STUDY DESIGN An in vitro biomechanical comparison of four posterior fixation techniques in the setting of an anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF). OBJECTIVE To compare the initial stability, in terms of range of motion and neutral zone, provided by pedicle screws, facet screws, translaminar facet screws, and H-graft plus interspinous cables in the presence of an anteriorly placed femoral r...

OBJECTIVE To study the demographics and treatment outcome of penetrating neck injuries presenting to a major trauma centre in order to develop a treatment protocol. DESIGN A case review. SETTING A trauma centre at a tertiary care institution. PATIENTS One hundred and thirty consecutive patients who had 134 neck wounds penetrating the platysma and presented to the trauma service between 19...

Students of social movements have long struggled with the question how relatively abstract political opportunities, such as elite divisions, affect unorganized activists without much knowledge of politics. We argue that the relationship between institutional opportunities and decisions to mobilize may take the form of trickle-down politics. In this view activists are affected by political oppor...

objective: the asmari formation is characterised by alternation thick carbonate and marl sequence of the oligocene- miocene in the zagros basin, southwest of iran that were deposited on the shelf of eastern paratethys. methods: this formation is exposed at tang-e-khoshk in the fars subcoastal zone with a thickness of 286 m comprising alternation of medium and thick to massive bedded carbonates,...

We consider a seller with uncertain demand for its product. If the demand curve were certain, then setting price and setting quantity would be equivalent ways to frame the seller’s problem of choosing a profit-maximizing point on its demand curve. With uncertain demand, these become distinct sales mechanisms. We distinguish between uncertainty about the market size and uncertainty about the con...

We have theoretically investigated the effects of polarizer and analyzer imperfections in a phase-modulated spectroscopic ellipsometer adopting a photoelastic modulator. Jones matrices having off-diagonal elements have been introduced to represent the imperfections of the polarizer and analyzer, and the effects of the imperfections were analytically derived to the first-order approximation. It ...

We compute S-velocity profiles of the crust across the Messina strait (Italy), the tear zone at the southern end of the Ionian subduction zone. Separating Sicily from Calabria, the Messina Strait hosted some of the strongest earthquakes to ever occur in Italy. Here, the motion of the Ionian slab with respect to Sicily creates a complex tectonic setting characterized by lithospheric tearing. We ...

background cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide. organized cervical screening and vaccination against human papilloma virus (hpv) have been successful interventions for prevention of invasive cervical cancer (icc). because of cultural and religious considerations, icc has low incidence in iran and many other muslim countries. there is no organized cervical scre...