9 research outputs found
Representation of Minorities in Research: A View from the Community
No full textAUTHOR AFFILIATION: Sudarshan Pyakurel, Arogya Institute and Bhutanese Nepali Community of Central Ohio, United States, [email protected] media can be accessed here:
http://streaming.osu.edu/knowledgebank/PREA/PREA_Session13C_Pyakurel_20190326.mp
The linked nail/plate construct for the management of distal femur fractures in the elderly
No full textBackground: Distal femoral fractures represent a challenging injury, with many different factors such as the method of fixation, complexity of fracture pattern, and patient co-morbidities affecting the outcome. Lots of surgical treatment options have been described, but recently double construct fixation, using a nail/plate combination, has received lots of attention, a technique that leads to faster weight-bearing, low risk of metalwork failure, and non-union. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the linked nail/plate construct in the management of complex distal femur fractures and to investigate if the above technique leads to faster recovery and earlier radiographic union. Materials and methods: In total 15 cases were included in the study, that underwent a combined nail/plate construct for a distal femur fracture between January 2021 and December 2022. Only cases with a linked nail/plate construct were included, with a minimum follow-up of 1 year. Open femur fractures, single implant fixation cases, and revision procedures were excluded. Results: In this cohort study, 11 cases were periprosthetic distal femur features, and 4 cases were distal femur fractures around a native knee joint. The mean age group was 74 years, 86.6% of the patients had a BMI > 25 and the mean time to fracture union was 24 weeks (range from 20 to 26 weeks). All cases healed uneventfully and the complication rate was 6.6%, including 1 case of superficial infection which resolved completely with oral antibiotics. Conclusion: The increasing age population, the complexity of distal femoral fractures along with the increasing physiological demands of the elderly population, drive the need for double fixation constructs that allow early mobilization and enhance fracture stability. In our study, the linked nail/plate construct seems to provide adequate stability and excellent union rates (100%) with no associated increased risk of complications
The linked nail/plate construct for the management of distal femur fractures in the elderly
No full textBackground: Distal femoral fractures represent a challenging injury, with many different factors such as the method of fixation, complexity of fracture pattern, and patient co-morbidities affecting the outcome. Lots of surgical treatment options have been described, but recently double construct fixation, using a nail/plate combination, has received lots of attention, a technique that leads to faster weight-bearing, low risk of metalwork failure, and non-union. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the linked nail/plate construct in the management of complex distal femur fractures and to investigate if the above technique leads to faster recovery and earlier radiographic union. Materials and methods: In total 15 cases were included in the study, that underwent a combined nail/plate construct for a distal femur fracture between January 2021 and December 2022. Only cases with a linked nail/plate construct were included, with a minimum follow-up of 1 year. Open femur fractures, single implant fixation cases, and revision procedures were excluded. Results: In this cohort study, 11 cases were periprosthetic distal femur features, and 4 cases were distal femur fractures around a native knee joint. The mean age group was 74 years, 86.6% of the patients had a BMI > 25 and the mean time to fracture union was 24 weeks (range from 20 to 26 weeks). All cases healed uneventfully and the complication rate was 6.6%, including 1 case of superficial infection which resolved completely with oral antibiotics. Conclusion: The increasing age population, the complexity of distal femoral fractures along with the increasing physiological demands of the elderly population, drive the need for double fixation constructs that allow early mobilization and enhance fracture stability. In our study, the linked nail/plate construct seems to provide adequate stability and excellent union rates (100%) with no associated increased risk of complications
Factors Contributing to the Decline of Traditional Practices in Communities from the Gwallek–Kedar area, Kailash Sacred Landscape, Nepal
No full textAssociation of geographic distribution and birth weight with sociodemographic factors of the maternal and newborn child of hilly and mountain regions of eastern Nepal: a cross-sectional study
No full textOBJECTIVES: To determine the association of geographic distribution, and birth weight with sociodemographic factors of the maternal and newborn child of hilly region (lower altitude) and mountain region (high altitude) of eastern Nepal as well as the prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) and large for gestational age (LGA) among term singleton deliveries in eastern Nepal. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the district-level hospitals of Dhankuta, Tehrathum, Solukhumbu and Taplejung districts of eastern Nepal of Province 1. Mothers with preterm or post-term delivery, multiple pregnancies, stillbirth/intrauterine fetal death and incomplete records were excluded from the study with only 1386 term pregnancies (37–42 weeks) delivered at the respective facilities between 17 July 2019 and 16 July 2020 were included. The appropriate data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2019 V.16.0 and statistical analysis was performed by using the statistical package for social sciences, IBM SPSS V.29. RESULTS: The low maternal age, Dalit ethnic group, low gravidity, low parity, higher antenatal care (ANC) visits (≥4), incomplete deworming and dT vaccination status, breech deliveries and LBW newborns were significantly attributed to hilly region (lower altitude) (p value <0.05). Similarly, the hilly region, lower and/or no ANC visits and early term gestation had significant negative association with birth weight at the lower quantiles only. Meanwhile, the female newborn had significant and negative association with birth weight distribution at all seven quantiles. The prevalence of the LBW, average for gestational age and LGA newborn child among term singleton deliveries in Eastern Nepal is 6.6%, 85.8% and 7.6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The local organisations should focus on adequate antenatal care visits in mountain region and coverage of dT vaccine and deworming medications in hilly region. Appropriate measures and programmes should be initiated to bring down LBW in hilly region
Spatial evolution of magnetic reconnection diffusion region structures with distance from the X-line
