Validity of an automatic measure protocol in distal femur for allograft selection from a three-dimensional virtual bone bank system

Osteoarticular allograft is one possible treatment in wide surgical resections with large defects. Performing best osteoarticular allograft selection is of great relevance for optimal exploitation of the bone databank, good surgery outcome and patient’s recovery. Current approaches are, however, very time consuming hindering these points in practice. We present a validation study of a software able to perform automatic bone measurements used to automatically assess the distal femur sizes across a databank. 170 distal femur surfaces were reconstructed from CT data and measured manually using a size measure protocol taking into account the transepicondyler distance (A), anterior-posterior distance in medial condyle (B) and anterior-posterior distance in lateral condyle (C). Intra- and inter-observer studies were conducted and regarded as ground truth measurements. Manual and automatic measures were compared. For the automatic measurements, the correlation coefficients between observer one and automatic method, were of 0.99 for A measure and 0.96 for B and C measures. The average time needed to perform the measurements was of 16 h for both manual measurements, and of 3 min for the automatic method. Results demonstrate the high reliability and, most importantly, high repeatability of the proposed approach, and considerable speed-up on the planning.

Seed fate and seedling dynamics after masting in two African rain forest trees

How the effects of biotic factors are moderated by abiotic factors, and their consequences for species interactions, is generally understudied in ecology. A key abiotic feature of forests is regular canopy disturbances that create temporary patches, or “gaps,” of above-average light availability. Co-occurring in lowland primary forest of Korup National Park (Cameroon), Microberlinia bisulcata and Tetraberlinia bifoliolata are locally dominant, ectomycorrhizal trees whose seeds share predator guilds in masting years. Here, we experimentally tested the impact of small mammal predators upon seedling abundance, growth, and survivorship. In 2007, we added a fixed density of seeds of each species to exclosures at 48 gap–understory locations across 82.5 ha within a large Microberlinia grove, and at 15 locations outside it. For both species, small mammals removed more seeds in gaps than in understory, whereas this was reversed for seeds killed by invertebrates. Nonetheless, Microberlinia lost twice as many seeds to small mammals, and more to invertebrates in exclosures, than Tetraberlinia, which was more prone to a pathogenic white fungus. After six weeks, both species had greater seedling establishment in gaps than understory, and in exclosures outside compared to exclosures inside the grove. In the subsequent two-year period, seedling growth and survivorship peaked in exclosures in gaps, but Microberlinia had more seedlings' stems clipped by animals than Tetraberlinia, and more than twice the percentage of leaf area damaged. Whereas Microberlinia seedling performance in gaps was inferior to Tetraberlinia inside the grove, outside it Microberlinia had reduced leaf damage, grew taller, and had many more leaves than Tetraberlinia. No evidence was found for “apparent mutualism” in the understory as seedling establishment of both species increased away from (>25 m) large stems of either species, pointing to “apparent competition” instead. In gaps, Microberlinia seedling establishment was lower near Tetraberlinia than conspecific adults because of context-dependent small mammal satiation. Stage-matrix analysis suggested that protecting Microberlinia from small mammals could increase its population growth rate by 0.06. In the light of prior research we conclude that small mammals and canopy gaps play an important role in promoting species coexistence in this forest, and that their strong interaction contributes to Microberlinia's currently very poor regeneration.

Bank Wegelin: "Das Gesicht verloren"

Mit dem weitreichenden Geständnis hat die Bank Wegelin die gesamte Schweizer Finanzbranche bei den US-Behörden angeschwärzt, sagt Peter V. Kunz, Professor für Wirtschaftsrecht.

Use of endovascular therapy for peripheral arterial lesions: an analysis of the national trauma data bank from 2007 to 2009

An endovascular approach is increasingly used for the treatment of peripheral arterial trauma (PAT), but evidence supporting this approach is lacking. The objective of our study was to assess outcomes for endovascular repair (ER) versus operative repair (OR) in PAT.