OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the maximum screw-in forces generated during the movement of various Nickel-Titanium (NiTi) file systems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty simulated canals in resin blocks were randomly divided into 4 groups for the following instruments: Mtwo size 25/0.07 (MTW, VDW GmbH), Reciproc R25 (RPR, VDW GmbH), ProTaper Universal F2 (PTU, Dentsply Maillefer), and ProTaper Next X2 (PTN, Dentsply Maillefer, n = 10). All the artificial canals were prepared to obtain a standardized lumen by using ProTaper Universal F1. Screw-in forces were measured using a custom-made experimental device (AEndoS-k, DMJ system) during instrumentation with each NiTi file system using the designated movement. The rotation speed was set at 350 rpm with an automatic 4 mm pecking motion at a speed of 1 mm/sec. The pecking depth was increased by 1 mm for each pecking motion until the file reach the working length. Forces were recorded during file movement, and the maximum force was extracted from the data. Maximum screw-in forces were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc comparison at a significance level of 95%. RESULTS: Reciproc and ProTaper Universal files generated the highest maximum screw-in forces among all the instruments while M-two and ProTaper Next showed the lowest (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Geometrical differences rather than shaping motion and alloys may affect the screw-in force during canal instrumentation. To reduce screw-in forces, the use of NiTi files with smaller cross-sectional area for higher flexibility is recommended.
Alloys ; Pliability

PURPOSE: Among RF pulses, a sinc pulse is typically used for slice selection due to its frequency-selective feature. When a sinc pulse is implemented in practice, it needs to be apodized to avoid truncation artifacts at the expense of broadening the transition region of the excited-band profile. Here a sinc pulse tailored by a new apodization function is proposed that produces a sharper transition region with well suppression of truncation artifacts in comparison with conventional tailored sinc pulses. A multiband pulse designed using this newly apodized sinc pulse is also suggested inheriting the better performance of the newly apodized sinc pulse. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A new apodization function is introduced to taper a sinc pulse, playing a role to slightly shift the first zero-crossing of a tailored sinc pulse from the peak of the main lobe and thereby producing a narrower bandwidth as well as a sharper pass-band in the excitation profile. The newly apodized sinc pulse was also utilized to design a multiband pulse which inherits the performance of its constituent. Performances of the proposed sinc pulse and the multiband pulse generated with it were demonstrated by Bloch simulation and phantom imaging. RESULTS: In both simulations and experiments, the newly apodized sinc pulse yielded a narrower bandwidth and a sharper transition of the pass-band profile with a desirable degree of side-lobe suppression than the commonly used Hanning-windowed sinc pulse. The multiband pulse designed using the newly apodized sinc pulse also showed the better performance in multi-slice excitation than the one designed with the Hanning-windowed sinc pulse. CONCLUSION: The new tailored sinc pulse proposed here provides a better performance in slice (or slab) selection than conventional tailored sinc pulses. Thanks to the availability of analytical expression, it can also be utilized for multiband pulse design with great flexibility and readiness in implementation, transferring its better performance.
Artifacts ; Pliability

The static approach of representing metabolic pathway diagrams offers no flexibility. Thus, many systems adopt automatic graph layout techniques to visualize the topological architecture of pathways. There are weaknesses, however, because automatically drawn figures are generally difficult to understand. The problem becomes even more serious when we attempt to visualize all of the information in a single, big picture, which usually results in a confusing diagram. To provide a partial solution to this thorny issue, we propose J2dpathway, a metabolic pathway atlas viewer that has node-abstracting features.
Metabolic Networks and Pathways ; Pliability

