Search

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the results of our all posterior-one stage surgical technique for the reduction and fusion of high-grade high-dysplastic spondylolisthesis.Patients over 11 years old with high-grade spondylolisthesis treated by reduction and circumferential fusion with a posterior-only approach were reviewed. Data about operative time, blood loss, length of stay, intra- and postoperative complications were collected. Meyerding grade (M), lumbar lordosis (LL), thoracic kyphosis (TK), pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), lumbosacral angle (LSA), slip angle (SLIP), lumbar index (LI) and severity index were measured on preoperative and last follow-up. Sagittal vertical axis (SVA) was used to assess sagittal balance.Of the 14 included patients, L5-S1 arthrodesis was performed in 12 cases, and L4-S1 was performed in 2 cases. Average surgical time was 275 ± 65 min; average blood loss was 635 ± 375 mL. Average length of stay of was 3.9 ± 1.5 days. The SLIP angle improves from 33.8° ± 7.3° to 6.4° ± 2.5°, (p = 0.002); the lumbosacral angle improves from 68.8° ± 18.6° to 100.7° ± 13.2°, (p = 0.01); and the SVA decreased from 49.4 ± 22.1 mm to 34.4 ± 8.6 mm (p = 0.02). No significant changes were observed in PI, PT and SS. Thoracic kyphosis (TK) and lumbar lordosis (LL) did not change significantly. At last follow-up, no patient had surgical site infection or mechanical complications; no pseudoarthrosis was observed. No revision surgery was performed.Although technically demanding, reduction and fusion with one stage all posterior approach prove to be a safe and effective.

The proper management of irrigation systems is a key factor to achieve an efficient use of water and an adequate crop production. The use of new automatic control and communication technologies, offers a set of tools for data gathering and analysis, and assists agronomists and farmers to take better decisions in order to develop a sustainable agriculture, able to maintain its productivity and to be useful to the society in the long term. This work presents the implementation and set-up of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system designed to supervise and control a drip irrigation system. The irrigation system is installed in a young olive orchard, located in San Juan, an arid region fully dependent on irrigation. The main task of the system is to gather and display the information coming from the field devices (soil moisture sensors, weather station, water flow-meters and programmable-logic-controller (PLC) for commanding the irrigation system) and automatically control the irrigation. The main screen of the SCADA software presents current information related to the process and, in other tabs, gives a detailed report of data. The gathered information is saved to a data base that can be accessed by different users, allowing the participation of other users, such as irrigation advisers, laboratories, quality control, maintenance, etc. Information can be accessed locally, through internet or by other means. Results of this experience show that it is possible to apply new technological tools to manage the irrigation process as a way to improve its efficiency. Fil: Capraro Fuentes, Flavio Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; Argentina Fil: Tosetti Sanz, Santiago Ramon. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan. Instituto de Automática. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Automática; Argentina Fil: Vita Serman, Alberto Facundo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Cuyo Mendoza - San Juan; Argentina

Frosts constitute a main hazard for most of the Argentine olive growing area. As a component of a feasibility assessment, financed by the Argentine Federal Investment Council (CFI) to introduce olive growing in southern Argentina (Neuquén), a microclimatological study of the frost regime in 3760 ha was conducted. The field occupies a band, with moderate gradient, which runs between the limit of the Patagonian plateau and the Neuquén River that flows in the lower part of a narrow valley, thus allowing cold air to drain, mitigating frost intensity. To evaluate frost hazard, a meteorological automatic station with capacity to transmit data, and 30 registering temperature sensors were installed, making observations from March to November 2010. Those registers were correlated with data from two neighbor climate stations, reconstructing the local series for the 2001-2010 decade. Those reconstructed data were introduced in a model developed taking as a basis the NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction of NOAA) Climate Forecast System Reanalysis a downscaling process was carried on, for a 2.5 by 2.5 m grid, covering the area in study to a high degree of resolution. Maps of mean value, beginning, end and duration of the annual periods with temperatures equal or less than 0, -1, -3, -7, -10 and -12°C, were elaborated. For all thermal levels, it was observed that the lower portions of the fields are prone to suffer longer lasting and more intense frosts, making evident the importance of two main microclimate factors: (a) upper portion of the area, higher wind speed, impedes air stratification avoiding the thermal inversion necessary for radiation frost development; and (b) lower portions of the field, cold air drainage ads to thermal loss increasing cooling. Those criteria allowed dividing the field in sub-areas with different levels of frost hazard. Fil: Vita Serman, F.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Mendoza - San Juan. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Juan; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina Fil: Babelis, G.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Mendoza - San Juan. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Juan; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina Fil: Gallego, M. E.. Consejo Federal de Inversiones; Argentina Fil: Kiessling, J.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Patagonia Norte. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Alto Valle; Argentina Fil: Sierra, Eduardo Mario. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: López, E. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomia; Argentina

