Number Of Ribs Research Articles

Congenital Right-side Rib Agenesis in a Male Lamb: A Rare Case Report

Sheep play a vital role in agriculture, contributing to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through meat, wool, and leather. The number of ribs in sheep is an important economic trait, particularly for meat production, as a higher rib count correlates with increased mutton yield. However, the congenital absence of ribs is a rare condition scarcely documented in veterinary field. This report presents the first known case of rib aplasia in a lamb, highlighting its clinical presentation, diagnosis, and implications. A two-day-old male co-twin lamb exhibited symptoms of ataxia, anorexia, and dyspnea. Physical examination revealed missing ribs on the right side and scoliosis at the thoracic vertebrae level. Chest X-rays confirmed the absence of the 9th and 10th ribs and thoracic scoliosis. Despite explanations of the poor prognosis, the lamb collapsed after two days, and no post-mortem examination was conducted. This case underscores the need for further research to identify genetic factors contributing to congenital rib agenesis in lambs, given its economic importance in the sheep industry.

Dedicated Chest Wall Injury Program quality review: How to create and incorporate a quality and safety program for surgical stabilization of rib fractures.

Adoption of surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF) in chest trauma necessitates outcomes reviews and process improvement (PI). As volume and complexity increase, such vigilance is imperative. Over 10 years, our center has developed a dedicated PI program based on our trauma PI program. Here, we outline the components of this program, aiming to share best practices and potentially improve SSRF patient outcomes. Over 10 years, our dedicated SSRF PI process has evolved to include bimonthly reviews on case and quality metrics. In 2022, all patients at our single high-volume Level 1 trauma center with flail chest segments were identified, and a PI chart review was conducted. Data collected included management approach (operative vs. nonoperative), postoperative complications, mortality, patient demographics, trauma specific variables (Injury Severity Score, etc.), and rib fracture details. Operative data collected included number of ribs plated, system used, and complication rates for each surgeon and plating system used. Of 82 patients identified, 88% underwent SSRF. Among these, 49% experienced one or more postoperative complications, not all directly related to SSRF procedures. Mortality rate for SSRF patients was 15%, predominantly in those with Injury Severity Score of >25 and mean age of 58 years. Patients who had trauma activations and required emergency department chest tube placement had higher complications. The mean number of ribs stabilized was four. Complications occurred more frequently with posterior fractures. Outcomes were collated and analyzed at SSRF Outcomes Committee. The utilization of SSRF underscores the need for a rigorous quality review process to enhance patient safety and SSRF-specific outcomes. Our program developed over time from and was implemented in fashion similar to the trauma PI processes. The resulting quality initiative has fostered center-specific PI projects and programmatic advancements. Economic and Value-Base Evaluations; Level IV.

Chest wall resection and reconstruction for primary chest wall sarcomas: Analysis of survival, predictors of outcome, and long-term functional status

ObjectivesWe aimed to analyze survival, predictors of outcome, and the long-term functional status of patients with a diagnosis of primary chest wall sarcoma who undergo chest wall resection and reconstruction. MethodsWe analyzed a prospectively maintained database, including all patients operated on between 2008 and 2021. The primary outcome measures were overall and disease-free survival and analyses were employed to determine the risk factors for poor survival and recurrence. ResultsOne hundred thirty-nine patients were included, 55% were men. The majority (96%) had an R0 resection and 75.1% had no postoperative complications up to 30 days postprocedure; median length of hospital stay was 7 days (range, 6-10 days). Median overall and disease-free survival was 58.8 and 53.6 months, respectively. For those alive, at long-term follow-up, 80% had a Medical Research Council dyspnea score of 0 and Karnofsky index >80%. Survival and mortality rates were better in chondrosarcomas compared with nonchondromatous sarcomas (P < .05). Previous history of radiotherapy, previous history of cancer, the type of sarcoma (Ewing's or soft tissue), the need for adjuvant treatment and tumor grade were significant predictors of mortality and recurrence on univariate testing. Extended resection, a higher number of ribs removed, and the incidence of postoperative complications were significantly associated with a worse postoperative Medical Research Council dyspnea score. ConclusionsCareful patient selection and multidisciplinary decision making is crucial. This leads to clear resection margins, good overall, and disease-free survival and good functional outcomes.

