OBJECTIVE To verify the clinical outcomes of posterior C2-C3 fixation for unstable Hangman's fracture compared with posterior C1-C3 fixation. METHODS Twenty four patients for unstable Hangman's fracture were enrolled between July 2007 and June 2010 in this study. Thirteen patients underwent posterior C2-C3 fusion and 11 patients underwent posterior C1-C3 fusion. Clinical outcomes were evaluat...

BACKGROUND We previously demonstrated that vascular injury-induced neointima formation is exaggerated in human C-reactive protein (CRP) transgenic (CRPtg) compared to nontransgenic (NTG) mice. We now test the hypothesis that complement is required for this effect. METHODS AND RESULTS CRPtg and NTG with a normal complement system versus their counterparts lacking expression of complement compo...

The intricate system of serum complement proteins provides resistance to infection. A pivotal step in the complement pathway is the assembly of a C3 convertase, which digests the C3 complement component to form microbial binding C3 fragments recognized by leukocytes. The spleen and C3 provide resistance against blood-borne S. pneumoniae infection. To better understand the mechanisms involved, w...

C3 exhibits two common allotypic variants that may be separated by gel electrophoresis and are called C3 fast (C3 F) and C3 slow (C3 S). C3 F, the less common variant, occurs at appreciable frequencies only in Caucasoid populations (gene frequency = 0.20). An increased prevalence of the C3 F allele has been reported in patients with partial lipodystrophy, IgA nephropathy, and Indian childhood h...

a r t i c l e i n f o JEL classification: C53 G17 Keywords: GARCH Higher conditional moments Approximate predictive distributions Value-at-Risk S&P 500 Treasury bill rate Euro–US dollar exchange rate It is widely accepted that some of the most accurate Value-at-Risk (VaR) estimates are based on an appropriately specified GARCH process. But when the forecast horizon is greater than the frequency...

The O-Ring theory is used to analyze the emergence of ̄rms organized as partnerships. The owner-managers of such entrepreneurial ̄rms bene ̄t from ability matching within their production teams. However, they must bear the project risk. Risk-aversion then induces a second-best solution. Integrated ̄rms managed on behalf of riskneutral residual-claimants face information and/or enforcement problem...