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Achieving accurate anatomic reduction and stable internal fixation is mandatory in the management of femoral neck fractures (FNF) in adults. The spatial configuration and direction of the screws have been reported to provide stability to the fracture. The study's goal is to analyse the clinico-radiological outcome of the newer biplane double-supported screw fixation (BDSF) technique in the Indian cohort.Patients with isolated FNFs underwent osteo-synthesis by BDSF technique. Radiological outcome was evaluated by time to union and fracture healing on plain radiographs. Clinical outcome was measured using the Harris hip score (HHS) at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. The pain reduction was measured using the VAS score.Twenty-seven patients with a mean age of 37.33 ± 9.84 years (24-55 years) were followed up for at least 12 months (12-31 months). The mean HHS at 12 months was 94.81 ± 8.18 (range: 68-100). Twenty-five patients were able to achieve radiological union within a mean time of 14.60 ± 4.69 weeks (range: 8-28). The overall complication rate was found to be 18.51% (5 out of 27 patients). Individual complications were non-union (2 patients; 7.4%), AVN (3 patients; 11.11%), and screw back out with femoral neck shortening (4 patients; 14.81%).Screw configuration using the BDSF technique provides a good union rate with minimum complications. The majority of patients resulted in a good (HHS80) to excellent functional outcome. Based on the clinico-radiological outcome obtained, we conclude that this technique is effective in the fixation of FNF in adults.Level II.

Melorheostosis is a rare chronic bone disease, etiology of which remains unclear. It mostly affects lower limbs and clinical features vary in each case. Radiographs show characteristic "candle wax pattern" of hyperostosis. Herein we report four cases of upper limb affection with their symptoms, radiographic findings and treatment. First case presented with gradually progressive swelling in forearm which was initially misdiagnosed as filariasis. Plain radiograph eventually demonstrated melorheostosis of ulna. Second patient had deformity of index finger and pain in hand which was diagnosed on radiograph of hand. Third case presented with progressive flexion deformity of ring and little finger. Fourth patient had ulnar involvement which was an incidental diagnosis. First three patients were managed with bisphosphonates following which there was significant improvement in pain and fourth case was kept on follow-up as he was asymptomatic.

What explains the form and substance of international financial standards? Form refers to the legal or non-legal bindingness of an international standard. Substance refers to how significantly the standard changes the international status quo. The form and substance of international standards on bank capital adequacy, hedge funds, “bail-in” resolution, and insurance capital adequacy challenge the predictions of major rationalist, realist, and two-level perspectives. I propose a novel theory and present original evidence to test two central claims. First, the structure of domestic institutions and strategic interaction within a state incentivizes an actor from that state to prefer and pursue a certain form of international standard: legally or non-legally binding. The state actor, as a first mover, aims to propose a standard at an appropriate international institution which produces standards of its preferred form. Second, the state actor must bargain with representatives of other states according to certain decision-making rules at the international standard-setting institution. The type of decision-making rule used in bargaining—not the market power or other characteristics of key players—explains the substance of the final standard. More restrictive decision-making rules, which use majority or supermajority voting, lead to greater change than open rules, which are based on consensus or unanimity voting. My empirical findings remove the veneer of technocratic legitimacy associated with international standard-setting to reveal intense distributional battles. In pursuing the Basel capital standards, the US Federal Reserve has been motivated more by turf wars with other US bank regulators than by its publicly stated desire to create a “level playing field” for internationally active banks. Supported by domestic collaboration between regulators and industry, French officials set a legally binding and deep de facto international standard for hedge fund managers over the vigorous objections of the City of London. By pursuing a soft standard on bail-in, the Bank of England has sought not only to protect taxpayers from costly bailouts, but also to keep Her Majesty’s Treasury at arm’s length. The lack of international insurance regulation is due not to the lack of effort by the UK Financial Services Authority and its European partners, but to open decision-making rules that allow US state regulators, albeit fragmented and under-resourced, to protect the international status quo. In each of these cases, I specify how domestic and international institutional settings provide enduring opportunities and constraints for key players in global finance.

