Posterior Arthroscopic Subtalar Arthrodesis: Clinical and Radiologic Review of 19 Cases

Arthroscopic subtalar arthrodesis has recently gained popularity in the treatment of primary subtalar or post-traumatic arthritis, coalition, or inflammatory diseases with subtalar arthritis. The present study reports the clinical and radiologic results of 19 patients (19 feet) who underwent posterior arthroscopic subtalar arthrodesis using 2 posterior portals. A total of 19 posterior arthroscopic subtalar arthrodeses (minimum follow-up of 24 months) performed without a bone graft and with 2 parallel screws were prospectively evaluated. The fusion rate was 94% (mean time to fusion 9.8 weeks). Modified American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle-hindfoot scale score (maximum 94 points) improved significantly from 43 to 80 points and the visual analog scale for pain score improved from 7.6 to 1.2. The 12-item short-form physical and mental scores at the last follow-up point were 52.5 and 56.4, respectively. One (5.3%) patient underwent open repeat fusion for nonunion, 2 (10.5%) patients required a second procedure for implant removal, and 1 (5.3%) experienced reversible neuropraxia. In conclusion, posterior arthroscopic subtalar arthrodesis is a safe technique with a good union rate and a small number of complications in patients with no or very little hindfoot deformity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Geo-environmental mapping using physiographic analysis: constraints on the evaluation of land instability and groundwater pollution hazards in the Metropolitan District of Campinas, Brazil

Geo-environmental terrain assessments and territorial zoning are useful tools for the formulation and implementation of environmental management instruments (including policy-making, planning, and enforcement of statutory regulations). They usually involve a set of procedures and techniques for delimitation, characterisation and classification of terrain units. However, terrain assessments and zoning exercises are often costly and time-consuming, particularly when encompassing large areas, which in many cases prevent local agencies in developing countries from properly benefiting from such assessments. In the present paper, a low-cost technique based on the analysis of texture of satellite imagery was used for delimitation of terrain units. The delimited units were further analysed in two test areas situated in Southeast Brazil to provide estimates of land instability and the vulnerability of groundwater to pollution hazards. The implementation incorporated procedures for inferring the influences and potential implications of tectonic fractures and other discontinuities on ground behaviour and local groundwater flow. Terrain attributes such as degree of fracturing, bedrock lithology and weathered materials were explored as indicators of ground properties. The paper also discusses constraints on- and limitations of- the approaches taken

Structure based rational drug design of selective phosphodiesterase-4 ligands as anti-inflammatory molecules

Phosphodiesterase-4 enzyme (PDE4) has been gaining increasing attention for the last two decades as a pharmacotherapeutic target, as it is involved in the etiology of a variety of pathologies that comprise a majority of inflammation problems concerning respiratory pathway in major aspect. Intense efforts have been directed towards the development of effective and selective PDE4b inhibitors, but not much success has been reported till yet. This is because of the structural similarity between the two isoforms of PDE4, PDE4b (therapeutic effect) and PDE4d (side effect of emesis). Analogues of 1,2-dihydroxy-xanthen-9H-one were designed as selective ligands for PDE4b using the structure based drug design. The selectivity was determined by docking of xanthone analogues in PDE4b and PDE4d active sites respectively using GLIDE docking programme from Schrodinger Inc. ADME properties of the designed ligands were also predicted using QikProp from Schrodinger Inc. Interpretation of protein-ligand interactions and binding modes of xanthone analogues showed that these ligands are more selective for PDE4b than for PDE4d.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The circulation of ancient animal resources across the Yellow River Basin: a preliminary Bayesian Re-evaluation of Sr Isotope Data from the Early Neolithic to the Western Zhou Dynasty

Many questions still remain regarding the acquisition and circulation of ancient domesticated animals across the Yellow River Basin, one of the key areas for the development of complex societies in ancient China. Here, we re-evaluate previously published strontium isotope data (87Sr/86Sr, n = 167) from tooth enamel of domesticated animals at 10 archaeological sites in the Yellow River Basin to shed new light on the transition between the Neolithic (7000–5000 BCE) and the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE). The results show that from the Late Neolithic to the Western Zhou Dynasty, some domesticated animals, mostly cattle and sheep, were increasingly sourced from non-local areas. We employed Bayesian methods to define an isoscape of bioavailable Sr for the Yellow River Basin and to show the considerable diversity in the origins of non-local domesticated animals, some of which may have come from locations hundreds of kilometers away from the site as early as the Late Neolithic. The increasingly variable 87Sr/86Sr ratios of domesticated animals from the Neolithic to the Western Zhou Dynasty are consistent with that of associated human remains, and also match the archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for increased circulation of animal products in the Yellow River Basin. Therefore, we infer that local economies increasingly incorporated non-local animals as part of wider circulation networks that emerged with the development of complex societies since the Late Neolithic.Introduction Materials and methods - Modeling Methods for 87Sr/86Sr Baseline and Place of Origin Results - Strontium Isotope Variations Across the Yellow River Basin - Defining the Local 87Sr/86Sr Signature - Identifying Non-local Domesticated Animals - Human vs. Animal Mobility - Origins of Non-local Domesticated Animals Discussion - 87Sr/86Sr Evidence for Animal Circulation - Written Evidence for Animal Circulation - Animal Circulation and Social Complexity Conclusion

UCB1 Based Reinforcement Learning Model for Adaptive Energy Management in Buildings

