Closed humeral shaft fractures: a prospective evaluation of surgical treatment

OBJECTIVE: We tried to define the roles of the rigid dynamic compression plate (DCP) and the semi-rigid Ender nail (EN) in the treatment of closed humeral shaft fractures. DESIGN: A prospective, randomized clinical study was performed with detailed comparison parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety-one closed humeral shaft fractures were treated. Randomly, 30 humeri were treated with open reduction and internal fixation with DCP and no bone grafting (BG), 29 were treated with the same procedure but with BG, and 32 were treated with closed reduction and internal fixation with Ender nails. The average follow-up period was 32 months (range, 13-54 months). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: In the group with DCP without BG, the average blood loss was 270 mL, operation time was 92 minutes, hospital length of stay was 6.5 days, and union time was 12.5 weeks. In the group with DCP with BG, the average blood loss was 325 mL, operation time was 108 minutes, hospital length of stay was 6.9 days, and union time was 9.4 weeks. In the EN group, the average blood loss was 114 mL, operation time was 54 minutes, hospital length of stay was 5.6 days, and union time was 9.9 weeks. Analysis of variance and Fisher's exact test were used to evaluate the statistical significance. CONCLUSION: In our experience, for humeral shaft fractures fixed surgically, EN is better than DCP without BG. When DCP is chosen for the means of fixation, prophylactic BG is recommended, especially in cases with more comminution.     

Controlled hydrothermal growth of multi-length-scale ZnO nanowires using liquid masking layers

In this study, we demonstrate a method for creating multi-length-scale ZnO nanowires in a controllable manner on diverse planar and curvilinear substrates by introducing immiscible liquid masking layers (LMLs) above and beneath a nutrient solution used in hydrothermal growth. The confinement of volatile reactants by the LMLs stabilizes the pH, which is an important parameter in determining the shape of the nanowires, to enable growth in a stable manner. The conformal wettability of the LMLs provides freedom in the choice of target substrates and allows for the possibility of mounting spatially moving stages without the use of a specially designed solid lid. Selective growth within the growth zone defined by the LMLs in a dynamic- and/or static-mode can create various types of ZnO nanowires with gradual or terraced length profiles in two- or three-dimensional geometries. For a device application, we developed cylindrical photodetectors with the configuration of Cr/ZnO seed/ZnO nanowires/poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) to show the ability to spatially modulate the photo-sensitivity by controlled hydrothermal growth of diverse length scales of ZnO nanowires using the LML method.     

Vibration control of smart hull structure with optimally placed piezoelectric composite actuators

Active vibration control to suppress structural vibration of the smart hull structure was investigated based on optimized actuator configurations. Advanced anisotropic piezoelectric composite actuator, Macro-Fiber Composite (MFC), was used for the vibration control. Governing equations of motion of the smart hull structure including MFC actuators were obtained using the Donnell-Mushtari shell theory and Lagrange's equation. The Rayleigh-Ritz method was used to obtain the dynamic characteristics of the smart hull structure. Experimental modal tests were conducted to verify the proposed mathematical model. In order to achieve high control performance, optimal locations and directions of the MFC actuators were determined by genetic algorithm. Optimal control algorithm was then synthesized to suppress structural vibration of the proposed smart hull structure and experimentally implemented to the system. Active vibration control performances were evaluated under various modes excitations. Vibration tests revealed that optimal configurations of MFC actuators improved the control performance of the smart hull structure in case of the limited number of actuators available.     

CHF characteristics of R-134a flowing upward in uniformly heated vertical tube

An experimental study of the critical heat flux (CHF) using R-134a in uniformly heated vertical tube was performed and 182 CHF data points were obtained from the present work to investigate the CHF characteristics of R-134a. The investigated flow parameters in R-134a were: (1) outlet pressures of 13, 16.5, 23.9 bar, (2) mass fluxes of 285-1300 kg/m² s, (3) subcooling temperatures of 5-40 °C. The CHF tests were performed in a 17.04 mm I.D. test section with heated length of 3 m. The parametric trends of CHF show a general agreement with previous understanding in the water. To assess the suitability of the CHF test using R-134a for modeling the CHF in water, Bowring correlation and Katto correlation were used in the present investigation. It was found that the present test results coincided well with the data predicted with both correlations. It demonstrates that the R-134a can be used as the CHF modeling fluid of water for the investigated flow conditions and geometric condition.     

