OBJECTIVE To biomechanically test the properties of three different Universal Micro External Fixator (UMEX™) configurations with regard to their use in very small animals (<5kg) and compare the UMEX system to the widely used IMEX External Skeletal Fixation (SK™) system in terms of stiffness, space needed for pin placement and weight. METHODS Three different UMEX configurations (type Ia, type ...

when grown in monolayer culture at low density and with the addition of serum, cartilage cells dedifferentiate or are overgrown by fibroblast-like cells. the aim of this study was to optimize the cultivation of chondrocytes in monolayer culture and to slow down their transformation or their overgrowth by fibroblast-like cells. the interaction between chondrocytes and cartilage-specifc matrix is...

b a ckground: the objective was to investigate the relationship between serum interleukin-18 (il-18), pentraxin 3 (ptx3), and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein (hs-crp) levels with body mass index (bmi) and abdominal obesity and also the interaction between genetic variants of apolipoprotein a-ii (apo a-ii) and obesity on the levels of these factors in type 2 diabetes patients (t2d). m ethods...

objective(s) articular cartilage tissue defects cannot be repaired by the proliferation of resident chondrocytes. autologous chondrocyte transplantation (act) is a relatively new therapeutic approach to cover full thickness articular cartilage defects by in vitro grown chondrocytes from the joint of a patient. therefore, we investigated the redifferentiation capability of human chondrocytes mai...

Objective—In microvascular decompression for hemifacial spasm, the perforating branches around the facial nerve root exit zone occasionally complicate facial nerve decompression. In this context, the vertebrobasilar configuration was retrospectively correlated with the perforating branches. Methods—Based on vertebral angiography, magnetic resonance angiography, and three dimensional computed to...

OBJECTIVES The success of endodontic treatment is based on cleaning and shaping of the root canals. The root canals have complex morphology and wide individual variations. The objective of this study was to analyze root canals morphology and existence of extra canals in maxillary molars in Saudi subpopulation. METHODS Freshly extracted maxillary first molars (n=100) were included in this stud...

background: nutritional education is a necessity in diabetic patients to better control of the disease. the aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of educational programs to promote nutritional knowledge in type ii diabetes patients using the health belief model (hbm). methods: this was a quasi-experimental study which was performed among type ii diabetic patients referred to rura...

background: type ii diabetes is the most prevalent disease with numerous complications. adherence to treatment is an effective role on promoting health outcomes. this study aimed to assess the cognitive adaptation in treatment adherence and its relative factors in coping with disease among type ii diabetic patients. methods: this was a cross-sectional study which was conducted in 2012. study po...

Several studies on photovoltaic systems focused on how it operates and energy required in operating it. Little attention is paid on its configurations, modeling of mean time to system failure, availability, cost benefit and comparisons of parallel and series–parallel designs. In this research work, four system configurations were studied. Configuration I consists of two sub-components arranged ...