Hip fracture in a developing country: a picture in need of change

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Ultra-som pulsado de baixa intensidade em fraturas diafisárias: aplicação clínica em cães

Os efeitos da estimulação ultra-sônica sobre a consolidação óssea têm sido demonstrados por trabalhos experimentais e clínicos. Este estudo teve por objetivo investigar a aplicação clínica do ultra-som pulsado de baixa intensidade como tratamento adjuvante de fraturas diafisárias em cães. Foram utilizados 16 cães de raças variadas, com faixa etária entre sete meses e seis anos, peso corpóreo entre 2,5 e 43kg, portadores de fraturas diafisárias fechadas recentes localizadas no rádio e ulna, fêmur ou tíbia e fíbula, estabilizadas por procedimentos de osteossíntese (fixação esquelética externa, pinos intramedulares ou a associação desses métodos). Os cães foram divididos em dois grupos: fraturas estabilizadas tratadas por ultra-som de baixa intensidade (grupo tratado, n=8); fraturas estabilizadas, não tratadas por estimulação ultra-sônica, (grupo controle, n=8). Os animais foram avaliados por exames clínicos e radiográficos nos períodos pré-operatório, pós-operatório imediato e a cada 30 dias posteriores aos procedimentos cirúrgicos. Realizou-se tratamento com ultra-som pulsado (sinal senoidal com freqüência de 1,5MHz, largura de pulso de 200µs e freqüência de repetição de 1kHz) de baixa intensidade (30mW cm-2), aplicado de modo estacionário no foco de fratura. A terapia ultra-sônica foi realizada 20 minutos por dia, durante 21 dias consecutivos, a partir do período compreendido entre o 1° e o 9° dia pós-operatório. O teste t de Student, empregado na análise estatística, mostrou diferença significante (P<0,001 e alfa=0,05) entre as médias dos parâmetros de tempo para consolidação óssea observadas nos animais dos grupos tratado (média de 67,5 dias) e controle (média de 106 dias). Este protocolo de estimulação ultra-sônica promoveu sinais clínicos e radiográficos acelerados da consolidação óssea nas fraturas tratadas. Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que o ultra-som pulsado de baixa intensidade pode ser indicado como terapia adjuvante de fraturas diafisárias recentes em cães.

Effect of heat exposure on the thermoregulatory responses of selected naked neck chickens

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Femur biometry, densitometry and chemical composition from Moxoto goats supplemented with concentrate in a semiarid region

The aim of study was to investigate if different intake levels of concentrate (supplementation levels) would have an influence on chemical composition, biometric aspects and bone mineral density (BMD) of femurs from Moxoto growing goats in the Brazilian semiarid region. Thirty-two castrated kids (15.69 +/- 0.78 kg initial BW) were used allocated randomly to one of the four levels of supplementation (SL) (treatments groups: 0: 5; 10 and 15 g/kg BW). When the animals of treatment group 15 g/kg BW reached 25 kg BW, the animals in the others treatments groups were also slaughtered. The increase SL resulted in linear increase (P<0.001) in the performance of animals as well as in fresh and dry weight of the femur and decrease of relative weight of the femur. The dry matter contents (g/kg) of femur increased linearly, however, the amounts of MM, ether extract, Ca, P. Mg, Na and K were not affected by the treatments. The values found in this study ranged from 134.84 to 155.90g of Ca, 48.14 to 55.95g of P. 1.69 to 1.87g of Mg, 2.87 to 3.24g of Na and 1.42 to 1.61 g of K/kg of bone in natura for animals with smaller and higher slaughter weight, respectively. The biometric and densitometric variables increased linearly with increasing treatments, except for the thickness of the sponge layer of the proximal and distal epiphysis and BMD measured in the distal epiphysis. The supplementation with concentrate did not affect the chemical composition of the femur, although it has positively influenced the structure and the bone mineral density. A BMD estimated via radiographic bone aluminum equivalent did not have correspondence with bone mineral content measured chemically. (C) 2011 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.

