Role of locking compression plate in management of metaphyseal fractures in osteoporotic bones: an experimental study from rural Maharashtra

Background: Osteoporosis is multi factorial disease, which is caused by complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors that influence bone turnover, bone mass, skeletal geometry and risk factors. Distal femur fracture needs aggressive management in terms of open reduction and internal fixation with locking compression plate and early mobilization. Objectives were to study the role of locking compression plate in the management of osteoporotic metaphyseal fractures.Methods: Present study is a prospective study comprising of 50 patients who sustained various fractures in different bones of body due to osteoporosis and were treated using locking compression plate (LCP). All patients were evaluated for effectiveness of LCP.Results: In present series majority of patients (44%) fall in age group of 61-70 years having senile osteoporosis, followed by 12 (24%) from 51-60 years age group. Majority of the cases involved were distal femur fractures (50%). 15 i.e. 30% cases were fracture of proximal tibia and 20% were fracture of proximal humerus. 96% had osteoporosis. C1 type of fracture was commonly seen in 6 (12%) patients. The mean constant score at one month was 58 and at the end of one year it was 80. The mean oxford score at one month was 28 and at the end of one year it was 38.Conclusions: Locking compression plate is an ideal implant for fixation in metaphyseal osteoporotic bones when used methodically

Chemical approaches to the re-structuring of proteins

Methodologies for protein re-structuring have been developed enabling site specific side chain modification to either coded or non-coded residues. Procedures for the modification of the protein profile by attachment of either pendants or structural motifs have been delineated. Selectivity has been demonstrated on the basis of modulation of the -CH2- spacer, which interposes the functional group and the peptide backbone

Nonequilibrium phenomena in bilayer electron systems

In the present Letter, we have used magnetocapacitance and magnetoresistance measurements to investigate nonequilibrium phenomena in a bilayer electron system based on GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures. The magnetic field ramping drives the bilayer electron system out of equilibrium, leading to magnetoresistance hysteresis and spikes. Unlike magnetoresistance, magnetocapacitance results intriguingly show hysteresis even when both layers are in the quantum Hall state. The hysteresis is accompanied by interlayer charge transfer, but the disequilibrium is not limited to interlayer imbalance. Results show that the edge-bulk imbalance can be the initial ground for the appearance of hysteresis. In addition, the nonequilibrium states are observed in which the total, rather than individual, layer densities determine the magnetic field and gate voltage dependencies

The vitamin D grey areas in pediatric primary care. Very low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in asymptomatic children living in northeastern Italy

The principal questions about the vitamin D topic are far to be resolved: in which children 25-hydroxyvitamin D blood testing is appropriate and how much cholecalciferol should be given in the absence of the test? Analyzing vitamin D status in a group of children cared by a "family pediatrician" in northeastern Italy we noted a high incidence of deficiency in asymptomatic preschool children without risk factors. As routine vitamin D testing is not recommended in the average risk population the supplementation with cholecalciferol represents a "grey area" mostly in pediatric primary care

Modeling and Simulation of Multi-Lane Traffic Flow

A most important aspect in the field of traffic modeling is the simulation of bottleneck situations. For their realistic description a macroscopic multi-lane model for uni-directional freeways including acceleration, deceleration, velocity fluctuations, overtaking and lane-changing maneuvers is systematically deduced from a gas-kinetic (Boltzmann-like) approach. The resulting equations contain corrections with respect to previous models. For efficient computer simulations, a reduced model delineating the coarse-grained temporal behavior is derived and applied to bottleneck situations.Comment: For related work see http://www.theo2.physik.uni-stuttgart.de/helbing.htm

Anti-cancer effects and mechanism of actions of aspirin analogues in the treatment of glioma cancer

INTRODUCTION: In the past 25 years only modest advancements in glioma treatment have been made, with patient prognosis and median survival time following diagnosis only increasing from 3 to 7 months. A substantial body of clinical and preclinical evidence has suggested a role for aspirin in the treatment of cancer with multiple mechanisms of action proposed including COX 2 inhibition, down regulation of EGFR expression, and NF-κB signaling affecting Bcl-2 expression. However, with serious side effects such as stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding, aspirin analogues with improved potency and side effect profiles are being developed. METHOD: Effects on cell viability following 24 hr incubation of four aspirin derivatives (PN508, 517, 526 and 529) were compared to cisplatin, aspirin and di-aspirin in four glioma cell lines (U87 MG, SVG P12, GOS – 3, and 1321N1), using the PrestoBlue assay, establishing IC50 and examining the time course of drug effects. RESULTS: All compounds were found to decrease cell viability in a concentration and time dependant manner. Significantly, the analogue PN517 (IC50 2mM) showed approximately a twofold increase in potency when compared to aspirin (3.7mM) and cisplatin (4.3mM) in U87 cells, with similar increased potency in SVG P12 cells. Other analogues demonstrated similar potency to aspirin and cisplatin. CONCLUSION: These results support the further development and characterization of novel NSAID derivatives for the treatment of glioma

