BACKGROUND Fractures of femur are among the most important causes of mortality in musculoskeletal injuries. Owning to lack of adequate research to compare various techniques of fracture stabilization, there has not yet been an agreement over a protocol to utilize a specific type of splint for femoral fracture immobilization. This study was thus conducted to compare the effects of simple and tra...

The aim of the present study was to observe the effect of varying the timing of surgery on the fracture healing process and the expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 in rats. A total of 192 rats underwent closed femur fracture modelling. The rats underwent open reduction and internal fixation surgery 1, 3, 5, 7, 11 and 14 days subs...

ÐBy incorporating the e€ects of interfacial adhesion in the mechanics of rounded contact between two bodies, a new approach is proposed for the quantitative analysis of a wide variety of contact fatigue situations involving cyclic normal, tangential or torsional loading. In this method, conditions of ``strong'' and ``weak'' adhesion are identi®ed by relating contact mechanics and fracture mecha...

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) exhibit two very important properties: shape memory phenomenon and superelastic deformation due to intrinsic thermoelastic martensitic transformation. To fully exploit the potential of SMAs in developing functional structures or smart structures in mechanical and biomechanical engineering, it is important to understand and quantify the failure mechanisms of SMAs. This...

We propose a theoretical model for branching instabilities in 2-dimensional fracture, offering predictions for when crack branching occurs, how multiple cracks develop, and what is the geometry of multiple branches. The model is based on equations of motion for crack tips which depend only on the time dependent stress intensity factors. The latter are obtained by invoking an approximate relatio...

A retrospective analysis was conducted of 37 open fracture cases sustained by U.S. military personnel during the recent low-intensity conflict in Panama (Operation Just Cause). The etiology, location, classification, and management of open fractures sustained in combat is presented. A significant difference was noted in the infection rate for type III open fractures that were debrided in Panama...