Bone Stress Injuries of the Foot and Ankle

Bone stress injuries of the foot have been known for more than 150 years. For a century, their primary diagnostic imaging tool has been radiography. However, currently the golden standard for establishing the diagnosis of stress injuries is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although the injury type has been fairly well documented in the earlier literature, little information is available on the healing of stress injuries located in e.g. the talus and calcaneus. The current study retrospectively evaluated the stress injuries of the foot and ankle treated at the Central Military Hospital over a period of eight years in patients who underwent MRI for stress injury of the foot. The imaging studies of the patients were reevaluated to determine the exact nature of the stress injury. Moreover, the hospital records of the patients were reviewed to determine the healing of stress injuries of the talus and calcaneus. Patients with a stress fracture in the talus were recalled for a follow-up examination and MRI scan one to six years after the initial injury to determine if the fracture had completely healed, clinically and radiologically. The bone stress injuries of the foot were found to affect more than one bone in a majority of the cases. The talus and the calcaneus were the bones most commonly affected. In the talus, the most common site for the injuries was the head of the bone, and in the calcaneus, the posterior part of the bone. The injuries in these bones were associated with injuries in the surrounding bones. Stress injuries in the calcaneus seemed to heal well. No complications were seen in the primary healing process. The patients were, however, sometimes compelled to refrain from physical training for up to months. In the talus, minor degenerative findings of the articular surface were seen in half of the patients who participated in a follow-up MRI scan and radiographs taken one to six years after the initial injury. Half of the patients also reported minor exercise related symptoms in the follow-up. The symptoms were, however, not noticeable in everyday life.

Tumour islet Foxp3+ T-cell infiltration predicts poor outcome in nonsmall cell lung cancer

The impact of host immunity on outcome in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is controversial. We examined the relationship between lymphoid infiltration patterns in NSCLC and prognosis. Tumour- and stroma-infiltrating CD3+, CD8+ and forkhead box P3 (Foxp3)+ T-lymphocytes were identified using immunohistochemistry and a novel image analysis algorithm to assess total, cytotoxic and regulatory T-lymphocyte counts, respectively, in 196 NSCLC cases. The median cell count was selected as a cut-point to define patient subgroups and the ratio of the corresponding tumour islet:stroma (TI/S) counts was determined. There was a positive association between overall survival and increased CD8+ TI/S ratio (hazard ratio (HR) for death 0.44, p<0.001) but an inverse relationship between Foxp3+ TI/S ratio and overall survival (HR 4.86, p<0.001). Patients with high CD8+ islet (HR 0.48, p<0.001) and Foxp3+ stromal (HR 0.23, p<0.001) counts had better survival, whereas high CD3+ and CD8+ stromal counts and high Foxp3+ islet infiltration conferred a worse survival (HR 1.55, 2.19 and 3.14, respectively). By multivariate analysis, a high CD8+ TI/S ratio conferred an improved survival (HR 0.48, p=0.002) but a high Foxp3+ TI/S ratio was associated with worse survival (HR 3.91, p<0.001). Microlocalisation of infiltrating T-lymphocytes is a powerful predictor of outcome in resected NSCLC.

Studies in bubble formation — III

Bubble formation from single horizontal orifices submerged in Newtonian liquids has been investigated for such chamber volumes that both the pressure inside the chamber and flow rate into the bubble are time dependent. The data collected show that under these conditions the bubble volume decreases exponentially with increase in orifice submergence. The equations for the generalized two stage model of bubble formation, taking the variation of gas flow rate with time into account, have been derived. These equations reduce to the cases of constant gas flow rate and constant pressure when adequate constraints are imposed. The results obtained under intermediate conditions have been quantitatively explained on the basis of these equations.

Aspects of tautomerism. Part II. Reactions of the pseudo-acid chloride of o-benzoylbenzoic acid with nucleophiles

Reactions of fourteen nucleophiles with the pseudo-acid chloride of o-benzoylbenzoic acid in two solvents have been studied. The nucleophiles that react primarily at the tetrahedral carbon atom to give pseudo derivatives, are weaker than those that react at the carbonyl carbon atom causing opening of the lactone ring. An explanation for this phenomenon is advanced.

