Dynamic plate osteosynthesis for fracture stabilization: how to do it

Plate osteosynthesis is one treatment option for the stabilization of long bones. It is widely accepted to achieve bone healing with a dynamic and biological fixation where the perfusion of the bone is left intact and micromotion at the fracture gap is allowed. The indications for a dynamic plate osteosynthesis include distal tibial and femoral fractures, some midshaft fractures, and adolescent tibial and femoral fractures with not fully closed growth plates. Although many lower limb shaft fractures are managed successfully with intramedullary nails, there are some important advantages of open-reduction-and-plate fixation: the risk of malalignment, anterior knee pain, or nonunion seems to be lower. The surgeon performing a plate osteosynthesis has the possibility to influence fixation strength and micromotion at the fracture gap. Long plates and oblique screws at the plate ends increase fixation strength. However, the number of screws does influence stiffness and stability. Lag screws and screws close to the fracture site reduce micromotion dramatically

Behaviour of adenylic and pyridinic compounds in gingival tissue after a short-term exposure to air

Biochemical variations of adenine and pyridine compounds in human gingival grafts during the period between excision and implantation have been studied. These groups of compounds are considered as «indicators» of the metabolic and energetic status of the living cells. Adenylic compounds such as ATP, ADP and AMP are involved in numerous metabolic processes as «modulators» of allosteric enzymes.NAD+ and NADP+ are involved in the carbohydrate metabolism as co-factors of many reactions of oxydoreduction. The exposure to air of the gingival tissue induces modifications in the energy state of the cells as well as in the ox-reox system. No variation is detectable in the intermediates of the pyridine compounds cycle.Dans des gencives humaines prélevées pour des greffes, ont été étudiées, à certains intervalles de temps entre le prélèvement et la greffe, les variations biochimiques des composés adényliques et pyridiniques, qui sont les «indicateurs» des conditions énergétiques et métaboliques du tissu. Des composés comme l’ATP, l’ADP et l’AMP participent à de nombreux processus métaboliques comme «modulateurs» des enzymes allostériques. NAD+ et NADP + participent au métabolisme des carbohydrates comme co-facteurs de nombreuses réactions d’oxydoréduction. Une brève exposition de la gencive à l’air provoque des changements dans le métabolisme des cellules et du système d’oxydoréduction. Il n’y a pas de variation notable dans les composés intermédiaires du cycle pyridinique

Predicting users' first impressions of website aesthetics with a quantification of perceived visual complexity and colorfulness

Users make lasting judgments about a website's appeal within a split second of seeing it for the first time. This first impression is influential enough to later affect their opinions of a site's usability and trustworthiness. In this paper, we demonstrate a means to predict the initial impression of aesthetics based on perceptual models of a website's colorfulness and visual complexity. In an online study, we collected ratings of colorfulness, visual complexity, and visual appeal of a set of 450 websites from 548 volunteers. Based on these data, we developed computational models that accurately measure the perceived visual complexity and colorfulness of website screenshots. In combination with demographic variables such as a user's education level and age, these models explain approximately half of the variance in the ratings of aesthetic appeal given after viewing a website for 500ms only.Engineering and Applied Science

Different Transport Pathways of Individual Precursor Proteins in Mitochondria

Transport of mitochondrial precursor proteins into mitochondria of Neurospora crassa was studied in a cellfree reconstituted system. Precursors were synthesized in a reticulocyte lysate programmed with Neurospora mRNA and transported into isolated mitochondria in the absence of protein synthesis. Uptake of the following precursors was investigated: apocytochrome c, ADP/ATP carrier and subunit 9 of the oligomycin-sensitive ATPase. Addition of high concentrations of unlabelled chemically prepared apocytochrome c (1–10 μM) inhibited the appearance in the mitochondrial of labelled cytochrome c synthesized in vitro because the unlabelled protein dilutes the labelled one and because the translocation system has a limited capacity [apparent V is 1–3 pmol × min−1× (mg mitochondrial protein)−1]. Concentrations of added apocytochrome c exceeding the concentrations of precursor proteins synthesized in vitro by a factor of about 104 did not inhibit the transfer of ADP/ATP carrier or ATPase subunit 9 into mitochondria. Carbonylcyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, an uncoupler of oxidative phosphorylation, inhibited transfer in vitro of ADP/ATP carrier and of ATPase subunit 9, but not of cytochrome c. These findings suggest that cytochrome c and the other two proteins have different import pathways into mitochondria. It can be inferred from the data presented that different 'receptors' on the mitochondrial surface mediate the specific recognition of precursor proteins by mitochondria as a first step in the transport process

