Antibacterial and antifungal drug concentrations in intra-abdominal abscesses: a prospective clinical study.

Secondary peritonitis with intra-abdominal abscesses (IAA) is difficult to treat because of the supposed low rate of penetration of antimicrobial drugs at the site of infection. However, clinical data about the actual bioavailability of antimicrobial drugs in IAA are scarce. This prospective observational study aimed at assessing the drug penetration in IAA of the antibiotics (piperacillin-tazobactam, carbapenems) and antifungals (fluconazole, echinocandins) that are usually recommended for the treatment of intra-abdominal infections.

Antipolar 2D Metallicity with Tunable Valence W (5 ≤ ≤ 5.6) in the Layered Monophosphate Tungsten Bronzes [Ba(PO)]WO.

The newly discovered series of layered monophosphate tungsten bronzes (L-MPTB) [Ba(PO)]WO consist of -layer-thick slabs of WO6 octahedra separated by barium-phosphate spacers. They display a 2D metallic behavior confined in the central part of the perovskite slabs. Here, we report the missing = 2 member of this series, containing the rather uncommon W5+ oxidation state.

Comparative study of biomodels manufactured using 3D printing techniques for surgical planning and medical training.

Objectives: To obtain 3D printed bone models with a haptic sensation similar to that of the real bone, which will help the surgeon to learn and improve based on practice.

Methods: From computed tomography, 3 digital anatomical models of the human proximal femur were created and, by modifying the printing parameters, both cortical and trabecular tissues were simulated, which were combined in a different cortico-cancellous interface depending on the bone segment. The 3 equivalent models obtained were compared with a commercial Sawbone synthetic model and subjected to a series of blind surgical practice trials performed by 5 TOC specialists from a hospital, each of them with different degrees of expertise.

New Approach to Determine the Activity Concentration Index in Cements, Fly Ashes, and Slags on the Basis of Their Chemical Composition.

The manufacture of Portland cement entails high energy and environmental costs, and various solutions have been implemented in recent years to mitigate this negative impact. These solutions include improvements in the manufacture of cement clinker or the use of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), such as fly ash (FA) or slag as a replacement for a portion of the clinker in cement. The incorporation of these SCMs in cement may increase its radiological content as they are naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORMs).

Layered Monophosphate Tungsten Bronzes [Ba(PO ) ]W O : 2D Metals with Locked Charge-Density-Wave Instabilities.

Phosphate tungsten and molybenum bronzes represent an outstanding class of materials displaying textbook examples of charge-density-wave (CDW) physics among other fundamental properties. Here we report on the existence of a novel structural branch with the general formula [Ba(PO ) ][W O ] (m=3, 4 and 5) denominated 'layered monophosphate tungsten bronzes' (L-MPTB). It results from thick [Ba(PO ) ] spacer layers disrupting the cationic metal-oxide 2D units and enforcing an overall trigonal structure.

Pararectus Approach in Acetabular Fractures in Patients Older Than 65 years. Is it Possible to Improve the Technique?

Objectives: Review clinical results of the treatment for acetabular fractures using the pararectus approach and analyze surgical variations of the traditional approach.

Design: Retrospective.

Setting: Tertiary referral hospital.

The Third Dimension of Ferroelectric Domain Walls.

Ferroelectric domain walls are quasi-2D systems that show great promise for the development of nonvolatile memory, memristor technology, and electronic components with ultrasmall feature size. Electric fields, for example, can change the domain wall orientation relative to the spontaneous polarization and switch between resistive and conductive states, controlling the electrical current. Being embedded in a 3D material, however, the domain walls are not perfectly flat and can form networks, which leads to complex physical structures.

Topotactic fluorination of intermetallics as an efficient route towards quantum materials.

Intermetallics represent an important family of compounds, in which insertion of light elements (H, B, C, N) has been widely explored for decades to synthesize novel phases and promote functional materials such as permanent magnets or magnetocalorics. Fluorine insertion, however, has remained elusive so far since the strong reactivity of this atypical element, the most electronegative one, tends to produce the chemical decomposition of these systems. Here, we introduce a topochemical method to intercalate fluorine atoms into intermetallics, using perfluorocarbon reactant with covalent C-F bonds.

Computation of Kullback-Leibler Divergence in Bayesian Networks.

Kullback-Leibler divergence KL(p,q) is the standard measure of error when we have a true probability distribution which is approximate with probability distribution . Its efficient computation is essential in many tasks, as in approximate computation or as a measure of error when learning a probability. In high dimensional probabilities, as the ones associated with Bayesian networks, a direct computation can be unfeasible.

Role of the orthopaedic surgeon in 3D printing: current applications and legal issues for a personalized medicine.

3D printing (I3D) is an additive manufacturing technology with a growing interest in medicine and especially in the specialty of orthopaedic surgery and traumatology. There are numerous applications that add value to the personalised treatment of patients: advanced preoperative planning, surgeries with specific tools for each patient, customised orthotic treatments, personalised implants or prostheses and innovative development in the field of bone and cartilage tissue engineering. This paper provides an update on the role that the orthopaedic surgeon and traumatologist plays as a user and prescriber of this technology and a review of the stages required for the correct integration of I3D into the hospital care flow, from the necessary resources to the current legal recommendations.