Vänner, kolleger och gynnare : Namngivningen av de finska fästningsverken under Augustin Ehrensvärds tid

Under 1700-talets andra hälft hörde Sveriges nya fästningar i öst (Helsingfors, Sveaborg, Lovisa och Svartholm) till rikets största satsningar. Fästningsprojektet leddes med undantag av ett par avbrott av Augustin Ehrensvärd (1710 1772). När arbetet tog fart namngavs de enskilda fästningsverken i så gott som alla fall efter samtida personer. Under Ehrensvärds tid tillämpades denna namngivning på omkring femtio av Sveaborgs och Helsingfors fästningsverk samt på Lovisas och Svartholms totalt aderton verk. Genom personerna de knöts till berättar namnen en hel del om Augustin Ehrensvärds samtid och omvärld. Hur de gjorde det är denna avhandlings huvudfråga. Källmaterialet utgörs av relationsritningar och brev, medan de teoretiska ramarna står att finna i nätverksteori och onomastiska teorier om namnmönster. Ehrensvärd förklarade sin namngivningspraxis för sin överordnade, tronföljaren Adolf Fredrik, 1749 i samband med att Gustavssvärd med fästningsverk namngavs: tanken var att namnge bastioner efter de som bidragit till arbetets framgång och att namnge utanverk efter officerare vid fästningsbygget. Innebörden av Ehrensvärds ord framgår ur namnbeståndet. De största grupperna består av ämbetsmän och militärer. Med de som bidragit till arbetets framgång avsågs sålunda den lokala eliten: landshövdingar som involverats i fästningsbygget samt högre och lägre militärer som tjänstgjorde vid fästningarna. Redan från början syns en klar hierarki i namngivningen. Medan landshövdingarna och de högre militärerna tillägnades bastioner, fick de lägre officerarna se mindre fästningsverk namngivna efter sig, helt i enlighet med Ehrensvärds egen beskrivning. Utanför de ovan nämnda grupperna, hedrades en hel del personer som inte konkret hade engagerats i fästningsbygget. Denna namngivning kan förklaras å ena sidan inom ramen för Ehrensvärds sociala nätverk och å andra sidan mot bakgrund av riksdagspolitiken i frihetstidens Sverige. Av de två förklaringsmodeller bör Ehrensvärds personliga vänskaper ses som en bidragande orsak, medan de politiska motiven utgjorde en avgörande orsak. Som en del av Ehrensvärds nätverk kan de gynnare ses som hade stöttat Ehrensvärd under hans karriär samt hans närmaste medarbetare vid fästningsbygget, ofta officerer han själv handplockat. Namngivningens politiska aspekt syns i det stora antalet riksråd som tillägandes bastionnamn. Vid sidan om riksråden hedrades också talmän vid de samtida riksdagarna. En komparativ studie i namngivningen av fästningsverk vid samtida och äldre svenska fästningar framhäver Ehrensvärd som en innovativ namngivare. Fästningsverk namngivna efter kungligheter verkar ha varit en norm, som också Ehrensvärd anknöt till genom ett fåtal namn. Däremot var namn efter personer inte vanliga, vilket gav den Ehrensvärdska namngivningen en förhållandevis stark anknytning till samtiden. Denna aspekt bekräftas om namnen ses mot bakgrund av 1700-talets uppfattning om ära och äregirighetens samhälleliga nytta. I denna uppfattning syns bakgrunden till förekomsten av personer med både hög och låg status i Ehrensvärds namngivning. Sammanfattningsvis speglar namnen på de finska fästningsverken sin samtid genom den byråkratiska, militära och politiska elit de representerar samt genom motiveringen till dem.

Role of PbO in lithium ion transport in Li2O-PbO-B2O3 glasses

Abstract: A wide range of compositions of grasses in the ternary Li2O-PbO-B2O3 glass system was prepared, and de and ac conductivity measurements were carried out on these glasses. The presence of lead leads to a decrease in de conductivities and an increase in the activation energies. This is likely to be due to the increase of the partial charges on the oxygen atoms and to the presence of the lone pair on the Pb atom; both of these factors impede lithium ion motion. The ac conductivity and dielectric behavior of these glasses support such a conjecture. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.

A checking method for probabilistic seismic-hazard assessment: case studies on three cities

The conventional Cornell's source-based approach of probabilistic seismic-hazard assessment (PSHA) has been employed all around the world, whilst many studies often rely on the use of computer packages such as FRISK (McGuire FRISK-a computer program for seismic risk analysis. Open-File Report 78-1007, United States Geological Survey, Department of Interior, Washington 1978) and SEISRISK III (Bender and Perkins SEISRISK III-a computer program for seismic hazard estimation, Bulletin 1772. United States Geological Survey, Department of Interior, Washington 1987). A ``black-box'' syndrome may be resulted if the user of the software does not have another simple and robust PSHA method that can be used to make comparisons. An alternative method for PSHA, namely direct amplitude-based (DAB) approach, has been developed as a heuristic and efficient method enabling users to undertake their own sanity checks on outputs from computer packages. This paper experiments the application of the DAB approach for three cities in China, Iran, and India, respectively, and compares with documented results computed by the source-based approach. Several insights regarding the procedure of conducting PSHA have also been obtained, which could be useful for future seismic-hazard studies.

