Internal Reconstruction Research Articles

Reconstructing Syntactic Variation in Proto-Indo-European

This paper discusses the problem of linguistic reconstruction in the Indo-European languages with particular attention to syntax. While many scholars consider syntactic reconstruction as being in principle impossible, other scholars simply apply to syntax the same tenets of the Comparative Method and of Internal Reconstruction, which were originally used in Indo-European studies for reconstructing phonology and morphology. Accordingly, it is assumed that synchronically anomalous syntactic structures are more ancient than productive syntactic constructions; the former are considered as being residues of an early stage of Proto-Indo-European, where they were also more regular and took part in a consistent syntactic system. Various hypotheses of Proto-Indo-European as a syntactically consistent language, which in the last years have witnessed resurgence, are here discussed and criticized. We argue that syntactic consistency is nowhere attested in the Indo-European languages, which in their earliest records rather document an amazing structural variation. Accordingly, we reconstruct Proto-Indo-European as an inconsistent syntactic system in the domains of word order, agreement, configurationality, and alignment, and we consider inconsistency and structural variation to be an original condition of languages. Moreover, we make some proposals for the appropriate use of typology in linguistic reconstruction, with some examples of what can or cannot be reconstructed in syntax.

Theoretical Analysis of the Meaning of Embodiment

The topic of embodiment has received a great deal of attention and aroused much enthusiasm within cognitive science in general and psychology in particular. The connotation of embodiment refers essentially to the dependency of cognition on agent's own body. The classical cognitive science committed to the view of disembodied mind. That is, cognition involves algorithmic processes upon symbolic representations. These theories posit no role for body in cognitive processes. They claimed that Mental processes such as perception, memory and thinking et al are independent of bodily structure and functioning. The view of "weak embodiment"argues against disembodiment, and claims that the body should be understood as playing a role in implementing the function of computation and representation that underpins our cognitive capacities. In contrast, the view of "strong embodiment"entirely eschews the computational theory of cognition. It assigns embodiment a degree of significance in the shaping of the character of cognition. From the point of view of strong embodiment, cognitive processes are profoundly reflect the body's interactions with the world. In contemporary embodied cognitive science, there is a radically different stance that also has roots in diverse branches of cognitive science. It resulted in a great deal of diversity in how to understand the meaning of embodiment. We distinguished the following four views:(i) embodiment is understood as a kind of somatic learning. From this point of view, embodiment and somatic learning are used interchangeably. Both are associated with a kind of bodily experiences from body's interaction with outside world.(ii) embodiment involves lived experiences coming from a body with a special neurophysiological structure, which means embodiment is a kind of experience from which cognition is made. Different body intends to make different experience, and different experience make, in turn, different cognition.(iii) embodiment is a way of knowing. We need a brain and a body to make sense of the world around us, and to understand the meaning of "chair"or "cat", then significant differences in forms of embodiment will translate into distinct conceptual metaphors and image schemas which structure our systems of everyday thought.(iv) embodiment means that cognitive processes can not located in a brain alone. The boundary between a cognitive agent and his or her environment should be broken down. Cognition is hybrid processes, it straddle both internal and external operations. In author's opinion, cognition's embodiment means that:(i) cognizing agent's body is a constituent of cognitive processes, and bodily structure and functioning are imprinted on mental processes, which influence our mental processes such as thinking, categorization, attitude, learning and emotion et al.(ii) perception is not the internal reconstruction of the external world. Perception of the environment is the result of the agent's bodily actions. This kind of actions shape the perception of the agent.(iii) body is the source of meaning. It is the body that makes us into a meaningful world. Therefore, abstract meaning is based on bodily sensor-motor systems.(iv) different bodies intend to dictate different thought. If people use their physical perceptions and bodily experiences to construct cognitive processes, then the differences from our interactions with the environment should in fact make people along different way of thinking. Viewed all together, embodiment is about the consequences on cognition of existing as a human body. We are not "having a body", we are "existing as a body". The answers to the meaning of embodiment will have considerable theoretical and practical significance for the community of psychology.

