Multiple congenital bilateral trigger digits in a 2-year-old child: case report

Trigger finger is a rare condition in children. In this paper, we report on a 2-year-old boy with multiple congenital bilateral trigger digits. The patient had no history of perinatal trauma, viral or bacterial infections, or metabolic disorders. The patient was treated with physiotherapy for one year. At the one-year follow-up, the boy presented with six trigger fingers (3 on the right hand, 3 on the left hand). Neither thumb was involved. The six trigger fingers were treated surgically: first, the right-hand trigger fingers and, six months later, those of the left hand. After each operation, a 4-week brace in extension was applied to the operated hand. The symptoms were completely resolved after surgical treatment. Many authors have recommended surgical release for the treatment of trigger finger in children; empirical treatment with physiotherapy may be an option when symptoms present or appear at an older age

Competing symmetries and broken bonds in superconducting vortex-antivortex molecular crystals

Hall probe microscopy has been used to image vortex-antivortex molecules induced in superconducting Pb films by the stray fields from square arrays of magnetic dots. We have directly observed spontaneous vortex-antivortex pairs and studied how they interact with added free (anti)fluxons in an applied magnetic field. We observe a variety of phenomena arising from competing symmetries which either drive added antivortices to join antivortex shells around dots or stabilize the translationally symmetric antivortex lattice between the dots. Added vortices annihilate antivortex shells, leading first to a stable “nulling state” with no free fluxons and then, at high densities, to vortex shells around the dots stabilized by the asymmetric antipinning potential. Our experimental findings are in good agreement with Ginzburg-Landau calculations

An integrated vibration-image procedure for damage identification in steel trusses

The paper deals with structural damage identification in steel trusses. Classical procedure based on dynamic measurements able to detect flexibility changes are complemented with data predicting cracks and their evaluating by image processing. The procedure proposes first a damage index, the Stiffness Reduction Factor (SRF), evaluated on the basis of the error between the predictive truss model and the experimental modal model. Then, a nonlinear FEM model is used to determine fatigue cracks in the truss nodes which are compared with the observed ones determined by image processing. A real case study, the Quisi bridge located in Spain, is used to show the potentiality of the procedure

Post-traumatic malunion of the proximal phalanx of the finger. Medium-term results in 24 cases treated by "in situ" osteotomy

We report the clinical and radiographic medium-term results obtained for 20 patients (24 fingers) treated surgically for post-traumatic malunion of the proximal phalanx of the finger. In all cases we performed a corrective osteoclasia or osteotomy at the site of malunion, followed by miniplate and screw fixation or by screw fixation only. The corrective osteoclasia was performed when malalignment was addressed within six weeks after injury. Two patients who had two fractures underwent additional surgery (tenolysis and/or capsulolysis) to improve function and ROM. At the final follow-up, at a mean of 24 months after corrective surgery, good or excellent clinical and radiographic results were obtained in all the patients. The pseudoclaw deformity disappeared in all cases in which a volar angulation deformity was present. An average improvement of about 30% in the range of motion of the MP and PIP joints was observed; only 4 patients complained of mild pain at the maximum degrees of articular excursion of the MP and PIP joints. All the patients presented an improvement in grip strength. The mean DASH score in our series was 5 points. In two of the four cases treated by an intra-articular corrective osteotomy, mild radiographic signs of osteoarthritis at the MP joint were present. The data for this study confirm that "in situ" osteotomy stabilized by miniplates and/or screws is an effective procedure to correct post-traumatic malunions of the proximal phalanges of the fingers

Simultaneous Bilateral Flexion-Type Salter-Harris II Fractures of the Proximal Tibia: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

A rare case is reported of bilateral physeal lesions of the proximal tibia classified as Salter-Harris type II, which occurred simultaneously after a “flexion type” injury in a 14-year-old boy. Treatment was conservative on the nondisplaced side and surgical, by closed reduction and internal fixation, on the displaced side. There was no previous diagnosis of Osgood-Schlatter disease. After reviewing all the cases described previously, which occurred either consecutively or simultaneously, we conclude that less resistance of the growth plate, typical of late adolescence, likely represents the cause of this type of lesion

The development of the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale (CSBD-19): an ICD-11 based screening measure across three languages

Background: Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) is included in the eleventh edition of The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an impulse-control disorder. Aims: The aim of the present work was to develop a scale (Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale-CSBD-19) that can reliably and validly assess CSBD based on ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines. Method: Four independent samples of 9,325 individuals completed self-reported measures from three countries (the United States, Hungary, and Germany). The psychometric properties of the CSBD-19 were examined in terms of factor structure, reliability, measurement invariance, and theoretically relevant correlates. A potential threshold was determined to identify individuals with an elevated risk of CSBD. Results: The five-factor model of the CSBD-19 (i.e., control, salience, relapse, dissatisfaction, and negative consequences) had an excellent fit to the data and demonstrated appropriate associations with the correlates. Measurement invariance suggested that the CSBD-19 functions similarly across languages. Men had higher means than women. A score of 50 points was found as an optimal threshold to identify individuals at high-risk of CSBD. Conclusions: The CSBD-19 is a short, valid, and reliable measure of potential CSBD based on ICD-11 diagnostic guidelines. Its use in large-scale, cross-cultural studies may promote the identification and understanding of individuals with a high risk of CSBD

Feed particle size evaluation: conventional approach versus digital holography based image analysis

The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of image analysis approach based on digital holography in defining particle size in comparison with the sieve shaker method (sieving method) as reference method. For this purpose ground corn meal was analyzed by a sieve shaker Retsch VS 1000 and by image analysis approach based on digital holography. Particle size from digital holography were compared with results obtained by screen (sieving) analysis for each of size classes by a cumulative distribution plot. Comparison between particle size values obtained by sieving method and image analysis indicated that values were comparable in term of particle size information, introducing a potential application for digital holography and image analysis in feed industry