Charcot Neuropathic Arthropathy of the Foot: A Literature Review and Single-Center Experience

Charcot neuropathic osteoarthropathy of the foot is a relatively common complication of diabetic neuropathy. Incorrect diagnosis and improper treatment often result in the extremity having to be amputated. This paper summarises the current view on the etiology, diagnostics, and treatment of diabetic Charcot neuropathic osteoarthropathy, with particular focus on preserving the extremity through surgical intervention from our own experiences

AUTOMATIZACE ŘÍZENÍ ŽELEZNIČNÍ DOPRAVY A MOŽNOSTI JEJÍ OPTIMALIZACE

Článek se zabývá optimalizací činnosti funkce Automatického stavění vlakových cest. Nejprve seznamuje čtenáře s původní metodou a návrhem nové metody generování povelů ke stavění vlakových cest a stručně nastiňuje jejich vývoj. Dále navrhuje možnosti optimalizace metod s primárním cílem zvýšení kapacity staničních zhlaví prostřednictvím maximalizace plynulosti jízdy vlaků. Článek také seznamuje čtenáře s užitím funkce Automatického stavění vlakových cest a jejích metod v praxi v podmínkách České republiky

The 2018 European heatwave led to stem dehydration but not to consistent growth reductions in forests

Heatwaves exert disproportionately strong and sometimes irreversible impacts on forest ecosystems. These impacts remain poorly understood at the tree and species level and across large spatial scales. Here, we investigate the effects of the record-breaking 2018 European heatwave on tree growth and tree water status using a collection of high-temporal resolution dendrometer data from 21 species across 53 sites. Relative to the two preceding years, annual stem growth was not consistently reduced by the 2018 heatwave but stems experienced twice the temporary shrinkage due to depletion of water reserves. Conifer species were less capable of rehydrating overnight than broadleaves across gradients of soil and atmospheric drought, suggesting less resilience toward transient stress. In particular, Norway spruce and Scots pine experienced extensive stem dehydration. Our high-resolution dendrometer network was suitable to disentangle the effects of a severe heatwave on tree growth and desiccation at large-spatial scales in situ, and provided insights on which species may be more vulnerable to climate extremes

Safety of pulsed field ablation in more than 17,000 patients with atrial fibrillation in the MANIFEST-17K study

Pulsed field ablation (PFA) is an emerging technology for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), for which pre-clinical and early-stage clinical data are suggestive of some degree of preferentiality to myocardial tissue ablation without damage to adjacent structures. Here in the MANIFEST-17K study we assessed the safety of PFA by studying the post-approval use of this treatment modality. Of the 116 centers performing post-approval PFA with a pentaspline catheter, data were received from 106 centers (91.4% participation) regarding 17,642 patients undergoing PFA (mean age 64, 34.7% female, 57.8% paroxysmal AF and 35.2% persistent AF). No esophageal complications, pulmonary vein stenosis or persistent phrenic palsy was reported (transient palsy was reported in 0.06% of patients; 11 of 17,642). Major complications, reported for ~1% of patients (173 of 17,642), were pericardial tamponade (0.36%; 63 of 17,642) and vascular events (0.30%; 53 of 17,642). Stroke was rare (0.12%; 22 of 17,642) and death was even rarer (0.03%; 5 of 17,642). Unexpected complications of PFA were coronary arterial spasm in 0.14% of patients (25 of 17,642) and hemolysis-related acute renal failure necessitating hemodialysis in 0.03% of patients (5 of 17,642). Taken together, these data indicate that PFA demonstrates a favorable safety profile by avoiding much of the collateral damage seen with conventional thermal ablation. PFA has the potential to be transformative for the management of patients with AF.Peer reviewe

Charcot Neuropathic Arthropathy of the Foot: A Literature Review and Single-Center Experience

Charcot neuropathic osteoarthropathy of the foot is a relatively common complication of diabetic neuropathy. Incorrect diagnosis and improper treatment often result in the extremity having to be amputated. This paper summarises the current view on the etiology, diagnostics, and treatment of diabetic Charcot neuropathic osteoarthropathy, with particular focus on preserving the extremity through surgical intervention from our own experiences

Effect of Mg2+ ions co-doping on luminescence and defects formation processes in Gd3(Ga,Al)5O12:Ce single crystals

The work was supported by the Institutional Research Funding IUT02-26 of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and the project 16-15569S of the Czech Science Foundation.Photo- and radioluminescence and thermally stimulated luminescence characteristics of Ce³⁺ - doped and Ce³⁺, Mg²⁺ co-doped Gd3(Ga,Al)5O12 (GAGG) single crystals of similar composition are investigated in the 9–500 K temperature range. The Ce³⁺ - related luminescence spectra and the photoluminescence decay kinetics in these crystals are found to be similar. Under photoexcitation in the Ce³⁺ - and Gd³⁺ - related absorption bands, no prominent rise of the photoluminescence intensity in time is observed neither in GAGG:Ce,Mg nor in GAGG:Ce crystals. The afterglow is strongly reduced in GAGG:Ce,Mg as compared to GAGG:Ce, and the afterglow decay kinetics is much faster. Co-doping with Mg²⁺ results in a drastic decrease of the thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) intensity in the whole investigated temperature range and in the appearance of a new complex Mg²⁺ - related TSL glow curve peak around 285 K. After irradiation in the Ce³⁺ - related 3.6 eV absorption band, the TSL intensity in GAGG:Ce,Mg is found to be comparable with that in the GAGG:Ce epitaxial film of similar composition. The Mg²⁺ - induced changes in the concentration, origin and structure of the crystal lattice defects and their influence on the scintillation characteristics of GAGG:Ce,Mg are discussed.Estonian Ministry of Education and Research IUT02-26; Czech Science Foundation 16-15569S; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART