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Background: Range of motion is an important indicator of the success of total knee arthroplasty. To our knowledge there are no studies assessing the factors affecting the range of motion after total knee arthroplasty on Indian population which prompted us to undertake this study. Method: The present prospective study for all those patients with advanced arthritis of knee satisfying inclusion criteria, between August 2009 to June 2011. A total of 430 total knee replacements were done among 327 patients during this period out of which 354 primary total knee replacements among 254 patients were included in the study. Follow ups were done at 3 months, 6 months, one year and 2 years following procedure. Result: The average age was 63.8 years with a range of 50 – 80 years. 66.1% of the patients were female and 33.9% were male. The preoperative diagnosis was osteoarthritis in 81.1% of patients and 18.9% had rheumatoid arthritis. All poly implant was used in 83.1% of patients and in 16.9% of patients metal backed was used. The posterior tibial slope had no correlation with the postoperative range of motion at all the points of follow up. The preoperative range of motion had a statistical correlation with the postoperative range of motion at all the points of follow up and in all the age groups, p

Mukta Kulkarni,1,* Ajda Flašker,1,* Maruša Lokar,1 Katjuša Mrak-Poljšak,2 Anca Mazare,3 Andrej Artenjak,4 Saša Čučnik,2 Slavko Kralj,5 Aljaž Velikonja,1 Patrik Schmuki,3 Veronika Kralj-Iglič,6 Snezna Sodin-Semrl,2,7 Aleš Iglič11Laboratory of Biophysics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; 2Department of Rheumatology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Erlangen Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany; 4Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals Mengeš, Lek Pharmaceuticals dd, Menges, Slovenia; 5Department for Materials Synthesis, Institute Jožef Stefan (IJS), Ljubljana, Slovenia; 6Faculty of Health Studies, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia; 7Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Science and Information Technology, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia *These authors contributed equally to this workAbstract: Titanium and titanium alloys are considered to be one of the most applicable materials in medical devices because of their suitable properties, most importantly high corrosion resistance and the specific combination of strength with biocompatibility. In order to improve the biocompatibility of titanium surfaces, the current report initially focuses on specifying the topography of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanotubes (NTs) by electrochemical anodization. The zeta potential (ζ-potential) of NTs showed a negative value and confirmed the agreement between the measured and theoretically predicted dependence of ζ-potential on salt concentration, whereby the absolute value of ζ-potential diminished with increasing salt concentrations. We investigated binding of various plasma proteins with different sizes and charges using the bicinchoninic acid assay and immunofluorescence microscopy. Results showed effective and comparatively higher protein binding to NTs with 100 nm diameters (compared to 50 or 15 nm). We also showed a dose-dependent effect of serum amyloid A protein binding to NTs. These results and theoretical calculations of total available surface area for binding of proteins indicate that the largest surface area (also considering the NT lengths) is available for 100 nm NTs, with decreasing surface area for 50 and 15 nm NTs. These current investigations will have an impact on increasing the binding ability of biomedical devices in the body leading to increased durability of biomedical devices. Keywords: protein binding, serum amyloid A, β2-glycoprotein I, immunoglobulin G, histone IIA

Background: Diagnosis of chromoblastomycosis is frequently missed for many reasons: (1) rarity of the lesion (2) requirement of careful search for diagnostic ′sclerotic′ bodies which are often sparse in clinical material such as tissue and exudates (3) often they elicit tissue reactions such as verrucous lesion and micro abscesses, misleading the diagnosis (4) lack of ′clinical suspicion′. Aims: (1) To compare the feasibility of ′unstained′, ′stained′ and ′de stained′ sections in identification of the diagnostic ′ sclerotic′ bodies (2) To study histopathological features of chromoblastomycosis, and (3) To highlight the importance of clinical suspicion in the diagnosis of chromoblastomycosis. Design : This is a retrospective study conducted on six clinically unsuspected, histopathologically diagnosed cases of chromoblastomycosis. Results: Most common clinical presentation was verrucous lesion over extremities affecting adult men engaged in outdoor works. Sclerotic bodies and their characteristic features were easily identified in both ′unstained′ and ′de stained′ sections. Special stains such as Fontana Masson and Gomori′s methenamine silver nitrate are useful for demonstrating hyphal forms in keratinized layers and for illustration purposes. Conclusion: Both ′unstained′ and ′de stained′ sections can be used for rapid screening of sclerotic bodies. ′De stained′ sections can be used as a suitable substitute for special stains for confirmation and for retrospective review of all verrucous lesions to diagnose the missed lesion. Clinical suspicion is very important in the diagnosis of chromoblastomycosis as it helps pathologist to screen for diagnostic sclerotic bodies.

Background: Carbapenem resistance due to the production of metallo-β -lactamase (MBL) in Gram-negative organism is an increasing public health problem. Aim: The purpose of this study is to detectMBL in Gram Negative bacterial isolates among Ventilator Associated Pneumonia patients. Materials and Methods: Phenotypic detection of MBL was done by three methods: 1.Modified Hodge Test (MHT) 2.Combined disc test (CDT) 3.Double Disc Synergy Test (DDST). Results: Out of 126 gram negative bacterial isolates, 80 (63.49%) showed resistance to carbapenem group of drugs. Among them maximum resistance was shown by Acinetobacter baumanii (90.32%), followed by Klebseilla pneumoniae (45.7%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (26%). Out of 80 isolates, 66 were positive for MBL by MHT, 64 by CDT and 61 were detected positive for MBL by DDST. Conclusion: MHT and CDT were found equally efficient method to detect MBL. Maximum MBL production was detected in Acinetobacter baumanii. Simple and accurate screening test is required to prevent the spread of nosocomial strain in hospitals.