Background and Aims: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) entry, as the first key step during virus infection, includes cell attachment, interactions of virus envelope proteins with receptors or co-receptors on cell surface, membrane fusion and so on. Human CD81 is identified as an important receptor for HCV, which is known to interact with HCV E2 protein. The objectives of this study were to further determine the association between CD81 and HCV cell entry and provide information for the exploring of new anti-HCV agents. Methods: In this study, the recombinant plasmid pEGFP-CD81 was firstly constructed using green fluorescence protein (GFP) as reporter gene. Six small interfering RNAs (siRNA) targeting the open reading frame (ORF) or 3'-nontranslated region (3'-NTR) of CD81 genome were transcribed in vitro and transfected into pEGFP-CD81 expressing cells for the screening of silence effect. The most effective siRNA was selected to construct the short hairpin RNA (shRNA) expressing plasmid pGCsi-CD81, which was stably transfected into Huh7.5 cells. After screening by G418, two cell clones with the CD81 expression levels mostly reduced were infected with HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp) or cell culture derived infectious HCV (HCVcc), while the cells stably transfected with an irrelevant siRNA were used as negative control. Results: Our results showed that the Huh7.5 cells where CD81 was silenced were completely resistant to infection by HCVpp or HCVcc, while those cells stably transfected with an irrelevant siRNA were sensitive to HCV infection. Conclusions: These data underscore the importance of CD81 as a receptor for HCV, and provide an approach for investigating the association between CD81 and HCV cell entry, which may be of potential value in the development of

Financial regulatory reform remains high on global and national political agendas. Some proposals call for the consolidation of regulatory structures by merging or eliminating existing regulatory agencies. Financial supervisory consolidation has occurred in a number of developed countries over the past two and a half decades. This paper seeks to explain why a substantial number of developed countries have opted to reform their financial regulatory structures from a sector-based to a consolidated model. Based on an ordered logistic regression analysis of a newly created cross-national financial dataset, this paper argues against the prevailing literature in globalization that has discounted the influence of multinational firms on domestic politics. It moreover disputes the assumptions of realist-based and policy diffusion perspectives that prioritize hegemonic market power. This paper demonstrates how the internationalization of finance, through the spread of global financial services firms (“conglomerates”), has driven supervisory consolidation in developed countries. These global firms prefer reduced compliance costs through the elimination of duplicative regulation. Motivated by competitiveness concerns, politicians and regulators in highly internationalized countries are pressured to consolidate financial supervision, lest they cause global firms to move elsewhere because of unfavorably duplicative regulation. A consolidated supervisor offers lower compliance costs compared to a system of sector-based supervisors by eliminating duplicative regulation. In sum, the higher the level of financial internationalization in a country, the greater the level of supervisory consolidation. This paper revises the undergraduate thesis, "And Then There Was One: Conglomeration, Internationalization, and the Formation of Consolidated Financial Supervisors": (http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1368797).

I argue that foreign state ownership of a given firm seeking to acquire a U.S. firm significantly heightens the likelihood that a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review, even if it results in approval of the transaction, will be overridden and that the transaction will be blocked through political pressure. This pressure is applied by the U.S. Congress, and the resultant tension and poor publicity for the foreign firm and/or country leads to a bid withdrawal, the abandonment of the acquisition by the firm and/or country. State ownership raises the potential of direct management of U.S. assets in critical sectors by a foreign government. It is this potential, however warranted or unwarranted, that motivates American legislators, mindful of the electoral salience of national security, to oppose the acquisition. In this way, the specter of state ownership is consistent with the competitiveness and national security arguments advanced by politicians and interests opposed to a given transaction. The prospect and process of CFIUS review for a foreign firm is politically-fraught, and the CFIUS process itself is institutionally vulnerable to being overridden by congressional pressure. I examine the cases of China and the Lenovo acquisition of the IBM PC division, as well as the United Arab Emirates and Dubai Ports World debacle.