The Influence of Different Hamstrings Assemblies on the Final Graft Diameter in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

 This study aimed to compare gracilis and semitendinosus tendon graft diameters in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction using quadruple, quintuple, and sextuple assemblies. Another objective was to evaluate the percentage of patients in which each assembly type is possible, depending on the length of each free tendon.  Seventy-one patients underwent ACL reconstruction using hamstring tendons.

Device-independent quantum key distribution with realistic single-photon source implementations.

Device-independent quantum key distribution (DIQKD) aims at generating secret keys between distant parties without the parties trusting their devices. We investigate a proposal for performing fully photonic DIQKD, based on single photon sources and heralding measurements at a central station placed between the two parties. We derive conditions to attain non-zero secret-key rates in terms of the photon efficiency, indistinguishability and the second order autocorrelation function of the single-photon sources.

Bath-Induced Correlations Enhance Thermometry Precision at Low Temperatures.

We study the role of bath-induced correlations in temperature estimation of cold bosonic baths. Our protocol includes multiple probes, that are not interacting, nor are they initially correlated to each other. They interact with a bosonic sample and reach a nonthermal steady state, which is measured to estimate the temperature of the sample.

The Variation of the Patellar Height in Total Knee Arthroplasties and its Relationship with the Replacement or not of the Patella.

 To compare the measurement of patellar height in the pre- and postoperative period of total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) and its variation in patients with and without patellar replacement.  Retrospective evaluation of radiographs of patients submitted to TKA between 2014 and 2020. Profile radiographs were evaluated using the modified Caton-Deschamps patellar height index, comparing the pre- and postoperative measurements of 90 patients, with a total of 100 knees.

Mineralogical dataset of natural zeolites from Lessini Mounts, Northern Italy: Analcime, natrolite, phillipsite and harmotome chemical composition.

This dataset article contains mineralogical and chemical data of some natural zeolites such as analcime, natrolite, phillipsite and harmotome. These minerals were found as secondary phases within vesicles and veins in the basaltic rocks of the Lessini Mounts, Northern Italy. Methods for obtaining the datasets include optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis.

Outcomes of medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction in patients with patella alta.

Objective: To compare the clinical outcomes and the results of knee functional scores in patients with normal patellar height and patella alta who underwent isolated medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction.

Methods: A total of 37 knees from 33 patients with recurrent patellar dislocation who underwent isolated medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction were included. Retrospectively, the postoperative clinical results were compared using the Kujala and Lysholm scores in the group of patients with normal patellar height and in those with patella alta.

Environmental Enrichment Induces Changes in Long-Term Memory for Social Transmission of Food Preference in Aged Mice through a Mechanism Associated with Epigenetic Processes.

Decline in declarative learning and memory performance is a typical feature of normal aging processes. Exposure of aged animals to an enriched environment (EE) counteracts this decline, an effect correlated with reduction of age-related changes in hippocampal dendritic branching, spine density, neurogenesis, gliogenesis, and neural plasticity, including its epigenetic underpinnings. Declarative memories depend on the medial temporal lobe system, including the hippocampus, for their formation, but, over days to weeks, they become increasingly dependent on other brain regions such as the neocortex and in particular the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a process known as system consolidation.

Early impoverished environment delays the maturation of cerebral cortex.

The influence of exposure to impoverished environments on brain development is unexplored since most studies investigated how environmental impoverishment affects adult brain. To shed light on the impact of early impoverishment on developmental trajectories of the nervous system, we developed a protocol of environmental impoverishment in which dams and pups lived from birth in a condition of reduced sensory-motor stimulation. Focusing on visual system, we measured two indexes of functional development, that is visual acuity, assessed by using Visual Evoked Potentials (VEPs), and VEP latency.

Total knee replacement in patients with diffuse villonodular synovitis.

This paper reports a case of diffuse pigmented villonodular synovitis (DPVNS), associated with advanced gonarthrosis, submitted to total knee replacement. The patient had progressive pain and swelling. She had two previous surgeries, firstly arthroscopic synovectomy and subsequently open synovectomy associated with radiotherapy, with recurrence of the disease.

Enriched environment effects on remote object recognition memory.

Since Ebbinghaus' classical work on oblivion and saving effects, we know that declarative memories may become at first spontaneously irretrievable and only subsequently completely extinguished. Recently, this time-dependent path toward memory-trace loss has been shown to correlate with different patterns of brain activation. Environmental enrichment (EE) enhances learning and memory and affects system memory consolidation.

Early IGF-1 primes visual cortex maturation and accelerates developmental switch between NKCC1 and KCC2 chloride transporters in enriched animals.

Environmental enrichment (EE) has a remarkable impact on brain development. Continuous exposure to EE from birth determines a significant acceleration of visual system maturation both at retinal and cortical levels. A pre-weaning enriched experience is sufficient to trigger the accelerated maturation of the visual system, suggesting that factors affected by EE during the first days of life might prime visual circuits towards a faster development.

Clinical-radiographic correlation of the femoral insertion point of the graft in reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament.

Objective: To analyze the radiographic positioning of the femoral tunnel and correlate this with the postoperative clinical results among patients undergoing reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) alone.

Method: This was a retrospective study in which 30 knees of 26 patients with recurrent dislocation of the patella that underwent MPFL reconstruction were evaluated. The femoral insertion point of the graft and the postoperative clinical condition were analyzed and correlated using the Kujala and Lysholm scales.

