• 제목/요약/키워드: length variation

Search Result 2,251, Processing Time 0.029 seconds

Spring Phonology of a Grapevine Cultivar under the Changing Climate in Korea during 1921-2000 (겨울기온 상승에 따른 낙엽과수의 휴면생태 변화)

  • Jung Jea-Eun;Seo Hee-Cheol;Chung U-Ran;Yun Jin-I.
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
    • /
    • v.8 no.2
    • /
    • pp.116-124
    • /
    • 2006
  • Remarkable winter season warming has been observed in East Asian countries during the last century. Accordingly, significant effects on dormancy and the resulting budburst of deciduous trees are expected. However phenological observations are rare and insufficient compared with the long-time climate records in the same region. A chill-day accumulation, which can be estimated from daily maximum and minimum temperature, is expected to make a reasonable proxy for dormancy depth of temperate zone fruit trees. To simulate dormancy depth during 1921-2004, a chill-day model parameterized for 'Campbell Early' grapevine, which is the major cultivar grown virtually anywhere in South Korea, was applied to daily temperature data at 8 locations in South Korea. The calculations showed that the chilling requirement for breaking endo-dormancy of this grapevine cultivar can be satisfied by mid-January to late February in South Korea, and the date was delayed going either northward or southward from the 'Daegu-Jeonju' line crossing the middle of South Korea in the east-west direction. Maximum length of the cold tolerant period (the number of days between endo-dormancy release and forced dormancy release) showed the same spatial pattern. When we divide the 83 years into 3 periods (I: 1921-1950, II: 1951-1980, and III: 1981-2004) and get the average of each period, dormancy release date of period III was accelerated by as much as 15 days compared with that of period I at all locations except Jeju (located in the southernmost island with subtropical climate) where an average15-day delay was predicted. The cold- tolerant period was also shortened at 6 out of 8 locations. As a result, budburst of 'Campbell Early' in spring was accelerated by 6 to 10 days at most locations, while inter-annual variation in budburst dates was increased at all locations. The earlier budburst after the 1970s was due to (1) warming in winter resulting in earlier dormancy release (Incheon, Mokpo, Gangneung, and Jeonju), (2) warming in early spring accelerating regrowth after breaking dormancy (Busan and Jeju), and (3) both of them (Seoul and Daegu).

Developmental Abnormality in Agricultural Region and Toxicity of the Fungicide Benomyl on Korea salamander, Hynobius leechii (한국산 도롱뇽(Hynobius leechii)의 농경지에서의 배 발생 이상과 살균제 Benomyl의 독성효과)

  • Choi, Yeoung-Ju;Yoon, Chun-Sik;Park, Joo-Hung;Jin, Jung-Hyo;Cheong, Seon-Woo
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
    • /
    • v.35 no.3 s.99
    • /
    • pp.198-212
    • /
    • 2002
  • A numerical variation and abnormalities were studied on egg bags and embryos of Korean salamander, Hynobius leechii from agricultural habitat. The teratogenic and toxic effects of fungicide benomyl were also investigated with early embryos from non-agricultural habitat. We collected 144 egg bags from agricultural region, and 3418 of early embryos were contained. The lengths of egg bags were varied from 10 to 23 cm and the most frequent length was 19 cm. The number of embryos was varied from 7 to 43, and the most frequent range was 22 to 26. Spontaneous abnormalities were occurred in 406 embryos among 116 egg bags, and 24 kinds of external abnormalities were found. Individuals showing severe external defect were histologically studied and they showed optic dyspalsia, thyroid carcinoma, somatic muscular dysplasia, partial biaxial structure, decrease of red blood cells in the heart, cephalic degeneration and intestinal dysplasia. 385 embryos from non-agricultural region were exposed to 200 nM${\sim}$ 1 ${\mu}$M of benomyl at blastula or gastrula for 12 days. All embryo were dead in the concentration of 1 ${\mu}$M (LD$_{100}$) and 75% of embryos were dead in 800nM of benomyl. Speciflc effect due to benomyl was acrania or cephalic dysplasia and this restult suggests that the benomyl inhibit stongly to the development of neural tissue. These abnormal developments may be caused by antimitotic action, inhibition of tubulin complex, destruction of microtubule, inhibitions of neurulation and closing of neural fold, and by the inhibition of the movement of neural crest cells.

