The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcome of ventral slot decompression and rehabilitation therapy in dogs with cervical intervertebral disc herniation (IVDH). Surgical decompression was performed in dogs with IVDH using the ventral slot procedure. After surgery, physiotherapeutic rehabilitation consisted of a combination of electrotherapy, infrared therapy and mechanical massage; treadmill exercise was started when the animal could stand up. A total of 58 dogs were selected from the hospital and included in two groups: rehabilitated group (RG, n = 34) and non-rehabilitated group (NRG, n = 24). Dogs of each group were subdivided into five groups based on a pre-operative clinical grading system. Grade 1 designated spinal pain only, grade 2 designated ambulatory paraparesis, grade 3 designated non-ambulatory paraparesis, grade 4 designated paraplegia with deep-pain perception intact and grade 5 designated paraplegia without deep-pain perception. Post-operative changes of both groups were evaluated and compared, including time until unassisted standing and walking after surgery and the success rate. Overall, 79.41% (27/34) of dogs had a successful neurologic outcome in the RG group, which was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than the NRG group 62.50% (15/24). Interestingly, the success rate differed when the preoperative grading system was considered. The success rates of grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 were 100% (9/9), 100% (7/7), 75% (3/4), 53.85% (7/13) and 100% (1/1), respectively, in the rehabilitated groups, whereas in the non-rehabilitated groups success rates were 100% (5/5), 83.33% (5/6), 60.00% (3/5), 28.57% (2/7) and 0% (0/1), respectively. The differences in success rates between the two groups according to grading were 0, 16.67, 15, 25.57 and 100%, respectively. The proposed rehabilitation therapy after surgical decompression of cervical IVDH can improve the success rate when the preoperative pathological condition is severe.

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A low pressure chemical vapour deposition technique was used to deposit MOCVD copper films on submicron-level trenches. Conformal coverage of the trenches with the MOCVD copper films has been investigated. MOCVD TiN (1000 Å) was initially deposited on a Si wafer with trenches employing tetrakis-ethylmethyl-amido titanium precursor. The Cu film was then deposited on the TiN film employing (hfac)Cu(DMB) precursor. A high aspect ratio (7:1) trench was used to investigate conformal coverage of the Cu films. C 2 H 5 I vapour was added to the Ar carrier gas stream to alter the deposition characteristics and enhance the conformal coverage of the Cu films. The additive vapour affected the film growth rate, activation energy, preferred orientation, surface morphology/roughness and conformal coverage of the deposited Cu films. The conformal coverage of the Cu films on the trenches was enhanced with the addition of C 2 H 5 I and by decreasing the substrate temperature. Optimum conformal coverage was obtained at 140 • C with C 2 H 5 I as an additive.