The need to combine direct and indirect evidence is increasing in clinical fields, and this is especially true when direct evidence is inconclusive. Thus, in recent years, network meta-analysis has been utilized increasingly in medicine. Network meta-analysis is a statistical method that enables comparison of multiple treatments simultaneously-by combining direct and indirect evidence of the relative treatment effects-to assess the comparative effectiveness of multiple interventions even if there are no head-to-head comparisons. Network meta-analysis has some advantages in addressing all treatments for a specific condition, comparing interventions and ranking the efficacy and safety of multiple treatments, and increasing the certainty of evidence by pooling direct and indirect evidence to generate overall estimates. The major assumption in network meta-analysis is exchange-ability of the studies, and other key assumptions include similarity, consistency, and transitivity. The Bayesian approach is used most commonly in network meta-analysis because it provides greater flexibility that allows for the use of more complex models and can produce estimates of rank probabilities. Bayesian network meta-analysis produces treatment rankings according to the probability of being the best treatment, the second best, third best, and so forth. Network meta-analysis is an interesting method that provides useful information for use in by rheumatologists in decision-making.
Bayes Theorem ; Pliability

We have experienced 40 cases of the tibial shaft fractures treated with Küntscher nail from 1979 to 1986. Authors analysed these cases and our own experimental study concerned with the shape of Küntscher nail. The shape of Küntscher nail for the tibial shaft fractures should be designed according to the type and location of the fracture. The proximally bent and distally straight nail is used for the extension fracture, proximally and distally bent nail or entirely bent nail is inserted for the flexion fracture of the tibia. The large nail(over 13 mm in diameter) may produce injury to the patella because it has minimal flexibility. In order to permit easy driven down of nail and prevent this injury, the nail should b. bent into three to four segments and the length of the longest segment should not exceed the permissible length of straight nail (Permissible length is distance from entrance of nail to posterior cortex of the upper fragment, where tip of the (nail impinged-about 12cm) The midpoint of the middle segment of dual dent nail is placed at the fracture site. The middle segment of the nail may bent anteriorly for flexion fracture and posteriorly for extension fracture, securing the dynamic fixation of the fracture.
Patella ; Pliability ; Tibia

PURPOSE: To study the physical properties including hoop strength and flexibility of a newly developed nitinol stent. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The new stent was made of a single nitinol wire 0.15 -0 . 25 mm in diameter. This was wound around a cylindrical metallic jig with a constant angle to the longitudinal direction, and stents which varied with regard to wire thickness, number of wires at a lateral cut surface, and number of longitudinal windings were constructed. Hoop strength of the stents was measured with a spring gauge and compared with that of Wallstent and Hanaro stents. The flexibility of the new stent was evaluated on the basis of changes in s-tent diameter when bent in the direction of 180 degrees. RESULTS: Hoop strength of the new nitinol stent was proportional to 3.8(+/-0.3)-th power of the wire thickness. A greater number of wires on a lateral cut surface or a greater number of longitudinal windings also resulted in increased strength. However, the former caused an increase in total wire area and the latter resulted increased stent length when compressed. Hoop strength of the new nitinol stent was superior to that of Wallstent and Hanaro stents, and stent diameter did not decrease when the stent was bent in the direction of 180 degrees. CONCLUSIONS: Hoop strength of the new nitinol stent was most significantly affected by wire thickness. The s-tent was very flexible and thus seemed suitable for an angled lumen.
Pliability ; Stents* ; Wind ; Wounds and Injuries

Finishing is the most time-consuming step in sequencing, and many genome projects are left unfinished due to complex repeat regions. Here, we have developed BACContigEditor, a prototype shotgun sequence finishing tool. It is essentially an editor that visualizes assemblies of shotgun sequence fragment reads as gapped multiple alignments. The program offers some flexibility that is needed to rapidly resolve complex regions within a working session. The sole purpose of the release is to promote collaborative creation of extensible software for fragment assembly editors, foster collaborative development, and reduce barriers to initial tool development effort. We describe our software architecture and identify current challenges. The program is available under an Open Source license.
Genome ; Indonesia ; Pliability ; Sequence Alignment