Large-scale transcriptome analyses reveal new genetic marker candidates of head, neck, and thyroid cancer

A detailed genome mapping analysis of 213,636 expressed sequence tags (EST) derived from nontumor and tumor tissues of the oral cavity, larynx, pharynx, and thyroid was done. Transcripts matching known human genes were identified; potential new splice variants were flagged and subjected to manual curation, pointing to 788 putatively new alternative splicing isoforms, the majority (75%) being insertion events. A subset of 34 new splicing isoforms (5% of 788 events) was selected and 23 (68%) were confirmed by reverse transcription-PCR and DNA sequencing. Putative new genes were revealed, including six transcripts mapped to well-studied chromosomes such as 22, as well as transcripts that mapped to 253 intergenic regions. In addition, 2,251 noncoding intronic RNAs, eventually involved in transcriptional regulation, were found. A set of 250 candidate markers for loss of heterozygosis or gene amplification was selected by identifying transcripts that mapped to genomic regions previously known to be frequently amplified or deleted in head, neck, and thyroid tumors. Three of these markers were evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR in an independent set of individual samples. Along with detailed clinical data about tumor origin, the information reported here is now publicly available on a dedicated Web site as a resource for further biological investigation. This first in silico reconstruction of the head, neck, and thyroid transcriptomes points to a wealth of new candidate markers that can be used for future studies on the molecular basis of these tumors. Similar analysis is warranted for a number of other tumors for which large EST data sets are available.

Adventure race's injuries

Objective. - To describe the distribution of frequency of the injuries during adventure competition.Material and methods. - Fifty-five participants who underwent to the second stage of the Caloi Adventure Camp competition answered to a questionnaire about their personal characteristics, training status and injuries.Results. - The age of the athletes was 32 +/- 10 years old and the body mass index (BMI) 23.3 +/- 2.2 kg/m(2). The most frequent injuries occurred during trekking (61%), followed by mountain bike (24%). Abrasions (36.7%) and cuts (24.5%) were the most frequent injuries mentioned. Tissue level lesions occurred in 61.2% of the episodes. The most frequent injuries were contusions (16.3%) at muscular level, and sprain (6.1%) and fracture (6.1%) at osteoarticular system. Related to the body structure, the lower limb was the most affected (49%), mainly ankle (14.3%) and knee (12.2%). In the upper limb (30.6%), arm and forearm were more affected with cuts and abrasions. Neck and trunk were responsible for 20.4% of the injuries. Cramps (31%) and tendinitis (11%) were also mentioned.Conclusion. - The data suggest that it is necessary to create one training approach including prevention and logistics for participants rescue and rapid attendance during the tournament. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Comparison of fracture surface and plane section analysis for ceramic grain size characterisation

A method has been developed to obtain quantitative information about grain size and shape from fractured surfaces of ceramic materials. One elaborated a routine to split intergranular and transgranular grains facets of ceramic fracture surfaces by digital image processing. A commercial ceramic (ALCOA A-16, Al2O3-1.5% of CrO) was used to test the proposed method. Microstructural measurements of grain shape and size taken from fracture surfaces have been compared through descriptive statistics of distributions, with the corresponding measurements from polished and etched surfaces. The agreement between results, with the expected bias on grain size values from fractures, obtained for both types of surfaces allowed to infer that this new technique can be used to extract the relevant microstructural information from fractured surfaces, thus minimising the time consuming steps of sample preparation. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fractal characterization of brittle fracture in ceramics under mode I stress loading

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Correlation of microcrack fracture size with fatigue cycling on non-crimp fabric/RTM6 composite in the uniaxial fatigue test

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

3-D reconstruction by extended depth-of-field in failure analysis - Case study II: Fractal analysis of interlaminar fracture in carbon/epoxy composites

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Determining the Optimum Processing Parameters of Glass-like Carbon Using Weibull Analysis of its Fracture Behaviour

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Fatigue fracture behavior of Ti-6Al-4V PVD coated

Fatigue, corrosion and wear resistance are important parameters in aircraft components development as landing gear. High strength/weight ratio and effective corrosion resistance make of titanium alloys an alternative choice to replace steel and aluminum alloys. However, titanium alloys have poor tribological properties, which reduce devices performance under friction. PVD coatings tribological systems has been increased due to their attractive mechanical properties as low environmental impact, low friction coefficient, low wear rate and hardness up to 2000 HV.In this study the influence of TiN deposited by PVD on the fatigue strength of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was evaluated. Comparison of fatigue strength of coated specimens and base material shows also a decrease when parts are coated. It was observed that the influence is more significant in high cycle fatigue tests. Scanning electron microscopy technique (SEM) was used to observe crack origin sites and fracture features. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Delay from fracture to hospital admission: a new risk factor for hip fracture mortality?

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Hip fracture in the elderly: does counting time from fracture to surgery or from hospital admission to surgery matter when studying in-hospital mortality?

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)