Investigaţii pentru determinarea practică a ph-ului în sol pentru un sistem de irigaţii

A method and a device based on galvanic cell for practical determiation of soil quality deterioration under the action of water, nutrients, and pesticides are analyzed. The novelty lies in facilitating the input of measured data directly into an automated irrigation system via wireless communication. pH offsetting with temperature is provided. The research was aimed to investigate materials for electrodes construction and to calibrate the device with proper electrodes using known pH solution

A medico-legal view on the importance of the external examination of the traumatized patient

Abstract: Introduction. the correct registration of the external traumatic lesions is extremely important in the clinical management of the trauma, as well as in its forensic and judicial assessment. Nevertheless, the quantity and quality of the information registered in the observation charts may be suboptimal, thus significantly affecting the forensic assessment regarding the cause of death, the relationship between lesions and death, and therefore the judicial implications of the case. Material and method. We have conducted a study on a sample of 77 consecutive deaths by violence, all examined at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Iasi. A comparative analysis was conducted of the external lesions documentation in the observation chart and the forensic autopsy report, and a degree of consistency was established between the two. For each case a series of data was collected and then statistically analyzed in order to observe the existence of a correlation between the degree of accordance and of the two examinations and the registered parameters. Results. the present study has found 62.3% discordant cases. From the selected parameters, three were correlated to the degree of concordance, having the capacity to foretell whether an external lesion would be registered correctly in the observation chart: the biochemical analysis level -patients who received complete blood investigations were more frequently subject to complete skin examination in the clinic; the existence of a surgical intervention -concordance was higher in patients who suffered a surgical intervention during hospitalization; cause and context of death -patients who died as a result of burns or electrocution showed perfect concordance in 100 % of cases, while less than 3 % of patients who died in the context of aggression were recorded all types of injury. Conclusions. Better documentation of external injuries in hospital is many times essential for the medico-legal evaluation and the subsequent judicial implications. While there are factors that may explain the disregard of the registration of all traumatic marks, in the context of lack of time and the need for quick delivery of treatment, the importance of the observation sheet as a document of medico-legal and legal value must be recognized by all physicians

Traumatic spinal cord injuries – epidemiologic and medico-legal issues

Spinal cord injuries represent a special category of injuries in traumatic pathology, with high morbidity and mortality, which justify their analysis with the aim to identify useful aspects in order to prevent and treat them. We therefore performed a retrospective study on 426 cases in order to analyze epidemiology and medico-legal issues related to spinal cord injuries. The studied items regarded socio-demographic aspects (gender, age, home region), type of lesions (vertebral, spinal cord, association with other trauma), circumstances leading to trauma (cause of the injury, season), data regarding hospitalization (medical condition at the hospital admission, number of days of hospitalization, clinical diagnosis, imaging exploration level) and data resulting from autopsy (diagnosis, toxicological examination). Most of our results are consistent with literature data, except for some epidemiological items, which might be explained with cultural differences, life style and inhomogeneous population. Based on our results, the general conclusion is the need for prevention campaigns, focusing on road traffic accidents and falls (especially in elderly) as the main causes of spinal cord injuries

Biomarkers of the brain injuries - the future diagnosis standard in head trauma? Brief literature review

Acute head trauma is often a clinical challenge in diagnosing the brain damage, assessing its severity and prognosis, and establishing the optimal treatment. Different patients, with brain damage of apparent comparable severity according to the imaging examination, may have different neurological evolution or different response to therapy.Minor traumatic brain injuries can induce a brief loss of consciousness or confusion, are usually benign, but sometimes they cause persistent and progressive brain symptoms in the long run. However, at present, there are no reliable methods that can diagnose properly minor traumatic brain injuries.Biomarkers of the brain injuries allow the monitoring of both physiological and pathological processes. The identification of such biomarkers could allow a better understanding of the pathological processes involved in traumatic brain injuries, their diagnosis, prognosis and may facilitate the establishment of a better treatment regimen for these patients.In this article, the authors make a brief review of the literature in which they analyse the biomarkers of the lesions of the various brain structures identified so far, which can be detected in biological fluids (blood, cerebrospinal fluid) and the advantages and limitations of their use in the current medical practice