Transnational Normative Orders: The Constitutionalism of Intra- and Trans-Normative Law

No weakening, but rather an expansion, of statehood can be observed in the contemporary world. This does not, on the other hand, imply that extensive forms of constitutional ordering do not exist outside the realm of states. Instead, the evolution of world society has been characterized by a protracted dual movement where the expansion and densification of statehood and autonomous forms of transnational ordering gradually emerged in a mutually constitutive fashion. One implication of this is that neither the concept of the state nor the concept of nonstate transnational entities is adequately capable of delineating the object of constitutional analysis. Instead, the concept of normative orders has been introduced as an overarching category capable of identifying the contexts within which constitutional ordering emerges. Subsequently, a distinction between the internal and external dimensions of the law of normative orders has been introduced, specifying them as respectively oriented towards establishing internal condensation of a given normative order and external compatibility between different normative orders. With this background, a framework for the analysis of constitutional frameworks of normative orders developed. The central element is a distinction among three dimensions: First, a constitution implies a coupling between a constitutional object, in the form of a hierarchical organization of a given normative order capable of reproducing an autonomous source of authority, and a concordant legal framework. Second, constitutionalization implies a coupling between an internal reconstruction of an external constitutional subject within the constitutional object, and the register of legal rights, establishing a framework for exchanges between the constitutional object and the wider world as represented by the constitutional subject. Third, constitutionalism denotes the institutionalization of a double function, in the form of a principle-based and legally fortified striving toward universal inclusion, providing a sense of direction in time through an articulated form of constitutional consciousness. The insights developed are briefly illustrated by the case of the global Fairtrade Certification System.

Dannye k rekonstrukcii balto-slavjanskogo pohoronnogo obrjada: kašub. donota »moloko« (leksiko-semantičeskie paralleli balto-slavjanskogo areala)<br>The Data to Reconstruction of the Baltic-Slavic Funeral Ceremony: Kashubian donota »milk« (Baltic and Slavic Lexical Equivalents)</br>

The article deals with the authenticity of evaluation of ancient Slavic and Baltic religion archetypes. By means of internal reconstruction and typology methods, the work is supplemented by the new analysis of the Kashubian donota »milk« and its possible Baltic and Slavic lexical equivalents: Pruss. dadan »milk«, toponym West Slav. Dadowe. Recently some attempts were undertaken to reinstate the new mythological elements which require verifi cation in-depth, since such innovations are frequently founded only on the researcher’s guesses and erroneous elucidation of the linguistic data.

Brian Friel’s Short Stories and Play Revisited: Orientating “The Visitation,” “Foundry House,” and Aristocrats in their Historical and Audience Contexts

relationship of Brian Friel's short stories and plays has long ceased to be fresh topic as many critics have categorized it as of continuation and development due to their similar themes and concerns. Such tendency in Friel criticism can be seen in discussion of Foundry House and Aristocrats, prime example of Friel's short stories and plays in which there is consensus of opinion that ongoing of homecoming and disillusion arrays two in homogenous, linear line. As critic claims, casts its net much more widely, to explore at greater length issues which can only be hinted at in more constricted from of short (Cronin 1992: 9). While it is undeniable that Aristocrats does evolve from Foundry House and further develop some initial ideas of it, it is reductive to lump them together indiscriminately without considering specific time, place, occasion, and media from which they were produced. By examining their different historical, cultural, and audience contexts, this article will show that Foundry House and Aristocrats actually branch off from their common themes to address distinct historical events, issues, and audiences of their times. Moreover, this article will go beyond these two well-known and include another Friel's short story, The which is barely noticed by critics and rarely compared with Friel's other works, but which, according to Richard Bonaccorso, has a identical theme with Foundry House and Aristocrats (1991: 72). By juxtaposing three for genealogy study, I will demonstrate how nearly identical theme in three actually ramifies in different directions. More specifically, I will argue that, respectively, The Visitation and Foundry House capture reactions from both sides of Atlantic to John Kennedy's winning presidential election in 1961 and portray how such an unprecedented victory of Catholic Irish immigrant shapes identity formation among Irish people as well as Irish American community, while Aristocrats, by contrast, is not direct response to foreign affairs but an overdue inward look at Ireland, timely examination of domestic situation in 1970s Republic. In this way, Friel's three outline trajectory of Irish identity pursuit from external affiliation to internal reconstruction. Unlike Foundry House and Aristocrats, The Visitation remains literally unknown until Bonaccorso brings it to our attention in an aside comment: There are similar concerns, however, at heart of both [Foundry House and Aristocrats], being Friel's longstanding interest in psychology of class confrontation. (Indeed, can find identical in of his earliest published works, The Visitation, story published in Kilkenny Magazine in 1961) (1991: 72). As matter of fact, The Visitation and Foundry House echo each other not only in their interest in the psychology of class confrontation but more importantly in their portrayal of characters' unshaken loyalty to mythologized entity in spite of its unflattering reality. Given both characters' deep psychological need for inspiration to deliver themselves from their own mundane, petty lives, which leads to their selective blindness and willing indulgence in illusion, two short stories are thematic twins and function as equal precursors to Friel's Aristocrats. More interestingly, two analogical stories also came out at same time: The Visitation appeared in Kilkenny Magazine: An All-Ireland Literary Review, Autumn-Winter issue, 1961, while Foundry House was published in New Yorker, November 18, 1961. The Visitation is thus not work of apprenticeship, that is, one of [Friel's] earliest published works as Bonaccorso suggests (1991: 72) but contemporary with Foundry House. Although their approximate publication dates could be pure coincidence, and despite fact that Friel himself admits that it is quite normal [t]here are always two or three [stories] going at same time (An Ulster Writer 1965: 32), two stories written in same vein yet published separately in Ireland and America still form curious case worth our investigation. …

