The completeness of national hip and knee replacement registers.

Background And Purpose:  National joint replacement registries were developed for prospective monitoring of outcomes and post-market surveillance of implants. Increasingly registry data informs practice. However, analysis of a registry can only be as good as the data it captures on the population of interest.

An analysis of the effect of the COVID-19-induced joint replacement deficit in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland suggests recovery will be protracted.

Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the provision of arthroplasty services in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This study aimed to quantify the backlog, analyze national trends, and predict time to recovery.

Methods: We performed an analysis of the mandatory prospective national registry of all independent and publicly funded hip, knee, shoulder, elbow, and ankle replacements in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland between January 2019 and December 2022 inclusive, totalling 729,642 operations.

A field ionizer for photodetachment studies of negative ions.

In this paper, we present an apparatus for studies into the photodetachment process of atomic negative ions. State-selective detection of the residual atom following the initial photodetachment step is achieved by combining resonant laser excitation of the photo-detached atom with electric field ionization. The resonance ionization technique in combination with a co-linear ion-laser beam geometry gives an experimental apparatus that has both high selectivity and sensitivity.

Threshold photodetachment in a repulsive potential.

We report on the first experimental observation of a new threshold behavior observed in the 5(2)G partial channel in photodetachment of K(-). It arises from the repulsive polarization interaction between the detached electron and the residual K(5(2)G) atom, which has a large negative dipole polarizability. In order to account for the observation in the K(5(2)G) channel, we have developed a semiclassical model that predicts an exponential energy dependence for the cross section.

Trochanteric fixation using a third-generation cable device--minimum follow-up of 3 years.

Third-generation trochanteric fixation cable systems are designed to overcome implant breakage, nonunion, and bony escape. The study prospectively assessed the functional and radiologic outcomes using such an implant. Forty-seven trochanteric fixations in 46 patients were performed over 4 years at 2 institutions using the Accord Cable Plate system (Smith and Nephew, Memphis, Tenn).

A national survey of instrument sharpening guidelines.

Most orthopaedic procedures involve high-speed tools, which can cause thermal necrosis of bone. Blunt instruments are likely to generate more heat, thereby increasing the chances of thermal necrosis. This could greatly compromise the outcome of even the best prosthesis in good surgical hands.

The risk of cross-infection when marking surgical patients prior to surgery - review of two types of marking pens.

Introduction: Two types of marker pens were compared to find whether they produced different risks of infection transmission over different time intervals.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-four patients were marked according to the type of surgery: each had a set of new dry white-board marker (DWM) and a permanent marker (PM) pen. Once used, their tips were used to inoculate blood agar plates at different time intervals.

Radiative lifetime of a bound excited state of Te-.

We report on the first experimental study of the lifetime of a bound excited state of a negative ion. A new experimental technique was developed and used to measure the radiative lifetime of the 5p(5) (2)P(1/2) level of Te-. The experiment was performed in a magnetic storage ring, where a laser beam was applied along one of the straight sections.

Spectrum of doubly excited states in the K- ion.

The energies and widths of doubly excited states of the K- ion in the vicinity of the K(5 2D,7 2S,5 2F) thresholds have been measured in high resolution using a sensitive collinear laser-ion beam apparatus. These transient states appeared as resonances in the partial cross section for photodetachment via the K(5 2S)+e(-)(epsilon(p)) channel. Series of two states below the 5 2D threshold and four states below the 5 2F threshold have been found.

Gastrointestinal obstruction associated with Chlamydia trachomatis.

A patient is reported in whom adhesive obstruction of the small bowel was due to generalised peritonitis caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. It is concluded that any sexually active female with unexplained peritonitis or adhesive obstruction of the small bowel should be screened for chlamydial infection.