The role of Taylor spatial frame in the treatment of Blount disease

BACKGROUND: Alteration of the posteromedial part of the proximal tibia is the main characteristic of Blount's disease and if left untreated, leg alignment and normal development of the lower limbs may be compromised.AIM: To report treatment outcomes in children with Blount's disease using the Taylor Spatial Frame (TSF).MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2007 to December 2014, 16 young children (24 tibia) with a mean age of 7.5 years (range of 3-14 yrs) and severe Blount's disease were treated using TSF. Preoperative long standing radiographs were performed and anatomic medial proximal tibial angle (MPTA), diaphyseal-metaphyseal tibial angle (Drennan), femoro-tibial angle and leg length discrepancy (LLD) were measured.RESULTS: Post-operative improvement of all measurements was observed. MPTA increased from a mean of 71.8\ub0 (58\ub0 - 79\ub0) to 92.5\ub0 (90\ub0 - 95\ub0), the Drennan decreased from 16.6\ub0 (14\ub0 - 18\ub0) to 3.6\ub0 (0\ub0 - 6\ub0), the F-T angle changed from 15.4\ub0 (10\ub0 - 25\ub0) of varus to 5.9\ub0 (2\ub0 - 10\ub0) of valgus and the LLD decreased from 208 mm (150-320) to 69 mm (0- +120). Mean follow-up was 45.6 months. According to Paley's criteria pin track infection was present in 6 tibiae, while in 5 patients software changes were necessary. Recurrence was observed in 3 patients (triplets). Complete restoration of the mechanical axis was obtained at the end of the treatment.CONCLUSIONS: In the last decades, different surgical treatments have been proposed for Blount's disease (tension band plate, staples, osteotomies using external or internal fixation). External fixation using the TSF allows gradual safe correction of multiplanar deformities and is a well-tolerated technique by patients with Blount's disease

ResearchFlow: Understanding the Knowledge Flow between Academia and Industry

Understanding, monitoring, and predicting the flow of knowledge between academia and industry is of critical importance for a variety of stakeholders, including governments, funding bodies, researchers, investors, and companies. To this purpose, we introduce ResearchFlow, an approach that integrates semantic technologies and machine learning to quantifying the diachronic behaviour of research topics across academia and industry. ResearchFlow exploits the novel Academia/Industry DynAmics (AIDA) Knowledge Graph in order to characterize each topic according to the frequency in time of the related i) publications from academia, ii) publications from industry, iii) patents from academia, and iv) patents from industry. This representation is then used to produce several analytics regarding the academia/industry knowledge flow and to forecast the impact of research topics on industry. We applied ResearchFlow to a dataset of 3.5M papers and 2M patents in Computer Science and highlighted several interesting patterns. We found that 89.8% of the topics first emerge in academic publications, which typically precede industrial publications by about 5.6 years and industrial patents by about 6.6 years. However this does not mean that academia always dictates the research agenda. In fact, our analysis also shows that industrial trends tend to influence academia more than academic trends affect industry. We evaluated ResearchFlow on the task of forecasting the impact of research topics on the industrial sector and found that its granular characterization of topics improves significantly the performance with respect to alternative solutions

Television pictures of Phobos: first results

In February-March 1989, 37 television images of the Martian satellite Phobos were obtained by the Phobos 2 spacecraft from distances of 200-1100 km. These images provide an important supplement to the TV data from the American Mariner 9 and Viking spacecraft in coverage of t4e surface of Phobos and in resolution in certain regions, in spectral range, and in range of phase angles. They make it possible to refine the figure and topographic and geological maps of the surface of Phobos, its spectral and angular reflective characteristics, the surface composition and texture, and characteristics of the orbital and librational motion

Lagrange and practical stability criteria for dynamical systems with nonlinear perturbations

In the paper two classes of nonlinear dynamical system with perturbations are considered. The sufficient conditions for robust Lagrange and practical stability are proven with theorems, applying the theory of nonlinear operators of the functional analysis. The presented criteria give also the bounds of the analyzed dynamical processes. Three examples comparing the numerical computer solutions and the analytical investigation of the stability of the systems are given. The method can be applied to analytical and computer modeling of nonlinear dynamical systems, synthesis of computer control and optimization

Individualism, Collectivism, and Authoritarianism in Seven Societies

Building on Hofstede's finding that individualism and social hierarchy are incompatible at the societal level, the authors examined the relationship between individualism-collectivism and orientations toward authority at the individual level. In Study 1, authoritarianism was related to three measures of collectivism but unrelated to three measures of individualism in a U.S. sample (N = 382). Study 2 used Triandis's horizontal-vertical individualism-collectivism framework in samples from Bulgaria, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, Canada, and the United States (total N = 1,018). Both at the individual level and the societal level of analysis, authoritarianism was correlated with vertical individualism and vertical collectivism but unrelated to horizontal collectivism. Horizontal individualism was unrelated to authoritarianism except in post-Communist societies whose recent history presumably made salient the incompatibility between state authority and self-determination

Палеолитът в Белоградчишкия карст (българо-френски проучвания): Пещера Козарника.

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