Imaging Findings of Knee Trauma on Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Background: Knee is one of the major joints involved in kinesis. With increasing involvement in sports related activities especially in young people, Trauma related knee pathologies have increased. An accurate diagnosis regarding the type and extent of injuries is essential for early operative as well as non-operative treatment. Methods:This prospective study included total of 82 cases. The patients were referred to the department of Radiodiagnosis from indoor and outdoor departments of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar with suspicion of internal derangement of the knee and with history of knee trauma.Results:The most common age group involved was young males between 15-34 years. In all age groups most of the patients were males. Most common ligament to be injured was Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). Partial tears were more common than complete tears. Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) tears were less common. Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) tears outnumbered Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL) tears and grade 2 tears were more common in both. Among the meniscal injuries Medial Meniscus (MM) tears were more common than LM and grade 3 signal was more common in both. Most of the patellar retinaculum injuries were associated with Anterior Cruciate Ligament ACL tears.Conclusions:Post-traumatic pre-arthroscopic MR imaging evaluation has proved to be cost-effective. MRI is an accurate imaging modality complementing the clinical evaluation and providing a global intra-articular and extra-articular assessment of the knee.

Management of Comminuited Intra/Juxta Articular Fracture of Distal Radius Using Bridging External Fixator

Background: Distal radius fractures are the third most common osteoporotic fractures and are frequently treated in emergency department. They have a trimodal peak of occurrence and there has been a significant increase in incidence of involvement in elderly females and young males. Management of these fractures comes with lots of treatment options and challenges to provide good functional outcome. This prospective study was done for the management of communited intra/juxta articular fractures of distal end radius using a bridging external fixator on 25 patients. The principle of ligamentotaxis was used for alignment of fracture fragments and wrist spanning external fixator was used to maintain the fracture reduction.Methods:25 patients of either sex with age group 16 to 80 years were taken from the orthopedic department. After proper primary care, cases were classified using Fernandez classification, and posted for surgery as soon as investigations and fitness were taken.Results:Patients involved in the study were in range of 16 to 78 years with 16 patients having dominant side with road traffic accident as leading cause.Radiological union was seen at an average of 7.3 weeks, 4 patients had superficial pin tract infection, 3 patients had stiffnes and a single case had malunion. Conclusions:Modified clinical scoring system of Green and O’Brien was used to evaluate the overall functional results which showed excellent to good results in 84% of cases. Hence, properly planned and executed bridging external fixator is an easy, cost-effective and reliable treatment modality through the “Principle of Ligamentotaxis”.

Starting and Subsequent Earnings of Young Workers in Different Sized Firms

Based upon the highly innovative Project TALENT Longitudinal Database, this study tracks the starting earnings and subsequent early earnings growth of young males who began their work careers at either a smaller (<100 employees) or larger private firm more than a generation ago. Prior evidence based upon less rich databases found that earnings were systematically higher in larger firms but did not have access to many other variables that could affect projected earnings which are available in the TALENT database. Earnings regressions are estimated here including not only usual explanatory variables of years of schooling and labor market experience, but also adding other variables pertaining to prior job experience, military service, IQ, socioeconomic background and some other factors. The findings indicate that while starting earnings of those in this database were indeed higher in larger firms, the gap evaporated fairly quickly with projected earnings of those in smaller firms featuring a small earnings premium. The results here suggest guidance based upon the body of prior evidence may have been less reliable than thought, and that evidence itself may not provide as useful a baseline as desired for subsequent research addressing whether this pattern continues for recent cohorts.

A Brief Overview of Road Accidents and Recent Preventive Methodologies for Accident Hotspots in the United Arab Emirates

This paper highlights major causes of road accidents in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and explores the possibility of reducing them through modern in-vehicle control technologies. Mostly, road safety data from the Global Road Safety Facility (GSRF), Road Safety Polices and Regulations for UK and UAE have been reviewed for comparison and analysis. It contains a descriptive analysis of road accident data which was taken from Ministry of Interior (MOI) - UAE website. It shows how the Pareto Principle applies to most of the road accidents in the UAE with young males’ poor driving habits and higher maximum speed limits being the major causes and, a systematic approach as per the Nilsson Power Model, to tackle these issues. It ends with the conclusion that, although high speed limits on urban roads and highways are some of the critical factors in causing dangerous road accidents but, it can be tackled with by implementing strict road safety policies and enforcing them with modern in vehicle technologies.

