Background:Despite the advances in surgical treatment options, massive rotator cuff (r-c) tears still represent a challenge for orthopedic surgeons. This study assesses the effectiveness of fascia lata allograft in reconstruction of massive and irreparable r-c tear and to evaluate the healing and functional outcomes.Materials and Methods:68 patients (38 men, 30 women, mean age 64.9 years) with massive or irreparable r-c tears were treated with placement of fascia lata allograft to fill the defect between February 2006 and February 2010. At 43 months followup they were evaluated clinically using the constant score, preoperatively and postoperatively. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound were used postoperatively, to assess the integrity of the allograft at the repair site. Postoperatively, standard rehabilitation protocol was followed with gradual restoration.Results:Postoperative constant score increased from 32.5 preoperatively to 88.7 postoperatively. The most important was the pain relief from 2.4 preoperatively to 14.1 postoperatively and range of motion. The results of the MRI were not reliable, but the ultrasound was satisfactory. Finally, there was no infection or rejection of the graft in any of the patients.Conclusions:Despite advances in surgical methods, there is still not a universally accepted treatment for massive and irreparable rotator cuff tears, because the standard methods have dubious results, with excessive retear rates and poor outcomes, necessitating the need for new repair strategies. We documented significant clinical improvement using fascia lata allograft in the repair of massive irreparable r-c tear, acting as scaffold to bridge the defect, enhancing the healing at the repair site.
The metallization of multi‐crystalline and single‐crystalline Si (m‐ and sc‐Si, respectively) photovoltaic (PV) solar cells was investigated by using copper screen print pastes designed for electronics packaging applications. For this purpose, Cu features were printed on m‐Si and sc‐Si silicon substrates using low pressure chemically vapor deposited (LPCVD) tungsten layers as adhesion promoters and barriers against Cu diffusion, and self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) of (3‐mercaptopropyl) trimethoxysilane (MPTMS) as adhesion promoters. It was found that pastes may be annealed at temperatures of the order of 600 °C, in primary vacuum and under reducing ambient to give acceptable Cu/Si contacts that pass the Scotch test and standard metallic strips may be soldered on them. Contacts of the form Cu/MPTMS/m‐Si were proved of limited lifetime; their study has shown that the Schottky barrier height was of the order of 0.45 eV. Screen‐printed Cu/LPCVD W/Si (substrate) contacts proved stable in time for sc‐Si but were found unstable for m‐Si. Cu was also printed on the Al layer used for the creation of the back‐surface field in industrial m‐Si PV cells by using SAMs of 11‐mercaptodouncyl phosphorus acid (MDTA) as adhesion promoters. The corresponding contacts did not affect the performance of cells and proved stable for a time period of the order of 1 month.
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