Symptomatic improvement with gluten restriction in irritable bowel syndrome: a prospective, randomized, double blinded placebo controlled trial

Background/AimsThe existence of non-celiac gluten sensitivity has been debated. Indeed, the intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms of many patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) but without celiac disease or wheat allergy have been shown to improve on a gluten-free diet. Therefore, this study set out to evaluate the effects of gluten on IBS symptoms.MethodsWe performed a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled rechallenge trial in a tertiary care hospital with IBS patients who fulfilled the Rome III criteria. Patients with celiac disease and wheat allergy were appropriately excluded. The participants were administered a gluten-free diet for 4 weeks and were asked to complete a symptom-based questionnaire to assess their overall symptoms, abdominal pain, bloating, wind, and tiredness on the visual analog scale (0-100) at the baseline and every week thereafter. The participants who showed improvement were randomly assigned to one of two groups to receive either a placebo (gluten-free breads) or gluten (whole cereal breads) as a rechallenge for the next 4 weeks.ResultsIn line with the protocol analysis, 60 patients completed the study. The overall symptom score on the visual analog scale was significantly different between the two groups (P<0.05). Moreover, the patients in the gluten intervention group scored significantly higher in terms of abdominal pain, bloating, and tiredness (P<0.05), and their symptoms worsened within 1 week of the rechallenge.ConclusionsA gluten diet may worsen the symptoms of IBS patients. Therefore, some form of gluten sensitivity other than celiac disease exists in some of them, and patients with IBS may benefit from gluten restrictions

Bardet-Biedl syndrome with end-stage kidney disease in a four-year-old Romanian boy: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Bardet-Biedl syndrome is a significant genetic cause of chronic kidney disease in children. Kidney abnormalities are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Bardet-Biedl syndrome, but the onset of end-stage renal disease at an early age and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, however, are not commonly mentioned in the literature.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present the case of a four-year-old Romanian boy who presented to our department with 'febrile seizures'. After an initial evaluation, we diagnosed our patient as having hypertension, severe anemia and end-stage renal disease. He met the major and minor criteria for the diagnosis of Bardet-Biedl syndrome and underwent continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Close follow-up for renal involvement in patients with Bardet-Biedl syndrome and Alström syndrome from an early age is highly recommended to prevent end-stage renal disease and so renal replacement therapy can be started immediately.</p

Water Contaminants Detection Using Sensor Placement Approach in Smart Water Networks

Incidents of water pollution or contamination have occurred repeatedly in recent years, causing significant disasters and negative health impacts. Water quality sensors need to be installed in the water distribution system (WDS) to allow real-time water contamination detection to reduce the risk of water contamination. Deploying sensors in WDS is essential to monitor and detect any pollution incident at the appropriate time. However, it is impossible to place sensors on all nodes of the network due to the relatively large structure of WDS and the high cost of water quality sensors. For that, it is necessary to reduce the cost of deployment and guarantee the reliability of the sensing, such as detection time and coverage of the whole water network. In this paper, a dynamic approach of sensor placement that uses an Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) is proposed and implemented. The proposed method generates a multiple set of water contamination scenarios in several locations selected randomly in the WDS. Each contamination scenario spreads in the water networks for several hours, and then the proposed approach simulates the various effect of each contamination scenario on the water networks. On the other hand, the multiple objectives of the sensor placement optimization problem, which aim to find the optimal locations of the deployed sensors, have been formulated. The sensor placement optimization solver, which uses the EA, is operated to find the optimal sensor placements. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been evaluated using two different case studies on the example of water networks: Battle of the Water Sensor Network (BWSN) and another real case study from Madrid (Spain). The results have shown the capability of the proposed method to adapt the location of the sensors based on the numbers and the locations of contaminant sources. Moreover, the results also have demonstrated the ability of the proposed approach for maximising the coverage of deployed sensors and reducing the time to detect all the water contaminants using a few numbers of water quality sensor