Articular Cartilage in the Knee: Current MR Imaging Techniques and Applications in Clinical Practice and Research

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is the most important imaging modality for the evaluation of traumatic or degenerative cartilaginous lesions in the knee. It is a powerful noninvasive tool for detecting such lesions and monitoring the effects of pharmacologic and surgical therapy. The specific MR imaging techniques used for these purposes can be divided into two broad categories according to their usefulness for morphologic or compositional evaluation. To assess the structure of knee cartilage, standard spin-echo (SE) and gradient-recalled echo (GRE) sequences, fast SE sequences, and three-dimensional SE and GRE sequences are available. These techniques allow the detection of morphologic defects in the articular cartilage of the knee and are commonly used in research for semiquantitative and quantitative assessments of cartilage. To evaluate the collagen network and proteoglycan content in the knee cartilage matrix, compositional assessment techniques such as T2 mapping, delayed gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging of cartilage (or dGEMRIC), T1 rho imaging, sodium imaging, and diffusion-weighted imaging are available. These techniques may be used in various combinations and at various magnetic field strengths in clinical and research settings to improve the characterization of changes in cartilage. (C)RSNA, 2011 , radiographics.rsna.org

Development and evaluation of a shaken baby syndrome prevention program.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate parents' and nurses' opinions regarding the adequacy of an educational program on shaken baby syndrome: the Perinatal Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Program (PSBSPP). DESIGN: Qualitative and quantitative assessments in the form of interviews and questionnaires administered in French. SETTING: Two birthing institutions in Montréal, QC, Canada: a university hospital and a regional center. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred and sixty-three parents (73.8% mothers, 26.2% fathers) received the intervention after the birth of their child, and 69 nurses administered it. METHODS: Parents' and nurses' assessments of the adequacy and relevance of the program and nurses' assessments of the training they received to administer the program were evaluated. RESULTS: Both parents and nurses supported this initiative. Most parents appreciated the usefulness of the information. Nurses believed the program was adequate, and their training to deliver the program was satisfactory. All participants reported that the program was highly relevant, especially for new parents. CONCLUSION: The Perinatal Shaken Baby Syndrome Prevention Program achieves the goals of (a) increasing parents' knowledge about infant crying, anger, and shaken baby syndrome and (b) helping parents identify coping strategies. The relevance of introducing the PSBSPP in all birthing institutions is supported. Future studies should focus on vulnerable and culturally diverse populations, and longitudinal follow-up could help determine if the PSBSPP reduces the incidence of shaken baby syndrome.

Airborne exposures to monoethanolamine, glycol ethers, and benzyl alcohol during professional cleaning: a pilot study

A growing body of epidemiologic evidence suggests an association between exposure to cleaning products and respiratory dysfunction. Due to the lack of quantitative assessments of respiratory exposures to airborne irritants and sensitizers among professional cleaners, the culpable substances have yet to be identified.Purpose: Focusing on previously identified irritants, our aims were to determine (i) airborne concentrations of monoethanolamine (MEA), glycol ethers, and benzyl alcohol (BA) during different cleaning tasks performed by professional cleaning workers and assess their determinants; and (ii) air concentrations of formaldehyde, a known indoor air contaminant. METHODS: Personal air samples were collected in 12 cleaning companies, and analyzed by conventional methods. RESULTS: Nearly all air concentrations [MEA (n = 68), glycol ethers (n = 79), BA (n = 15), and formaldehyde (n = 45)] were far below (<1/10) of the corresponding Swiss occupational exposure limits (OEL), except for ethylene glycol mono-n-butyl ether (EGBE). For butoxypropanol and BA, no OELs exist. Although only detected once, EGBE air concentrations (n = 4) were high (49.48-58.72mg m(-3)), and close to the Swiss OEL (49mg m(-3)). When substances were not noted as present in safety data sheets of cleaning products used but were measured, air concentrations showed no presence of MEA, while the glycol ethers were often present, and formaldehyde was universally detected. Exposure to MEA was affected by its amount used (P = 0.036), and spraying (P = 0.000) and exposure to butoxypropanol was affected by spraying (P = 0.007) and cross-ventilation (P = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: Professional cleaners were found to be exposed to multiple airborne irritants at low concentrations, thus these substances should be considered in investigations of respiratory dysfunctions in the cleaning industry; especially in specialized cleaning tasks such as intensive floor cleaning.

