Visibility of Transcondylar Screw Fractures in Standard and Extended Scale Computed Tomography Images

Objective Application of extended computed tomography scale (ECTS) reconstruction to diagnose metal implant failure has been described in a single case report. The purpose of this study was to compare the features and visibility of humeral transcondylar screw fractures in standard CT scale (SCTS) and ECTS images. Study Design Case series: CT images of dogs with fractured transcondylar screws were retrospectively reviewed and described in both SCTS and ECTS images. Results Five dogs with a total of six transcondylar screw failures (five right and one bilateral) were reviewed. All cases had an ongoing humeral intercondylar fissure with varying degrees of stress remodelling. The fracture was seen in all screws on ECTS images, however only in three implants on SCTS images. The measured fracture gap was larger in ECTS images in all cases (range: + 0.14 mm to + 0.28mm). The three smallest fracture gaps were not seen on SCTS images. A subtle hypoattenuating streak (artefact) was visible adjacent to the screw fracture in 5/6 of cases using SCTS images. All screw fractures occurred parallel and often slightly medial to the humeral intercondylar fissure. Conclusion Implant failure is only seen with larger fracture gaps in SCTS images, with 3/6 screw fractures not visible in SCTS compared with ECTS. A hypoattenuating streak extending perpendicular to the implant in SCTS images is suggestive of screw fracture even if this is not directly visible.

La bi-langue ou l’(en)jeu de l’écriture bilingue chez Abdelkebir Khatibi

“Quand j ’écris en français, ma langue maternelle se met en retrait: elle s ’écrase. Elle rentre au harem. Qui parle alors? Qui écrit? Mais elle revient (comme on dit). Et je travaille à la faire revenir quand elle me manque” (Khatibi 1978: 49). This statement made by Abdelkebir Khatibi, a Moroccan sociologist, poet and essayist, can clearly be seen in a number of his writings. In this article, we will attempt to examine closely the staging of this inter/trans-cultural experience that the author-narrator designates by a bilangue. Amour bilingue is a text in which romance and autobiography meet providing a suitable example of this peculiar, complex and priviliged situation which prevails in Morocco and on an extended scale, the Maghreb countries. The pro blematic (conceptual order) of bi/multi-lingualism coupled with a di/tri-glossia is treated by Khatibi under a fictional and poetic outlook. The bi-langue is considered by the author-narrated as a “between-two ”, a third language by means of which he succeeded in assuming the coexistence in him of a foreign language (the language of the other which no one still considers as a colonizing language anymore, the instrument of cultural uprooting) and of the mother tongue.

Meditations for organ: parallels to musical creativeness

The purpose of the article is to determine genre parameters of meditation for the organ on the example of the pieces of composers of the early 21st century. It is proposed to concretize the prerequisites of meditation for organ as an independent genre and to compare the strategies of reading the genre by representatives of different national schools of composition (Italy, Ukraine, Brazil). Among the research methods there were used: historiographic (restoring the historical retrospective of genre formation), the method of genre analysis (confirming the genre status of meditation), the method of style determination in combination with the comparative method (comparing the strategies of reading the genre by composers of different nationalities). The novelty of the proposed topic lies in the identification of the genre status of meditation for the organ and the introduction into the musicological discourse of works that have not previously come to the attention of Ukrainian researchers. Conclusions. Meditations “Shiva” by K. Ferrari, “And there was night, and there was morning, and there were quiet heavenly flutes...” by M. Shukh and Prelude-Meditation by F. Costa make it possible to define meditation as an independent genre of organ art with a constant set of stable indicators. Meditation for the organ is a concert piece that belongs to the genres of cult-ritual music and is characterized by an introverted structure of the communicative act. All works with a similar genre name are united by a single semantic field of religious contemplation. The compositional foundations of meditation as a genre consist in the multiple repetition of structures (of different scales) with a clear “looseness” of the form, which guarantees the tightness of the same sound environment and the monochromatic text. Stylistic characteristics became variable components of the meditation: the meditative profile of “Shiva” by C. Ferrari is emphasized by the using of techniques of minimalism, in the piece by M. Shukh the emphasis is transferred to the timbre of the organ with appeal to the intonation of oriental music, and in the Prelude-meditation by F. Costa attempts to build a new sound universe, as extended scale of the overtone series.

Boosting Customer E-Loyalty: An Extended Scale of Online Service Quality

The Customer trust, satisfaction and loyalty with regard to the provision of e-commerce services is expected to be critical factors for the assessment of the success of online businesses. Service quality and high-quality product settings are closely linked to these factors. However, despite the rapid advancement of e-commerce applications, especially in the context of business to consumer (B2C), prior research has confirmed that e-retailers face difficulties when it comes to maintaining customer loyalty. Several e-service quality frameworks have been employed to boost service quality by targeting customer loyalty. Among these prominent frameworks is the scale of online etail quality (eTailQ). This scale has been under criticism as it was developed before the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies. Consequently, this paper aims to fill this gap by offering empirically-tested and conceptually-derived measurement model specifications for an extended eTailQ scale. In addition, it investigates the potential effects of the extended scale on e-trust and e-satisfaction, and subsequently e-loyalty. The practical and theoretical implications are highlighted to help businesses to design effective business strategies based on quality in order to achieve enhanced customer loyalty, and to direct future research in the field of e-commerce.

Assessing functional status using the IADL-extended scale: results from the HELIAD study

ABSTRACTObjectives:Instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) have been operationalized as exhibiting a greater level of complexity than basic ADL. In the same way, incorporating more advanced ADLs may increase the sensitivity of functional measures to identify cognitive changes that may precede IADL impairment. Towards this direction, the IADL-extended scale (IADL-x) consists of four IADL tasks and five advanced ADLs (leisure time activities).Design:Retrospective, cross-sectional study.Setting:Athens and Larissa, Greece.Participants:1,864 community-dwelling men and women aged over 64.Measurements:We employed both the IADL-x and IADL scales to assess functional status among all the participants. Diagnoses were assigned dividing the population of our study into three groups: cognitively normal (CN), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia patients. Neuropsychological evaluation was stratified in five cognitive domains: memory, language, attention-speed, executive functioning and visuospatial perception. Z scores for each cognitive domain as well as a composite z score were constructed. Models were controlled for age, sex, education and depression.Results:In both IADL-x and IADL scales dementia patients reported the most functional difficulties and CN participants the fewest, with MCI placed in between. When we restricted the analyses to the CN population, lower IADL-x score was associated with worse cognitive performance. This association was not observed when using the original IADL scale.Conclusion:There is strong evidence that the endorsement of more advanced IADLs in functional scales may be useful in detecting cognitive differences within the normal spectrum.