A Study of Fish Community on Up and Downstream of Hwabuk Dam Under Construction in the Upper Wie Stream. (위천 상류에 건설 중인 화북댐 상 하류 어류군집에 관한 연구)

  • Seo, Jin-Won;Kim, Hee-Sung
    • Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
    • /
    • v.42 no.2
    • /
    • pp.260-269
    • /
    • 2009
  • Hwabuk Dam has been under construction to reduce flood damage in Nakdong River watershed and to supply stable water for middle area of Gyeongbuk Province. Therefore, fish investigation in up and downstream of the dam was conducted from 2004 to 2008 in order to determine any negative effect on fish community due to dam construction and to use as fundamental data for conserving species diversity and maintaining stream health. According to data analysis on water quality, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, suspended solids, and total E-coli had seasonal variation, but they did not significantly differ in sites. However, biological and chemical oxygen demand, chlorophyll-a, nitrogen, and phosphorus representing organic matter and nutrient concentration were higher in upper site and decreased to lower site so that they differed by site. Concentration of arsenic among the heavy metals was less than 0.05 mg $L^{-1}$, which is regulated for protection of human health in water quality standard, except for 0.092 mg $L^{-1}$ in June 2005. During the study period, the total number of fish caught from the 6 sites was 10,263 representing 7 families 19 species. Among them, dominant and subdominant species were Korean chub (Zacco koreanus, 62.5%) and Chinese minnow (Rhynchocypris oxycephalus, 10.6%) which inhabit mostly in mid and upper streams, Korea. Among the 19 species, Korean endemic species were 9 species (47.4%) including Korean slender gudgeon (Squalidus gracilis majimae), Korean dark sleeper (Odontobutis platycephala), and Korean shiner (Coreoleuciscus splendidus). There was several individuals of the $1^{st}$-class endangered species, Naktong nose loach (Koreocobitis nahtongensis), caught in 2005${\sim}$2007, and no introduced species of fish was found in entire sampling period. According to result of community analysis, dominance index decreased toward lower site, but diversity and richness indices increased toward lower site. The equation of length-weight relationship on the dominant species was TW=0.000003$(TL)^{3.2603}$. The parameter b in the equation was greater than 3.0 indicating good nutritional condition in the populations. Compared to populations of Korean chub in other streams, the population in Hwabuk Dam watershed had higher mean of condition factor by size indicating better growth rate. With fish fauna and multi-metric health assessment model in each sampling attempt, index of biotic integrity (IBI) was evaluated and it resulted mostly in good (26${\sim}$35) and excellent (36${\sim}$40) condition in all sites, and the mean of IBI was the highest in site 5. The results indicate that it is very important to study not only environmental impact assessment with fish composition but also stream health assessment in order to conserve healthy aquatic ecosystem.

Effects of streambed geomorphology on nitrous oxide flux are influenced by carbon availability (하상 미지형에 따른 N2O 발생량 변화 효과에 대한 탄소 가용성의 영향)

