Relationship Between the Development of the Spinal Canal and the Etiopathogenesis of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

INTRODUCTION: The presence of a pre-existing narrow spinal canal may have an important place in the ethiopathogenesis of lumbar spinal stenosis. By consequence the study of the development of the spinal canal is crucial. The first goal of this work is to do a comprehensive literature search and to give an essential view on the development of spinal canal and its depending factors studied until now. The second goal is to give some considerations and hypothesize new leads for clinically useful researches. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A bibliographical research was executed using different search engines: PubMed, Google Schoolar ©, Ovid ® and Web Of Science ©. Free sources and avaible from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) were used. At the end of the bibliographic researches 114 references were found, 85 were free access and just 41 were cited in this work. Most of the found references are in English or in French. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The spinal canal is principally limited by the vertebrae which have a mesodermal origin. The nervous (ectodermal) tissue significantly influences the growth of the canal. The most important structure participating in the spinal canal growth is the neurocentral synchondrosis in almost the entire vertebral column. The fusion of the half posterior arches seems to have less importance for the canal size. The growth is not homogeneous but, depends on the vertebral level. Timing, rate and growth potentials differ by regions. Especially in the case of the lumbar segment, there is a craniocaudal tendency which entails a greater post-natal catch-up growth for distal vertebrae. Trefoil-shape of the L5 canal is the consequence of a sagittal growth deficiency. The spinal canal shares some developmental characteristics with different structures and systems, especially with the central nervous system. It may be the consequence of the embryological origin. It is supposed that not all the related structures would be affected by a growth impairment because of the different catch-up potentials. Studies found that narrower spinal canals might be related with cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms, lower thymic function, bone mineral content, dental hypoplasia and Harris' lines. Anthropometric correlations found at birth disappear during the pediatric age. All factors which can affect bone and nervous growth might be relevant. Genetic predispositions are the only factors that can never be changed but the real impact is to ascertain. During the antenatal period, all the elements determining a good supply of blood and oxygen may influence the vertebral canal development, for example smoking during pregnancy. Diet is a crucial factor having an impact on both antenatal and postnatal growth. Proteins intake is the only proved dietetic relationship found in the bibliographic research of this work. The mechanical effects due to locomotion changes are unknown. Socioeconomic situation has an impact on several influencing factors and it is difficult to study it owing to numerous bias. CONCLUSIONS: A correct growth of spinal canal is evidently relevant to prevent not-degenerative stenotic conditions. But a "congenital" narrower canal may aggravate degenerative stenosis. This concerns specific groups of patient. If the size of the canal is highly involved in the pathogenesis of common back pains, a hypothetical measure to prevent developmental impairments could have a not- negligible impact on the society. It would be interesting to study more about dietetic necessities for a good spinal canal development. Understanding the relationship between nervous tissues and vertebra it might be useful in identifying what is needed for the ideal development. Genetic importance and the post-natal influences of upright standing on the canal growth remain unsolved questions. All these tracks may have a double purpose: knowing if it is possible to decrease the incidence of narrower spinal canal and consequently finding possible preventive measures. The development of vertebral canal is a complex subject which ranges over a wide variety of fields. The knowledge of this subject is an indispensable tool to understand and hypothesize the influencing factors that might lead to stenotic conditions. Unfortunately, a lack of information makes difficult to have a complete and satisfactory interdisciplinary vision.

Phthalates in the NICU: Is it safe?

AIMS: As growing concerns exist regarding phthalate exposure, which could be teratogenic, carcinogenic or induce reproductive toxicity, we aimed to review the evidence of the risks due to the use of medical devices containing di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate in hospitalized neonates. METHODS: We reviewed the literature, searching through medical literature databases (Pubmed, MEDLINE, EBM reviews, Cochrane database, Embase and Google Scholar) using the following keywords: phthalate, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, newborn and neonate. RESULTS: We identified several associations with short and long term health dangers, mainly subfertility, broncho-pulmonary dysplasia, necrotising enterocolitis, parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis and neuro-developmental disorders. These data are based mainly on animal or observational human studies. CONCLUSION: Clinicians must be aware of the potential risks due to phthalate exposure in the NICU. Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate containing materials should be identified and alternative devices should be considered. There is a need to improve knowledge in this area.

Mating triggers dynamic immune regulations in wood ant queens.