Pool-boiling critical heat flux of water on small plates: Effects of surface orientation and size

A series of experiments have been performed to understand the pool-boiling critical heat flux (CHF) behavior on small plates, varying the inclination angle and size of the heated surface under near atmospheric pressure: the first-phase experiment to clarify the CHF behavior at near the horizontal downward-facing position and the second-phase experiment to find out the general CHF behavior for overall inclination angles. The first- and second-phase experiment were performed for the inclination angles from −90° (horizontally downward position) to −40° using two plate-type test sections (20×200 mm and 25×200 mm) submerged in a pool of saturated water and for overall inclination angles from −90° to 90° using two plate-type test sections (30×150 mm and 40×150 mm) submerged in a slightly subcooled water pool, respectively. The CHF generally decreases as its inclination approaches to −90°, but there is a transition angle, at which the rate of decrease in the CHF suddenly changes. The measured CHF is lower for the wider test section due to the increased difficulty of bubble escape and this size effect increases as the inclination angle approaches to −90°.     

Fraction of design space plots for evaluating ridge estimators in mixture experiments

When the component proportions in mixture experiments are restricted by lower and upper bounds, the design space can become an irregular region that can induce multicollinearity among the component proportions. Thus, we suggest the use of ridge regression as a means of stabilizing the estimates of the coefficients in the fitted model. We use fraction of design space plots and violin plots to illustrate and evaluate the effect of ridge regression estimators with respect to the prediction variance and to guide the decision about the value of ridge constant k. We illustrate the methods with three examples from the literature. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of Fluxing and Hybrid Underfills with Micro‐encapsulated Catalyst for Long Pot Life

For the fine‐pitch application of flip‐chip bonding with semiconductor packaging, fluxing and hybrid underfills were developed. A micro‐encapsulated catalyst was adopted to control the chemical reaction at room and processing temperatures. From the experiments with a differential scanning calorimetry and viscometer, the chemical reaction and viscosity changes were quantitatively characterized, and the optimum type and amount of micro‐encapsulated catalyst were determined to obtain the best pot life from a commercial viewpoint. It is expected that fluxing and hybrid underfills will be applied to fine‐pitch flip‐chip bonding processes and be highly reliable.     

Multiple factors determine the selection of the ectodomain cleavage site of human cell surface macrophage colony-stimulating factor

Human cell surface macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1256, M-CSF alpha) is converted to a soluble growth factor by a regulated proteolytic cleavage process at amino acid residues 157-159. We have previously shown that multiple factors specified by the juxtamembrane region determine the cleavage efficiency [Deng, P., Rettenmier, C. W., and Pattengale, P. K. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 16338-16343]. In the present paper, we studied the effect of various deletion, insertion, and substitution mutations at or near the cleavage site on both the number and size of cleaved CSF-1(256) products to identify the mechanisms by which the cleavage sites are selected. Deletion of regions 161-162 or 163-165, C-terminal to the cleavage site, as well as deletion of region 150-156, N-terminal to the cleavage site, each yielded a single cleavage product that was smaller than that derived from the wild type (WT). In these experiments cleavage apparently occurred at a specific distance from the transmembrane domain. Insertion of three additional residues between the normal cleavage site and the transmembrane domain yielded one major product that was the same size as the processed form of WT CSF-1(256). In this case the selection of the cleavage site was apparently determined by the amino acid sequence of the juxtamembrane region rather than by the distance from the transmembrane domain. Other amino acid substitutions at the cleavage site caused changes in cleavage site selection, providing additional evidence for the role of amino acid sequence in cleavage site selection. Finally, a comparison of cleavage site selection in the presence and absence of tunicamycin treatment showed that N-glycosylation of certain mutant forms of CSF-1(256) sterically interfered with protease accessibility, which in turn had an effect on the selection of the site used for cleavage. Taken together, these results indicate that cleavage site selection is determined by the amino acid sequence of the juxtamembrane region, the distance of the site from the transmembrane domain, and steric accessibility of the protease.     

Clonal hematopoiesis and acquired thalassemia in common variable immunodeficiency

The Drosophila hairy gene encodes a basic helix-loop-helix protein that functions in at least two steps during Drosophila development: (1) during embryogenesis, when it partakes in the establishment of segments, and (2) during the larval stage, when it functions negatively in determining the pattern of sensory bristles on the adult fly. In the rat, a structurally homologous gene (RHL) behaves as an immediate-early gene in its response to growth factors and can, like that in Drosophila, suppress neuronal differentiation events. Here, we report the genomic cloning of the human hairy gene homolog (HRY). The coding region of the gene is contained within four exons. The predicted amino acid sequence reveals only four amino acid differences between the human and rat genes. Analysis of the DNA sequence 5' to the coding region reveals a putative untranslated exon. To increase the value of the HRY gene as a genetic marker and to assess its potential involvement in genetic disorders, we sublocalized the locus to chromosome 3q28-q29 by fluorescence in situ hybridization.