  • Ko, Jongmin;Kim, Youngsun;Ji, Un;Kang, Hojeong
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
    • /
    • v.52 no.11
    • /
    • pp.917-929
    • /
    • 2019
  • Denitrification in streams is of great importance because it is essential for amelioration of water quality and accurate estimation of $N_2O$ budgets. Denitrification is a major biological source or sink of $N_2O$, an important greenhouse gas, which is a multi-step respiratory process that converts nitrate ($NO_3{^-}$) to gaseous forms of nitrogen ($N_2$ or $N_2O$). In aquatic ecosystems, the complex interactions of water flooding condition, substrate supply, hydrodynamic and biogeochemical properties modulate the extent of multi-step reactions required for $N_2O$ flux. Although water flow in streambed and residence time affect reaction output, effects of a complex interaction of hydrodynamic, geomorphology and biogeochemical controls on the magnitude of denitrification in streams are still illusive. In this work, we built a two-dimensional water flow channel and measured $N_2O$ flux from channel sediment with different bed geomorphology by using static closed chambers. Two independent experiments were conducted with identical flume and geomorphology but sediment with differences in dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The experiment flume was a circulation channel through which the effluent flows back, and the size of it was $37m{\times}1.2m{\times}1m$. Five days before the experiment began, urea fertilizer (46% N) was added to sediment with the rate of $0.5kg\;N/m^2$. A sand dune (1 m length and 0.15 m height) was made at the middle of channel to simulate variations in microtopography. In high- DOC experiment, $N_2O$ flux increases in the direction of flow, while the highest flux ($14.6{\pm}8.40{\mu}g\;N_2O-N/m^2\;hr$) was measured in the slope on the back side of the sand dune. followed by decreases afterward. In contrast, low DOC sediment did not show the geomorphological variations. We found that even though topographic variation influenced $N_2O$ flux and chemical properties, this effect is highly constrained by carbon availability.

Reduction of Artifacts in Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Diamagnetic Substance (반자성 물질을 이용한 자기공명영상검사에서의 인공물 감소)

  • Choi, Woo Jeon;Kim, Dong Hyun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
    • /
    • v.13 no.4
    • /
    • pp.581-588
    • /
    • 2019
  • MRI is superior when contrasted to help the organization generate artifacts resolution, but also affect the diagnosis and create a image that can not be read. Metal is inserted into the tooth, it is necessary to often be inhibited in imaging by causing the geometric distortion due to the majority and if the difference between the magnetic susceptibility of a ferromagnetic material or paramagnetic reducing them. The purpose of this study is to conduct a metal artefact in accordance with the analysis using a diamagnetic material. The magnetic material include a wire for the orthodontic bracket and a stainless steel was used as a diamagnetic material was used copper, zinc, bismuth. Testing equipment is sequenced using 1.5T, 3T was used was measured using a SE, TSE, GE, EPI. A self-produced phantom material was used for agarose gel (10%) to a uniform signal artifacts causing materials are stainless steel were tested by placing in the center of the phantom and cover inspection of the positive cube diamagnetic material of 10mm each length.After a measurement artefact artifact zone settings area was calculated using the Wand tool After setting the Low Threshold value of 10 in the image obtained by subtracting images, including magnetic material from a pure tool phantom images using Image J. Metal artifacts occur in stainless steel metal artifact reduction was greatest in the image with the bismuth diamagnetic materials of copper and zinc is slightly reduced, but the difference in degree will not greater. The reason for this is thought to be due to hayeotgi offset most of the susceptibility in bismuth diamagnetic susceptibility of most small ferromagnetic. Most came with less artifacts in image of bismuth in both 1.5T and 3T. Sequence-specific artifact reduction was most reduced artifacts from the TSE 1.5T 3T was reduced in the most artifacts from SE. Signal-to-noise ratio was the lowest SNR is low, appears in the implant, the 1.5T was the Implant + Bi Cu and Zn showed similar results to each other. Therefore, the results of artifacts variation of diamagnetic material, magnetic susceptibility (${\chi}$) is the most this shows the reduced aspect lower than the implant artificial metal artifacts criteria in the video using low bismuth susceptibility to low material the more metal artifacts It was found that the decrease. Therefore, based on the study on the increase, the metal artifacts reduction for the whole, as well as dental prosthesis future orthodontic materials in a way that can even reduce the artifact does not appear which has been pointed out as a disadvantage of the solutions of conventional metal artifact It is considered to be material.