Soil salinity is a major cause of plant stress leading to economic losses in world agriculture. The aim of this study is to provide information about the effects of salinity on the growth of young olive trees (Olea europaea L. ‘Barnea’ and ‘Arbequina’) and to identify some of the underlying physiological mechanisms. One-year-old plants were planted in 30-L pots, using a sand, perlite, peat (1:1:1) soil substrate. Each treatment was drip irrigated with a NaCl solution: 4 dS/m (25 mg NaCl); 6 dS/m (37.8 mg NaCl); 8 dS/m (50 mg NaCl) and a control treatment of 2 dS/m (no NaCl added). Growth in both cultivars decreased after a period of exposure to salinity, ‘Barnea’ being the most affected cultivar. In both cultivars leaf water potentials were reduced when NaCl concentrations were increased. The osmotic potential became more negative when salt concentrations increased, thus indicating that both cultivars perform osmotic adjustment. The relative water content (RWC) did not change with the different saline treatments, suggesting that both cultivars present mechanisms to maintain water content even under stress conditions. On the other hand, high salinity levels induce ionic imbalance given higher Na+ and Cl- concentration in leaves and roots. As a result of the accumulation of these ions, the K+ concentration decreased resulting in a low ratio of K+/Na+. Both cultivars showed symptoms of toxicity in leaves and shoots which indicates that they accumulate toxic ions in the youngest leaves. ‘Arbequina’ showed higher Cl- concentrations in their root tissues over the concentrations in leaves, suggesting that there is a mechanism of Cl- compartmentalization at stem or root level that prevents entry and accumulation of Cl- in the leaf. ‘Barnea’ leaves were more damaged than those of ‘Arbequina’ and accumulated higher Cl- concentration, indicating that ‘Barnea’ is less resistant to salinity.

Wine grapes are grown in arid and semi-arid regions of Argentina which have warm climate conditions with high summer temperatures and low rainfall, forcing to use irrigation water which competes with some increasing demand usages. Additionally, the agro-ecological conditions of these regions (soil and climate) define a major vegetative expression of the vineyards. Such features, together with the trellis systems commonly used and a higher leaf area exposed to light, generate water requirement conditions greater than those cited by other authors. This work was undertaken to determine the water requirement in a vertical shoot position (VSP) trellis system vineyard grown in warm climate conditions, in order to obtain the crop coefficients (Kc). The experiment was conducted between 2003 and 2008 in a vineyard (‘Syrah’) located at the Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria (INTA) Experimental Station, San Juan, Argentina. Crop evapotranspiration (ETc) was estimated using the water balance equation. Deep percolation was quantified with three drainage volumetric lysimeters. Reference evapotranspiration (ETo) was estimated with a Type A evaporation pan method. The mean crop cycle water requirement during the 5 year evaluation was of 1297.2 mm.year-1. The water consumption was 9.5 mm.day-1 during the month of maximum demand. This value was higher than those mentioned in other world wine grape growing areas. The water consumption was 9.6% of the total amount from budding to flowering; 34.7%, from flowering to ripening, 40.5% from ripening to harvest and 15.2% from harvest to leaf fall. The initial Kc value was 0.40 and then increased until January when it reached its maximum amount (Kc=1.11). It may be inferred then that the crop reached its highest foliar area. Kc diminished in the subsequent months although they remained nearly 1.00. Taken together, our results suggest that published Kc values underestimate the vineyard water required under local agro-ecological conditions.

