In current clinical practice, weight-bearing is typically restricted for up to 12 weeks after definitive fixation of lower extremity periarticular fractures. However, muscle atrophy resulting from ...restricting weight-bearing has a deleterious effect on bone healing and overall limb function. Antigravity treadmill therapy may improve recovery by allowing patients to safely load the limb during therapy, thereby reducing the negative consequences of prolonged non-weight-bearing while avoiding complications associated with premature return to full weight-bearing. This article describes a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing outcomes after a 10-week antigravity treadmill therapy program versus standard of care in adult patients with periarticular fractures of the knee and distal tibia. The primary hypothesis is that, compared with patients receiving standard of care, patients receiving antigravity treadmill therapy will report better function 6 months after definitive treatment.
We present here the results of a 4-year environmental monitoring program at Ascunsă Cave (southwestern Romania) designed to help us understand how climate information is transferred through the karst ...system and archived by speleothems. The air temperature inside the cave is around 7 °C, with slight differences between the upper and lower parts of the main passage. CO2 concentrations in cave air have a seasonal signal, with summer minima and winter maxima. These might indicate the existence of an organic matter reservoir deep within the epikarst that continues to decompose over the winter, and CO2 concentrations are possibly modulated by seasonal differences in cave ventilation. The maximum values of CO2 show a rise after the summer of 2014, from around 2000 to about 3500 ppm, following a rise in surface temperature. Using two newly designed types of water–air equilibrators, we were able to determine the concentration of CO2 dissolved in drip water by measuring its concentration in the equilibrator headspace and then using Henry's law to calculate its concentration in water. This method opens the possibility of continuous data logging using infrared technology, without the need for costly and less reliable chemical determinations. The local meteoric water line (δ2H = 7.7 δ18O + 10.1), constructed using monthly aggregated rainfall samples, is similar to the global one, revealing the Atlantic as the strongly dominant vapor source. The deuterium excess values, as high as 17 ‰, indicate that precipitation has an important evaporative component, possibly given by moisture recycling over the European continent. The variability of stable isotopes in drip water is similar at all points inside the cave, suggesting that the monitored drip sites are draining a homogenous reservoir. Drip rates, as well as stable isotopes, indicate that the transfer time of water from the surface is on the order of a few days.
In the last two decades Nd: YAG laser has become a standard of treatment of telangiectasias of the lower limbs in C
EAP stage of chronic venous insufficiency. This paper shows the results of a two ...years study period of telangiectasias of lower limbs with Nd: YAG laser conducted in a specialised centre in this type of procedures. The study group consisted of 446 patients (21 males and 425 females) with telangiectasias (C
EAP) on the lower limbs between January 2016-December 2017. The patients had to complete a form in which they noted the initial state on a scale from 1 to 10 but also the result of the treatment and the intensity of the pain during the laser treatment. Moreover, the doctor also evaluated the results of the treatment for each and every patient taking also into account the initial phase of the disease. We observed a significant improvement of the clinical appearance (the reduction of telangiectasias) almost in the entire study group, regardless of the gender and the age, but the intensity of the pain was higher in men and in persons under the age of 30. Based on these data we can conclude that Nd: YAG laser represents a minimally invasive therapeutic option with minor side effects and major aesthetic results and furthermore it can be combined with several other methods (microsclerotherapy, radiofrequency, complex surgery) in order to improve peripheral chronic venous insufficiency.
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