This paper proposes a reinforcement learning model for intelligent energy management in buildings, using a UCB1 based approach. Energy management in buildings has become a critical task in recent years, due to the incentives to the increase of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources penetration. Managing the energy consumption, generation and storage in this domain, becomes, however, an arduous task, due to the large uncertainty of the different resources, adjacent to the dynamic characteristics of this environment. In this scope, reinforcement learning is a promising solution to provide adaptiveness to the energy management methods, by learning with the on-going changes in the environment. The model proposed in this paper aims at supporting decisions on the best actions to take in each moment, regarding buildings energy management. A UCB1 based algorithm is applied, and the results are compared to those of an EXP3 approach and a simple reinforcement learning algorithm. Results show that the proposed approach is able to achieve a higher quality of results, by reaching a higher rate of successful actions identification, when compared to the other considered reference approaches.This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 641794 (project DREAM-GO) and from Project SIMOCE (ANI|P2020 17690).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Gravity stress tibiotalar laxity evaluation with a biomedical gyroscopes device – cadaver study with progressive sectioning of lateral ankle ligaments

Purpose: Despite the evidence on the role of gravity stress test to access the instability of other ankle injuries, there is limited literature regarding gravity stress on the lateral ankle ligament’s insufficiency. The objective of our study was to objectively measure the tibiotalar angular movement under gravity stress after progressive sectioning of the lateral ankle ligaments. Methods: We performed sequential sectioning of the anterior talofibular (ATFL), calcaneofibular (CFL), and posterior talofibular ligaments (PTFL) in twelve ankle specimens. Under gravity stress, we measured the angular movement of the talus in relation to the tibia. The measuring device is based on a three-axis gyroscope and accelerometer. Results: Comparing to the intact condition, the plantar flexion increased on average 1.78° (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.15;2.42), 5.13° (95%CI 3.10;7.16) and 8.63° (95%CI 6.05;11.22), the rotation increased by 1.00° (95 CI -0.51;2.51), 3.68° (95%CI 1.97;5.40) and 15.62° (95%CI 10.09;21.14), and the varus increased 2.89° (95% CI 1.39, 4.39), 8.12° (95% CI 5.16, 11.07) and 11.68° (95% CI 7.91, 15.46), after sectioning the ATFL, CFL, and PTFL, respectively. The overall changes were statistically significant. Conclusions: There was a significant tibiotalar laxity after sectioning of lateral ankle ligaments when the foot position is influenced only by gravity. The tibiotalar angular displacement was significant when the CFL and PTFL were cut which suggests that the gravity test could be used to assess combined lateral ankle ligament injury. This evidence might be a step forward in the development of lateral ankle ligaments gravity stress tests. Level of evidence: 5 (cadaver study)publishersversionpublishe

Variabilidad de rindes de trigo y fertilización nitrogenada

p.115-122En la primera parte del trabajo se presenta un modelo teórico de respuesta del cultivo de trigo a una serie de factores de producción. El objetivo del mismo es permitir la estimación del valor esperado de rinde, E (Y), y la varianza de rinde, V (Y), para cualquier nivel de uso de insumo. En la segunda parte se usa el modelo anterior para analizar el proceso de respuesta del cultivo de trigo al uso de fertilizante nitrogenado. Se utilizan datos experimentales correspondientes a la zona triguera II. Una función polinomial es ajustada a datos de ensayos llevados a cabo en la zona II Norte y en la zona II Sur. Una prueba estadística para detectar la presencia de heterocedasticidad (el Test de Park) permite estimar la influencia del nivel de fertilización nitrogenada sobre la variabilidad de rindes. Se concluye que (1) las dosis óptimas son considerablemente (30-50 por ciento) mayores en la zona II surque en la II Norte, (2) las diferencias (entre zonas) de dosis óptima son mayores cuanto menores son las relaciones de precio fertilizante-trigo y (3) la utilización de fertilizante nitrogenado no parece aumentad el riesgo económico de producción

Visualizing the microscopic coexistence of spin density wave and superconductivity in underdoped NaFe1-xCoxAs

Although the origin of high temperature superconductivity in the iron pnictides is still under debate, it is widely believed that magnetic interactions or fluctuations play an important role in triggering Cooper pairing. Because of the relevance of magnetism to pairing, the question of whether long range spin magnetic order can coexist with superconductivity microscopically has attracted strong interests. The available experimental methods used to answer this question are either bulk probes or local ones without control of probing position, thus the answers range from mutual exclusion to homogeneous coexistence. To definitively answer this question, here we use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the local electronic structure of an underdoped NaFe1-xCoxAs near the spin density wave (SDW) and superconducting (SC) phase boundary. Spatially resolved spectroscopy directly reveal both the SDW and SC gap features at the same atomic location, providing compelling evidence for the microscopic coexistence of the two phases. The strengths of the SDW and SC features are shown to anti correlate with each other, indicating the competition of the two orders. The microscopic coexistence clearly indicates that Cooper pairing occurs when portions of the Fermi surface (FS) are already gapped by the SDW order. The regime TC < T < TSDW thus show a strong resemblance to the pseudogap phase of the cuprates where growing experimental evidences suggest a FS reconstruction due to certain density wave order. In this phase of the pnictides, the residual FS has a favorable topology for magnetically mediated pairing when the ordering moment of the SDW is small.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure