Open antero-lateral dislocation of the elbow. A case report

BACKGROUND: Open dislocations are infrequent, often associated with damage to the neuro vascular structures. We present an unusual case of an open antero-lateral dislocation of the elbow, which was not associated with any vascular or neural injury. CASE PRESENTATION: A 34 year female dance instructor sustained an open dislocation of her elbow. Surgical exploration was undertaken. No major neurovascular injury was present. There was almost complete disruption of all the muscular and ligamentous attachments to the distal humerus and the proximal radius and ulna, which were not formally repaired during surgery. The elbow was found to be very unstable, and was placed in a back slab. The functional recovery was complete in about six months, the patient regaining full range of elbow movement. Elbow dislocations without associate fractures are adequately treated by manipulation and reduction, in spite of the almost complete disruption of the soft tissues around the joint

Long-term outcome of displaced radial neck fractures in adulthood: 16–21 year follow-up of 5 patients treated with radial head excision

Background There have been no reports on the long-term outcome of radial neck Mason type IIIb fractures in adults

Relationship between microstructure and fracture types in a UNS S32205 duplex stainless steel

Duplex stainless steels are susceptible to the formation of sigma phase at high temperature which could potentially be responsible for catastrophic service failure of components. Thermal treatments were applied to duplex stainless steels in order to promote the precipitation of different fractions of sigma phase into a ferrite-austenite microstructure. Quantitative image analysis was employed to characterize the microstructure and Charpy impact tests were used in order to evaluate the mechanical degradation caused by sigma phase presence. The fracture morphology of the Charpy test specimens were thoroughly observed in SEM, looking for a correlation between the microstructure and the fracture types in UNS S32205 duplex stainless steel. The main conclusion is the strong embrittlement effect of sigma phase since it is possible to observe a transition from transgranular fracture to intergranular fracture as increases the percentage of sigma phase. Thus, the mixed modes of fracture are predominant in the present study with high dependence on sigma phase percentages obtained by different thermal treatments

Biomimetic biohybrid nanofibers containing Bovine Serum Albumin as a bioactive moiety for wound dressing

For the first time, a biohybrid nanofibrous wound dressing is developed via green electrospinning of a blend solution of bovine serum albumin (BSA) (1 and 3 wt.%) and polycaprolactone (PCL). In such a system, the components are miscible and interact through hydrogen bonding between the carbonyl group of PCL and the amine group of BSA, as verified by ATR-FTIR. As a result, the biohybrid nanofibers show a superior elastic modulus and elongation (300% and 58%, respectively) compared with the neat PCL nanofibers. The included protein induces a hydrophilicity effect to the PCL nanofibers, notably at the higher BSA content (3 wt.%). In contrast to the neat nanofibers, the biohybrid ones are bioactive and encourage formation of biominerals (made of amorphous calcium carbonate) on the surface, after immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF). Based on the WST-8 cell viability tests, NIH3T3 fibroblast cells were seen to properly interact with the biohybrid mats and to proliferate in their proximity. SEM images show that the cells largely adhere onto such nanofibers even more than they do on the neat ones and adopt a flattened and stretched shape. In addition, the Live/Dead assay and Phalloidin/DAPI staining assay confirm large cell viability and normal cell morphology on the biohybrid nanofiber mats after 4 days incubation. Taken together, BSA/PCL nanofibers are able to offer optimum mechanical properties (elasticity) as well as mineralization which can potentially stimulate the wound healing process, and can be considered a suitable candidate for wound dressing applications

The Impact of Having a Baby on the Level and Content of Women’s Well-Being

The primary objective of this study was to more fully understand the impact of having a baby on women’s well-being by attending to both the level and the content of well-being. To cover the judgemental and affective aspects of well-being we included global measures of life satisfaction and well-being and affective experience measures derived from the day reconstruction method. In a sample of 19 first-time mothers no differences between pre and postnatal reports of general life satisfaction, depression, anxiety, and experienced positive and negative affect were found, suggesting that the arrival of the newborn baby does not universally impact on women’s level of well-being. Changes in the content of well-being were studied by examining changes in the way women experience specific activities and interactions with various social partners. There appeared to be an upward shift in experienced positive affect during active leisure and a slight decrease in negative affect during time spent with relatives. The results are discussed in light of previously documented changes across the transition to motherhood in negative mood states, time use, women’s evaluation of various aspects of daily life, and relational satisfaction