Automatic Fracture Detection in CT Scan Images of Rocks Using Modified Faster R-CNN Deep-Learning Algorithm with Rotated Bounding Box (회전 경계박스 기능의 변형 FASTER R-CNN 딥러닝 알고리즘을 이용한 암석 CT 영상 내 자동 균열 탐지)

  • Pham, Chuyen;Zhuang, Li;Yeom, Sun;Shin, Hyu-Soung
    • Tunnel and Underground Space
    • /
    • v.31 no.5
    • /
    • pp.374-384
    • /
    • 2021
  • In this study, we propose a new approach for automatic fracture detection in CT scan images of rock specimens. This approach is built on top of two-stage object detection deep learning algorithm called Faster R-CNN with a major modification of using rotated bounding box. The use of rotated bounding box plays a key role in the future work to overcome several inherent difficulties of fracture segmentation relating to the heterogeneity of uninterested background (i.e., minerals) and the variation in size and shape of fracture. Comparing to the commonly used bounding box (i.e., axis-align bounding box), rotated bounding box shows a greater adaptability to fit with the elongated shape of fracture, such that minimizing the ratio of background within the bounding box. Besides, an additional benefit of rotated bounding box is that it can provide relative information on the orientation and length of fracture without the further segmentation and measurement step. To validate the applicability of the proposed approach, we train and test our approach with a number of CT image sets of fractured granite specimens with highly heterogeneous background and other rocks such as sandstone and shale. The result demonstrates that our approach can lead to the encouraging results on fracture detection with the mean average precision (mAP) up to 0.89 and also outperform the conventional approach in terms of background-to-object ratio within the bounding box.

Effect of substrate composition on the growth of roses and hydrangeas in artificial ground (인공지반에서 식재지반의 구성이 장미와 수국의 생장에 미치는 영향)

  • You, Soojin;Han, Seung Won;Kim, Kwang Jin;Jeong, Na Ra;Yun, Ji Hye
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
    • /
    • v.38 no.4
    • /
    • pp.658-666
    • /
    • 2020
  • The purpose of this study was to select a suitable planting substrate for multilayered plantings in an apartment landscape space. The experiment was conducted between May to October 2019, at the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science. Planting substrate was prepared in six repetitions of eight treatment zones using mulching material, horticultural soil, bottom ash, and subgrade soil. Rosa hybrid 'Barkarole' and Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nikko Blue' were selected as the experimental plants. We investigated the monthly variation and effect of the substrate type on the growth (plant height, number of branches, leaf length, leaf width, and plant area of the substrates) of the plants. In R. hybrid 'Barkarole' grown in 20 cm of horticultural soil and 10 cm of bottom ash, the plants were taller(102.2±5.8 cm), had more branches (5.5±0.6 each), longer leaves (10.9±1.0 cm), and greater leaf width (6.2±0.5 cm) and plant area (4077.1±416.6 cm2)(p<0.05). H. macrophylla 'Nikko Blue' showed the best growth from 3cm of mulching, 20cm of horticultural topsoil, and 10cm of bottom ash, which resulted in taller plants (43.6±2.1 cm), more branches (4.9±0.8 each), longer leaves (7.2±0.5 cm), and greater leaf width(4.3±0.3 cm) and plant area (344.5±43.2 cm2). Through this study, it was possible to propose an optimal planting substrate for shrubs for multi-layered landscaping.

Equilibrium Fractionation of Clumped Isotopes in H2O Molecule: Insights from Quantum Chemical Calculations (양자화학 계산을 이용한 H2O 분자의 Clumped 동위원소 분배특성 분석)

