A postal questionnaire was sent to all consultants and specialist trainees in the West Midlands about the use of spinal boards in the accident and emergency (A&E) department. Response rate was 70%. There was widespread use of boards in A&E despite an ATLS recommendation to the contrary. Hospitals should review their policies on use of spinal boards within the department, using the evidence avai...

The immobilization of biological molecules onto polymeric membranes to produce biofunctional membranes is used for selective catalysis, separation, analysis, and artificial organs. Normally, random immobilization of enzymes onto polymeric membranes leads to dramatic reduction in activity due to chemical reactions involved in enzyme immobilization, multiple-point binding, etc., and the extent of...

BACKGROUND Cast immobilization induces mechanical hypersensitivity, which disturbs rehabilitation. Although vibration therapy can reduce various types of pain, whether vibration reduces immobilization-induced hypersensitivity remains unclear. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the preventive and therapeutic effects of vibration therapy on immobilization-induced hypersensit...

During recent decades, the use of enzymes or chemoenzymatic cascades for organic chemistry has gained much importance in fundamental and industrial research. Moreover, several enzymatic reactions have also served green sustainable manufacturing processes especially fine chemicals, pharmaceutical, flavor/fragrance industries. Unfortunately, only a few been applied at scale because low stabilitie...

OBJECTIVES Joint immobilization has previously been shown to modulate corticospinal excitability. The present study investigated changes in the excitability of distinct fractions of the corticospinal pathway by means of conditioning the H-reflex with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary motor cortex (Hcond). This method allows assessment of transmission in fast (monosynaptic) ...

Protein immobilization on surfaces, and on lipid bilayers specifically, has great potential in biomolecular and biotechnological research. Of current special interest is the immobilization of proteins using supramolecular noncovalent interactions. This allows for a reversible immobilization and obviates the use of harsh ligation conditions that could denature fragile proteins. In the work prese...

BACKGROUND Evidence-based guidelines on the use of immobilization in the management of common acute soft-tissue knee injuries do not exist. Our objective was to explore the practice patterns of emergency physicians (EPs), sports medicine physicians (SMPs) and orthopedic surgeons (OS) regarding the use of early immobilization in the management of these injuries. METHODS We developed a web-base...

Nanoporous gold (referred to as np-Au or NPG) has emerged over the past 10 years as a new support for enzyme immobilization. The material has appealing features of ease of preparation, tunability of pore size, high surface to volume ratio, and compatibility with multiple strategies for enzyme immobilization. The np-Au material is especially of interest for immobilization of redox enzymes for bi...

Protein immobilization confers the advantages of biological systems to a more chemical setting and has applications in catalysis, sensors, and materials development. While numerous immobilization techniques exist, it is optimal to develop a well-defined and chemically stable methodology to allow for full protein function. This paper describes the utilization of unnatural amino acid technologies...

Care of the combat casualty with spinal column or spinal cord injury has not been previously described, particularly in regards to spinal immobilization. The ultimate goal of spinal immobilization in the combat casualty is to first ``do no further harm'' and then provide a stable, painless spine and an optimal neurologic recovery. The protocol for treatment of the combat casualty with suspected...