Fatigue performance of innovative open-rib orthotropic steel deck for super-long suspension bridge

This paper presents experimental and numerical studies on the fatigue performance of an innovative orthotropic steel deck (OSD) with open-ribs, apple-shaped cut-outs, and additional transverse ribs, which is employed by the Zhangjinggao Yangtze River Bridge. This bridge is set to become the world's longest suspension bridge upon completion. A full-scale section of the OSD was fabricated and subjected to fatigue loading with a total cycle of 12.3 million times. The interested cracking-prone fatigue details include rib-to-deck and rib-to-crossbeam welded joints, along with the apple-shaped cut-outs of the crossbeam. Experimental results indicated that fatigue cracks initiated separately beneath the deck plate, on the flange of the rib, and at the rib-to-crossbeam welded joint, with equivalent stress amplitudes of 159 MPa, 148 MPa, and 99 MPa at 2 million cycles, respectively. In addition, detailed finite element model of the OSD was developed using ABAQUS and validated against the experimental results. The effects of the geometry dimensions and structural details of the bridge deck, longitudinal ribs, crossbeams and transverse ribs that influence the fatigue performance of this OSD were analyzed and discussed. Parametric analyses revealed that increasing the thickness of the deck plate, the thickness or the height of the longitudinal rib, and the number of transverse ribs can effectively reduce the stress amplitudes at corresponding fatigue details, which therefore improves their fatigue performance. This study provides useful references for the fatigue evaluation and design of OSDs with open-ribs and apple-shaped cut-outs.

Remarks on the functional morphology of the earliest mammals

AbstractThe earliest mammals are characterized by a series of derived characters when compared to their synapsid predecessors. In comparison to non-mammalian synapsids, these features include highly efficient teeth, a small body size, a parasagittal limb posture, as well as a reduced number of ribs and girdle elements and light-weighted tails. We argue that the mammalian body construction and its functionality are constituted by a set of partially interrelated morphological traits, including akinetic skulls, tooth anatomy, and food processing; body size, locomotor speed, and tail reduction; the posture of the body and the construction of the girdle elements; as well as body torsion and rib reduction. By discussing these features from a biomechanical view, we demonstrate that high speed was the most important evolutionary advantage of the small earliest mammals over their larger synapsid ancestors, as well as over dinosaurs at the end of the Mesozoic.

Optimization of Design Parameters for Improved Buoy Reliability in Wave Energy Converter Systems

Wave energy converters are frequently subjected to cyclic fatigue loads, making them prone to structural failure. This study presents a comprehensive design for reliability analysis of buoy structures used in ocean energy converters. A finite element model (FEM) was developed using ABAQUS to evaluate the effects of different materials—linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) versus high-density polyethylene (HDPE)—as well as variations in rib spacing and structural thickness under uniform pressure conditions. The analysis considered configurations with 3, 5, and 7 ribs, and wall thicknesses of 0.5, 0.7, and 1 inch. Results indicated that increasing the number of ribs and wall thickness significantly reduces deflection and von Mises stress, enhancing structural stability. HDPE demonstrated superior strength and lower deflection compared to LLDPE, although with reduced ductility. This study provides critical insights into optimizing buoy design parameters to improve the structural performance and durability of wave energy converter buoys, ensuring their reliability and longevity in harsh marine environments.

What patient positioning in chest X-ray is still acceptable? – An empirical study on thresholding quality metrics

