Isolated patellofemoral osteoarthritis: A systematic review of treatment options using the GRADE approach

Background and purpose The optimal treatment for isolated patellofemoral osteoarthritis is unclear at present. We systematically reviewed the highest level of available evidence on the nonoperative and operative treatment of isolated patellofemoral osteoarthritis to develop an evidenced-based discussion of treatment options

Functional Electrical Stimulation of Intrinsic Laryngeal Muscles under Varying Loads in Exercising Horses

Bilateral vocal fold paralysis (BVCP) is a life threatening condition and appears to be a good candidate for therapy using functional electrical stimulation (FES). Developing a working FES system has been technically difficult due to the inaccessible location and small size of the sole arytenoid abductor, the posterior cricoarytenoid (PCA) muscle. A naturally-occurring disease in horses shares many functional and etiological features with BVCP. In this study, the feasibility of FES for equine vocal fold paralysis was explored by testing arytenoid abduction evoked by electrical stimulation of the PCA muscle. Rheobase and chronaxie were determined for innervated PCA muscle. We then tested the hypothesis that direct muscle stimulation can maintain airway patency during strenuous exercise in horses with induced transient conduction block of the laryngeal motor nerve. Six adult horses were instrumented with a single bipolar intra-muscular electrode in the left PCA muscle. Rheobase and chronaxie were within the normal range for innervated muscle at 0.55±0.38 v and 0.38±0.19 ms respectively. Intramuscular stimulation of the PCA muscle significantly improved arytenoid abduction at all levels of exercise intensity and there was no significant difference between the level of abduction achieved with stimulation and control values under moderate loads. The equine larynx may provide a useful model for the study of bilateral fold paralysis

Interactions of Adiponectin and Lipopolysaccharide from Porphyromonas gingivalis on Human Oral Epithelial Cells

BACKGROUND: Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease caused by pathogenic microorganisms, such as Porphyromonas gingivalis, and characterized by the destruction of the periodontium. Obese individuals have an increased risk for periodontitis and show decreased serum levels of adiponectin. This in-vitro study was established to examine whether adiponectin modulates critical effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from P. gingivalis on oral epithelial cells (OECs). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The presence of adiponectin and its receptors in human gingival tissue samples and OECs was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and PCR. Furthermore, OECs were treated with LPS and/or adiponectin for up to 72 h, and the gene expression and protein synthesis of pro- and anti-inflammatory mediators, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and growth factors were analyzed by real-time PCR and ELISA. Additionally, cell proliferation, differentiation and in-vitro wound healing were studied. The nuclear translocation of NFκB was investigated by immunofluorescence. Gingival tissue sections showed a strong synthesis of adiponectin and its receptors in the epithelial layer. In cell cultures, LPS induced a significant up-regulation of interleukin (IL) 1β, IL6, IL8, MMP1 and MMP3. Adiponectin abrogated significantly the stimulatory effects of LPS on these molecules. Similarly, adiponectin inhibited significantly the LPS-induced decrease in cell viability and increase in cell proliferation and differentiation. Adiponectin led to a time-dependent induction of the anti-inflammatory mediators IL10 and heme oxygenase 1, and blocked the LPS-stimulated NFκB nuclear translocation. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Adiponectin may counteract critical actions of P. gingivalis on oral epithelial cells. Low levels of adiponectin, as observed in obese individuals, may increase the risk for periodontal inflammation and destruction

Effects of a mechanical engineering design course on students’ motivational features

