Objective To investigate effects of ACUMED self-orientated elbow plate system in treatment of comminuted distal humeral fractures (type C) in adults.Methods Thirty-two adult cases of comminuted distal humeral fractures treated by open reduction and internal fixation with parallel dual plates from May 2009 to October 2010 were enrolled in the study.There were 17 males and 15 females,at average age of 60 years (range,21-85 years).All cases were subjected to closed fractures,involving left side in 15 cases and right side in 17.Besides,two cases had associated ulnar nerve injury.According to AO classification,there were 12 cases of type C1,12 of type C2 and eight of type C3 fractures.The time from injury to operation averaged 5.6 days.Distal humeri were exposed through posterior median incision of elbow and V shape osteotomy of olecroanon.Muscular contractile and relaxant functional exercise was taken within 24 hours postoperatively.Clinical results were assessed based on Mayo elbow performance score (MEPS) and X-ray films.Results X-ray films showed that all cases obtained primary bone healing in the follow-up (mean 12 months).Three cases of type C3 fractures had heterotopic ossification.All cases had no complications like infections or implant loosening postoperatively.Range of motion in elbow flexion and extension averaged 85° (range,8°-140°).MEPS was average 90 points (range,60-100 points),including excellent outcomes in 13 cases,good in 15,fair in one and poor in three,with excellence rate of 88％.Conclusion ACUMED parallel dual plate fixation technique based on stability theory of arch structure achieves solid fixation of adult comminuted distal humeral fractures,successfully reconstructs bone structure of distal humeri,and effectively restores elbow joint function in response to early rehabilitation exercise.

Stroke is a leading cause of death worldwide. Up to one thousand potential drugs or interventions have been developed to treat stroke, out of which ~160 have gone on to clinical trials. However, none of them has been successful. New insights into the molecular and cellular mechanisms of ischemia-induced injury are needed for discovering new therapeutic targets. Recently, Drosophila has been used to uncover new hypoxia-related genes. In this study, we describe an efficient and reliable assay with a sophisticated apparatus for studying the effects of oxygen deprivation on flies. Using this assay, wild-type flies were exposed to an anoxic environment for varying lengths of time, then the cumulative death rate and mobility recovery were systematically analyzed. We found that anoxia for over one hour caused lethality. The cumulative death rate on day 5 after anoxia was linearly and positively correlated with the duration of anoxia, and reached 50% when the duration was 2.5 h-3 h. We also found that the mobility recovery in normoxia was slow, as the climbing ability remained largely unchanged 4 h-6 h after 2.5-h of anoxia. We suggest that 2.5 h-3 h of anoxia and 4 h-6 h of recovery before mobility analysis are appropriate for future use of the anoxia assay.
Animals ; Behavior, Animal ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drosophila melanogaster ; Hypoxia