Solution scanning as a key policy tool: identifying management interventions to help maintain and enhance regulating ecosystem services

The major task of policy makers and practitioners when confronted with a resource management problem is to decide on the potential solution(s) to adopt from a range of available options. However, this process is unlikely to be successful and cost effective without access to an independently verified and comprehensive available list of options. There is currently burgeoning interest in ecosystem services and quantitative assessments of their importance and value. Recognition of the value of ecosystem services to human well-being represents an increasingly important argument for protecting and restoring the natural environment, alongside the moral and ethical justifications for conservation. As well as understanding the benefits of ecosystem services, it is also important to synthesize the practical interventions that are capable of maintaining and/or enhancing these services. Apart from pest regulation, pollination, and global climate regulation, this type of exercise has attracted relatively little attention. Through a systematic consultation exercise, we identify a candidate list of 296 possible interventions across the main regulating services of air quality regulation, climate regulation, water flow regulation, erosion regulation, water purification and waste treatment, disease regulation, pest regulation, pollination and natural hazard regulation. The range of interventions differs greatly between habitats and services depending upon the ease of manipulation and the level of research intensity. Some interventions have the potential to deliver benefits across a range of regulating services, especially those that reduce soil loss and maintain forest cover. Synthesis and applications: Solution scanning is important for questioning existing knowledge and identifying the range of options available to researchers and practitioners, as well as serving as the necessary basis for assessing cost effectiveness and guiding implementation strategies. We recommend that it become a routine part of decision making in all environmental policy areas.

A utilização de etanol em célula a combustível de óxido sólido

This work reports a review on the status and technical feasibility of the application of ethanol as fuel for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC), presenting both external reform and cell with direct utilization of ethanol. Based on this survey, both experimental results and mathematical modeling indicated the technical feasibility of power generation by ethanol SOFC, with cell units producing 450 mW/cm², sufficient for scale up to large stationary plants. The quantitative assessments in the literature show this field to be promising for researchers and private sector investment as well being a strategic technology for government policy in the short and long term.

Intervention policière en milieu scolaire : expérience et point de vue des acteurs

Contexte et objectif. Afin de résorber le problème de la violence en milieu scolaire, de nombreux programmes et partenariats « police-école » ont vu le jour. Malgré la popularité de ces initiatives, les évaluations établissent toutefois que leurs effets sur la violence et la délinquance sont plutôt triviaux. Récemment, le programme de prévention « Unité sans violence » a été implanté dans plusieurs écoles de la région métropolitaine de Montréal et une évaluation préliminaire rapporte que son introduction fut suivie d’une baisse significative de la victimisation. À l’aide d’une approche mixte, l’objectif de ce mémoire est d’explorer la pertinence des concepts du rôle paradoxale et de l’intervention en contexte d’autorité afin de mieux comprendre les interactions entre les partenaires du programme et d’identifier de nouvelles pistes permettant de mieux comprendre les effets des programmes policiers en milieu scolaire. Méthodologie. La recherche repose sur des données qualitatives et quantitatives. D’une part, des entretiens semi-directifs ont été réalisés auprès des intervenants (policiers, enseignants et éducateurs spécialisés) afin de recueillir leur point de vue et expérience par rapport au programme. D’autre part, des questionnaires ont été administrés aux élèves de cinquième et sixième année de 20 écoles, ce qui a permis de documenter leur perception des policiers. Résultats. Les résultats aux entrevues suggèrent que les rôles d’aidant du policier et celui plus répressif s’inscrivent en continuité plutôt qu’en contradiction. Les rôles d’éducateur et de « grand frère » du policier seraient très bien reçus par les élèves. L’expérience des policiers, leur approche empathique et personnalisée ainsi que leur intérêt pour le travail communautaire apparaissent comme des éléments clés du bon déroulement du programme. Les résultats aux questionnaires montrent d’ailleurs que les élèves ont une perception très favorable des policiers. Conclusion. Les concepts de rôle et d’intervention en contexte d’autorité apparaissent comme des éléments clés qui devraient être intégrés à toute recherche évaluative visant à mieux comprendre l’effet des programmes policiers sur la délinquance. De plus, d’autres évaluations quantitatives du programme « Unité sans violence » sont nécessaires pour mieux comprendre l’influence de certaines de ses composantes, soit le renforcement positif, l’étalement du programme tout au long de l’année scolaire, le rôle des enseignants dans la transmission du message et l’exposition continue au programme entre la cinquième et sixième année.