Diverse learning opportunities and deep engagement are needed to support development of engineering competencies and expertise. Deep engagement evolves from productive and high-quality motivation that derives from both internal and external sources. Motivation to learn is lacking in many fields, like engineering, because it is too often assumed or ignored, rather than explicitly built into course instruction. While the lack of motivation in engineering education is clear in data-like attrition, there is little relevant research that informs the necessary changes for the field. The purpose of this study is to present a systematic approach that explicitly considers motivational elements in engineering courses. First a comprehensive set of motivational characteristics and the interrelationships for productive motivation of mechanical engineering students are identified. Students’ motivational characteristics and profiles of change over time are assessed using a multipoint predictive correlational design. This information is then used to strategically redesign motivational elements of a senior-level mechanical engineering design course. The SUCCESS framework has been used to redesign motivational features of the existing course. This paper reports results of the study, including implications for redesign of other engineering courses. Analysis of the data demonstrates the complexity of motivation in the engineering classroom, which includes addressing implicit and explicit, intrinsic and extrinsic, individual and team interaction and instruction. These elements extend not only to direct communication and interactions of instructor with students but into the full scope of the learning environment, peer-to-peer interactions, grading, (a)synchronous activities, face to face, and virtual communications. Key features of engineering students’ productive (learning and engagement-related) motivational profiles consisted of clusters of perceptual and experiential variables that were strongly correlated with motivational and learning outcomes. Tracking these factors demonstrated that they changed over time. These changes corresponded to perceptions of instructor and peer interactions, which were amenable to instructional intervention and responsive to social modeling. This study also revealed links among engineering students’ perceptions of their field of study, their own development of self-efficacy, and success expectations in both the design course and for their careers. This work revealed important distinctions between engineering students’ self-efficacy for, and engagement in, the course generally and for group tasks more specifically. These newly revealed relationships offer the opportunity to improve engineering instruction and the design of dynamic learning environments that support adaptive skill development.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Impact of CAD tools on creative problem solving in engineering design

This paper presents the results of a survey of CAD users that examined the ways in which their computational environment may influence their ability to design creatively. This extensive online survey builds upon the findings of an earlier observational case study of the use Of Computer tools by a small engineering team. The case Study was conducted during the conceptual and detailed stages of the design of a first-to-world product. Four mechanisms by which CAD tools may influence the creative problem solving process were investigated: enhanced visualisation and communication, circumscribed thinking, premature design fixation and bounded ideation. The prevalence of these mechanisms was examined via a Series of questions that probed the user's mode of working, attitudes, and responses to hypothetical situations. The Survey showed good Support for the first three mechanisms and moderate support for the fourth. The results have important implications for both the users and designers of CAD tools

Geodesic growth of right-angled Coxeter groups based on trees

International audienceIn this paper we exhibit two infinite families of trees $\{T^1_n\}_{n \geq 17}$ and $\{T^2_n\}_{n \geq 17}$ on $n$ vertices, such that $T^1_n$ and $T^2_n$ are non-isomorphic, co-spectral, and the right-angled Coxeter groups (RACGs) based on $T^1_n$ and $T^2_n$ have the same geodesic growth with respect to the standard generating set. We then show that the spectrum of a tree does is not sufficient to determine the geodesic growth of the RACG based on that tree, by providing two infinite families of trees $\{S^1_n\}_{n \geq 11}$ and $\{S^2_n\}_{n \geq 11}$, on $n$ vertices, such that $S^1_n$ and $S^2_n$ are non-isomorphic, co-spectral, and the right-angled Coxeter groups (RACGs) based on $S^1_n$ and $S^2_n$ have distinct geodesic growth. Asymptotically, as $n\rightarrow \infty$, each set $T^i_n$, or $S^i_n$, $i=1,2$, has the cardinality of the set of all trees on $n$ vertices. Our proofs are constructive and use two families of trees previously studied by B.~McKay and C.~Godsil

Property and empire: from colonialism to globalisation and back

This article argues that spatial re-ordering in the interests of globalisation goes back to the very beginning of modern Western empires. It does this by exploring the role of land law in globalisation. It shows that there is a remarkable continuity stretching back some 800 or more years in the use of land law to spearhead first English, but now Anglo-American, inputs into and interference with the spatial ordering and national land laws of countries in the developing world. This interference extends even into attempts to re-order land laws and land management as part of programmes of post-conflict statebuilding