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Background: The clinical outcomes following surgical management of insertional Achilles tendinopathy (IAT) vary depending on the surgical technique used to reattach the Achilles tendon following debridement. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical outcomes of patients with IAT who underwent surgical management with a double-row suture bridge technique used to reattach the Achilles tendon. Methods: A retrospective review of consecutive patients diagnosed with IAT, who underwent surgical management utilising a double-row suture bridge technique (Arthex Speedbridge), and a minimum of 3-month follow-up were included. The primary outcome was the Manchester-Oxford Foot Questionnaire (MOXFQ) Index score which is a patient reported outcome measure (PROM). Secondary outcomes included EuroQol EQ-5D-5L health-related quality of life PROM and complication rates. Results: Between July 2013 and June 2020, 50 consecutive patients (23 male; 27 female) were included. The mean age (± standard deviation) was 52.3 ± 11.3 (range 29.0–84.3). Pre- and post-operative PROM data were available for all cases. The mean follow-up was 2.4 ± 1.9 years. The MOXFQ Index score improved from 48.5 to 12.4 (p < 0.01), EQ-5D-5L improved from 2.7 ± 0.46 to 1.2 ± 0.37 (p < 0.01), and EQ-VAS improved from 48.0 ± 18.4 to 84.1 ± 12.6 (p < 0.01). Four patients had complications which were of minimal clinical relevance and caused no deviation from routine recovery. There were no cases of tendon rupture. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that surgical management of IAT is safe and effective with clinical improvement in both clinical and general health-related quality of life outcome PROMs. Level of evidence: IV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical simulations of incompressible laminar flow past a circular cylinder using wavy wall confinement are performed in order to study drag reduction and vortex shedding suppression for Reynolds numbers (50 ≤ Re ≤ 280) and blockage ratios (0.5 ≤ D/H ≤ 0.9), where D is the cylinder diameter and H is the channel height. The optimum configuration of wavy wall confinement is identified to have an amplitude of 0.2D and wavelength of 4D which manifests the minimum drag coefficient and complete vortex shedding suppression (zero lift coefficient). The flow over the cylinder with optimized wavy wall confinement produces a stable vortex pair in the wake of the cylinder. The length of vortex pair in the wake increases by increasing the Reynolds number and decreasing the blockage ratio. The drag on the cylinder reduces when the length of vortex pair increases due to early flow separation and reduction in pressure drag. The drag coefficient decreases by 36% in comparison to the plane wall confinement at D/H = 0.5. The drag coefficient decreases for wavy wall configuration by about 67% for D/H = 0.7 and 94% for D/H = 0.9. The lift coefficient remains zero at all Reynolds numbers and blockage ratios which indicates complete suppression of vortex shedding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is an increasing, though still limited, amount of evidence describing the use of the transanal hemorrhoidal dearterialization (THD) device for the treatment of hemorrhoidal disease. This study assesses postoperative outcomes from a single surgeon experience with the THD device. Methods: From January 2009 to December 2011, 108 THD procedures were performed. With Doppler guidance, the THD device makes possible precise ligation of the branches of the superior hemorrhoidal artery. Patients were seen postoperatively at 3 weeks and 6 months. They underwent physical examination to determine whether there was recurrence of hemorrhoidal prolapse. They were asked to describe any bleeding, to rate pain using the visual analog scale, and to rate their level of satisfaction on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 = highly satisfied). A phone interview was used for follow-up at 1 year to determine the rate of recurrent prolapse. Results: Of the 108 patients who underwent THD, two were lost to follow-up and excluded. All of the remaining 106 patients completed follow-up at 3 weeks and 6 months. At 3 weeks, 92 % of patients had no pain and 88 % were highly satisfied with the procedure at 3 weeks. This increased to 92 % satisfaction at 1 year. Prolapse recurrence was 7.5 % at 6 months and 10.3 % at 1 year. Bleeding was the most common complication, but did not require re-intervention or transfusion. Conclusions: THD is a same-day procedure for the treatment of hemorrhoidal disease that is safe and effective, and offers the potential for immediate return to normal activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperature dependence of photoluminescence emission of a natural fluorite has been studied in the wavelength region of 380–500 nm and in the temperature range of 17.5–300 K. The emission spectra of the sample show a broad emission band between 380 and 500 nm for temperatures above 100 K. At 100 K and below, vibronic lines appear on the emission band at approximately 413.3, 418.1, 419.3, 420.2, 423.9 and 427.1 nm. This broad emission band and the vibronic lines in fluorite are usually associated with phonon-coupled electronic transitions from 4f65d to 4f7 in the Eu2+ ion. Temperature dependences of the peak energy, intensity and full-width at half-maximum of the broad emission band are discussed, and the behaviour explained in terms of a configurational coordinate model. The excited state vibrational energy was obtained to be 0.023 ± 0.001 eV and this is lower than the LO phonon energy of 0.062 eV in pure fluorite. The activation energy of thermal quenching of the photoluminescence intensity was found to be 0.022 ± 0.002 eV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]