Encapsulation of cobalt phthalocyanine in zeolite-Y: Evidence for nonplanar geometry

Cobalt (11) phthalocyanine (CoPc) molecules have been encapsulated within the supercage of zeolite-Y. The square-planar complex, being larger than the almost spherical cage, is forced to adopt a distorted geometry on encapsulation. A comparative spectroscopic and magnetic investigation of CoPc encapsulated in zeolite-Y and in the unencapsulated state is reported. These results supported by molecular modeling have been used to understand the nature and extent of the loss of planarity of CoPc on encapsulation. The encapsulated molecule is shown to be the trans-diprotonated species in which the center of inversion is lost due to distortions required to accommodate the square complex within the zeolite. Encapsulation also leads to an enhancement of the magnetic moment of the CoPc. This is shown to be a consequence of the nonplanar geometry of the encapsulated molecule resulting in an excited high-spin state being thermally accessible.

Physics-Based Band Gap Model for Relaxed and Strained 100] Silicon Nanowires

In this paper, we propose a physics-based simplified analytical model of the energy band gap and electron effective mass in a relaxed and strained rectangular 100] silicon nanowires (SiNWs). Our proposed formulation is based on the effective mass approximation for the nondegenerate two-band model and 4 x 4 Luttinger Hamiltonian for energy dispersion relation of conduction band electrons and the valence band heavy and light holes, respectively. Using this, we demonstrate the effect of the uniaxial strain applied along 100]-direction and a biaxial strain, which is assumed to be decomposed from a hydrostatic deformation along 001] followed by a uniaxial one along the 100]-direction, respectively, on both the band gap and the transport and subband electron effective masses in SiNW. Our analytical model is in good agreement with the extracted data using the extended-Huckel-method-based numerical simulations over a wide range of device dimensions and applied strain.

Computational investigations on covalent dimerization/oligomerization of polyacenes: Is it relevant to soot formation?

We have postulated a novel pathway that could assist in the nucleation of soot particles through covalent dimerization and oligomerizations of a variety of PAHs. DFT calculations were performed with the objective of obtaining the relative thermal stabilities and formation probabilities of oligomeric species that exploit the facile dimerization that is known to occur in linear oligoacenes. We propose that the presence of small stretches of linear oligoacence (tetracene or longer) in extended PAH, either embedded or tethered, would be adequate for enabling the formation of such dimeric and oligomeric adducts; these could then serve as nuclei for the growth of soot particles. Our studies also reveal the importance of p-stacking interactions between extended aromatic frameworks in governing the relative stabilities of the oligomeric species that are formed. (c) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Emitter near an arbitrary body: Purcell effect, optical theorem and the Wheeler-Feynman absorber

The altered spontaneous emission of an emitter near an arbitrary body can be elucidated using an energy balance of the electromagnetic field. From a classical point of view it is trivial to show that the field scattered back from any body should alter the emission of the source. But it is not at all apparent that the total radiative and non-radiative decay in an arbitrary body can add to the vacuum decay rate of the emitter (i.e.) an increase of emission that is just as much as the body absorbs and radiates in all directions. This gives us an opportunity to revisit two other elegant classical ideas of the past, the optical theorem and the Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory of radiation. It also provides us alternative perspectives of Purcell effect and generalizes many of its manifestations, both enhancement and inhibition of emission. When the optical density of states of a body or a material is difficult to resolve (in a complex geometry or a highly inhomogeneous volume) such a generalization offers new directions to solutions. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Definition of the halogen bond (IUPAC Recommendations 2013)

This recommendation proposes a definition for the term ``halogen bond'', which designates a specific subset of the inter- and intramolecular interactions involving a halogen atom in a molecular entity.

High Temperature XRD of Cu2.1Zn0.9SnSe4

Quaternary compound with chemical composition Cu2.1ZnSnSe4 is prepared by solid state synthesis. High temperature XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) of this compound is used in studying the effect of temperature on lattice parameters and thermal expansion coefficients. Thermal expansion coefficient is one of the important quantities in evaluating the Gruneisen parameter which further useful in determining the lattice thermal conductivity of the material. The high temperature XRD of the material revealed that the lattice parameters as well as thermal expansion coefficients of the material increased with increase in temperature which confirms the presence of anharmonicty.