Decades of Solar-driven geomagnetic disturbances impact homicide rates in Europe and the USA

Background: Homicides are the leading cause of death among young males. Conventional approaches to interpreting variations in criminality over time and across countries have failed to explain it.Methods: We applied ordinary least squared regressions on yearly homicide rates to identify the planetary drivers for homicides in Germany, the UK, and the USA over the past three solar cycles (22 to 24) between 1987 and 2018. We used the number of sunspots (solar activity), Kp and Ap indices (geomagnetic activity) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the German Research Centre for Geosciences DFZ-Potsdam, and weather variables from the countries’ meteorological organizations. Results: Our study revealed that lagged Kp NOAA index as a parameter of solar-driven geomagnetic disturbances (GMD) was the most important predictor to explain homicide rates in all three countries. Our results showed that over half the variance in homicide rates of all three countries could be attributed to GMD, not so by weather variables. We also predicted homicide rates peaking for 2025 and 2026 during the current 25th solar cycle, suggesting the current solar cycle could prove to be one of the most intense in a century, which would signal a concomitant increase in homicide rates. Based on the Italian experience in curbing homicides, we also suggest that collective agency may break what appears to be a deadly association between GMD and homicides.Conclusions: Our study suggests GMD may be involved in shaping human behavior and may help public and medical authorities prepare for eventual surges in homicides as the 25th solar cycle may induce stronger GMD.

Minimally Invasive Pilonidal Sinus Treatment: A Brief Review

With a prevalence of 26/100,000, pilonidal sinus disease is a frequent natal cleft condition that primarily affects young males. The disease site is often uncomfortable and the disease can result in problems such as abscess formation and recurrent acute or chronic infections. Minimally invasive treatment aims to form a small elliptical wedge of subcutaneous tissue containing all the inflammatory tissue. The sinus and its lateral tracks are removed while keeping the overlying skin intact. Following the notion of “less is more,” novel least invasive treatments such as sinotomy, sinusectomy, trephining, and video-assisted and endoscopic pilonidal sinus surgery have recently been proposed. We look at minimally invasive treatments to explain how research into modern techniques has revealed a low rate of short-term problems.

Sibship Size, Height and Cohort Selection: A Methodological Approach

This article deals with the historical relationship between the number of siblings in a family or household and height, a proxy for biological living standards. Ideally, this relationship is better assessed when we have evidence on the exact number of siblings in a family from its constitution onwards. However, this generally requires applying family reconstitution techniques, which, unfortunately, is not always possible. In this latter case, scholars must generally settle for considering only particular benchmark years using population censuses, from which family and household structures are derived. These data are then linked to the height data for the young males of the family or household. Height data are generally obtained from military records. In this matching process, several decisions have to be taken, which, in turn, are determined by source availability and the number of available observations. Using data from late 19th-century Catalonia, we explore whether the methodology used in matching population censuses and military records as described above might affect the relationship between sibship size and biological living standards and, if so, to what extent. We conclude that, while contextual factors cannot be neglected, the methodological decisions made in the initial steps of research also play a role in assessing this relationship.

Erythrocyte Indices and Long-term Blood Pressure Variability in Military Males

Backgrounds: Severe microcytic anemia has been associated with BP changes. Aims and Objectives: Whether the erythrocyte indices are associated with long-term BPV is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the association of hemoglobin levels and erythrocyte size with long-term blood pressure variability (BPV) in young males. Methods: This study included 1,112 healthy military males, averaging 32 years of age, in Taiwan. All participants took a measurement of systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP) every two-year from 2012 to 2018 (2012-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-18). Lev-els of hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of erythrocytes were obtained at the first visit. Long-term BPV was assessed by the standard deviation (SD) and aver-age real variability (ARV). Multivariate linear regression analysis with adjustment for the baseline BP levels and other covariates was used to elucidate the association. Results: Hemoglobin levels were borderline positively correlated with SD DBP (β and standard errors = 0.016 (0.009), P =0.06). In those with hemoglobin levels of 10.0-13.9 g/dL, hemoglobin was negatively correlated with SDSBP (β= -0.039 (0.018), P =0.03). In contrast, MCV levels were borderline positively correlated with SDSBP (β =0.085 (0.052), P =0.09). In those with MCV levels <80 fL, MCV was positively correlated with SDSBP and ARVSBP (β= 0.445 (0.210) and 0.286 (0.149), p = 0.03 and 0.05, re-spectively). Conclusion: There were inconsistent patterns for the associations of erythrocyte indices with long-term BPV. We found a U-shaped relationship of hemoglobin levels with sys-tolic BPV, whereas there was a positive linear relationship of hemoglobin and MCV levels with diastolic BPV, respectively.