Mating can affect female immunity in multiple ways. On the one hand, the immune system may be activated by pathogens transmitted during mating, sperm and seminal proteins, or wounds inflicted by males. On the other hand, immune defences may also be down-regulated to reallocate resources to reproduction. Ants are interesting models to study post-mating immune regulation because queens mate early in life, store sperm for many years, and use it until their death many years later, while males typically die after mating. This long-term commitment between queens and their mates limits the opportunity for sexual conflict but raises the new constraint of long-term sperm survival. In this study, we examine experimentally the effect of mating on immunity in wood ant queens. Specifically, we compared the phenoloxidase and antibacterial activities of mated and virgin Formica paralugubris queens. Queens had reduced levels of active phenoloxidase after mating, but elevated antibacterial activity 7 days after mating. These results indicate that the process of mating, dealation and ovary activation triggers dynamic patterns of immune regulation in ant queens that probably reflect functional responses to mating and pathogen exposure that are independent of sexual conflict.

Cultural differences on seeking information: an eye tracking study

The main goal of this research is to investigate how people with different cultural background differ in their interaction style and visual behavior on search engine results pages (SERP), more specifically between groups from the Middle Eastern region vs. Western Europe. We conducted a controlled eye-tracking experiment to explore and evaluate the visual behavior of Arabs and Spaniardusers when scanning through the first page of the search results in Google. Big differences can be observed in the 4 aspects studied: U.A.E. participants stayed on the SERPs for longer, they read more results and they read each snippet in a more complete way than Spaniards. In Spain, people tended to scan the SERP, reading less text on each snippet, and choose a result among the first top rankedones without hardly seeing those in bottom positions.

An Overview of the association between schizotypy and dopamine

Schizotypy refers to a constellation of personality traits that are believed to mirror the subclinical expression of schizophrenia in the general population. Evidence from pharmacological studies indicates that dopamine is involved in the aetiology of schizophrenia. Based on the assumption of a continuum between schizophrenia and schizotypy, researchers have begun investigating the association between dopamine and schizotypy using a wide range of methods. In this article, we review published studies on this association from the following areas of work: (1) Experimental investigations of the interactive effects of dopaminergic challenges and schizotypy on cognition, motor control and behaviour, (2) dopaminergically supported cognitive functions, (3) studies of associations between schizotypy and polymorphisms in genes involved in dopaminergic neurotransmission, and (4) molecular imaging studies of the association between schizotypy and markers of the dopamine system. Together, data from these lines of evidence suggest that dopamine is important to the expression and experience of schizotypy and associated behavioural biases. An important observation is that the experimental designs, methods, and manipulations used in this research are highly heterogeneous. Future studies are required to replicate individual observations, to enlighten the link between dopamine and different schizotypy dimensions (positive, negative, cognitive disorganisation), and to guide the search for solid dopamine-sensitive behavioural markers. Such studies are important in order to clarify inconsistencies between studies. More work is also needed to identify differences between dopaminergic alterations in schizotypy compared to the dysfunctions observed in schizophrenia.

L'occitan, una lenga a la fin'amors

Treball de recerca realitzat per alumnes d’ensenyament secundari i guardonat amb un Premi CIRIT per fomentar l'esperit científic del Jovent l’any 2010. El treball pretén explicar la situació de la llengua occitana en el segle XIII i reivindicar avui dia la rica herència cultural d' aquesta llengua sense Estat, el seu paper fonamental en els orígens de la lírica trobadoresca i el tractament discriminatori que pateix a França. El treball, síntesi d'un projecte més ambiciós, es divideix en tres blocs: l'estudi de la civilització occitana del XII- XIII, de la seva lírica i l'anàlisi pràctic de la poesia de sis autors/es. La metodologia passa per llegir diversos llibres, sintetitzar el tema i contrastar les fonts; acudir a un curs intensiu de Llengua Occitana al CAOC; transcriure en vers la traducció en prosa dels poemes que donava Martí de Riquer i analitzar-los; atesa la seva escassetat, crear mapes a partir del Google Earth i Microsoft Office Visio; concertar entrevistes; intentar contactar amb l'Acadèmia Francesa. Com a resultat el treball toca diverses branques: història, societat, llengua i literatura, emmarcades en la societat feudal. Ajuda a la comprensió de la fin amors, base de tota la poesia amorosa de l'època. S'ha intentat menystenir la lacre del masclisme en el llenguatge i en l'elecció d'autors, tot i que fins i tot s'ha vist reflectit en els repertoris de poesies, més extensos en els trobadors que en les trobadores. Serveix per mostrar el veritable drama que viu l'Occità, que, des d'un lloc literàriament privilegiat, ara es troba en una situació molt pitjor que la que viu el Català.

Major Home Appliances,2008

If you haven’t been in the market for new appliances during the past several years, you’re going to be surprised at how innovative and energy-efficient appliances have become. You’ll find energy-smart appliance choices in almost all price ranges. Before heading to the local appliance retailer or “big-box” store, measure the space the new appliance will occupy to make sure it will fit—and that there’s enough room to fully open the door (or lid), as well as adequate clearances for ventilation, plumbing connections and other hookups. Then go to the appliance manufacturers’ Web sites to look at product information, and make a list of questions and “must-have” and “nice-to-have-but-not-essential” features.