Coralline red algae are significant components of sea bottom and up to now considered as exclusively marine species. Here we present the first coralline alga from a freshwater environment, found in the Cetina River (Adriatic Sea watershed). The alga is fully adapted to freshwater, as attested by reproductive structures, sporelings and an inability to survive brackish conditions. Morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses reveal the species belongs to Pneophyllum and is described as P. cetinaensis sp. nov. The marine-freshwater transition most probably occurred during the last glaciation. The brackish-water ancestor was preadapted to osmotic stress and rapid changes in water salinity and temperature. The particular characteristics of the karst Cetina River, such as hard water enriched with dissolved calcium carbonate and a pH similar to the marine environment, favoured colonization of the river by a marine species. The upstream advance and dispersal is facilitated by exceptionally pronounced zoochory by freshwater gastropods. Pneophyllum cetinaensis defies the paradigm of Corallinales as an exclusively marine group.

Magnetic nanoparticles constitute nowadays a key component for the design of novel nanostructures with multi-fold functionalities. In particular magnetic - plasmonic heterostructures combine noble metals like Au and Ag with magnetic metallic or oxides moieties in a single nanostructure. These systems join simultaneously the optical absorption and all the opportunities provided by the plasmon resonance with all the chances offered by the magnetic counterpart. For these reasons, many potential applications, in particular in the biomedical field, are possible, like combined magnetic and photo thermal therapy, or dual magnetic and optical probe for cell imaging and drug delivery are now of great interest.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a major regulator of physiological and pathological angiogenesis. Recently it was reported that the delivery of VEGF using recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors reduces muscle damage and promotes muscle regeneration in different experimental models of muscle necrosis. We demonstrate that intramuscular administration of rAAV-VEGF improved pathophysiology of the mdx mouse, a model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). One month after injection, rAAV-VEGF-treated muscles showed augmented expression of VEGF and immunolocalization of its receptor, VEGFR-2. VEGF-treated mdx mice showed increased forelimb strength and strength normalized to weight. Treatment reduced necrotic fibers area and increased regenerating fibers area with an augmented number of myogenin-positive satellite cells and myonuclei, and of developmental myosin heavy chain-positive fibers. Only the regenerating area showed increased capillary density. This study provides novel evidence of a VEGF beneficial effect in mdx mice that is exerted mainly by a proregenerative and angiogenic effect. It opens new therapeutic prospectives in DMD and other types of muscular disorders.

Soft materials exhibit very attractive mechanical, optical, and electro-optical properties and easy processing techniques. Combined with holographic techniques, they can be patterned quite easily creating many unique structures. We present here few examples, of electrically-switchable passive opto-electronic components based on composite materials obtained from initial mixtures of photocurable monomers and liquid crystalline materials. Holographic exposure results in volume gratings consisting in alternate areas of photo-crosslinked polymer and phase separated LCs, respectively. We discuss the main features of this new generation of gratings and show how most of their performances can be enhanced with respect to other kinds of composite gratings, like H-PDLCs.

Fractures of the femoral head are not frequent and are almost always combined with dislocation of the hip. We reviewed 43 cases of femoral head fractures (33 men, 10 women), mean age 38.6 years. Using Pipkin's classification there were 13 type 1 cases, 5 type 2 and 25 type 4. Twenty-nine patients (67.4%) were seen again after a minimum of two years. Overall, there were ten excellent results, nine good, four fair and six poor. Complications were three cases of ischemic necrosis, eleven secondary arthritis, and three cases of heterotopic ossification.CT is an extremely useful method for assessing these lesions, especially in cases with small intra-articular fragments (Pipkin 1 and 4). Therapeutic indications obtained from this study were a non-invasive approach for Pipkin type 1 lesions, except those with a large intra-articular fragment, surgery for Pipkin type 2 cases, with osteosynthesis of the fragments, mainly using Herbert screws, and surgery particularly for Pipkin type 4, especially for osteosynthesis of the fragments of acetabular wall.

The Authors state their ideas and report their experience about diagnosis and treatment of Crohn's disease. After having treated risk and etiological factors, they discuss typical anatomo-pathological lesions. Then they explain clinical diagnostic and surgical choices extensively: they prefer laparotomic approach. The Author's conclude that timely diagnosis spare heavy complications.