All-optical quantitative framework for bioluminescence tomography with non-contact measurement

In this contribution, we present an all-optical quantitative framework for bioluminescence tomography with non-contact measurement. The framework is comprised of four indispensable steps: extraction of the geometrical structures of the subject, light flux reconstruction on arbitrary surface, calibration and quantification of the surface light flux and internal bioluminescence reconstruction. In particular, the geometrical structures are retrieved using a completely optical method and captured under identical viewing conditions with the bioluminescent images. As a result, the proposed framework avoids the utilization of computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging to provide the geometrical structures. On the basis of experimental measurements, we evaluate the performance of the proposed all-optical quantitative framework using a mouse shaped phantom. Preliminary result reveals the potential and feasibility of the proposed framework for bioluminescence tomography.

A history of the Japanese language (review)

Reviewed by: A history of the Japanese language J. Marshall Unger A history of the Japanese language. By Bjarke Frellesvig. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pp. xxiv, 436. ISBN 9780521653206. $130 (Hb). The late Samuel E. Martin’s monumental reference works (1987, 1988 [1975]) provide thorough answers to a wide variety of questions about the history of Japanese but do not present it in a chronological narrative. Takeuchi 1999 tries to do that, but rather unsatisfactorily; it is both too freighted and idiosyncratic. So are Bentley 2001 and Vovin 2003, 2004, 2008, which in any case do not deal with all stages of the language. Neither do recent essays on premodern grammar by scholars of literature such as McCullough (1988), Shirane (2005), and Wixted (2006). Though perhaps better than Sansom 1928, Henderson 1948, or Morris 1966, which they superseded, as linguistic studies they are no more adequate. Shibatani (1990) felicitously includes Ainu along with Japanese, but, like Tsujimura (2007), concentrates on modern phonological and syntactic theory, making short shrift of diachronic matters. Hence, when pressed for a general one-volume treatment in English of Japanese language history, one has had little choice for a generation but to fall back on Miller 1967, for all its shortcomings. The field therefore owes a great debt of gratitude [End Page 911] to Bjarke Frellesvig for producing this comprehensive, well-organized, and eminently useful monograph. It not only does the job splendidly but also sweeps away cobwebs and introduces some fresh perspectives on the premodern language. The list price is daunting, but there is an electronic version libraries can purchase, so I assigned the book in a graduate course last spring with a clear conscience. It is unburdened by excessive scholarly apparatus,1 and, though many pages demand careful reading, it should be accessible to Japanese area specialists provided they are willing to familiarize themselves with some linguistic terminology and are not intimidated by snippets of the International Phonetic Alphabet. My students and I found only a few, small production errors.2 The two brief chapters on Eastern dialects (151–54, 397–402) and scattered remarks on other dialects leave a number of questions unanswered,3 but remind readers not to forget dialectal diversification. The chapter on modern phonology (384–89) seems too brief,4 but is to some extent supplemented by a concluding chapter (403–12) on ‘westernization’. Specific strengths of the book include F’s care in distinguishing historical sound changes from synchronic morphophonemic processes and his systematic explanation of how they interacted stage by stage. F gives Japanese inflectional morphology a new description (the familiar categories of Japanese school grammar are confined to pp. 114–18 and 344–50), and though one can quibble over nomenclature,5 his theory represents a major step forward. Some may take issue with analyses that challenge traditional claims (e.g. about the Old Japanese ‘modal past’ -(i)kyeri and adjective morphology, 72–76), but they are always insightful. F carefully points out the absence of attestations of certain predictable forms in critical paradigms and lexical strata at various stages, and suggests promising lines of internal reconstruction. Also noteworthy are F’s efforts to clarify the complex ways in which Chinese has influenced Japanese speech and writing. He does this principally by introducing a distinction between Sino-Japanese (SJ), which ‘became established at the very end of the EMJ [Early Modern Japanese] period’ (279), and ‘Japano-Chinese’ (J-Ch): ‘SJ is a nativization of J-Ch, removing it from the realm of a foreign language and providing a nativized pronunciation norm of kanji, which derives from J-Ch, but which in contrast to J-Ch is in full conformity with Japanese phonology and can be used within Japanese’ (278). It seems, however, that F overreaches when, in discussing the kind of assimilation called renjō, he makes use of this distinction to argue that SJ words like sanmi ‘third rank’ < *san-wi do not, as commonly believed, imply EMJ /sam/ ‘three’ despite Middle Chinese *sam: [End Page 912] [R]ather than positing distinct syllable final /-m/ within the SJ sound system on the basis of a few examples like these, it seems more likely that forms such...

