The present state of research into industrial clusters and districts. Content analysis of material published 1997-2006

[EN] The aim of this work is to help gain a better understanding of the research conducted on territorial agglomerations of firms at a multidisciplinary level. To this end, an analysis was performed of the contents of the most significant scientific literature on economics, management, planning and development, urban studies and geography published over the period 1997-2006. From the results, a database of 142 papers from 43 journals was then elaborated. An analysis of these works reveals the level of development of the main lines of research in this field and, consequently, makes it possible to detect the topics that require greater attention and that can be the object of future research for researchers and academics. The main conclusions include the growing number of studies conducted on the subject in recent years, as well as a greater predominance of empirical research over conceptual work, and the existence of a significant change in the topics or lines of research throughout the period under study. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.This research was financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, National R&D & Innovation Plan 2007–2010, under the project entitled “El Distrito Industrial: el impacto del Capital Social sobre la Gestio´n de la Cadena de Suministro” (The Industrial District: the impact of Social Capital on the management of the Supply Chain) (SEJ2007- 62876/ECON).Martinez-Fernandez, M.; Capó Vicedo, J.; Vallet-Bellmunt, T. (2012). The present state of research into industrial clusters and districts. Content analysis of material published 1997-2006. European Planning Studies. 20(2):281-304. doi:10.1080/09654313.2012.650906S28130420

Herniation Pits in Human Mummies: A CT Investigation in the Capuchin Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily

Herniation pits (HPs) of the femoral neck were first described in a radiological publication in 1982 as round to oval radiolucencies in the proximal superior quadrant of the femoral neck on anteroposterior radiographs of adults. In following early clinical publications, HPs were generally recognized as an incidental finding. In contrast, in current clinical literature they are mentioned in the context of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) of the hip joint, which is known to cause osteoarthritis (OA). The significance of HPs in chronic skeletal disorders such as OA is still unclear, but they are discussed as a possible radiological indicator for FAI in a large part of clinical studies

Cam morphology and inguinal pathologies: is there a possible connection?

Background: To analyse the prevalences of the cam and pincer morphologies in a cohort of patients with groin pain syndrome caused by inguinal pathologies. Materials and methods: Forty-four patients (40 men and 4 women) who suffered from groin pain syndrome were enrolled in the study. All the patients were radiographically and clinically evaluated following a standardised protocol established by the First Groin Pain Syndrome Italian Consensus Conference on Terminology, Clinical Evaluation and Imaging Assessment in Groin Pain in Athlete. Subsequently, all of the subjects underwent a laparoscopic repair of the posterior inguinal wall. Results: The study demonstrated an association between the cam morphology and inguinal pathologies in 88.6% of the cases (39 subjects). This relationship may be explained by noting that the cam morphology leads to biomechanical stress at the posterior inguinal wall level. Conclusions: Athletic subjects who present the cam morphology may be considered a population at risk of developing inguinal pathologies. Level of evidence: Level IV, Observational cross-sectional study

Elimination of motion and pulsation artifacts using BLADE sequences in shoulder MR imaging

Objectives: To evaluate the ability of proton-density with fat-suppression BLADE (proprietary name for periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction in MR systems from Siemens Healthcare, PDFS BLADE) and turbo inversion recovery magnitude-BLADE (TIRM BLADE) sequences to reduce motion and pulsation artifacts in shoulder magnetic resonance examinations. Materials and methods: Forty-one consecutive patients who had been routinely scanned for shoulder examination participated in the study. The following pairs of sequences with and without BLADE were compared: (a) Oblique coronal proton-density sequence with fat saturation of 25 patients and (b) oblique sagittal T2 TIRM-weighed sequence of 20 patients. Qualitative analysis was performed by two experienced radiologists. Image motion and pulsation artifacts were also evaluated. Results: In oblique coronal PDFS BLADE sequences, motion artifacts have been significantly eliminated, even in five cases of non-diagnostic value with conventional imaging. Similarly, in oblique sagittal T2 TIRM BLADE sequences, image quality has been improved, even in six cases of non-diagnostic value with conventional imaging. Furthermore, flow artifacts have been improved in more than 80% of all the cases. Conclusions: The use of BLADE sequences is recommended in shoulder imaging, especially in uncooperative patients because it effectively eliminates motion and pulsation artifacts. © 2015, ISS