Nel nostro studio abbiamo preso in esame 621 pazienti, dei quali 411 al di sotto dei 12 anni, sottoposti a sedazione profonda per l'esecuzione di RM in day-hospital, nel periodo 1988–1990. I pazienti sono stati suddivisi in 4 fasce d'età: 0–36 mesi; 3–8 anni; 8–12 anni; oltre i 12 anni. I parametri che abbiamo valutato sono l'età, il peso, la patologia, le terapie domiciliari, i disturbi respiratori presenti all'induzione, i farmaci usati per la sedazione, i tempi di sedazione, le eventuali complicanze, lo stato di vigilanza alla dimissione. I farmaci utilizzati per l'esecuzione della sedazione sono benzodiazepine, barbiturici, ketamina, antagonisti delle benzodiazepine. La sorveglianza si sono verificate in soli 4 casi, nelle prime due classi di età. Al termine dell'esame i pazienti sono stati trattenuti per un periodo di sorveglianza non superiore a 30 minuti e dimessi nella maggioranza dei casi perfettamente coscienti e reagenti agli stimoli.

The authors report their 4 years' experience with a computerized digital radiographic system based on photostimulable phosphor plates which was used mostly in pediatric radiology. Major protection advantages were observed for uroradiology where high kV (90-95 kV) and very low exposure times (0.02-0.010s) were used. With this radiographic technique reduced exposure parallels increased graininess due to quantum mottle: the two variables must therefore be balanced not to decrease diagnostic accuracy. During our 4 years' experience, 368 examinations were performed on pediatric patients: 252 micturition cystourethographs, 81 urograms and 35 retrograde pyelographs. None of these examinations needed to be repeated due to over/under-exposure and image quality was always high, in spite of a light "noise". Digital radiography in pediatric urology allows radiation dose to be reduced and high quality images to be acquired and is therefore likely to take over conventional radiologic techniques.

Conventional and digital lateral teleradiographs of the skull were performed on 6 consecutive patients (3 men and 3 women). The study was aimed at comparing the diagnostic capabilities of the two imaging techniques to measure points and angles, as derived from different cephalometric analyses (see text for details). These variables were analyzed by three different operators: for both techniques, 18 cephalometric tracings were made, including a total of 414 points and 36 angles. Correlation coefficients between the two types of measurements (points and angles) were calculated; Wilcoxon's non-parametric test was also used. This study demonstrates digital radiography to be superior to conventional radiography to detect cephalometric landmarks, which is especially evident in the evaluation of the so-called "questionable" landmarks: the latter were 15 of 23 with conventional radiography and 9 of 23 with digital radiography. On the other hand, correlation coefficients and significance of the values of the considered angles were in close agreement with the two techniques. Therefore, its simultaneous demonstration of anatomical structures of different thickness--i.e., bone and soft tissues--and its lower exposure dose make digital radiography the diagnostic procedure of choice in cephalometrics, especially in the pediatric age, as well as in monitoring the patients.

The authors evaluated the prevalence of the thalassemia trait in a general population affected with femoral neck fractures. Our research was aimed at assessing whether hemoglobinopathy might affect osteoporosis, which is responsible for femoral fractures. Two hundred and thirty-eight patients admitted to St. Anna Hospital, Ferrara, for proximal femoral fractures, were retrospectively studied. The patients were 68 males and 170 females, aged 58 to 83 years (mean age: 70.4 years). The thalassemia trait was seen in 11.76% of cases, versus in 7-8% of the general population. The high prevalence of heterozygous beta-thalassemic subjects probably means that the beta-thalassemia condition is a further "variable" which is responsible for the more frequent occurrence of fractures of the proximal femur and is certainly related to an osteopenic condition much more severe than usual.

The present distribution area of Quercus cerris L. in middle-southern and eastern Europe appears to be linked to acorn dormancy, length of cold period and summer aridity. Q. cerris acorns remain dormant during a period which is inversely dependent on temperature. In fact, the seedlings survive in those temperate areas where the extended wintertime is followed by a quite long and rainy summer. Hence, they are absent in those areas characterized by either a long period of aridity or a short rainy summer.

Summary Mitochondria isolated from pea seedlings (cv. Gloria di Quimper) treated with (2-chloro-ethyl)-trimethylammonium chloride (CCC) showed an inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation. This effect was overcome by applying GA to CCC-treated seedlings. The results have been discussed in relation to their action mechanism.