Effect of Plate-Bone Distance and Working Length on 2.0-mm Locking Construct Stiffness and Plate Strain in a Diaphyseal Fracture Gap Model: A Biomechanical Study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of plate-bone distance (PBD) and working length on 2.0-mm locking compression plate (LCP) stiffness and strain in four-point bending and torsion in a diaphyseal fracture gap model. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 54 LCP with three screws per fragment were assigned to one of nine combinations of working length (WL; short, medium, and long), and PBD (1, 1.5, and 3 mm) for a sample size of six per construct configuration. Stiffness was measured under quasistatic, nondestructive four-point compression bending and torsion. Plate surface strain was recorded using three-dimensional (3D) digital image correlation during four-point compression bending. RESULTS: WL had a significant effect on overall construct stiffness in both compression bending and in torsion, with shorter WL constructs having higher stiffness (p < 0.0001). PBD had no effect on construct stiffness in compression bending; however, a significant reduction in stiffness was noted in torsion (p = 0.047) as PBD incrementally increased. WL had a significant effect on plate strain in compression bending, with shorter WL constructs having lower plate strain (p < 0.0001). PBD had no effect on plate strain in compression bending except for lower plate strain recorded in long WL constructs with 1-mm PBD, compared with 1.5- and 3-mm PBD constructs (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Longer WL constructs, regardless of PBD, had lower stiffness in compression bending, while in torsion, some modulation of this effect was noted with incremental decreases in PBD. Longer WL resulted in high plate strain, regardless of PBD.

Dietary Diversity in Nepal: A Latent Class Approach.

BACKGROUND: Nutritional status has important implications for labor productivity, lifetime earnings, and country-wide economic development. Dietary diversity is an important contributor to nutrition. OBJECTIVE: To identify how patterns of food consumption are related to dietary diversity and to measure the potential for policy interventions to influence diet complexity. METHODS: Household dietary diversity scores were constructed using data from 11 809 rural and urban households surveyed in Nepal between 2013 and 2016. Diversity scores were based on 7-day recall information on food purchases and food consumed directly from agricultural production. Reported consumption from 14 food groups was mapped into 4 distinct dietary patterns via latent class analysis. Ordered probit regressions were used to identify factors associated with observed diet patterns. RESULTS: Diets are heterogeneous and map into 4 clusters along a continuum of complexity. Three identified diets are vegetarian and 1 is nonvegetarian. Diet complexity is associated with geography and socioeconomic features of the sample. On average, poor and agricultural households have less complex diets and households receiving remittances have more complex and higher quality diets. Road density is positively correlated with diet complexity. We find evidence of modest reductions in diet quality over the sample period. CONCLUSIONS: Results confirm heterogeneous dietary behavior of Nepalese households. The identified patterns could be used to more effectively target policies directed at nutrition education or efforts to improve health by diversifying and improving the nutritional quality of household diets, for example, through supplemental feeding programs, home garden promotion, or targeted food assistance programs.