Periosteum-Augmented Soft-Tissue Graft for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

Soft-tissue grafts are an option for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. One of the major drawbacks of soft-tissue grafts is the delay in the osteointegration and ligamentization of the implanted graft. Enveloping the ends of the graft with periosteum sleeves can hasten the osteointegration process and help in quicker rehabilitation of the patient. This article describes a simple and unique way to augment the soft-tissue graft with periosteum for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Fibrin Clot Augmented Repair of Longitudinal Tear of Medial Meniscus.

Repair of meniscus injuries always posed a significant problem, especially in relatively avascular zones. Several methods to augment the repair were devised, but only a few had convincing results. Fibrin clot augmentation is one of the augmentation procedures that shows good promise in this premise. The major hurdle to it is difficulty in delivering into the meniscus tear under constant irrigation during arthroscopic procedures. This article presents a simple and unique way to prepare and transfer a fibrin clot into a meniscal tear in a step-by-step manner.

Spectroscopic characterization of alkali modified zinc-tellurite glasses doped with neodymium.

Neodymium doped zinc-tellurite glasses of composition TeO(2)-ZnO-Na(2)O-Li(2)O have been prepared and characterized for their thermal, structural and optical properties. Differential thermal analysis revealed reasonably good forming tendency of the glass composition. FTIR spectra were used to analyze the functional groups present in the glass. Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters were derived from the absorption spectrum and used to calculate the radiative lifetime, branching ratio and stimulated emission cross-section for (4)F(3/2)-->(4)I(9/2, 11/2, 13/2) transitions. The quantum efficiency of the (4)F(3/2) level is comparable to the typical values obtained for the Nd(2)O(3)-doped glasses. The decay properties for higher concentration of Nd(2)O(3) were analyzed using Inokuti-Hirayama model to investigate the non-radiative relaxation of the (4)F(3/2) emitting level. The experimental values of branching ratio and saturation intensity of (4)F(3/2)-->(4)I(11/2) transition and calculated spectroscopic quality factor indicate the favourable lasing action in these glasses.