BACKGROUND: With rapid growth in the number of older Koreans and prevalence of dementia, exercise has been emphasized as first, second and third prevention of dementia. A few study, however, investigate effects of detraining and retraining in demented elders. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 24 week exercise followed by 12 week detraining and retraining on physical and cognitive function in demented seniors. METHODS: Thirty-five demented older adults were assigned into exercise and control group. Exercise group performed multi-component exercise, 2 times a week for 24 weeks. After 12 week detraining, subjects were retraining for 12 weeks. Subjects were tested four times on physiological variables, physical function and cognitive function. Ten subjects in exercise group and 6 subjects in control group were remained at final 48 week, and data from them were analyzed. RESULTS: There were no significant effects on physiological variable in both groups. However, 24 week exercise improved upper and lower body strength, flexibility, dynamic mobility and physical function. These effects, however, were significantly decreased in 12 week detraining period and increased again after 12 week retraining. There were significance group differences. Cognitive function was improved after 24 week exercise but decreased in detraining and retraining period and no significant difference between groups was shown. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that positive effects after exercise tend to be reduced once one stops exercise, and be improved again after retraining. Therefore, strategies to encourage demented elders to exercise are needed.
Adult ; Dementia* ; Humans ; Pliability ; Prevalence

STUDY DESIGN: Compare the effectiveness of three types of cages used in each case separately with that of cages supplemented by posterior fixation such as transfacet screws and transpedicular screws. OBJECTIVES: To determine whether any important information could be obtained when anterolateral and/or posterolateral bending is imposed. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW: Most lumbar spine biomechanical bending tests have been performed on flexion-extension and lateral bending only. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Flexibility was tested through the unconstrained eccentric compression-bending of isolated L4-L5 motion segments. A total of sixteen fresh frozen human cadaveric lumbosacral spine specimens(range of ages : 42+/-13 years 12 males and 4 females) were tested in this investigation. In each case bending load was applied in flexion(0 degree direction), then in 30 degree increments around the transverse plane until flexion was repeated at the 360 degree loading direction. Specimens underwent anterior interbody instrumentation with three different types of cage at L4-5 in three groups, respectively. After testing the interbody fusion constructs, the L4-L5 segments were first stabilized posteriorly using transfacet screws and then retested using transpedicular screw instrumentation. RESULTS: In the intact model, the increase in deflection angle was twice compared with that of the previous point starting from 120 degree up to 150 degree. The pure extensional motion showed the largest deflection angles which are 3.5 times higher than those in pure flexion in average. All three types of cages showed the similar results that were obtained from the intact model.
Cadaver ; Humans ; Male ; Pliability ; Spine

The study was conducted to measure the stature, span, body weight, standing trunk flexion and trunk extension of 989 healthy Korean school girls from age 11 to 14 and to determine the correlation coefficients among those items. The results obtained were as follows : 1. The average statures by age were 140.68cm at 11, 147.45cm at 12, 150.14cm at 13 and 154.76cm at 14 years of age, and the stature growth per year was 4.64cm. 2. The average spans by age were 137.60cm at 11, 145.52cm at 12, 149.33cm at 13 and 153.76cm at 14 years of age, and the span growth per year was 5.39cm. 3. The stature was always longer than span, but the difference between the two items decreased with the increase of age. 4. The average body weights by age were 33.89kg at 11, 38.84kg at 12,42.21kg at 13 and 47.62kg at 14 years of age, and the increase of body weight per year was 4.58kg. 5. Remarkable growth occurred in stature and spanfrom age 11 to 12, but in body weight from age 13 to 14. 6. The average standing trunk flexions by age were 5.14cm at 11, 7.50cm at 12, 11.44cm at 13, and 12.02cm at 14 years of age. 7. The average trunk extensions by age were 40.84cm at 11, 44.40cm at 12,47.68cm at 13 and 48.53cm at 14 years of age. 8. In flexibility (standing trunk flexion and trunk extension) the annual increase was the smalled from 13 to 14 years of age. This is probably because the increase in body weight becomes hindrance to flexibility 9. the correlation coefficients between stature and span showed very high values ranging from 0.93 to 0.82. The coefficients between stature and both weight as well as between body weight and span recorded high values in all age groups. But the values decreased with age. 10. the correlation coefficients between flexibilities and physical measurements showed very low values. 11. The correlation coefficients between flexion and extension were very low(0.15) at 11 and low(ranging from 0.25 to 0.37) after 12 years of age 12. The regression equations among all of the items in each age group are given in a table for reference.
Body Weight ; Female* ; Humans ; Pliability*