Inesyvo ir adesyvo formų kilmės ir raidos klausimu

ON THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF INESSIVE AND ADESSIVE FORMSSummaryOn the basis of the data collected from Lithuanian old manuscripts and the method of internal reconstruction the article presents a new interpretation of the origin and evolution of inessive and adessive forms:1. The adessive singular developed not from the syntactic construction locative + pi, as was main­tained earlier, but from the syntactic construction SV(stative verb) + dative + *prei which was a position­al variant of the adessive construction SV + *prei + dative and met all the requirements of symmetry, cf. the allative constructions DV (dynamic verb) + *prei + genitive and DV + genitive + *prei.2. The inessive singular derived from locatives + *en as a necessity to polarize the dative singular and the locative singular. As the dative plural and the locative plural were sufficiently polarized (cf. dat. *mōs (>-mus) and loc. -su), the old locative in -su was not replaced by any innovation, which is evident from the textual data of Mažvydas, Vilentas, Bretkūnas and other authors.3. With the formation of the adessive singular from the construction dative + *prei and the inessive singular from locative + *en, the basis chosen for the adessive plural was not the dative plural (as is re­quired by the principle of symmetry), but the old locative in -su; its choice was caused by the use of phonetically coincident dative and locative forms in inessive singular and adessive singular constructions.4. The inessive plural forms in -sę (>-se, -si) are but transforms of the old locative in -su on the model of the inessive singular in -ę<*en, whereas the adessive plural form in -semp is a transform of an older adessive form in -su(m)p on the *-sen >sę model. It is a natural process of the morphemic levelling of inflections which took place in all the dialects at different times. The data drawn from the old man­uscripts and the dialect sources attest to the following: 1) the inessive plural in -sę (>-se, -si) and the adessive plural in -semp are innovations; 2) the inessive plural in -sę (>-se, -si) did not develop from accusativeplural + *en, and the adessive plural was not formed from the new inessive in *en + pi.

Study on Calculation of Rural Residential Land Consolidation Potential at County Scale

By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of Per capita construction land method, Vacant land rate method and Comprehensive evaluation method, rural residential land is classified into two types by using related technologies of ArcGIS according to their condition: one is minor residential area, using the whole relocation model, and the potential is calculated by per capita construction land method and modified by farmers’ willingness; the other is central village, using the internal reconstruction model, and the potential is calculated by vacant land rate method. The sum of the two types is the total potential. And take Pingnan county for example, the realistic feasibility of the several methods used to calculate the potential of rural residential land is comparatively analyzed.

