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Introduction: Segmental skeletal defects are very difficult to treat. The current options are lengthy procedures, require more than one surgery and plagued with many complications. The aim of this study is to assess the results of bone graft in surgicel as a synthetic membrane for reconstruction of segmental skeletal defects in one stage surgery.Methods: Fourteen patients with segmental skeletal defects were included in the study. The ages ranged from 20 to 54 years with an average of 32 years. The defects were due to high energy trauma in all cases. The size of the defects ranged from 5 to 12 cm with an average of 7 cm. They were located in the distal femur in 11 cases and middle third of the femur in three cases. All cases were treated by the synthetic membrane technique in one stage surgery. Surgicel was used as a synthetic membrane and both the fibular strut autograft and morselized allograft were used to fill the defects in all patients.Results: All cases healed without additional procedures after the index surgery except in three cases. The time-to-bone union ranged from six to 13 months with an average of eight months. After physiotherapy all patients regained good range of knee movements except two cases. The complications included deep wound infection in two cases, nonunion of the graft in one case and joint stiffness in two cases.Conclusion: Primary bone graft in surgicel as a synthetic membrane is a good technique for management of post-traumatic bone defects. It reduces the time and number of surgeries required for reconstruction of this difficult problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The actual and fatal concentrations of selected heavy metals, including cadmium, cobalt, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc in corals from the Gulf of Aqaba were determined. Several living coral samples of different species (e.g., Porites) were collected from shallow depths (of about 5 m) at a number of sites along the Jordanian Gulf of Aqaba coast. The coral samples were collected using either a pneumatic diamond drill corer (for Porites) or a hammer and chisel (for other branched species). Some of the corals that had been collected were analyzed for heavy metals using atomic absorption spectrometry, and other samples were used in incubation experiments. The heavy metal concentrations were determined separately in the coral skeleton and the tissue layer. Heavy metal concentrations have not previously been determined in corals from the Gulf of Aqaba. We conclude that corals are suitable for use as proxy tools for assessing environmental pollution (i.e., they are bioindicators) in the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea. Therefore, this study provides useful information on the degree of heavy metal contamination in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was applied to assess the potential genotoxicity of wastewater to albino rats. Cluster analysis using the Euclidean distance resulted in two clusters; one includes the control rats and the treated wastewater-injected rats (join at a distance of 0.57). The other one includes the rats injected with the raw wastewater (joins the first cluster at a distance of 0.6). Results confirm the ability of both raw and treated wastewater to in vivo induce genotoxic effects to rats. This demonstrates that the treatment process does not remove all mutagens found in raw wastewater completely. Consequently, the reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation poses health and environmental hazard. Therefore, we recommend genotoxicity testing be used to monitor the quality of wastewater effluents, in addition to the traditional tests used. Besides, hazardous chemicals from laboratories should be separated and treated differently. Finally, RAPD test is a reliable one that can be applied to evaluate in vivo genotoxic effects of chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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A new model for the damage factor in terms of strain energy densities is derived and proposed. The damage factor values can be predicted directly from the stress–strain data using the aforementioned model. Moreover, an expression of crack density ratios in terms of total strain energy densities is inferred. Their validity has been shown by comparing their results with the limited experimental data. The proposed model compares well with the model and the experimental data of Voyiadjis performed on metal-matrix laminates. A new technique, used to predict reasonably the values of crack density ratios at any fiber orientation angle using measured data in the principal material directions, is also developed. Due to difficulties encountered in the evaluation of amount of damage in composite materials up to failure, especially, when using experimental techniques, it was shown that the proposed method for finding the damage factor and crack-density ratios is sufficient and gives reasonable predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]