  • Sehyeong Roh;Sung Keun Lee
    • Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
    • /
    • v.36 no.4
    • /
    • pp.355-363
    • /
    • 2023
  • In this study, we explore the nature of clumped isotopes of H2O molecule using quantum chemical calculations. Particularly, we estimated the relative clumping strength between diverse isotopologues, consisting of oxygen (16O, 17O, and 18O) and hydrogen (hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium) isotopes and quantify the effect of temperature on the extent of isotope clumping. The optimized equilibrium bond lengths and the bond angles of the molecules are 0.9631-0.9633 Å and 104.59-104.62°, respectively, and show a negligible variation among the isotopologues. The calculated frequencies of the modes of H2O molecules decrease as isotope mass number increases, and show a more prominent change with varying hydrogen isotopes over those with oxygen isotopes. The equilibrium constants of isotope substitution reactions involving these isotopologues reveal a greater effect of hydrogen mass number than oxygen mass number. The calculated equilibrium constants of clumping reaction for four heavy isotopologues showed a strong correlation; particularly, the relative clumping strength of three isotopologues was 1.86 times (HT18O), 1.16 times (HT17O), and 0.703 times (HD17O) relative to HD18O, respectively. The relative clumping strength decreases with increasing temperature, and therefore, has potential for a novel paleo-temperature proxy. The current calculation results highlight the first theoretical study to establish the nature of clumped isotope fractions in H2O including 17O and tritium. The current results help to account for diverse geochemical processes in earth's surface environments. Future efforts include the calculations of isotope fractionations among various phases of H2O isotopologues with a full consideration of the effect of anharmonicity in molecular vibration.

Studies on Grain Filling and Quality Changes of Hard and Soft Wheat Grown under the Different Environmental Conditions (환경 변동에 따른 경ㆍ연질 소맥의 등숙 및 품질의 변화에 관한 연구)

