Innovative Soil Management and Micro-Climate Modulation for Saving Water in Peach Orchards.

Microclimatic and soil management studies emphasize that roofing above the canopy or soil mulching contributes to reduce water losses from horticultural cropping systems and, at the same time, to increase water use efficiency. The aim of this 2-year on-farm study, carried out on a late ripening peach (cv. California) orchard, was to investigate the combined effect of water supply (full or deficit irrigation, DI), incoming light (hail or shading net), and soil management (tilling or mulching) on: microclimate; fruit growth; yield; irrigation water use productivity (WP); and soil water stress coefficient (Ks).

Method for automatic determination of soybean actual evapotranspiration under open top chambers (OTC) subjected to effects of water stress and air ozone concentration.

The present study describes an operational method, based on the Katerji et al. (Eur J Agron 33:218-230, 2010) model, for determining the daily evapotranspiration (ET) for soybean inside open top chambers (OTCs). It includes two functions, calculated day par day, making it possible to separately take into account the effects of concentrations of air ozone and plant water stress.

Surgical management of acute sigmoid diverticulitis.

Introduction: Medical therapy is usually indicated for uncomplicated diverticulitis. Indications for surgery include recurrent attacks and complications of the disease. This study describes our experience in the surgical treatment of acute sigmoid diverticulitis.

Intrapericardial lipoma: successful resection of a giant tumor without cardiopulmonary bypass.

Cardiac lipomas are very rare neoplasms. We describe herein a case of giant intrapericardial extracavitary lipoma in a 67-year-old man who has been previously treated for prostate and kidney cancers. The patient underwent successful resection of the tumor through right anterolateral thoracotomy.

Laparoscopic antireflux surgery: indications, preoperative evaluation, techniques, and outcomes.

Background/aims: During the past decade, the development of mini-invasive surgery has determined a resurgence in popularity of the antireflux surgery. The purpose of this study is to examine indications, preoperative evaluation, surgical techniques, and outcomes after mini-invasive surgery.

Methodology: From 1996 to 2000, 25 patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease associated to hiatal hernia underwent laparoscopic surgery.