Analysis of mortality after surgical treatment of periprosthetic distal femur fractures.

Introduction: The incidence of periprosthetic fractures of the knee is increasing due to the increase in the number of total knee arthroplasties performed, together with population aging. We found few studies that analyze mortality in our setting after surgery. Our objective was to evaluate mortality and survival after surgical treatment of periprosthetic fractures of the distal femur in our environment.

Surgical treatment of periprosthetic humerus fractures and algorithm.

Introduction: Periprosthetic humerus fractures are infrequent and sometimes difficult to treat. There is limited literature and no consensus on the handling of these fractures. The objective of this study was to compare our results with those published in the literature, in order to improve our care and propose a management algorithm.

The impact of hip fracture on health-related quality of life and activities of daily living: the SPARE-HIP prospective cohort study.

Purpose: The medical morbidity and mortality associated with neck of femur fractures is well-documented, whereas there is limited data for patient-reported outcomes. The aim of this study was to characterize the impact of neck of femur fractures on activities of daily living and patient-reported health-related quality of life.

Methods: Design and participants: Multicentric prospective cohort study.

Talus fractures. Functional results for polytraumatized patients.

Talar fractures are uncommon lesions (0.1-0.9%) and have a high rate of complications.

Combining gene expression data and prior knowledge for inferring gene regulatory networks via Bayesian networks using structural restrictions.

Gene Regulatory Networks (GRNs) are known as the most adequate instrument to provide a clear insight and understanding of the cellular systems. One of the most successful techniques to reconstruct GRNs using gene expression data is Bayesian networks (BN) which have proven to be an ideal approach for heterogeneous data integration in the learning process. Nevertheless, the incorporation of prior knowledge has been achieved by using prior beliefs or by using networks as a starting point in the search process.

Observation of Uncompensated Bound Charges at Improper Ferroelectric Domain Walls.

Low-temperature electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) is used to probe unconventional domain walls in the improper ferroelectric semiconductor ErCaMnO down to cryogenic temperatures. The low-temperature EFM maps reveal pronounced electric far fields generated by partially uncompensated domain-wall bound charges. Positively and negatively charged walls display qualitatively different fields as a function of temperature, which we explain based on different screening mechanisms and the corresponding relaxation time of the mobile carriers.

Multiferroic quantum criticality.

The zero-temperature limit of a continuous phase transition is marked by a quantum critical point, which can generate physical effects that extend to elevated temperatures. Magnetic quantum criticality is now well established, and has been explored in systems ranging from heavy fermion metals to quantum Ising materials. Ferroelectric quantum critical behaviour has also been recently demonstrated, motivating a flurry of research investigating its consequences.

Treatment of posttraumatic bone defects of the forearm with vascularized fibular grafts. Follow up after fourteen years.

Background: Among several techniques proposed for the reconstruction of posttraumatic bone defects of the forearm, that of free vascularised fibular graft (FVFG) is one of the most widely used.

Patients And Method: We study the long-term outcomes of 14 patients who underwent FVFG between 1994 and 2009, with a minimum follow up of 8 years and a maximum of 23 years (mean: 13.9 years).

Electrical half-wave rectification at ferroelectric domain walls.

Domain walls in ferroelectric semiconductors show promise as multifunctional two-dimensional elements for next-generation nanotechnology. Electric fields, for example, can control the direct-current resistance and reversibly switch between insulating and conductive domain-wall states, enabling elementary electronic devices such as gates and transistors. To facilitate electrical signal processing and transformation at the domain-wall level, however, an expansion into the realm of alternating-current technology is required.

Pelvic post-traumatic asymmetry: Assessment and sequenced treatment.

The most common cause of post-traumatic pelvic asymmetry is, by far, initial nonoperative treatment.Open reduction and internal fixation of unstable pelvic fractures are recommended to avoid pelvic nonunion or subsequent structural deformities.The most common symptom is pelvic pain.

Surgical Infection after Posterolateral Lumbar Spine Arthrodesis: CT Analysis of Spinal Fusion.

Objective: To determine the incidence of infection after instrumented lumbar spine surgery, the demographic and surgical variables associated with acute infection, and the influence of infection and debridement on the consolidation of spinal fusion.

Methods: After obtaining approval from the hospital ethics committee, an observational study was made on a prospective cohort of consecutive patients surgically treated by posterolateral lumbar spine arthrodesis (n = 139, 2005-2011). In all cases, the minimum follow-up period was 18 months.

Revealing the cerebello-ponto-hypothalamic pathway in the human brain.

The cerebellum is shown to be involved in some limbic functions of the human brain such as emotion and affect. The major connection of the cerebellum with the limbic system is known to be through the cerebello-hypothalamic pathways. The consensus is that the projections from the cerebellar nuclei to the limbic system, and particularly the hypothalamus, or from the hypothalamus to the cerebellar nuclei, are through multisynaptic pathways in the bulbar reticular formation.

Non-collinear magnetism in multiferroic perovskites.

We present an overview of the current interest in non-collinear magnetism in multiferroic perovskite crystals. We first describe the different microscopic mechanisms giving rise to the non-collinearity of spins in this class of materials. We discuss, in particular, the interplay between non-collinear magnetism and ferroelectric and antiferrodistortive distortions of the perovskite structure, and how this can promote magnetoelectric responses.