Screening of patients for first time prostheses after amputation of lower limbs

In the world's developed countries, demographic changes, such as aging societies and increased numbers of diabetes patients, have led to an increase in amputations (11), and it is believed that as society ages, the number of people who are older than 65 will face as much as two times more amputations [3]. Of great importance after the amputation of a lower limb is the selection and adaptation of prostheses that allow patients to move around, thus achieving rehabilitation goals much more quickly [5]. A 20090-study of the rehabilitation of people with lower limb amputations in Latvia found that among 183 patients, 50% use their prostheses actively for more than 6 hours a day, 30% did not use them at all or used them for less than 3 hours a day, and 20% used them for 3-6 hours a day. The study included 173 patients with lower limb amputations who were evaluated in 2012 in relation with whether primary prosthesis should be provided. Of 173 patients who were evaluated, only 109 received a decision on primary prostheses, while in 51 cases the process was delayed for 1–3 months, in 12 cases, it was decided that prostheses would not be purposeful. More than 25% of those who followed the recommended treatment and rehabilitation programme to prepare the amputation stump, reduced contracture and enhanced physical working abilities were declared to be appropriate for further prostheses. This indicates serious shortcomings in medical treatments during the early post-amputation period.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Performance of spring barley (Hordeum vulgare) varieties under organic and conventional conditions

Organic agriculture needs spring barley varieties that are adapted to organic growing conditions and have good and stable grain yield across years, even under less favourable growing conditions. The aim of this study was to compare how varieties differ in yield and yield stability under conventional and organic management conditions. The results help to decide under which growing conditions selection of genotypes for organic farming can be most effective. Grain yield and yield components of 10 varieties were estimated in field trials for three years at four sites: two conventionally and two organically managed sites. Varieties differed in stability: some varieties had high yield under conventional conditions and relatively high and stable yield under organic conditions. Heritabilities for yield and yield components were lower under organic (especially in the field with low weed control) than under conventional conditions. Heritabilities for yield components were lower than those for yield itself. Selection for yield components, therefore, may be less effective than selection directly for grain yield. Our data showed that generally the top performing cultivars under conventional conditions also performed as the best under organic conditions, but there were also exceptions. Therefore we conclude that selection of genotypes for organic farming may take place under conventional conditions, but that a final testing should be conducted under organic conditions to confirm the suitability of the selected varieties for cultivation on organic farms

Comparison of selection efficiency for spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) under organic and conventional farming conditions

The main objective of this research was to analyze whether selection under conventional conditions (indirect selection) is as effective as selection under organic conditions (direct selection) to develop varieties suitable for organic farming systems. Two F3 barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) populations ‘Primus’/‘Idumeja’ (P/I) and ‘Anni’/‘Dziugiai’ (A/Dz) targeted for organic variety development were selected in two organically and two conventionally managed environments during F3 to F3:6. From there, the performance of the five best F3:6 lines selected in each of the four environments from each cross (in total, 40 lines) were compared at all four sites during two years. For obtaining varieties adapted to organic conditions for the P/I cross, it did not matter at which condition the selection was performed. For A/Dz, the best selection results in terms of yield, combined with other traits included for an organic ideotype, were achieved under well-managed organic conditions. We conclude that direct and indirect selection in early breeding stages are equally suitable for the development of cultivars for organic conditions if (i) care is taken that selection considers not only yield, but also other traits important for organic growing conditions, (ii) selection is not performed under too stressful conditions, and (iii) testing in later stages of the breeding program is conducted under various organic farming conditions for the best recommended varieties for organic agriculture