AbstractBackground and AimIssues in patient positioning during chest X-ray (CXR) acquisition impair diagnostic quality and potentially increase radiation dose. Automated quality assessment was proposed to address this. Our objective is to determine thresholds on some quality control metrics following international guidelines, that represent expert knowledge and can be applied in a comprehensible and explainable AI approach for such an automatic quality assessment.Materials and MethodsAn AI-method estimating collimation distance to the ribcage, balancing between both clavicle heads, and number of ribs above the diaphragm as metrics for collimation, rotation, and inhalation quality was applied on 64,315 posteroanterior CXR images from a public dataset (ChestX-ray8). From this set 920 CXR images were sampled and manually annotated to gain additional trusted reference metrics. Seven readers from different institutions then classified the acquisition quality of these images independently into okay, inadequate, or unacceptable following the criteria of international guidelines. Optimal thresholds on the metrics were determined to reproduce these classes using the metrics only.ResultsA fair to moderate agreement between the experts was found. When disregarding all inadequate rates a classification on the metrics was able to separate okay rated cases from unacceptable cases for collimation (AUC 0.97), rotation (AUC = 0.93) and inhalation (AUC = 0.97).ConclusionSuitable thresholds were determined to reproduce expert opinions in the assessment of the most important quality criteria in CXR acquisition. These thresholds were finally applied on the AI-method's estimates to automatically classify image acquisition quality comprehensibly and according to the guidelines.

Genome-wide identification of quantitative trait loci and candidate genes for seven carcass traits in a four-way intercross porcine population

BackgroundCarcass traits are essential economic traits in the commercial pig industry. However, the genetic mechanism of carcass traits is still unclear. In this study, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) based on the specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) to study seven carcass traits on 223 four-way intercross pigs, including dressing percentage (DP), number of ribs (RIB), skin thinkness (ST), carcass straight length (CSL), carcass diagonal length (CDL), loin eye width (LEW), and loin eye thickness (LET).ResultsA total of 227,921 high-quality single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected to perform GWAS. A total of 30 SNPs were identified for seven carcass traits using the mixed linear model (MLM) (p < 1.0 × 10− 5), of which 9 SNPs were located in previously reported quantitative trait loci (QTL) regions. The phenotypic variation explained (PVE) by the significant SNPs was from 2.43 to 16.32%. Furthermore, 11 candidate genes (LYPLAL1, EPC1, MATN2, ZFAT, ZBTB10, ZNF704, INHBA, SMYD3, PAK1, SPTBN2, and ACTN3) were found for carcass traits in pigs.ConclusionsThe GWAS results will improve our understanding of the genetic basis of carcass traits. We hypothesized that the candidate genes associated with these discovered SNPs would offer a biological basis for enhancing the carcass quality of pigs in swine breeding.

Threatened fishes of the world: Schizothorax (Racoma) biddulphi (Günther, 1876) (Cyprinidae)

In order to study the individual biology of endemic fish in China, lay a foundation for the conservation of its germplasm resources, and consolidate the basic biological data of endemic fish in the world. According to the ethical code and fishing permit, 21 samples of Schizothorax (Racoma) biddulphi (Günther, 1876) were collected from the Muzati River in Tarim River system from 2021 to 2022, and their morphological characteristics, age identification and anatomical observation were analyzed by classical biological methods. S. biddulphi has a long body, a conical head, a pointed snout and a lower mouth. Requires 2 pairs. The scales are small and neatly arranged; Bare or scaly chest; The lateral line scale is slightly larger. The lateral line is complete. The correlation equation between body length and body weight is: W = 4.148 × 10-5L2.791. There were 5 kinds of age identification materials: 15+ for lapillus and asteriscus, 14+ for vertebra, 11+ for opercular bone, and 9+ for anal scale. The peritoneal wall of S. biddulphi is black; The tooth type is 2·3·5-5·3·2; The gill harrow was 11~13 for laymen and 15~18 for experts. Diphysocyte; Gallbladder oval; The number of vertebrae is 4+42-43+1, and the number of ribs is 23 or 24. S. biddulphi is a special species in the Tarim River system, and its evolutionary adaptation is closely related to the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Numerical investigation of fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of MWCNT-Al 2 O 3/H 2 O hybrid nanofluid flowing through a novel semi-arc ribbed square duct