Good practice in reviewing and publishing studies on herbal medicine, with special emphasis on traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese materia medica

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Studies on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), like those of other systems of traditional medicine (TM), are very variable in their quality, content and focus, resulting in issues around their acceptability to the global scientific community. In an attempt to address these issues, an European Union funded FP7 consortium, composed of both Chinese and European scientists and named “Good practice in traditional Chinese medicine” (GP-TCM), has devised a series of guidelines and technical notes to facilitate good practice in collecting, assessing and publishing TCM literature as well as highlighting the scope of information that should be in future publications on TMs. This paper summarises these guidelines, together with what has been learned through GP-TCM collaborations, focusing on some common problems and proposing solutions. The recommendations also provide a template for the evaluation of other types of traditional medicine such as Ayurveda, Kampo and Unani. Materials and methods: GP-TCM provided a means by which experts in different areas relating to TCM were able to collaborate in forming a literature review good practice panel which operated through e-mail exchanges, teleconferences and focused discussions at annual meetings. The panel involved coordinators and representatives of each GP-TCM work package (WP) with the latter managing the testing and refining of such guidelines within the context of their respective WPs and providing feedback. Results: A Good Practice Handbook for Scientific Publications on TCM was drafted during the three years of the consortium, showing the value of such networks. A “deliverable – central questions – labour division” model had been established to guide the literature evaluation studies of each WP. The model investigated various scoring systems and their ability to provide consistent and reliable semi-quantitative assessments of the literature, notably in respect of the botanical ingredients involved and the scientific quality of the work described. This resulted in the compilation of (i) a robust scoring system and (ii) a set of minimum standards for publishing in the herbal medicines field, based on an analysis of the main problems identified in published TCM literature.

Mobile systems for monitoring Parkinson's disease

A challenge for the clinical management of Parkinson's disease (PD) is the large within- and between-patient variability in symptom profiles as well as the emergence of motor complications which represent a significant source of disability in patients. This thesis deals with the development and evaluation of methods and systems for supporting the management of PD by using repeated measures, consisting of subjective assessments of symptoms and objective assessments of motor function through fine motor tests (spirography and tapping), collected by means of a telemetry touch screen device. One aim of the thesis was to develop methods for objective quantification and analysis of the severity of motor impairments being represented in spiral drawings and tapping results. This was accomplished by first quantifying the digitized movement data with time series analysis and then using them in data-driven modelling for automating the process of assessment of symptom severity. The objective measures were then analysed with respect to subjective assessments of motor conditions. Another aim was to develop a method for providing comparable information content as clinical rating scales by combining subjective and objective measures into composite scores, using time series analysis and data-driven methods. The scores represent six symptom dimensions and an overall test score for reflecting the global health condition of the patient. In addition, the thesis presents the development of a web-based system for providing a visual representation of symptoms over time allowing clinicians to remotely monitor the symptom profiles of their patients. The quality of the methods was assessed by reporting different metrics of validity, reliability and sensitivity to treatment interventions and natural PD progression over time. Results from two studies demonstrated that the methods developed for the fine motor tests had good metrics indicating that they are appropriate to quantitatively and objectively assess the severity of motor impairments of PD patients. The fine motor tests captured different symptoms; spiral drawing impairment and tapping accuracy related to dyskinesias (involuntary movements) whereas tapping speed related to bradykinesia (slowness of movements). A longitudinal data analysis indicated that the six symptom dimensions and the overall test score contained important elements of information of the clinical scales and can be used to measure effects of PD treatment interventions and disease progression. A usability evaluation of the web-based system showed that the information presented in the system was comparable to qualitative clinical observations and the system was recognized as a tool that will assist in the management of patients.