  • Young-Soo Han
    • KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
    • /
    • v.17
    • /
    • pp.1-44
    • /
    • 1974
  • These studies were made at Suwon in 1972 and at Suwon, Iri, and Kwangju in 1973 to investigate grain filling process and variation of grain quality of NB 68513 and Caprock as hard red winter wheat, Suke #169 as soft red winter wheat variety and Yungkwang as semi-hard winter variety, grown under-three different fertilizer levels and seeding dates. Other experiments were conducted to find the effects of temperature, humidity and light intensity on the grain filling process and grain quality of Yungkwang and NB 68513 wheat varieties. These, experiments were conducted at Suwon in 1973 and 1974. 1. Grain filling process of wheat cultivars: 1) The frequency distribution of a grain weight shows that wider distribution of grain weight was associated with large grain groups rather than small grain group. In the large grain groups, the frequency was mostly concentrated near mean value, while the frequency was dispersed over the values in the small grain group. 2) The grain weight was more affected by the grain thickness and width than by grain length. 3) The grain weight during the ripening period was rapidly increased from 14 days after flowering to 35 days in Yungkwang and from 14 days after flowering to 28 days in NB 68513. The large grain group, Yungkwang was rather slowly increased and took a longer period in increase of endosperm ratio of grain than the small grain group, NB 68513. 4) In general, the 1, 000 grain weight was reduced under high temperature, low humidity, while it was increased under low temperature and high humidity condition, and under high temperature and humidity condition. The effect of shading on grain weight was greater in high temperature than in low temperature condition and no definite tendency was found in high humidity condition. 5) The effects of temperature, humidity and shading on 1, 000 grain weight were greater in large-grain group, Yungkwang than in small grain group, NB 68513. Highly significant positive correlation was found between 1, 000 grain weight and days to ripening. 6) The 1, 000 grain weight and test weight were increased more or less as the fertilizer levels applied were increased. However, the rate of increasing 1, 000 grain weight was low when fertilizer levels were increased from standard to double. The 1, 000 grain weight was high when planted early. Such tendency was greater in Suwon than in Kwangju or Iri area. 2. Milling quality: 7) The milling rate in a same group of varieties was higher under the condition of low temperature, high humidity and early maturing culture which were responsible for increasing 1, 000 grain weight. No definite relations were found along with locations. 8) In the varieties tested, the higher milling rate was found in large grain variety, Yungkwang, and the lowest milling rate was obtained from Suke # 169, the small grain variety. But the small grained hard wheat variety such as Caprock and NB 68513 showed higher milling rate compared with the soft wheat variety, Suke # 169. 9) There were no great differences of ash content due to location, fertilizer level and seeding date while remarkable differences due to variety were found. The ash content was high in the hard wheat varieties such as NB 68513, Caprock and low in soft wheat varieties such as Yungkwang and Suke # 169. 3. Protein content: 10) The protein content was increased under the condition of high temperature, low humidity and shading, which were responsible for reduction of 1, 000 grain weight. The varietal differences of protein content due to high temperature, low humidity and shading conditions were greater in Yungkwang than in NB 68513. 11) The high content of protein in grain within one to two weeks after flowering might be due to the high ratio of pericarp and embryo to endosperm. As grains ripen, the effects of embryo and pericarp on protein content were decreased, reducing protein content. However, the protein content was getting increased from three or four weeks after flowering, and maximized at seven weeks after flowering. The protein content of grain at three to four weeks after flowering increased as the increase of 1, 000 grain weight. But the protein content of matured grain appeared to be affected by daily temperature on calender rather than by duration of ripening period. 12) Highly significant positive correlation value was found between the grain protein content and flour protein content. 13) The protein content was increased under the high level of fertilizers and late seeding. The local differences of protein content were greater in Suwon than in Kwangju and Iri. 14) Protein content in the varieties tested were high in Yungkwang, NB 68513 and Caprock, and low in Suke # 169. However, variation in protein content due to the cultural methods was low in Suke # 169. 15) Protein yield per unit area was increased in accordance with increase of fertilizer levels and early maturing culture. However, nitrogen fertilizer was utilized rather effectively in early maturing culture and Yungkwang was the highest in protein yield per unit area. 4. Physio-chemical properties of wheat flour: 16) Sedimentation value was higher under the conditions of high temperature, low humidity and high levels of fertilizers than under the conditions of low temperature, high moisture and low levels of fertilizers. Such differences of sedimentation values were more apparent in NB 68513 and Caprock than Yungkwang and Suke # 169. The local difference of sedimentation value was greater in Suwon than in Kwangju and Iri. Even though the sedimentation value was highly correlated with protein content of grain, the high humidity was considered one of the factors affecting sedimentation value. 17) Changes of Pelshenke values due to the differences of cultural practices and locations were generally coincident with sedimentation values. 18) The mixing time required for mixogram was four to six minutes in NB 68513, five to seven minutes in Cap rock. The great variation of mixing time for Yungkwang and Suke # 169 due to location and planting conditions was found. The mixing height and area were high in hard wheat than in soft wheat. Variation of protein content due to cultural methods were inconsistent. However, the pattern of mixogram were very much same regardless the treatments applied. With this regard, it could be concluded that the mixogram is a kind of method expressing the specific character of the variety. 19) Even though the milling property of NB 68513 and Caprock was deteriorated under either high temperature and low humidity of high fertilizer levels and late seeding conditions, baking quality was better due to improved physio-chemical properties of flour. In contrast, early maturing culture deteriorated physio-chemical properties, milling property of grain and grain protein yield per unit area was increased. However, it might be concluded that the hard wheat production of NB 68513 and Caprock for baking purpose could be done better in Suwon than in Iri or Kwangju area. 5. Interrelationships between the physio-chemical characters of wheat flour: 20) Physio-chemical properties of flour didn't have direct relationship with milling rate and ash content. Low grain weight produced high protein content and better physio-chemical flour properties. 21) In hard wheat varieties like NB 68513 and Caprock, protein content was significantly correlated with sedimentation value, Pelshenke value and mixing height. However, gluten strength and baking quality were improved by the increased protein content. In Yungkwang and Suk # 169, protein content was correlated with sedimentation value, but no correlations were found with Pelshenke value and mixing height. Consequently, increase of protein content didn't improve the gluten strength in soft wheat. 22) The highly significant relationships between protein content and gluten strength and sedimentation . value, and between Pelshenke value, mixogram and gluten strength indicated that the determination of mixogram and Pelshenke value are useful for de terming soft and hard type of varieties. Determination of sedimentation value is considered useful method for quality evaluation of wheat grain under different cultural practices.

