Simon Rippon has recently argued against kidney markets on the grounds that introducing the option to vend will result in many people, especially the poor, being subject to harmful pressure to vend. Though compelling, Rippon's argument fails. What he takes to be a single phenomenon-social and legal pressure to vend-is actually two. Only one of these forms of pressure is, by Rippon's own account...

Human thumb and index finger kinematics were examined for multiple repetitions of a simple grasp task as a means to evaluate motor planning and execution of these important hand movements. Subjects generated a rapid (approximately 90-ms duration) pinch movement of the index finger and thumb from an open-hand position. Approximately 400 repetitions were obtained from four naive subjects. The two...

The hypothesis of this study was that arthrodesis of the thumb interphalangeal joint at a degree of flexion greater than the recommended 0° to 15° in the era of widespread use of handheld devices would potentially be more beneficial for the use of these devices. For patients who rely heavily on a smart-phone or handheld device and require dominant thumb arthrodesis, thumb interphalangeal arthro...

Thumb Numbers (June 2013). Rules of thumb stated as numerical rules are enticing, but many are folk theorems that may not apply in your critical situation.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to compare postoperative immobilization techniques of the thumb metacarpophalangeal (MP) ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in a cadaver model of a noncompliant patient. METHODS A cadaveric model with fresh-frozen forearms was used to simulate pinch under two immobilization conditions: (1) forearm-based thumb spica splint alone and (2) forearm-based thumb spi...

INTRODUCTION Traumatic loss of thumb at the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint level is very disabling to an individual. Pollicisation is the recommended technique of reconstruction for loss of thumb at this level. On occasions, injury to the rest of the hand or amputation of additional fingers may make pollicisation an impossible option. Microsurgical transfer of second toe is an option in such situa...