PurposeTo identify the effects of using a Ti-Ni shape memory alloy ring shaped bone fixator (SMA-rBF) during the retrograde nailing of supracondylar femoral fractures.Materials and MethodsThe authors reviewed 25 patients with a supracondylar femoral fracture treated by retrograde intramedullary nailing with or without SMA-rBF (group S, 12/25; group N, 13/25). Radiological measurements of angular deformity were performed and functional assessments were made using the Sanders grading system.ResultsAll fractures healed after an average of 12.2 weeks (range, 9-15 weeks) in group N and after 11.6 weeks (range, 10-13 weeks) in group S (p=0.351). The mean angle of coronal angular deformity was valgus 0.8° (range, varus 2.3°-valgus 4.5°) in group N and valgus 0.7° (range, varus 1.0°-valgus 2.4°) in group S (p=0.892). The mean angle of sagittal angular deformity was 1.0° in extension (range, flexion 3.2°-extension 3.1°) in group N and 0° (range, flexion 2.1°-extension 1.2°) in group S (p=0.022). However, functional grading evaluations revealed no differences between the two groups.ConclusionsWhen reduction of a distal femoral fracture with retrograde nailing was difficult additional mini-open reduction and fixation with a ring shaped SMA did not delay or prevent bony union and resulted in good postoperative alignment.
During the 2nd Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Drilling Expedition (UBGH2) in 2010, gas-hydrate-bearing sediment cores were recovered at 10 drill sites. Base, on Infrared (IR) thermal image and grain-size analysis of the cores, three distinct types of gas hydrate are classified: Type I (fracture-filling in mud layers), Type II (disseminated in mud layers), and Type III (pore-filling in sand layers). Types I and II gas hydrates occur in mud as discrete veins, nodules or disseminated particles. Type III fills the pore spaces of the sand layers encased in mud layers. In this case, the sand content of hosting sediments shows a general linear relationship with gas hydrate saturation. The degrees of temperature anomalies (∆T) from IR images generally increase with gas hydrate saturation regardless of gas hydrate occurrence types. Type I is dominantly found in the sites where seismic profiles delineate chimney structures, whereas Type II where the drill cores are composed almost of mud layers. Type III was mainly recovered from the sites where hemipelagic muds are frequently intercalated with turbidite sand layers. Our results indicate that gas hydrate occurrence is closely related to sedimentological characteristic of gas hydrate-bearing sediments, that is, grain size distribution.Key words : gas hydrate occurrence type, sediment grain size, gas hydrate saturation
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