Treatment of persistent instability after posterior fracture-dislocation of the elbow: restoring stability and mobility by internal fixation and hinged external fixation

Long-term results after the treatment of fracture-dislocations of the elbow have often been disappointing, because of post-traumatic instability, stiffness, and early arthritis. We present the results after surgical restoration of stability in complex fracture-dislocations of the elbow using early postoperative mobilization with a hinged external fixator after internal reconstruction of the static stabilizers. Twenty patients with persistent instability after fracture-dislocation of the elbow were treated at a mean of 11 weeks after injury. We evaluated 17 elbows in 16 patients (mean age, 44 years) at a mean of 44 months after the definitive surgical procedure. Overall, 10 of 17 elbows had a good or excellent result. The mean range of motion was 96° (SD, 23°). The mean Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS) was 74 (SD, 18), and the mean Functional Elbow Score was 68 (SD, 21). Patients treated within 6 weeks after the trauma had significantly better scores, with a mean MEPS of 81 (SD, 18), than patients treated after a delay, with a mean MEPS of 62 (SD, 13). No patients had recurrent dislocation. Secondary arthritis was mainly found in the delayed-treatment group. Of 17 elbows, 7 (41%) had complications. Surgical restoration of the static stabilizers in combination with hinged external fixation leads to satisfactory results when performed within the first 6 weeks after injury. When definite surgical stabilization is delayed more than 6 weeks, the procedure can still restore stability but the functional results are often disappointing.

Exclusion of internal iliac artery aneurysm in high-risk patients

The purpose of this retrospective study was to assess the long-term results after exclusion of an internal iliac artery aneurysm (IIAA) to patients with high-risk conditions. From 1993 to 2000, sixteen patients (15 men and one woman, mean age 75.1 years) with 22 internal iliac artery aneurysms underwent exclusion surgery. Only two patients had solitary IIAA and the remaining fourteen had IIAA associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) or common iliac artery aneurysm (CIAA). Of the 16 patients, there were 7 with ruptured aneurysm (43.8%) and the other 9 patients, who had underwent an elective operation, were at high risk for surgery because of existence of advanced cancer in 3, cerebrovascular disease in 2, severe chronic obstructive lung disease in 2, and liver cirrhosis or rheumatoid arthritis with long-term steroid administration in 1 each. The sacs of all IIAA (6 bilateral and 10 unilateral) were excluded without internal iliac artery reconstruction. The operative mortality was 6.3%. Non-fatal ischemic colitis occurred in one patient. Buttock claudication was not recognized. Only one excluded aneurysm expanded and underwent complete resection of the sac 45 months after the initial exclusion surgery. Delayed rupture was not observed in the follow-up periods (mean, 37.9 months). The 3-year and 5-year survival rate was 66.7% and 41.7%, respectively. The exclusion method minimizes surgical intervention and yields an acceptable outcome. This method could be the procedure of choice for high-risk patients.

A teoria reconstrutiva do direito. Notas sobre a gênese lógica do sistema dos direitos fundamentais em Habermas

Nesse artigo procuro mostrar que a reconstrução habermasiana da gênese lógica dosistema de direitos é uma tentativa de explicitar o significado da práxis constituinte,reduzindo-a a dois elementos, o princípio do discurso e o conceito de forma jurídica. Oprincípio do discurso pode ser objeto de uma reconstrução interna, pela qual os participantesda práxis deliberativa podem reconhecê-lo como imanente a essa práxis. Issoporque o princípio do discurso se assenta nos pressupostos da socialização lingüística emgeral. O mesmo não se passa com a forma jurídica, que não pode ser derivada dascondições comunicativas da linguagem e precisa de uma reconstrução de outro tipo,própria de uma teoria da evolução social.

Reconstruction of medial epicondyle with an ILIAC crest strut bone graft in a 74-year-old lady with an open type c fracture of distal humerus

Open intraarticular fractures of the distal humerus are frequently associated with severe bone and articular cartilage fragmentation, extensive soft tissue damage and bone loss. Management is controversial, and results are poor especially in old osteoporotic patients. We here present a case of open fracture of distal humerus with extensive bone loss of medial column. The patient was operated with internal fixation and reconstruction of the medial column with strut iliac crest grafting and had an excellent outcome.