  • PDF

Comparisons of Unicortical and Bicortical Lateral Mass Screws in the Cervical Spine : Safety vs Strength (경추부의 후관절 나사못 고정술에서 단피질삽입법과 양피질 삽입법 간의 특성에 관한 비교)

  • Park, Choon-Keun;Hwang, Jang-Hoe;Ji, Chul;Lee, Jae Un;Sung, Jae Hoon;Choi, Seung-Jin;Lee, Sang-Won;Seybold, Eric;Park, Sung-Chan;Cho, Kyung-Suok;Park, Chun-Kun;Kang, Joon-Ki
    • Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
    • /
    • v.30 no.10
    • /
    • pp.1210-1219
    • /
    • 2001
  • Introduction : The purpose of this study was to analyze the safety, pullout strength and radiographic characteristics of unicortical and bicortical screws of cervical facet within cadaveric specimens and evaluate the influence of level of training on the positioning of these screws. Methods : Twenty-one cadavers, mean 78.9 years of age, underwent bilateral placement of 3.5mm AO lateral mass screw from C3-C6(n=168) using a slight variation of the Magerl technique. Intraoperative imaging was not used. The right side(unicortical) utilized only 14mm screws(effective length of 11mm) while on the left side to determine the length of the screw after the ventral cortex had been drilled. Three spine surgeons(attending, fellow, chief resident) with varying levels of spine training performed the procedure on seven cadavers each. All spines were harvested and lateral radiographs were taken. Individual cervical vertebrae were carefully dissected and then axial radiographs were taken. The screws were evaluated clinically and radiographically for their safety. Screws were graded clinically for their safety with respect to the spinal cord, facet joint, nerve root and vertebral artery. The grades consisted of the following categories : "satisfactory", "at risk" and "direct injury". Each screw was also graded according to its zone placement. Screw position was quantified by measuring a sagittal angle from the lateral radiograph and an axial angle from the axial radiograph. Pull-out force was determined for all screws using a material testing machine. Results : Dissection revealed that fifteen screws on the left side actually had only unicortical and not bicortical purchase as intended. The majority of screws(92.8%) were satisfactory in terms of safety. There were no injuries to the spinal cord. On the right side(unicortical), 98.9% of the screws were "satisfactory" and on the left side(bicortical) 68.1% were "satisfactory". There was a 5.8% incidence of direct arterial injury and a 17.4% incidence of direct nerve root injury with the bicortical screws. There were no "direct injuries" with the unicortical screws for the nerve root or vertebral artery. The unicortical screws had a 21.4% incidence of direct injury of the facet joint, while the bicortical screws had a 21.7% incidence. The majority of "direct injury" of bicortical screws were placed by the surgeon with the least experience. The performance of the resident surgeon was significantly different from the attending or fellow(p<0.05) in terms of safety of the nerve root and vertebral artery. The attending's performance was significantly better than the resident or fellow(p<0.05) in terms of safety of the facet joint. There was no relationship between the safety of a screw and its zone placement. The axial deviation angle measured $23.5{\pm}6.6$ degrees and $19.8{\pm}7.9$ degrees for the unicortical and bicortical screws, respectively. The resident surgeon had a significantly lower angle than the attending or fellow(p<0.05). The sagittal angle measured $66.3{\pm}7.0$ degrees and $62.3{\pm}7.9$ degrees for the unicortical and bicortical screws, respectively. The attending had a significantly lower sagittal angle than the fellow or resident(p<0.05). Thirty-three screws that entered the facet joint were tested for pull-out strength but excluded from the data because they were not lateral mass screws per-se and had deviated substantially from the intended final trajectory. The mean pull-out force for all screws was $542.9{\pm}296.6N$. There was no statistically significant difference between the pull-out force for unicortical($519.9{\pm}286.9N$) and bicortical($565.2{\pm}306N$) screws. There was no significant difference in pull-out strengths with respect to zone placement. Conclusion : It is our belief that the risk associated with bicortical purchase mandates formal spine training if it is to be done safely and accurately. Unicortical screws are safer regardless of level of training. It is apparent that 14mm lateral mass screws placed in a supero-lateral trajectory in the adult cervical spine provide an equivalent strength with a much lower risk of injury than the longer bicortical screws placed in a similar orientation.

  • PDF