisions at HERA

Events with a final-state proton carrying a large fraction of the proton beam momentum, x L \u3e0.6, and the square of the transverse momentum p T

Beyond technology: A research agenda for social sciences and humanities research on renewable energy in Europe

This article enriches the existing literature on the importance and role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in renewable energy sources research by providing a novel approach to instigating the future research agenda in this field. Employing a series of in-depth interviews, deliberative focus group workshops and a systematic horizon scanning process, which utilised the expert knowledge of 85 researchers from the field with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and expertise, the paper develops a set of 100 priority questions for future research within SSH scholarship on renewable energy sources. These questions were aggregated into four main directions: (i) deep transformations and connections to the broader economic system (i.e. radical ways of (re)arranging socio-technical, political and economic relations), (ii) cultural and geographical diversity (i.e. contextual cultural, historical, political and socio-economic factors influencing citizen support for energy transitions), (iii) complexifying energy governance (i.e. understanding energy systems from a systems dynamics perspective) and (iv) shifting from instrumental acceptance to value-based objectives (i.e. public support for energy transitions as a normative notion linked to trust-building and citizen engagement). While this agenda is not intended to be—and cannot be—exhaustive or exclusive, we argue that it advances the understanding of SSH research on renewable energy sources and may have important value in the prioritisation of SSH themes needed to enrich dialogues between policymakers, funding institutions and researchers. SSH scholarship should not be treated as instrumental to other research on renewable energy but as intrinsic and of the same hierarchical importance.acceptedVersio

Measurement of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering at HERA

This paper presents an analysis of the inclusive properties of diffractive deep inelastic scattering events produced in $ep$ interactions at HERA. The events are characterised by a rapidity gap between the outgoing proton system and the remaining hadronic system. Inclusive distributions are presented and compared with Monte Carlo models for diffractive processes. The data are consistent with models where the pomeron structure function has a hard and a soft contribution. The diffractive structure function is measured as a function of \xpom, the momentum fraction lost by the proton, of $\beta$, the momentum fraction of the struck quark with respect to \xpom, and of $Q^2$. The \xpom dependence is consistent with the form \xpoma where $a~=~1.30~\pm~0.08~(stat)~^{+~0.08}_{-~0.14}~(sys)$ in all bins of $\beta$ and $Q^2$. In the measured $Q^2$ range, the diffractive structure function approximately scales with $Q^2$ at fixed $\beta$. In an Ingelman-Schlein type model, where commonly used pomeron flux factor normalisations are assumed, it is found that the quarks within the pomeron do not saturate the momentum sum rule.Comment: 36 pages, latex, 11 figures appended as uuencoded fil

Observation of hard scattering in photoproduction events with a large rapidity gap at HERA

Events with a large rapidity gap and total transverse energy greater than 5 GeV have been observed in quasi-real photoproduction at HERA with the ZEUS detector. The distribution of these events as a function of the $\gamma p$ centre of mass energy is consistent with diffractive scattering. For total transverse energies above 12 GeV, the hadronic final states show predominantly a two-jet structure with each jet having a transverse energy greater than 4 GeV. For the two-jet events, little energy flow is found outside the jets. This observation is consistent with the hard scattering of a quasi-real photon with a colourless object in the proton.Comment: 19 pages, latex, 4 figures appended as uuencoded fil

Measurement of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering at HERA

This paper presents an analysis of the inclusive properties of diffractive deep inelastic scattering events produced in ep interactions at HERA. The events are characterised by a rapidity gap between the outgoing proton system and the remaining hadronic system. Inclusive distributions are presented and compared with Monte Carlo models for diffractive processes. The data are consistent with models where the pomeron structure function has a hard and a soft contribution. The diffractive structure function is measured as a function of xℙ, the momentum fraction lost by the proton, of β, the momentum fraction of the struck quark with respect to xℙ, and of Q2 in the range 6.3·10-4\u3c10-2, 0.1\u3cβ\u3c0.8 and

Diffractive hard photoproduction at HERA and evidence for the gluon content of the pomeron

Inclusive jet cross sections for events with a large rapidity gap with respect to the proton direction from the reaction ep → jet + X with quasi-real photons have been measured with the ZEUS detector. The cross sections refer to jets with transverse energies ETjet\u3e 8 GeV. The data show the characteristics of a diffractive process mediated by pomeron exchange. Assuming that the events are due to the exchange of a pomeron with partonic structure, the quark and gluon content of the pomeron is probed at a scale ∼ (ETjet)2. A comparison of the measurements with model predictions based on QCD plus Regge phenomenology requires a contribution of partons with a hard momentum density in the pomeron. A combined analysis of the jet cross sections and recent ZEUS measurements of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering gives the first experimental evidence for the gluon content of the pomeron in diffractive hard scattering processes. The data indicate that between 30% and 80% of the momentum of the pomeron carried by partons is due to hard gluons. © 1995

Measurement of the proton structure function F 2 at low x and low Q\u3csup\u3e 2\u3c/sup\u3e at HERA

We report on a measurement of the proton structure function F 2 in the range 3.5×10-5≤x≤4×10-3 and 1.5 GeV2≤Q 2≤15GeV2 at the ep collider HERA operating at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=300GeV. The rise of F 2 with decreasing x observed in the previous HERA measurements persists in this lower x and Q 2 range. The Q 2 evolution of F 2, even at the lowest Q 2 and x measured, is consistent with perturbative QCD. © 1996 Springer-Verlag