Combined anterior and posterior segment injuries in children: a review

Combined anterior and posterior segment injuries in children require special attention to the unique characteristics of children's eyes, including a pronounced tendency to scar formation and proliferation, adherence of the posterior vitreous, as well as the danger of amblyopia. This article reviews the current body of literature documenting the main aspects of surgical management, complications, and prognosis of combined anterior and posterior segment injuries in children. For optimal treatment success, special strategies are necessary with regard to: 1) comprehensive secondary operation for internal reconstruction, 2) encircling buckle surgery, 3) management of the lens, 4) use of a temporary keratoprosthesis, 5) endophthalmitis, and 6) late complications, e.g., secondary glaucoma, secondary strabismus, leukoma cornea, and phthisis bulbi. Further crucial prognostic factors were analyzed. Combined anterior and posterior segment injuries in children require optimal surgical treatment management that varies from adult treatment with regard to several essential aspects. Care should be provided by pediatric ophthalmology specialists with orthoptic follow-up as necessary, over many years.

Haches, diptongos y otros detalles de alguna importancia: notas sobre numerales (proto)vascos y comparación vasco-ibérica (con un apéndice sobre 'hiri' y otro sobre 'bat-bi')

This article analyses the theories about Basque-Iberian numerals proposed by Orduna (2005) and Ferrer i Jane (2009) from the point of view of Basque historical grammar. Besides the fact that there is no Basque-Iberian correspondence nor a reconstruction of the Basque-Iberian protolanguage, the supposed similarities that have been presented do not follow the evolutionary laws of Basque sounds (principally aspiration and diphthongs) nor its chronology. The hypothesis of the borrowing have already turned out implausible due to the limited (and remote) extension of the territory where Iberian was spoken as first language (cf. de Hoz 2009) and to the non-existence of Latin-Romance borrowings inferior to mila '1000'; moreover, we can now observe that most of the numerals offer satisfactory intra-Basque lexical and morphological explanations, which would be impossible were they really borrowings. The first appendix analyses the word hiri 'city', probably the most famous supposed Iberian borrowing, and shows the weakness of the fundaments of this hypothesis as well as the possibility of explaining it through internal reconstruction (together with -(h)iri 'near, close', usually neglected). The second appendix presents a series of notes about the origins of bat '1' and bi '2', which are necessarily more speculative than those relating to the rest of numerals. We think that this work shows once again the implausibleness of the Basque-Iberian hypotheses, either as a genetic relationship between both languages or as borrowings due to a significant and verifiable linguistic contact between them.

Construction Grammar as a tool for diachronic analysis

Through a discourse-grounded internal reconstruction that aims at capturing the emergence of grammatical structure, the study examines the development of the subjective epistemic particle jestli ‘[in-my-opinion-] maybe’ in conversational Czech. Through internal reconstruction, the change (syntactic complementizer &gt; speaker-centered epistemic contextualizer &gt; subjective epistemic particle) is presented as a metonymy-based conventionalization of a pragmatic meaning implied by certain tokens of indirect Y/N questions into a new modal meaning. Taking a Construction Grammar approach, so far largely untested on diachronic data, the point of the analysis is to show that we can engage in a systematic treatment of the gradualness of change, by (i) combining the ‘holistic’ (constructional) dimension with the internal, feature-based and discourse-motivated mechanisms of complex grammatical shifts, and (ii) appealing to the explanatory potential of general cognitive and communicative principles as they manifest themselves in natural discourse. I also propose a formalism for representing the transitional nature of intermediate patterns.

Escape from the noun phrase

This paper deals with the evolution of certain subordinating constructions in Hup, a Nadahup (Makú) language of the northwest Amazon. Internal reconstruction, informed by close resemblances among synchronically attested clause types, suggests that Hup’s headless relative clause has given rise to a converb construction, a subtype of adverbial in which a dedicated verb form modifies a main clause. This development provides new insight into the origins of converbs and sheds light on the crosslinguistically common resemblance between relative and adverbial constructions more generally. Additionally, the Hup converbal clause has itself developed a main clause function, and the subordinating morphology employed by the relative and converb constructions is associated with topicalization. The transitions undergone by these structures in Hup contribute to our understanding of the diachronic pathways that may be taken by clauses once they have attained syntactic complexity.