Age Vectors vs. Axes of Intraspeaker Variation in Vowel Formants Measured Automatically From Several English Speech Corpora

To test the hypothesis that intraspeaker variation in vowel formants is related to the direction of diachronic change, we compare the direction of change in apparent time with the axis of intraspeaker variation in F1 and F2 for vowel phonemes in several corpora of North American and Scottish English. These vowels were measured automatically with a scheme (tested on hand-measured vowels) that considers the frequency, bandwidth, and amplitude of the first three formants in reference to a prototype. In the corpus data, we find that the axis of intraspeaker variation is typically aligned vertically, presumably corresponding to the degree of jaw opening for individual tokens, but for the North American GOOSE vowel, the axis of intraspeaker variation is aligned with the (horizontal) axis of diachronic change for this vowel across North America. This may help to explain why fronting and unrounding of high back vowels are common shifts across languages

The Envelope Thermal Test Unit (ETTU): Full Measurement of WallPerform ance

There are many ways of calculating the dynamic thermal performance of walls and many ways of measuring the performance of walls in the laboratory, relatively few field measurements have been made of the dynamic performance of wall in situ. Measuring the thermal performance of walls in situ poses two separate problems: measuring the heat fluxes and surface temperatures of the wall, and reducing this data set into usable parameters. We have solved the first problem by developing the Envelope Thermal Test Unit (ETTU). ETTU consists of two specially constructed polystyrene blankets, 1.2m square, placed on either side of the test wall that both control and measure the surface fluxes and surface temperatures of the wall. To solve the second problem we have developed a simplified dynamic model that describes the thermal performance of a wall in terms of its steady-state conductance, a time constant, and some storage terms. We have used ETTU in the field to measure the thermal performance of walls, and have applied our simplified analysis to calculate simplified thermal parameters from this data set. In this report, we present the in-situ measurements made to date using ETTU, and the resulting model predictions. The agreement between measured and predicted surface fluxes demonstrates the ability of our test unit and analytic model to describe the dynamic performance of walls in situ

Masses and widths of scalar-isoscalar multi-channel resonances from data analysis

Peculiarities of obtaining parameters for broad multi-channel resonances from data are discussed analyzing the experimental data on processes $\pi\pi\to\pi\pi,K\bar{K}$ in the $I^GJ^{PC}=0^+0^{++}$ channel in a model-independent approach based on analyticity and unitarity and using an uniformization procedure. We show that it is possible to obtain a good description of the $\pi\pi$ scattering data from the threshold to 1.89 GeV with parameters of resonances cited in the PDG tables as preferred. However, in this case, first, representation of the $\pi\pi$ background is unsatisfactory; second, the data on the coupled process $\pi\pi\to K\bar{K}$ are not well described even qualitatively above 1.15 GeV when using the resonance parameters from the only $\pi\pi$ scattering analysis. The combined analysis of these coupled processes is needed, which is carried out satisfactorily. Then both above-indicated flaws, related to the analysis of solely the $\pi\pi$-scattering, are cured. The most remarkable change of parameters with respect to the values of only $\pi\pi$ scattering analysis appears for the mass of the $f_0 (600)$ which is now in some accordance with the Weinberg prediction on the basis of mended symmetry and with an analysis using the large-$N_c$ consistency conditions between the unitarization and resonance saturation. The obtained $\pi\pi$-scattering length $a_0^0$ in case when we restrict to the analysis of the $\pi\pi$ scattering or consider so-called A-solution (with a lower mass and width of $f_0(600)$ meson) agrees well with prediction of chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) and with data extracted at CERN by the NA48/2 Collaboration from the analysis of the $K_{e4}$ decay and by the DIRAC Collaboration from the measurement of the $\pi^+\pi^-$ lifetime.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 6 table

Biosynthesis of Mitochondrial Porin and Insertion into the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane of Neuruspora crassa

Mitochondrial porin, the major protein of the outer mitochondrial membrane is synthesized by free cytoplasmic polysomes. The apparent molecular weight of the porin synthesized in homologous or heterologous cell-free systems is the same as that of the mature porin. Transfer in vitro of mitochondrial porin from the cytosolic fraction into the outer membrane of mitochondria could be demonstrated. Before membrane insertion, mitochondrial porin is highly sensitive to added proteinase; afterwards it is strongly protected. Binding of the precursor form to mitochondria occurs at 4°C and appears to precede insertion into the membrane. Unlike transfer of many precursor proteins into or across the inner mitochondrial membrane, assembly of the porin is not dependent on an electrical potential across the inner membrane