Patellar tendinopathy: late-stage results from surgical treatment.

Objective: To evaluate the late-stage results from surgical treatment of patellar tendinopathy (PT), using the Visa score (Victorian Institute of Sport Tendon Study Group) and the Verheyden method.

Methods: This was a retrospective study in which the postoperative results from 12 patients (14 knees) who were operated between July 2002 and February 2011 were evaluated. The patients included in the study presented patellar tendinopathy that was refractory to conservative treatment, without any other concomitant lesions.

Popliteal artery injury during posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

This study reports a case of popliteal artery injury during arthroscopic reconstruction of the posterior cruciate ligament. The evolution of the injury is described and comments are made regarding the anatomy of this artery and potential risks of this surgical technique. This study had the aims of alerting the medical community, especially knee surgeons, regarding a severe surgical complication and discussing the ways of preventing it.

Altered GABAergic markers, increased binocularity and reduced plasticity in the visual cortex of Engrailed-2 knockout mice.

The maturation of the GABAergic system is a crucial determinant of cortical development during early postnatal life, when sensory circuits undergo a process of activity-dependent refinement. An altered excitatory/inhibitory balance has been proposed as a possible pathogenic mechanism of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The homeobox-containing transcription factor Engrailed-2 (En2) has been associated to ASD, and En2 knockout (En2 (-/-)) mice show ASD-like features accompanied by a partial loss of cortical GABAergic interneurons.

System consolidation of spatial memories in mice: effects of enriched environment.

Environmental enrichment (EE) is known to enhance learning and memory. Declarative memories are thought to undergo a first rapid and local consolidation process, followed by a prolonged process of system consolidation, which consist in a time-dependent gradual reorganization of brain regions supporting remote memory storage and crucial for the formation of enduring memories. At present, it is not known whether EE can affect the process of declarative memory system consolidation.

Enriched early life experiences reduce adult anxiety-like behavior in rats: a role for insulin-like growth factor 1.

Early life experiences can affect brain development, contributing to shape interindividual differences in stress vulnerability and anxiety-like behavior. In rodents, high levels of maternal care have long-lasting positive effects on the behavior of the offspring and stress response; post-weaning rearing in an enriched environment (EE) or massage counteract the negative effects of maternal separation or prenatal stressors. We recently found that insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a key mediator of early EE or massage on brain development.

Enriched experience and recovery from amblyopia in adult rats: impact of motor, social and sensory components.

Amblyopia is one of the most common forms of visual impairment, arising from an early functional imbalance between the two eyes. It is currently accepted that, due to a lack of neural plasticity,amblyopia is an untreatable pathology in adults. Environmental enrichment (EE) emerged as a strategy highly effective in restoring plasticity in adult animals, eliciting recovery from amblyopia through a reduction of intracortical inhibition.

Environmental enrichment promotes plasticity and visual acuity recovery in adult monocular amblyopic rats.

Loss of visual acuity caused by abnormal visual experience during development (amblyopia) is an untreatable pathology in adults. In some occasions, amblyopic patients loose vision in their better eye owing to accidents or illnesses. While this condition is relevant both for its clinical importance and because it represents a case in which binocular interactions in the visual cortex are suppressed, it has scarcely been studied in animal models.

A rich environmental experience reactivates visual cortex plasticity in aged rats.

Brain aging is characterized by functional deterioration across multiple systems, associated to a progressive decay of neural plasticity. Here, we explored environmental enrichment (EE), a condition of enhanced sensory-motor and cognitive stimulation, as a strategy to restore plasticity processes in the old brain. Visual system is one of the paradigmatic models for studying experience-dependent plasticity.

Setting the pace for retinal development: environmental enrichment acts through insulin-like growth factor 1 and brain-derived neurotrophic factor.

Environmental enrichment strongly affects visual system maturation both at retinal and cortical levels. Which molecular pathways are activated by an enriched environment (EE) to regulate visual system development has not been clarified. Here, we show that early [postnatal day 1 (P1) to P7] insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) injections in the eyes of non-EE rat pups mimic EE effects both in increasing BDNF levels in the retinal ganglion cell layer at P10 and in determining a more adult-like retinal acuity, assessed with pattern electroretinogram at P25.

Maternal enrichment during pregnancy accelerates retinal development of the fetus.

The influence of maternal environment on fetal development is largely unexplored, the available evidence concerns only the deleterious effects elicited by prenatal stress. Here we investigated the influence of prenatal enrichment on the early development of the visual system in the fetus. We studied the anatomical development of the rat retina, by analyzing the migration of neural progenitors and the process of retinal ganglion cell death, which exerts a key role in sculpturing the developing retinal system at perinatal ages.

Environmental enrichment in adulthood promotes amblyopia recovery through a reduction of intracortical inhibition.

Loss of visual acuity caused by abnormal visual experience during development (amblyopia) is an untreatable pathology in adults. We report that environmental enrichment in adult amblyopic rats restored normal visual acuity and ocular dominance. These effects were due to reduced GABAergic inhibition in the visual cortex, accompanied by increased expression of BDNF and reduced density of extracellular-matrix perineuronal nets, and were prevented by enhancement of inhibition through benzodiazepine cortical infusion.