Generación automática de cuadros de mando vía web

El proyecto consta de una aplicación web destinada a generar cuadros de mandos para distintos clientes de una manera ágil y dinámica reduciendo así los tiempos de implementación de una herramienta de estas características. Dicha aplicación será desarrollada bajo .NET para el lado del servidor y jQuery & google Maps API para el lado cliente, por lo que hace a los informes y la base de datos todo estará implementado con Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2.

shoPOIng : gestor de POIs per dispositius Android

Aplicació per emmagatzemar les direccions dels llocs d'interès de l'usuari amb l'objectiu de substituir els targeters tradicionals. La seva funcionalitat inclou poder gestionar-los, compartir-los a través del correu electrònic i classificar-los, amb una sèrie de categories i paraules clau per després poder geoposicionar-los i traçar rutes entre els diferents punts des de la ubicació on es troba l'usuari.

Estudi de cloud cumputing i desenvolupament d'un gestor de currículums en eyeOS

El Cloud Computing o computació en el núvol és un conjunt de tecnologies que busca tenir tots els nostres arxius i informació a Internet sense dependre de tenir la capacitat suficient per emmagatzemar informació, tan sols d'oferir-nos el servei que volem en el moment que necessitem. En aquest projecte es detalla l'estudi de les diferents solucions cloud a nivell personal necessàries pel nostre dia a dia amb l'objectiu d'obtenir una eina que ens permeti posteriorment desenvolupar una petita aplicació per a gestionar els nostres currículums vitae.

The invasive spotted-wing Drosophila (Diptera, Drosophilidae) has been found in the city of São Paulo (Brazil)

The invasive spotted-wing Drosophila (Diptera, Drosophilidae) has been found in the city of São Paulo (Brazil). Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931), the cherry fly or spotted-wing Drosophila, a pest species from the Oriental and southeastern Palaearctic regions belonging to the melanogaster group, invaded the Nearctic and western countries of the Palaearctic regions late last decade (2008) and, more recently (2013), the southern Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Early in 2014 it was reared from blueberries produced in São Joaquim, state of Santa Catarina, that were bought at a São Paulo city grocery store. Despite being a cold-adapted species, after having arrived to the southeastern state of São Paulo, this invasive fly will probably expand its territory to other Brazilian states and South American countries through trade of cultivated soft skin small fruits, such as blueberries and strawberries, as well as naturally through the use of small wild fruits as breeding sites.

SOS Mindelo - Aplicação Móvel de Apoio a Serviços de Emergências de Saúde

O Android é um sistema operativo de código fonte aberto desenvolvido com foco principal nos dispositivos móveis. Este trabalho pretende aplicar os recursos disponíveis no Android, nomeadamente os serviços de geolocalização (GPS), API do Google Maps, suporte a dados, entre outros para desenvolver uma aplicação móvel de apoio a serviços de emergências de saúde na cidade do Mindelo denominada de SOS Mindelo. A aplicação SOS Mindelo é uma ferramenta que permite localizar as farmácias, hospitais, clínicas e centros de saúde que estejam mais próximos geograficamente da posição do utilizador no momento da utilização da aplicação. As classes que compõe o código fonte da aplicação foram implementadas com uso da linguagem de programação JAVA enquanto que para as interfaces de utilizador se baseou na linguagem XML. A base de dados foi desenvolvida com recurso às linguagens PHP e MySql e o mesmo se encontra alojado na internet no servidor online Hostinger. Para a interligação entre a base de dados remota e a aplicação instalada no dispositivo do utilizador se recorreu á ferramenta Java Script Object Notation. Para a estimação da distância e a selecção de rotas entre a posição do dispositivo do utilizador e os possíveis destinos se recorreu ao API do Google Maps para além da implementação de um método para o cálculo da distância euclidiana entre dois pontos. Tendo em conta os parcos recursos que caracterizam os dispositivos móveis em termos de poder de processamento, espaço de armazenamento e eficiência energética as imagens, textos e outros recursos são guardados na base de dados online e acessados pelo terminal do utilizador quando necessário. O presente relatório está organizado da seguinte forma: na introdução são descritos os objectivos do desenvolvimento desta aplicação, bem como as vantagens da sua implementação. O primeiro capítulo apresenta a fundamentação teórica e as tecnologias utilizadas para o desenvolvimento da aplicação. O segundo capítulo descreve o processo de desenvolvimento da aplicação, nomeadamente a especificação dos requisitos, a apresentação dos diagramas de casos de usos e de classes, a implementação da base de dados remota, as implementações em código e as correspondentes interfaces de utilizador. Finalmente serão apresentados as conclusões finais do projecto e as perspectivas para trabalhos futuros.