Changes in visual acuity, axial length, and refraction after removal of intraocular silicone oil following retinal reattachment surgery in Chinese patients: An open-label, prospective study

Background: As a vitreous substitute for long-term tamponade, silicone oil is widely used in vitreoretinal surgery to treat retinal detachment with proliferative vitreoretinopathy and some internal reconstruction after globe trauma. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the changes in visual acuity, axial length, and refraction in eyes before and after removal of intraocular silicone oil of 2 different viscosities after retinal reattachment surgery. The difference in the final anatomic success (stable retinal reattachment) rate was also assessed. Methods: Patients with surgically reattached retinas were enrolled in this open-label, prospective, nonrandomized study. All patients underwent pars plana vitrecto-my, lensectomy, scleral buckling or encircling, and epiretinal membrane dissection; silicone oil was removed after stable retinal reattachment was achieved. Refraction, axial length, final visual acuity, and stable retinal reattachment were assessed ≤2 days prior to surgery (baseline) and ≤1 month after silicone oil removal. Refraction was measured using an autorefractometer, and axial length was measured using A-scan ultrasonography, while visual acuity was assessed using a standard Snellen chart. Results: Of the 96 eyes assessed for inclusion, 89 eyes of 89 Chinese patients (mean [SD] age, 36.8 [4.3] years) were included in the study. Forty-two eyes (47.2%) were filled with 3700-centistoke (cS) silicone oil and 47 (52.8%) were filled with 5000-cS silicone oil. The mean interval between instillation and removal of the silicone oil was similar between the 3700-cS and 5000-cS groups (5.37 vs 5.10 months, respectively). The mean changes in visual acuity from before surgery to after removal of the silicone oil in the 3700-cS and 5000-cS groups were not significantly different (13/100 vs 15/100). The mean increase in axial length was also not significantly different in the 3700-cS group compared with the 5000-cS group (11.92 [1.97] vs 12.33 [1.28] mm). Mean decrease in refraction was significantly lower in the 3700-cS group compared with the 5000-cS group (5.80 [1.51] vs 6.88 [2.31] diopters; t = 2.57, P < 0.05). The anatomic success rate was 92.9% (39/42 patients) in the 3700-cS group and 91.5% (43/47) in the 5000-cS group. Conclusions: A statistically significant decrease in refraction from baseline was found in the 3700-cS group compared with the 5000-cS group in these Chinese patients who underwent instillation and removal of silicone oil after retinal reattachment surgery. There were no other statistically significant differences between the 2 groups.

Isolated fracture-dislocation of the scaphoid’s proximal pole treated by scaphoid internal fixation and scapho-lunate ligament reconstruction

We present a case of irreducible palmar dislocation of the proximal fragment of a scaphoid fracture without carpal dislocation. We observed this lesion 2 days after the injury and we immediately operated the patient with a combined volar and dorsal access: using the Henry access we reduced the fracture and we inserted a cannulated screw to synthesize the scaphoid, using the dorsal access we repaired the complete rupture of the scapho-lunate ligament using a mini anchor. Stabilization among scaphoid, lunate and capitate was performed using Kirschner wires. X-ray showed fracture healing after 90 days. No clinical or radiographic evidence of carpal instability was revealed, on standard X-rays or on dynamic evaluations. No sign of avascular necrosis or degenerative arthritis was observed after 9 months.

Russia's Strategic Dilemmas in Asia

Russia sees itself and wants to be seen as a great Asian power playing a major role in East Asian security. The main and perhaps only instrument for this is its energy resources which it hopes to convert into a means for economic and infrastructural development as well as defense reconstruction in the Far East. However, it is not keeping pace either in energy shipments to Asia or in internal reconstruction and is failing to redress its strategic economic problems. Neither is it fully able to cope with the challenges of hostility to America and the problems posed by Korean proliferation and a rising China's economic and military capabilities. Although it may be flush with energy money today, these shortcomings and intractable problems do not augur well for Russia realizing its ambitions.