This study carried CFD analysis to study the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of MWCNT- Al 2 O 3 / H 2 O hybrid nanofluid flowing through square duct equipped with novel semi-arc ribs. The turbulent flow simulations are performed at varying Reynolds numbers ( Re ) between 3,000 and 18,000 and nanoparticle volume concentration ( φ ) range of 1–4% for different rib parameters, namely relative stream pitch ratio ( X pr ) range from 2.67 to 3.67, Rib height ratio ( R hr ) range from 0.05 to 0.20, number of ribs ( n ) range from 1 to 4. Different performance indicators, such as Nusselt number ( Nu ), friction factor ( f r ) , and thermal hydraulic performance (THP) was examined to evaluate the system performance. The RNG k ‐ ε model was engaged to simulate turbulent nanofluid flow within the channel under constant temperature condition (T = 300 K). The findings indicated that the development of vortex flow and increased turbulence due to the effects of arcs can improve the heat transfer enhancement. The THP, Nu and f r were found to be highest for R hr = 0.15 , X pr = 3.34 , φ = 4 % , and n = 3 , yields to the best THP at 1.94.

Contemporary management of patients with multiple rib fractures: What you need to know.

Ten percent of all injured patients and 55% of patients with blunt chest trauma experience rib fractures. The incidence of death due to rib fractures is related to the number of fractured ribs, severity of fractured ribs, and patient age and comorbid conditions. Death due to rib fracture is mostly caused by pneumonia because of inability to expectorate and take deep breaths. Over the last 25 to 30 years, there has been renewed interest in surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF), known colloquially as "rib plating." This review will present what you need to know in regard to triage decisions on whether to admit a patient to the hospital, the location to which they should be admitted, criteria and evidentiary support for SSRF, timing to SSRF, and operative technique. The review also addresses the cost-effectiveness of this operation and stresses nonoperative treatment modalities that should be implemented prior to operation.

Structural and Thermal Analysis of Diesel Engine Piston by Changing the Number of Ribs and Materials

A piston is a component of reciprocating engines, reciprocating pumps, gas compressors, hydraulic cylinders and pneumatic cylinders, among other similar mechanisms. It is the moving component that is contained by a cylinder and is made gas-tight by piston rings. In an engine, its purpose is to transfer force from expanding gas in the cylinder to the crankshaft via a piston rod and/or connecting rod. The power produced by the engine &amp; its efficiency depends on piston. In this paper both Structural &amp; Thermal Analysis is carried out on Diesel engine piston considering three materials such as Aluminum Alloy (Al6061) &amp; Forged Steel also by varying number of ribs. For this Analysis, Modeling of a piston is done using Catia V5 Software &amp; then it is imported into Ansys Workbench. Stress, Strain &amp; Deformation Values are decreased with the increase of Ribs in the Piston Design. The amount of heat flux is more for a piston provided with six ribs. Considering both Structural &amp; Thermal Analysis it is observed that Aluminum Alloy with EIGHT Ribs has shown good results

Flow field optimization for performance enhancement of planar solid oxide fuel cells

The flow field design is very essential to the material distribution uniformity and overall output performance of planar solid oxide fuel cells. In this paper, the structure of the external manifold and cathode side interconnect is optimized to solve the uneven flow field distribution problem. The effects of crucial geometric parameters on the internal mass transfer, component transport, electrochemical reaction, temperature field and overall output performance of the fuel cell are studied by three-dimensional multi-physics numerical simulation. It is found that the combination of the three-inlet-two-outlet external manifold and cylindrical ribbed interconnect significantly reduces the uneven gas distribution between different channels and greatly improves the diffusion of oxygen under the ribs, thus enhancing the overall output performance of SOFC. Increasing the number of cylindrical ribs is beneficial to the transport and uniform distribution of oxygen. However, the excessive number of cylindrical ribs will hinder oxygen diffusion to the end of the flow channel, resulting in increased concentration polarization along the flow channel. Moreover, reducing the total contact area of the ribs enhances oxygen diffusion beneath the ribs but also raises the contact resistance and may deteriorate the cell performance.