Relatório Final Jogos-Simulação De Marketing – Power Computer

This school in the course of Marketing Business Management and specifically Entrepr This school in the course of Marketing Business Management and specifically Entrepreneurship in the discipline of Simulation - Games Marketing year was accordingly for the creation of a company in the computer business in business online simulator called Marketplace, in order to put into practice all the theoretical knowledge acquired during all previous semesters. This platform we were confronted with decisions in eight quarters corresponding 4 every year , in order to encourage learning in a practical way, a virtual and dynamic environment. Every quarter acareados with well organized tasks taking as a reference point defined strategies such as market research analysis, branding , store management after its creation , development of the policy of the 4Ps , identifying opportunities , monitoring of finances and invest heavily . All quarters were subjected decisions and are then given the results , such as: market performance , financial performance, investments in the future , the "health" of the company 's marketing efficiency then analyzed by our company , teaching and also by competition Balanced Scorecard ie , semi-annual and cumulative . For the start of activities it was awarded the 1st year a total of 2,000,000, corresponding to 500,000 out of 4 first quarter , and 5,000,000 in the fifth quarter in a total of 7,000,000 . The capital invested was used to buy market research, opening sales offices , create brands , contract sales force , advertise products created and perform activity R & D in order to make a profit and become self- sufficient to guarantee the payment of principal invested to headquarters ( Corporate Headquarters ) .

Intervenções de enfermagem aos casos de interrupção voluntária de gravidez

Em São Vicente existe um número suficiente de Centros de Saúde, capazes de dar respostas as necessidades de educação para a sexualidade, mesmo assim a IVG é um problema de saúde pública que persiste nesta sociedade. Tendo em conta esta problemática decidiu-se investigar, como tema para o trabalho de conclusão do curso em enfermagem, “As Intervenções de Enfermagem aos casos de Interrupsão Voluntária de Gravidez (IVG) no Hospital Baptista de Sousa (HBS)”. O estudo deste tema objetiva itentificar as intervenções de enfermagem face aos procedimentos pré, durante e pós IVG. A IVG é uma prática que vem sendo feita desde há muito tempo um pouco por todo o mundo, o principal motivo era o de controlar a natalidade. É entendida como a interrupção da gravidez antes das 20 semanas de gestação, por opção da mulher ou quando a vida desta e do futuro nascituro encontram-se em risco. Para se fazer o estudo deste tema, foi abordada uma metodologia qualitativa. Inicialmente fez-se uma análise bibliográfica sobre o assunto em diversas fontes, sejam na internet, nos sitios do google académico ou em livros. Seguidamente para que se pudesse compreender a forma como este assunto é visto e abordado pelos profissionais de saúde do Bloco Operatório (BO) do HBS, que se identifica como o campo empírico do estudo, utilizou-se entrevistas estruturadas, com perguntas fechadas, feitas a cinco enfermeiros com maior tempo de atuação na enfermagem e de BO. Desta pesquisa pôde-se perceber que os profissionais têm conhecimento e consciência que os cuidados prestados às mulheres que praticam a IVG nessa instituição, não são os mais adequados, devido principalmente a problemas de logística do espaço e limitação de pessoal de saúde.

A presença das Instituições de Ensino Superior na web social

A Web 2.0 veio criar uma nova perspetiva de utilização dinâmica, cooperativa, colaborativa da informação, proporcionando assim, uma mudança de paradigma no contexto e na comunicação organizacional. Para o contexto educacional, os desafios são árduos, visto que requer adequar e ajustar de uma forma criteriosa toda e qualquer informação difundida na rede, integrando frequentemente os serviços web 2.0 para o ambiente da aprendizagem. Este estudo interpreta e analisa algumas das linhas de força orientadoras do Processo de Bolonha, e como as Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) estão a utilizar a Web social. Procura-se com este estudo contribuir para o crescimento do espaço do conhecimento no campo de Sistemas de Informação (SI). O estudo não aspira apresentar-se como solução definitiva para os problemas de adoção da web 2.0, mas sim, espera chamar a atenção sobre factos que podem trazer benefícios às Instituições de Ensino Superior. Deste modo, e tendo em conta a relevância do estudo no contexto organizacional, surge este trabalho que tem como um dos principais objetivos compreender as razões que levam as IES a adotarem as plataformas da Web social. Outrossim, são identificadas as plataformas utilizadas pelas Instituições de Ensino Superior (para além do seu site institucional), apresentadas algumas métricas de adoção e utilização, e fornecidas pistas para uma reflexão crítica sobre o alinhamento entre as práticas visíveis (mais ou menos publicitadas) e os propósitos do Processo de Bolonha. Por sua vez, estuda-se a convergência em torno das plataformas Facebook, iTunes U, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Slideshare, hi5, Issuu, Vimeo e Google+, e do alinhamento da Web social com alguns propósitos do Processo de Bolonha.