Comparison of functional outcomes among subtypes of Fraser’s typeⅡfloating knee

Purpose The poor prognosis in patients with floating knee injuries is mainly contributed to articular involvement(Fraser’s typeⅡ).This study aims to evaluate and compare the functional outcomes among different Fraser’s typeⅡfloating knee injuries after surgical management.Methods Twenty-seven patients with Fraser’s typeⅡfloating knee injuries(54 fractures)between September 2014 and December 2015 were enrolled prospectively in this study and were distributed according to Fraser’s floating knee classification into three different groups as typeⅡA(ipsilateral femoral shaft and tibial intra-articular involvement,n=11),typeⅡB(ipsilateral tibial shaft and femoral intra-articular involvement,n=9)and typeⅡC(both femoral and tibial intra-articular involvement,n=7).The differences among the groups were evaluated and compared.The functional outcomes of these injuries at one year were analyzed using Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score(KOOS)which covers 5 subscales of pain,other symptoms,activities of daily living,sports and recreation,and quality of life.The result was also compared with standardized age-sex matched healthy population using paired samples t-test.Results All the patients were male,and the injury mechanism was solely roadside accident.The mean age was 29.8 years and injury severity score 17.9(comparable in all the three groups).Most injuries were observed on the right side(20 cases,74.1%).Based on paired samples t-test,the KOOS score of patients with Fraser’s typeⅡA was found to be better than that of typeⅡB and typeⅡC.Compared with the reference age-sex matched control group,patients with Fraser’s typeⅡB andⅡC fractures had significantly lower mean score in all KOOS subscales(all p<0.01).However,Fraser’s typeⅡA only revealed significant difference regarding the subscales of activities of daily living(p<0.0001),sports and recreation(p<0.0001),and quality of life(p<0.0001).Conclusion The results of this study show that patients with Fraser’s typeⅡA fractures had a better functional outcome as compared to those with typeⅡB andⅡC fractures.This might be due to the open intra-articular involvement of the distal femur of the latter two fracture types.

Rhodotorula mucilaginosa BPT1 can form arthrospore in response to cold-temperature

Objective:To study carbon and nitrogen utilization pattern and arthrospore formation in a psychrotolerant yeast isolate Rhodotorula mucilaginosa(R.mucilaginosa)BPT1.Methods:Growth of the yeast on minimal synthetic medium supplemented with various carbon and nitrogen compounds as sole carbon or nitrogen source has been studied.Various physico-chemical parameters such as pH,restricted oxygen supply,temperatures,media composition and presence of methionine were tested to examine their effect on arthrospore formation by this known opportunistic pathogen.Results:The psychrotolerant isolate BPT1 identified on the basis of D1/D2 domain of large rDNA sequence characteristics as R.mucilaginosa showed some deviation in carbon and nitrogen utilization patterns from those of other strains of R.mucilaginosa in the CBS data base.Intriguingly,the isolate produced sub-surface hyphal rays around its colony at lower temperatures(4℃and 20℃)on PDA medium;the ray was found to be linearly arranged arthrospores.The arthrospore was not produced in liquid medium,or in presence of methionine or under micro-aerobic condition or at higher temperature.Conclusions:The investigation showed a novel feature i.e.arthrospore was formed by this yeast isolate under specific set of conditions.The results reiterated that only physiological and morphological characteristics were not sufficient to identify a yeast.The ability of R.mucilaginosa to form arthrospores seems to be an adaptive feature in response to extreme environmental condition,and represents adaptive ability having something to do with its ubiquity.