In vitro evaluation of dental bleaching effectiveness using hybrid lights activation

OBJETIVO: Avaliar se fontes de luz aumentam a eficácia do peróxido de hidrogênio na técnica de clareamento profissional. METODOLOGIA: Foram empregados 60 dentes incisivos bovinos, com dimensões coronárias e radiculares padronizadas a partir do limite amelo-cementário, sendo descartada a porção lingual. Os corpos-de-prova (cp) foram limpos em ultra-som por 20 min e a dentina condicionada com H3PO4 a 38% por 15 s, sendo os (cp) imersos em solução de café solúvel a 25% por duas semanas. A dentina foi impermeabilizada com esmalte e os (cp) divididos em 5 grupos, sendo a cor inicial mensurada através do espectofotômetro-EasyShade (VITA). Todos os (cp) receberam três aplicações por 10 min do gel clareador Opalescence Xtra-Boost (Ultradent) conforme segue: Grupo 1 - controle, não recebeu fotoativação, Grupo 2 - ativado com luz halôgena, Grupo 3 - ativado com LED azul/LASER, Grupo 4 - ativado com LED verde/LASER e Grupo 5 - ativado com LED vermelho. Após o clareamento foi mensurada a variação de cor E, a*, b*e L* e as referentes à escala de cor Vita Clássico. Os dados foram submetidos à análise de variância, teste de Tukey e de Dunn (α=5%). RESULTADOS: A diferença geral da cor foi reduzida quando se empregou LED Azul e Luz Halógena, sendo que o desempenho do peróxido de hidrogênio a 38% foi intensificado dependendo da fonte de luz utilizada. A avaliação quantitativa de cor, obtida por espectrofotômetro e pela escala de cor Vita Clássico, foram coincidentes. CONCLUSÃO: O tipo de fonte de luz empregada interfere na eficácia do agente clareador.

Gametogenesis and reproductive cycle of Melanorivulus aff. punctatus (Boulenger, 1895) (Cyprinodontiformes, Rivulidae) in Chapada dos Guimarães, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Agressividade comparada de Pratylenchus brachyurus com P. zeae e eficácia de métodos de controle de nematoides em cana-de-açúcar

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Desenvolvimento de algoritmos para a avaliação quantitativa de imagens de fantomas mamográficos

There are many advantages when using a phantom for the evaluation of the mammographic images, one of them is to test the visibility of the distribution of objects that constitute it, and then, set the best image in order to obtain a diagnostic medical insurance, trying to reach the best risk - benefit ratio for the patient. Typically, the quality of the mammographic image is performed by subjective and quantitative assessments. This study developed algorithms that can quantitatively evaluate digital images (DICOM), obtained from mammographic phantom consisting of test objects. The results were adjusted by the response of the subjective evaluation performed by experts in radiology. This procedure aims to create an independence of the experts in radiology in daily tests of quality control in routine clinical diagnostic radiology

Efeitos in vitro e in vivo do extrato de glândulas salivares de fêmeas de carrapatos Rhipicephalus sanguineus com 2 dias de alimentação sobre modelos tumorais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Arranjo de semeadura da soja sobre o rendimento da cultura e da tecnologia de aplicação de produtos fitossanitários

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Near-Term Fetal Hypoxia-Ischemia in Rabbits MRI Can Predict Muscle Tone Abnormalities and Deep Brain Injury

Background and Purpose-The pattern of antenatal brain injury varies with gestational age at the time of insult. Deep brain nuclei are often injured at older gestational ages. Having previously shown postnatal hypertonia after preterm fetal rabbit hypoxia-ischemia, the objective of this study was to investigate the causal relationship between the dynamic regional pattern of brain injury on MRI and the evolution of muscle tone in the near-term rabbit fetus. Methods-Serial MRI was performed on New Zealand white rabbit fetuses to determine equipotency of fetal hypoxia-ischemia during uterine ischemia comparing 29 days gestation (E29, 92% gestation) with E22 and E25. E29 postnatal kits at 4, 24, and 72 hours after hypoxia-ischemia underwent T2- and diffusion-weighted imaging. Quantitative assessments of tone were made serially using a torque apparatus in addition to clinical assessments. Results-Based on the brain apparent diffusion coefficient, 32 minutes of uterine ischemia was selected for E29 fetuses. At E30, 58% of the survivors manifested hind limb hypotonia. By E32, 71% of the hypotonic kits developed dystonic hypertonia. Marked and persistent apparent diffusion coefficient reduction in the basal ganglia, thalamus, and brain stem was predictive of these motor deficits. Conclusions-MRI observation of deep brain injury 6 to 24 hours after near-term hypoxia-ischemia predicts dystonic hypertonia postnatally. Torque-displacement measurements indicate that motor deficits in rabbits progressed from initial hypotonia to hypertonia, similar to human cerebral palsy, but in a compressed timeframe. The presence of deep brain injury and quantitative shift from hypo-to hypertonia may identify patients at risk for developing cerebral palsy. (Stroke. 2012;43:2757-2763.)