Physician-patient relationship in rare diseases: an ethical approach

Rare diseases are a special category of pathology recognized as such relatively recently, starting about 30 years ago in the USA and around the year 2000 in Europe. Rare diseases are clinically and therapeutically heterogeneous, being characterized by a number of common aspects that have a negative impact on patients’ evolution and quality of life, such as: delayed diagnosis, limited scientific knowledge about some of them, lack of treatment or limited availability of treatment. At the same time, information campaigns on rare diseases are limited, and the number of association of patients that promote their interests and rights is also reduced. The quality of physician- patient relationship is particularly important in the management of rare diseases, non-medical aspects, especially the ethical and moral aspects, being often more relevant to patients than the medical aspects. The ethical framework for the analysis of rare diseases encompasses a number of particular aspects, generated on the one hand by the need to properly approach patients suffering from rare diseases in the context of rising expectations for the medical system, and on the other hand, the pro-profit behavior of the pharma companies. This paper analyzes the particular ethical issues identified in the clinical approach on rare diseases, with a focus on the particularities of the physician-patient relationship in this context

Clinical diagnosis versus autopsy diagnosis in head trauma

The correct and complete diagnosis is essential for the adequate care and the favourable clinical evolution of the patients with head trauma. Purpose: To identify the error rate in the clinical diagnosis of head injuries as shown in comparison with the autopsy diagnosis and to identify the most common sources of error. Material and method: We performed a retrospective study based on data from the medical files and the autopsy reports of patients with head trauma who died in the hospital and underwent forensic autopsy. We collected: demographic data, clinical and laboratory data and autopsy findings. To quantify the concordance rate between the clinical diagnosis of death and the autopsy diagnosis we used a 4 classes classification, which ranged from 100% concordance (C1) to total discordance (C4) and two classes of partial discordance: C2 (partial discordance in favour of the clinical diagnosis- missing injuries in the autopsy reports) and C3 (partial discordance in favor of the necroptic diagnosis- missing injuries in the medical files). Data were analyzed with SPSS version 20.0. Results: We analyzed 194 cases of death due to head injuries. We found a total concordance between the clinical death diagnosis and autopsy diagnosis in 30.4% of cases and at least one discrepancy in 69.6% of cases. Increasing the duration of hospitalization directly correlates with the amount of the imaging investigations and these in turn correlates with an increased rate of diagnosis concordance. Among the patients with stage 3 coma who associated a spinal cord injury, we found a partial diagnosis discordance in 50% of cases and a total discordance in 50% of cases, possibly due to the need for conducting emergency imaging investigation and the need for surgical treatment. In cases with partial and total discordant diagnosis, at least one lesion was omitted in 45.1% of the cases. The most commonly omitted injuries in C2 cases were subdural hematoma, intracerebral hematoma and ventricular hemorrhage (21.6%). In C3 cases the most frequently omitted injuries were subarachnoidian hemorrhage and skull base fractures (17.9%). Conclusions: The clinical cause of death is not always concordant with the autopsy diagnosis. Autopsy may identify the inconsistencies in diagnosis, the injuries frequently skipped and the factors favoring the discordance rate between the clinical death diagnosis and the autopsy diagnosis, making it a valuable tool for improving the clinical care of the patients with head trauma

Collection of blastomeres in order to establish sex and isolate genetic material-review

Globally, limited access to food needs in relation to meat or milk production has required the establishment of the sex of offspring from the embryonic stage. While the meat industry uses males, the dairy industry relies on females. During the period of exploitation, the number of products obtained from a female bovine is 5-6 individuals, their sex being able to be influenced by means of sexed semen. Embryo sexing programs can result in a large number of conception products, in a shorter period of time taking into account the desired sex. The use of the desired sex embryo facilitates the improvement of the genetic value. Embryonic sexing procedures involve the collection by biopsy of a minimum amount of genetic material that can ensure the determination of sex. Both invasive and non-invasive biopsy and sexing procedures can influence the subsequent viability of embryos prepared for embryo transfer. This paper highlights the methods of embryonic sexing along with the advantages and disadvantages of each technique involved in determining sex