Searching and Intertwining: Climbing Plants and GrowBots.

Applications in remote inspection and medicine have motivated the recent development of innovative thin, flexible-backboned robots. However, such robots often experience difficulties in maintaining their intended posture under gravitational and other external loadings. Thin-stemmed climbing plants face many of the same problems.

Bunion surgery using locking-plate fixation of proximal metatarsal chevron osteotomies.

Background: Symptomatic large hallux valgus deformities commonly require surgical intervention with a proximal metatarsal osteotomy. A number of fixation methods have been described for proximal chevron osteotomies; one of the most recent is locking plates.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of 16 consecutive patients (20 feet) with severe bunion deformities who had locking-plate fixation of proximal chevron osteotomies.

Removal of the second toe for severe hammertoe deformity in elderly patients.

Background: Our hypothesis was that amputation of an isolated, painful second hammertoe is beneficial and has less morbidity than forefoot reconstruction when other associated deformities are not clinically painful. The objective was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of elderly patients undergoing amputation of painful second hammertoes instead of advanced reconstructive procedures.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all cases of removal of the second toe through the MTP joint for painful hammertoe deformities from May, 1998 to May 2004.

Complications in total knee arthroplasty with and without surgical drainage.

The standard practice in total joint arthroplasty has included the use of postsurgical drains to minimize perioperative wound complications, particularly infection. This practice is not without cost and potential morbidity. Our recent cemented and cementless total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) have been done without the use of postoperative surgical drains and without any appreciable increase in wound complications.