No abstract

Background Patients with Achilles tendon rupture who have non-operative treatment have traditionally been treated with immobilisation of the tendon in plaster casts for several weeks. Functional bracing is an alternative non-operative treatment that allows earlier mobilisation, but evidence on its effectiveness and safety is scarce. The aim of the UKSTAR trial was to compare functional and quality-of-life outcomes and resource use in patients treated nonoperatively with plaster cast versus functional brace. Methods UKSTAR was a pragmatic, superiority, multicentre, randomised controlled trial done at 39 hospitals in the UK. Patients (aged ≥16 years) who were being treated non-operatively for a primary Achilles tendon rupture at the participating centres were potentially eligible. The exclusion criteria were presenting more than 14 days after injury, previous rupture of the same Achilles tendon, or being unable to complete the questionnaires. Eligible participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive a plaster cast or functional brace using a centralised web-based system. Because the interventions were clearly visible, neither patients nor clinicians could be masked. Participants wore the intervention for 8 weeks. The primary outcome was patient-reported Achilles tendon rupture score (ATRS) at 9 months, analysed in the modified intention-to-treat population (all patients in the groups to which they were allocated, excluding participants who withdrew or died before providing any outcome data). The main safety outcome was the incidence of tendon re-rupture. Resource use was recorded from a health and personal social care perspective. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, ISRCTN62639639.

No abstract

No abstract

Young’s modulus for Polythene, cross-linked by pile irradiation, has been measured by both static and dynamic means. Below about 115°C (the usual melting-point) the modulus decreases with temperature. Above this temperature it increases again, in agreement with the theory of rubber-like elasticity, except for very high degrees of cross-linking, corresponding to a glass-like structure. The effect of radiation is both to produce cross-linking, and to destroy crystallinity. The latter effect predominates below about 4% cross-linking, and a more flexible material is obtained at room temperature. The observed elastic properties below 115°C are ascribed in part to the attraction of neighbouring chains; the activation energy required to break these attractive forces is estimated at about 0·25 eV.