Hemi-Castaing ligamentoplasty for the treatment of chronic lateral ankle instability: a retrospective assessment of outcome

Purpose: In the treatment of chronic ankle instability, most non-anatomical reconstructions use the peroneus brevis tendon. This, however, sacrifices the natural ankle stabilising properties of the peroneus brevis muscle. The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional outcome of patients treated with a hemi-Castaing procedure, which uses only half the peroneus brevis tendon. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent hemi-Castaing ligamentoplasty for chronic lateral ankle instability between 1993 and 2010, with a minimum of one year follow-up. Patients were sent a postal questionnaire comprising five validated outcome measures: Olerud-Molander Ankle Score (OMAS), Karlsson Ankle Functional Score (KAFS), Tegner Activity Level Score (pre-injury, prior to surgery, at follow-up), visual analog scale on pain (VAS) and the Short Form 36 (SF-36). Results: Twenty patients completed the questionnaire on functional outcome. The OMAS showed good to excellent outcome in 80% and the KAFS in 65%, the Tegner Score improved from surgery but did not reach pre-injury levels, the VAS on pain was 1 of 10 and the SF-36 returned to normal compared with the average population. Conclusions: Even though most patients were satisfied with the results, outcome at long-term follow-up was less favourable compared with the literature on anatomical reconstructions. In accordance with the literature, we therefore conclude that the initial surgical treatment of chronic lateral ankle instability should be an anatomical repair with augmentation (i.e. the Broström-Gould technique) and the non-anatomical repair should be reserved for unsuccessful cases after anatomical repair or in cases where no adequate ligament remnants are available for reconstruction

Decision Agriculture

In this chapter, the latest developments in the field of decision agriculture are discussed. The practice of management zones in digital agriculture is described for efficient and smart faming. Accordingly, the methodology for delineating management zones is presented. Modeling of decision support systems is explained along with discussion of the issues and challenges in this area. Moreover, the precision agriculture technology is also considered. Moreover, the chapter surveys the state of the decision agriculture technologies in the countries such as Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Sweden. Finally, different field factors such as GPS accuracy and crop growth are also analyzed

Recommendations for the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is still the world's second most frequent cause of death due to infectious diseases after HIV infection, and this has aroused greater interest in identifying and managing exposed subjects, whether they are simply infected or have developed one of the clinical variants of the disease. Unfortunately, not even the latest laboratory techniques are always successful in identifying affected children because they are more likely to have negative cultures and tuberculin skin test results, equivocal chest X-ray findings, and atypical clinical manifestations than adults. Furthermore, they are at greater risk of progressing from infection to active disease, particularly if they are very young. Consequently, pediatricians have to use different diagnostic strategies that specifically address the needs of children. This document describes the recommendations of a group of scientific societies concerning the signs and symptoms suggesting pediatric TB, and the diagnostic approach towards children with suspected disease

Thermal Perceptual Thresholds are typical in Autism Spectrum Disorder but Strongly Related to Intra-individual Response Variability

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often reported to exhibit an apparent indifference to pain or temperature. Leading models suggest that this behavior is the result of elevated perceptual thresholds for thermal stimuli, but data to support these assertions are inconclusive. An alternative proposal suggests that the sensory features of ASD arise from increased intra-individual perceptual variability. In this study, we measured method-of-limits warm and cool detection thresholds in 142 individuals (83 with ASD, 59 with typical development [TD], aged 7–54 years), testing relationships with diagnostic group, demographics, and clinical measures. We also investigated the relationship between detection thresholds and a novel measure of intra-individual (trial-to-trial) threshold variability, a putative index of “perceptual noise.” This investigation found no differences in thermal detection thresholds between individuals with ASD and typical controls, despite large differences between groups in sensory reactivity questionnaires and modest group differences in intra-individual variability. Lower performance IQ, male sex, and higher intra-individual variability in threshold estimates were the most significant predictors of elevated detection thresholds. Although no psychophysical measure was significantly correlated with questionnaire measures of sensory hyporeactivity, large intra-individual variability may partially explain the elevated psychophysical thresholds seen in a subset of the ASD population

INTERACTION, Training and monitoring of daily-life physical interaction with the environment after stroke

The objective of the recently started EU project INTERACTION is to develop an unobtrusive and modular system for monitoring the quality of daily-life activities of stroke subjects involving the upper and lower limbs

A broad-band leaf chlorophyll vegetation index at the canopy scale

An assessment of the sensitivity at the canopy scale to leaf chlorophyll concentration of the broad-band chlorophyll vegetation index (CVI) is carried out for a wide range of soils and crops conditions and for different sun zenith angles by the analysis of a large synthetic dataset obtained by using in the direct mode the coupled PROSPECT ? SAILH leaf and canopy reflectance model. An optimized version (OCVI) of the CVI is proposed. A single correction factor is incorporated in the OCVI algorithm to take into account the different spectral behaviors due to crop and soil types, sensor spectral resolution and scene sun zenith angle. An estimate of the value of the correction factor and of the minimum leaf area index (LAI) value of applicability are given for each considered condition. The results of the analysis of the synthetic dataset indicated that the broad-band CVI index could be used as a leaf chlorophyll estimator for planophile crops in most soil conditions. Results indicated as well that, in principle, a single correction factor incorporated in the OCVI could take into account the different spectral behaviors due to crop and soil types, sensor spectral resolution and scene sun zenith angle