Implosion mechanisms of underwater ring-stiffened metallic cylindrical shells

Underwater cylindrical shells are prone to implosion due to the surrounding high hydrostatic pressure, and introducing ring-rib is a promising approach to reduce the risk. However, the influences of the ring-rib on the deformation mode and the fluid-structure interaction mechanism are still unclear. This paper investigates the dynamic response of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells during the implosion process. The finite element model is firstly established and the numerical simulation is verified by the existing experiment. Then, the numerical method is used to simulate the implosion of ring-stiffened cylindrical shells with various geometrical parameters. The fluid motion, induced pressure and deformation features are investigated and the relationship between them is clarified. Finally, pure and ring-stiffened cylindrical shell implosions are compared and parametric analyses are performed by varying the number and thickness of ring-ribs. Results show that ring-stiffened cylindrical shells with higher collapse resistance deform asymmetrically and the flow field response changes depending on the deformation mode. Introduction of ring-ribs can significantly increase the critical pressure and reduce the percentage of induced pressure. As the number and thickness of ribs increased, the critical and peak implosion pressures of the ring-stiffened cylindrical shells increased by 153% and 146%, respectively.

Shear performance of interface between ultra-high performance concrete and normal concrete treated with ribs

In order to investigate the interfacial bonding performance between ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) and normal concrete (NC) treated with ribs, shear push-test are conducted to examine the influence of rib size, rib space, and rib number on the failure mode and shear strength of UHPC-NC interface. Furthermore, a finite element mode is developed to study the effect of different parameters on the shear bearing capacity of the interface. Finally, a calculation method that can be utilized to predict the shear strength of UHPC-NC interface treated with ribs is proposed. The results show that the shear bearing capacity of the interface can be significantly improved by ribbed treatment, and the shear bearing capacity gradually increases with the increase of the number of ribs. The specimens with rib width of 10 mm are prone to rib shear failure, while the specimens with rib width of 15 mm and 20 mm are mainly subjected to NC shear failure. In addition, for the specimens with rib width of 15 mm and 20 mm, increasing the rib height and NC strength can improve the shear bearing capacity of the interface. Finally, the proposed calculation method for predicting the shear capacity of the UHPC-NC interface treated with ribs demonstrates good accuracy. The average ratio between the calculated value and the experimental value is 1.03 and the standard deviation is 0.13.

A dual-height wick to improve capillary performance of vapor chambers

The wick performance is a crucial metric for ensuring the reliable and efficient operation of vapor chambers (VCs) away from dry-out. To enhance the performance of VC, a pitcher plant inspired enhanced wick characteristic dual-height microgrooves (DHMW) was fabricated on 6063 aluminum alloy by one-step picosecond laser texturing without chemical modification. This study describes the two-step capillary behavior of DHMW by high-speed camera and infrared camera. The effects of minor rib number, groove height ratio, length scale, and test liquids (water, acetone, ethanol) on the capillary performance were investigated. When using water as the working fluid, the DHMW achieved a K/Reff of 1.182 µm, which was about 71.3 % larger than that of normal microgroove wicks due to the liquid propagation effect and the flow resistance reduction effect. Furthermore, the maximum K/Reff could reach 1.819 µm of the sample with a minor rib depth of about 70 μm. However, the wetting results showed that the droplets of acetone and ethanol tend to spread laterally after contact with the surface, which is unfavorable for the formation of hierarchical transport in the DHMW. This study demonstrates that laser texturing is an effective and controllable method for the complex shaping of grooved aluminum wicks, with the potential to improve the heat transport capability of VCs.

Impact resistance of horsetail bio-honeycombs

Inspired by the ingenious cross-sectional structure of horsetail stems, a group of novel horsetail bio-honeycombs (HBHs) are firstly proposed to pursuit a superior impact resistance performance. The out-of-plane impact resistance characteristics and mechanical properties of the proposed HBHs are investigated by means of test, theoretical analysis, and finite element (FE) analysis. In the process of deriving the theoretical model of HBHs, the novel 5-panel and 7-panel membrane energy dissipation corner elements are firstly proposed and reasonable theoretical solutions for them are obtained. Theoretical results suggest that the errors between numerical and theoretical results for the majority of the HBHs are within 7 %. In addition, the studies indicate that the HBHs outperform the circular honeycomb (CH) in terms of crashworthiness while ensuring that their relative densities are the same. The complex proportional assessment method is utilized to evaluate the crashworthiness of HBH_n_6_1.5 (n represents the number of ribs, 6 represents the size of the outer diameter, and 1.5 represents the ratio (ζ) of the outer diameter to the inner diameter) under the same relative density. Furthermore, results suggest that energy absorption and crushing force efficiency of HBH_16_6_1.5 are 31.31 % and 25.54 % higher than those of CH, respectively. Subsequently, the influences of geometric parameters, including the ζ and the thickness-to-cell length ratio (TL), on the impact resistance of HBH_16_6_1.5 are investigated thoroughly. The findings show that when the ζ is within 1.2–1.5, the HBHs can exert their maximum potential, in which the inner diameter of HBHs is close to its outer diameter. Also, the findings demonstrate that the HBHs will undergo three distinct deformation modes. When the TL is roughly within 0.0200–0.0267, the deformation of HBHs will be in the transition deformation mode.

