[Surgical outcome in pertrochanteric femur fracture: the impact of osteoporosis. Comparison between DHS and percutaneous compression plate].

Aim: The dynamic hip screw (DHS) often shows an impared outcome and a high incidence of therapeutic failure in patients with osteoporotic pertrochanteric femur fractures. This is caused predominantly by a fracture collapse and appears often in unstable fractures (31A2, 31A3). In a prospectively documented clinical study, we examined whether or not the percutaneous compression plate (PCCP, Gotfried) offers advantages following osteoporotic fractures.

Determination of the side-separated pulmonary right-to-left shunt volume.

Background: With the present method of intrapulmonary right-to-left shunt volume calculation, no differentiation can be made between the shunt volume shares of the right and left lungs. For a better understanding of pathophysiological processes during thorax surgery with side-separated ventilation, a side-separated shunt volume determination would be useful.

Materials And Methods: In 14 young female pigs, catheters were implanted into the left atrium after left thoracotomy.

Cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and COX-2) for tissue engineering of articular cartilage--from a developmental model to first results of tissue and scaffold expression.

Tissue engineering of articular cartilage remains an ongoing challenge. Since tissue regeneration recapitulates ontogenetic processes the growth plate can be regarded as an innovative model to target suitable signalling molecules and growth factors for the tissue engineering of cartilage. In the present study we analysed the expression of cyclooxygenases (COX) in a short-term chondrocyte culture in gelatin-based scaffolds and in articular cartilage of rats and compared it with that in the growth plate.

Intraocular cilium masquerading as a parasite.

Background: Among the many different intraocular foreign bodies (IOFBs), eyelashes represent an uncommon finding almost invariably associated with a history of penetrating trauma. The authors describe a woman who had no signs and denied any history of trauma with an odd-looking, whitish, worm-like IOFB eventually identified by pathologic analysis as a cilium.

Case Report: A 58-year-old lady complaining of floaters with mild loss of vision and redness presented to our institution.

The level of cardiac output affects the relationship and agreement between pulmonary artery and transpulmonary aortic thermodilution measurements in an animal model.

Objective: The authors investigated the relationship between pulmonary artery and transpulmonary aortic thermodilution cardiac output measurements under conditions of increasing cardiac output (CO).

Design: Animal study with repeated simultaneous measurements comparing 2 cardiac output measurement techniques.

Setting: Experimental animal facility of a university hospital.

Evolution of enzymes and pathways for the biosynthesis of cofactors.

The evolution of metabolic pathways is discussed with reference to the biosynthesis of a number of vitamins and cofactors. Retrograde and patchwork models are highlighted and their relevance to our knowledge of pathway processes and enzymes is examined. Pathway complexity is explained in terms of the acquisition of broad specificity enzymes.

Inverse inkjet printed gold micro electrodes for the structured deposition of epithelial cells and fibrin.

The micro structured deposition of vital cells is an important challenge in tissue engineering, biosensor technology, and in all research dealing with cell-cell and cell-substrate contacts. Hence, an inkjet printing technology has been developed to manufacture Au-based micro electrodes by sputter coating inversely printed polyester-foils. These electrodes feature minimal structure sizes of 35 microm and consist of an anode and a cathode part.

Emulsion-based synthesis of PLGA-microspheres for the in vitro expansion of porcine chondrocytes.

The in vitro cell expansion of autologous chondrocytes is of high interest in regenerative medicine since these cells can be used to treat joint cartilage defects. In order to preserve chondrocyte phenotype, while optimizing adhesion on microspheres, several processing parameters for the microsphere synthesis were varied. In this study three different polylactide-co-glycolides were used with differing lactide-glycolide ratios (85:15 and 50:50) and differing inherent viscosities.

[Urethroplasty with tissue matrix. Microsurgical animal experiments with small intestinal submucosa].

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine whether use of small intestinal submucosa in microsurgical urethroplasty in Wistar rats represents an alternative.

Methods: In 20 Wistar rats microsurgical urethroplasty with small intestinal submucosa was done to repair distal or proximal urethral defects. Four weeks later urethral calibration and urethrography were performed in addition to histological studies.

Multiphoton microscopy for monitoring intratissue femtosecond laser surgery effects.

Background And Objective: Multiphoton microscopy/tomography has been used as a novel diagnostic method for corneal imaging with subcellular resolution. Here, we used this technique to monitor femtosecond laser intratissue surgery effects.

Materials And Methods: Multiphoton microscopy/tomography on rabbits based on intense 90 MHz femtosecond Ti: sapphire laser was realized at intensities of MW-GW/cm(2), whereas the surgical procedures were performed with the same system at a higher light intensity on the order of TW/cm(2).

Silver aggregation caused by Stanna-closo-dodecaborate coordination: syntheses, solid-state structures and theoretical studies.