No full textWe report Magnetospheric Multiscale four-spacecraft observations of a thin reconnecting current sheet with weakly asymmetric inflow conditions and a guide field of approximately twice the reconnecting magnetic field. The event was observed at the interface of interlinked magnetic field lines at the flank magnetopause when the maximum spacecraft separation was 370 km and the spacecraft covered & SIM;1.7 ion inertial lengths (d(i)) in the reconnection outflow direction. The ion-scale spacecraft separation made it possible to observe the transition from electron-only super ion-Alfvenic outflow near the electron diffusion region (EDR) to the emergence of sub-Alfvenic ion outflow in the ion diffusion region (IDR). The EDR to IDR evolution over a distance less than 2 d(i) also shows the transition from a near-linear reconnecting magnetic field reversal to a more bifurcated current sheet as well as significant decreases in the parallel electric field and dissipation. Both the ion and electron heating in this diffusion region event were similar to the previously reported heating in the far downstream exhausts. The dimensionless reconnection rate, obtained four different ways, was in the range of 0.13-0.27. This event reveals the rapid spatial evolution of the plasma and electromagnetic fields through the EDR to IDR transition region.& nbsp;(C) 2021 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Measuring progress from 1990 to 2017 and projecting attainment to 2030 of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals for 195 countries and territories: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
No full textBackground
Efforts to establish the 2015 baseline and monitor early implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlight both great potential for and threats to improving health by 2030. To fully deliver on the SDG aim of “leaving no one behind”, it is increasingly important to examine the health-related SDGs beyond national-level estimates. As part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017), we measured progress on 41 of 52 health-related SDG indicators and estimated the health-related SDG index for 195 countries and territories for the period 1990–2017, projected indicators to 2030, and analysed global attainment.
Methods
We measured progress on 41 health-related SDG indicators from 1990 to 2017, an increase of four indicators since GBD 2016 (new indicators were health worker density, sexual violence by non-intimate partners, population census status, and prevalence of physical and sexual violence [reported separately]). We also improved the measurement of several previously reported indicators. We constructed national-level estimates and, for a subset of health-related SDGs, examined indicator-level differences by sex and Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintile. We also did subnational assessments of performance for selected countries. To construct the healthrelated SDG index, we transformed the value for each indicator on a scale of 0–100, with 0 as the 2·5th percentile and 100 as the 97·5th percentile of 1000 draws calculated from 1990 to 2030, and took the geometric mean of the scaled indicators by target. To generate projections through 2030, we used a forecasting framework that drew estimates from the broader GBD study and used weighted averages of indicator-specific and country-specific annualised rates of change from 1990 to 2017 to inform future estimates. We assessed attainment of indicators with defined targets in two ways: first, using mean values projected for 2030, and then using the probability of attainment in 2030 calculated from 1000 draws. We also did a global attainment analysis of the feasibility of attaining SDG targets on the basis of past trends. Using 2015 global averages of indicators with defined SDG targets, we calculated the global annualised rates of change required from 2015 to 2030 to meet these targets, and then identified in what percentiles the required global annualised rates of change fell in the distribution of country-level rates of change from 1990 to 2015. We took the mean of these global percentile values across indicators and applied the past rate of change at this mean global percentile to all health-related SDG indicators, irrespective of target definition, to estimate the equivalent 2030 global average value and percentage change from 2015 to 2030 for each indicator.
Findings
The global median health-related SDG index in 2017 was 59·4 (IQR 35·4–67·3), ranging from a low of 11·6 (95% uncertainty interval 9·6–14·0) to a high of 84·9 (83·1–86·7). SDG index values in countries assessed at the subnational level varied substantially, particularly in China and India, although scores in Japan and the UK were more homogeneous. Indicators also varied by SDI quintile and sex, with males having worse outcomes than females for non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality, alcohol use, and smoking, among others. Most countries were projected to have a higher health-related SDG index in 2030 than in 2017, while country-level probabilities of attainment by 2030 varied widely by indicator. Under-5 mortality, neonatal mortality, maternal mortality ratio, and malaria indicators had the most countries with at least 95% probability of target attainment. Other indicators, including NCD mortality and suicide mortality, had no countries projected to meet corresponding SDG targets on the basis of projected mean values for 2030 but showed some probability of attainment by 2030. For some indicators, including child malnutrition, several infectious diseases, and most violence measures, the annualised rates of change required to meet SDG targets far exceeded the pace of progress achieved by any country in the recent past. We found that applying the mean global annualised rate of change to indicators without defined targets would equate to about 19% and 22% reductions in global smoking and alcohol consumption, respectively; a 47% decline in adolescent birth rates; and a more than 85% increase in health worker density per 1000 population by 2030.
Interpretation
The GBD study offers a unique, robust platform for monitoring the health-related SDGs across demographic and geographic dimensions. Our findings underscore the importance of increased collection and analysis of disaggregated data and highlight where more deliberate design or targeting of interventions could accelerate progress in attaining the SDGs. Current projections show that many health-related SDG indicators, NCDs, NCD-related risks, and violence-related indicators will require a concerted shift away from what might have driven past gains—curative interventions in the case of NCDs—towards multisectoral, prevention-oriented policy action and investments to achieve SDG aims. Notably, several targets, if they are to be met by 2030, demand a pace of progress that no country has achieved in the recent past. The future is fundamentally uncertain, and no model can fully predict what breakthroughs or events might alter the course of the SDGs. What is clear is that our actions—or inaction—today will ultimately dictate how close the world, collectively, can get to leaving no one behind by 2030.</p