Opening Pandora's box: diagnostics characters for the confuse taxonomy of the BrazilianCardiomya(Bivalvia: Cuspidariidae)

AbstractThe unsolved systematics of the genusCardiomyahas led to a sequence of astonishing identification mistakes. This scenario is a result of the rarity of specimens and, more importantly, the lack of knowledge about which characters are relevant to the genus taxonomy. In this study, we developed a method based on standard linear discriminant analysis to identify the smallest number of morphological characters that efficiently distinguish individuals at the species level of BrazilianCardiomya. Starting from 29 morphometric measurements obtained from photographedCardiomyashells, we were able to identify only five characters: the dorsal inflection of the rostrum, the distance from the posterior most rib end to the umbonal posterior margin and the distance from the central point of the valve to the anterior margin at 45°, 15° and −30° angles. Surprisingly, all these characters are related to the shell outline and not the ornamentation, which is a remarkable character inCardiomya. We performed a one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey HSD test specifically using the total number of ribs to verify its discriminant power in species identification. Our analysis demonstrated that the number of ribs does not show a significant difference between the analysed species.

Control of resonant oscillations of viscoelastic systems

Structures in the form of cylindrical ribbed shells and panels are widely used in engineering and construction. The problem of the action of moving loads on an infinitely long cylindrical shell, reinforced along the outer surface with longitudinal stiffeners and containing a viscoelastic inertial filler, is considered. The moving load is transferred to the shell only through the ribs, and there is no load outside the ribs. The discreteness of the location of the ribs is taken into account by writing the equations of motion of the beams, followed by the satisfaction of the conjugation conditions. The influence of the number and stiffness of ribs on the nature of the distribution of shell displacements and contact pressure at the boundary of a viscoelastic filler is shown. The movement of the shell is described by classic equations based on the Kirchhoff?Love hypothesis; for the filler, dynamic equations of the theory of visco-elasticity are used. It has been established that the reinforcement of shells with longitudinal ribs (oscillations of a cantilevered cylindrical shell) leads to a decrease in natural frequencies and damping coefficients in some shells, an increase in the density of the spectrum of natural frequencies, and the appearance of intermediate forms and forms with the same wave numbers, but with different frequencies. External forces increase natural frequencies and damping coefficients. It is found that the frequencies for the inner edges are lower than for the outer edges. In the high-frequency zone, any efforts reduce the natural frequencies and the damping coefficient. This means that additional mass plays a more significant role than additional rigidity. Consequently, the longitudinal strengthening of the shell worsens its dynamic properties.

Analysis of the tensile behavior of FRP textile for multi-scale fiber reinforced cementitious composite

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) textile, as the continuous reinforcement of multi-scale fiber reinforced cementitious composite (MSFRC), is expected to be widely applied due to the high strength, lightness, anti-corrosion and ease of installation. In this work, the unique features of FRP textile, characterized by initial delayed stiffness and strength efficiency, are investigated thoroughly. First, the direct tensile tests, comprising FRP textile and MSFRC plate specimens, are performed by varying the number of the textile ribs and layers. On this basis, an analytical approach for FRP textile is proposed based on the digital geometric model and Monte Carlo simulation. The considered distributions of textile properties include the stochastic slacks and strengths of different ribs. Then, a good agreement can be found between the experiments and the simulations. Finally, the bilinear model of FRP textile is further developed using the proposed model to serve as a basis for the reliable structural design.