Nuss procedure is not suitable for pectus excavatum patients with low age. In order to get these patients treated satisfactorily, we have designed a novel technique with a new concept. We placed a metal bar above the chest wall depression. After lifting with steel wires, the depression is fixed in the middle of the bar, and the deformed chest wall can be well treated. Our experiences show that this method is suitable for the younger pectus excavatum children.After Nuss procedure was reported in 1998, most of the pectus excavatum patients received such operation. However, due to the higher recurrence rate and other disadvantages, the procedure is considered unsuitable for low age patients [1,2]. Since most of the children are found to have pectus excavatum shortly after birth, and their families want to complete the operation as soon as possible, it is necessary to design a new procedure to get these children treated. * TechniqueThe patient is located in the supine position. Skin incision is made in the lower part of the anterior chest wall, just in front of the xiphoid process, with a length of about 2 cm. The soft tissues and muscles are separated to the bottom of the depression just above the surface of the bone structure, then the separation range is enlarged and two tunnels for metal bar are made on both sides of the chest wall. The xiphoid process is exposed and split in the midline longitudinally. After proper traction, the posterior structures behind the sternum are dissociated, and the connection between the diaphragm and the bottom of the sternum is cut off. Three steel wires were sutured through the deformed part of depression, two passing through the costal arches, and one passing through the lower end of the sternum, with the deformed chest wall being completely lifted (Figures 1 and 2). A metal bar is prepared, and its length is about 2 to 3 cm longer than the distance between the highest points on both sides of the depression. The bar is shaped in accordance with the radian of the normal thoracic wall, so that the shape of the bar is equivalent to the patient's chest. Put one end of the bar into the tunnel on one side of the chest wall at first, and then, after reasonable traction, put another end into the opposite tunnel. When

No abstract

No abstract

We studied the morphological characteristics, nutritional quality, and the bioactive compounds in fruits of two avocado accessions, RN-7 and RN-8, produced in Hainan province, China. Edible and non-edible parts of the fruit (pulp and seed) were compared to evaluate their possible contribution to improve the sustainability of the food and pharmaceutical industries. The basic characteristics evaluated were moisture, ash, total lipid, fatty acid composition, soluble sugars, titratable acid, soluble protein, and minerals. We also measured the concentrations of six types of bioactive compounds; total phenolics, flavonoids, tannin, ascorbic acid, tocopheryl acetate, and carotenoids. Our analyses of the nutritional compositions demonstrated that the pulp of the RN-7 and RN-8 proved to be rich in moisture, total lipid, and soluble protein. The seed, in turn, had higher soluble sugar, titratable acidity, sodium, potassium, calcium, iron, copper, and zinc contents. Other nutritional compositions (ash, magnesium, and manganese) had little differences between the pulp and seed of avocado fruit. With regard to the contents of bioactive compounds, the seed was superior to the pulp in the contents of total phenolics, flavonoids, and tannin. Regarding the concentrations of ascorbic acid, tocopheryl acetate, and total carotenoids, the highest values were found in the pulp. The results of fatty acid compositions displayed that the palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acid contents of the pulp were higher than those of the seed, while myristic and arachic acid had higher contents in the seed.