Stanna-closo-dodecaborate [SnB11H11]2- reacts as a nucleophile with various silver electrophiles ([Ag(PMe3)]+, [Ag(PEt3)]+, [Ag(PPh3)]+, and Ag+) to form silver-tin bonds. Aggregation of two, three, or four units of [{Ag(SnB11H11)(PR3)}n]n- (PPh3, n = 2; PEt3, n = 3; PMe3, n = 4) was found, depending on the size of the coordinating phosphine. The structures of the silver-tin clusters in the solid state were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction.

Long-term response toward inorganic carbon limitation in wild type and glycolate turnover mutants of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803.

Concerted changes in the transcriptional pattern and physiological traits that result from long-term (here defined as up to 24 h) limitation of inorganic carbon (C(i)) have been investigated for the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803. Results from reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and genome-wide DNA microarray analyses indicated stable up-regulation of genes for inducible CO(2) and HCO(3)(-) uptake systems and of the rfb cluster that encodes enzymes involved in outer cell wall polysaccharide synthesis.

Elucidation of substrate specificity in the cobalamin (vitamin B12) biosynthetic methyltransferases. Structure and function of the C20 methyltransferase (CbiL) from Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus.

Ring contraction during cobalamin (vitamin B12) biosynthesis requires a seemingly futile methylation of the C20 position of the tetrapyrrole framework. Along the anaerobic route, this reaction is catalyzed by CbiL, which transfers a methyl group from S-adenosyl-L-methionine to cobalt factor II to generate cobalt factor III. CbiL belongs to the class III methyltransferases and displays similarity to other cobalamin biosynthetic methyltransferases that are responsible for the regiospecific methylation of a number of positions on the tetrapyrrole molecular canvas.

Betamethasone-related acute alterations of microtubule-associated proteins in the fetal sheep brain are reversible and independent of age during the last one-third of gestation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether glucocorticoid effects on neuronal cytoskeleton, which we have shown previously at 0.87 gestation when the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis matures, are age-dependent and reversible.

Study Design: Fetal sheep received 3.

[CT-guided interventions in children].

In pediatric CT-guided interventions specific features have to be taken into account. Due to a lack of cooperation or limited ability to cooperate, procedures are often performed using analgosedation or general anesthesia. To provide radiation protection, justified indication for CT-guided intervention is necessary and sonography and MRI are to be preferred whenever possible.

Histological and histomorphometric investigation of the condylar cartilage of juvenile pigs after anterior mandibular displacement.

The condylar cartilage of the mandible is considered a secondary growth center and represents a joint cartilage different from other cartilage structures regarding its histological structure, its histochemical and immunohistochemical properties and its growth pattern. This study aimed to histologically and histomorphometrically investigate the condylar cartilage after anterior mandibular displacement similar to functional orthopedic treatment. A total of 12 pigs (sus scrofa domesticus) aged 10 weeks were divided into an experimental group and a control group comprising 6 animals each.

Extended query refinement for medical image retrieval.

The impact of image pattern recognition on accessing large databases of medical images has recently been explored, and content-based image retrieval (CBIR) in medical applications (IRMA) is researched. At the present, however, the impact of image retrieval on diagnosis is limited, and practical applications are scarce. One reason is the lack of suitable mechanisms for query refinement, in particular, the ability to (1) restore previous session states, (2) combine individual queries by Boolean operators, and (3) provide continuous-valued query refinement.

Perspectives for the tissue engineering of cartilage from a biological and biomaterial point of view.

Tissue engineering has become a fast growing interdisciplinary branch of research at the interface between life and engineering sciences with important clinical end-points. In this context the regeneration of articular cartilage represents an exciting challenge since hyaline cartilage has a limited capacity for self-repair. Today the use of different scaffold materials combined with in vitro expanded chondrocytes and signalling molecules poses great hopes for an optimal treatment of articular cartilage defects.

In-vivo intratissue ablation by nanojoule near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses.

Non-invasive intratissue ablation was performed in the cornea of living rabbits by using 80 MHz near-infrared intense nanojoule femtosecond laser pulses. The intratissue surgical effect was induced by multiphoton absorption at a wavelength of 800 nm and was ascertained by histological examination. Highly precise intratissue ablation was obtained with no detrimental effects to the overlying or underlying layers.

Pattern of injury after rock-climbing falls is not determined by harness type.

Objective: Experimental data indicate that when using a sit harness alone, any major fall during rock climbing may cause life-threatening thoraco-lumbar hyperextension trauma or "head down position" during suspension. To clarify the actual influence of the type of harness on the pattern and severity of injury, accidents involving a major fall in a climbing harness were analyzed retrospectively.

Methods: Individuals with a height of fall equal to or exceeding 5 m were identified through a search of accident and emergency records for the period from 2000 to 2004.

Pattern and severity of injury in avalanche victims.

In avalanche accidents, the significance of major trauma as a cause of morbidity and mortality is controversial. The aim of this retrospective study is to determine the severity and pattern of injury in avalanche victims admitted to the University Hospital of Innsbruck between 1996 and 2005. A total of 49 significant injuries were found in 105 avalanche victims; the most frequent were of the extremities (n = 20), the chest (n = 18), and the spine (n = 7).