Risk factors for delayed and non-union following transfibular ankle arthrodesis

Background: This study was to identify risk factors associated with delayed union and non-union in patients who underwent transfibular ankle arthrodesis.Methods: This study included 43 patients who underwent ankle arthrodesis using transfibular approach between January 2012 and September 2018 and were followed up for more than 12 months. The patients were divided into two groups according to delayed union or non-union. Group A included patients who had delayed union or non-union and Group B included patients without these complications. Variables that could contribute to non-union including etiologies, age, chronic renal failure, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, pre-operative talus bone quality, pre-operative angulation of the talus and fixation methods were evaluated.Results: The mean time to bone union was 12.7±7.25 weeks. Group A included 12 patients with 5 cases of non-union and 7 cases of delayed union and group B included 31 patients. Infection of the ankle joint (OR, 1.73; p=0.041) was risk factor for non-union and delayed union on the basis of multivariate analysis.Conclusions: We concluded that infection of the ankle joint is the most significant risk factor for delayed union and nonunion in our study. Careful attention should be paid preoperatively, intraoperatively and postoperatively to patients who have this risk factor to obtain a satisfactory surgical outcome

Motives, Conflicts and Mediation in Home Engineering Design Challenges as Family Pedagogical Practices (Fundamental)

Much is known about the importance of the family as a learning environment in STEM education [1], but less is known about conducting engineering design challenge activities in home environments. Although many studies highlight the development of STEM concepts and skills, more research is needed to understand how to support this development through caregiver-child interactions at home. This study aims to (a) investigate caregiver-child interactions that support the development of child(ren)’s STEM conceptualizations and skills in engineering design challenge activities within family pedagogical practices, and (b) examine caregivers’ pedagogical expectations within family pedagogy. Guided by Vygotsky’s cultural-historical view, the authors analyze child(ren)’s development of STEM conceptualizations and skills in parent-child interactions, with a focus on motives, conflicts, and mediation. Seven families with nine children (grades 1-5) participated in three to five engineering activities over six months. The research team sent at-home engineering kits that contained an instruction card, materials, and tools for engineering challenge activities in five engineering disciplines. Caregivers were instructed to video-record their engineering activities, creating approximately 100 hours of video data. Then, caregivers participated in in-depth online interviews about their pedagogical expectations in educating children, specifically in STEM education. Qualitative findings from the home engineering data indicated that conflicts occurred (a) between caregivers’ suggestions and children’s ideas, (b) in misalignments between children’s readiness to take risks and caregivers’ level of facilitation, and (c) between caregivers’ and children’s motives. From the in-depth interviews, caregivers’ narratives illustrated their pedagogical expectations in STEM learning as (a) broadening the child’s understanding of engineering and STEM domains, (b) developing independent learning skills through quality family time, and (c) nurturing thinking and problem-solving skills in daily conversations. For the first theme, caregivers commonly highlighted the value of failures and trial-and-error in lifelong education. Secondly, caregivers noted the importance of independent learning skills through their families’ life experiences. The final theme was caregivers’ awareness of the how their communities valued STEM skills

Caregivers’ Role-taking during the Use of Discussion Prompts in At-Home Engineering Kits

This study presents a video-based case study of families who used discussion prompts in the at-home engineering kits. We examine different roles that caregivers took on during the implementation of the prompts to organize families’ engineering learning activities. Narrative accounts and transcriptions were analyzed to investigate the different roles that caregivers took. Three roles emerged: caregivers as monitor; caregivers as mentor; caregivers as partner. We further coded families’ talks to investigate how three different caregivers’ roles influenced families’ engineering practices and caregiver-child talk types. Preliminary findings illustrate how three caregivers’ roles enabled and constrained different types of engineering practices and caregiver-child talk types. Findings contribute to future considerations in designing discussion prompts for at-home engineering kits

Singlet Fermionic Dark Matter with Dark ZZ

We present a fermionic dark matter model mediated by the hidden gauge boson. We assume the QED-like hidden sector which consists of a Dirac fermion and U(1)$_X$ gauge symmetry, and introduce an additional scalar electroweak doublet field with the U(1)$_X$ charge as a mediator. The hidden U(1)$_X$ symmetry is spontaneously broken by the electroweak symmetry breaking and there exists a massive extra neutral gauge boson in this model which is the mediator between the hidden and visible sectors. Due to the U(1)$_X$ charge, the additional scalar doublet does not couple to the Standard Model fermions, which leads to the Higgs sector of type I two Higgs doublet model. The new gauge boson couples to the Standard Model fermions with couplings proportional to those of the ordinary $Z$ boson but very suppressed, thus we call it the dark $Z$ boson. We study the phenomenology of the dark $Z$ boson and the Higgs sector, and show the hidden fermion can be the dark matter candidate.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

The Interaction of Phospholipase C-{beta}3 with Shank2 Regulates mGluR-mediated Calcium Signal

Phospholipase C-{beta} isozymes that are activated by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) and heterotrimeric G proteins carry a PSD-95/Dlg/ZO-1 (PDZ) domain binding motif at their C terminus. Through interactions with PDZ domains, this motif may endow the PLC-{beta} isozyme with specific roles in GPCR signaling events that occur in compartmentalized regions of the plasma membrane. In this study, we identified the interaction of PLC-{beta}3 with Shank2, a PDZ domain-containing multimodular scaffold in the postsynaptic density (PSD). The C terminus of PLC-{beta}3, but not other PLC-{beta} isotypes, specifically interacts with the PDZ domain of Shank2. Homer 1b, a Shank-interacting protein that is linked to group I metabotropic glutamate receptors and IP3 receptors, forms a multiple complex with Shank2 and PLC-{beta}3. Importantly, microinjection of a synthetic peptide specifically mimicking the C terminus of PLC-{beta}3 markedly reduces the mGluR-mediated intracellular calcium response. These results demonstrate that Shank2 brings PLC-{beta}3 closer to Homer 1b and constitutes an efficient mGluR-coupled signaling pathway in the PSD region of neuronal synapses

Rural librarians' perspectives on makerspaces and community engagement

This study investigates eight rural librarians' perspectives related to makerspaces, community engagement, and youth informal learning through cultural probes and semi-structured interviews. Preliminary findings through content analysis suggest the importance of aligning the librarians and the youths' interests in making to support learning within library-based makerspaces and highlight the need to support rural librarians to develop STEM competencies and strategic partnerships