Materials formulated as La(2-x)Sr(x)NiO(4+delta) (0

The essential oil of Chrysanthemum coronarium flowerheads showed strong nematicidal activity in vitro and in growthchamber experiments. Essential oil concentrations of 2, 4, 8 and 16 µL mL . In pot trials with chickpea cv. PV 61, essential oil concentrations of 10 -40 µL per 500 cm 3 soil, applied on sterile cotton pellets, also significantly reduced the nematode's reproduction rate. The biological processes of mortality and hatching/reproduction were adequately described by the monomolecular and expanded negative exponential models, respectively. Effectiveness of soil amendment with either flowers, leaves, roots or seeds of C. coronarium, and flowers from several species of Asteraceae (Chrysanthemum segetum, Calendula maritima, Calendula officinalis and Calendula suffruticosa) at 5 g per 500 cm 3 soil was tested for suppression of M. artiellia and growth of chickpea cv. PV 61 under growth-chamber conditions. In these tests, flowers of all five Asteraceae species and various parts of C. coronarium significantly reduced reproduction rates of M. artiellia, by 83·0 -95·9%, with the minimum rates occurring in infected chickpea plants amended with flowers of C. officinalis and C. suffruticosa. The in vitro and in planta results suggest that the essential oil of C. coronarium and organic amendments from Asteraceae species may serve as nematicides.

Lithium propanoate and pentanoate were characterized by DSC, single crystal and powder XRD and FTIR and impedance spectroscopies. Lithium propanoate presents a solid-to-solid transition (SII-SI) at T(ss) = (549.1 +/- 0.7) K on first heating that varies on the second and next ones, followed by a fusion at T(f) = (606.1 +/- 0.5) K. For lithium pentanoate, two solid-to-solid transitions (SIII-SII and SII-SI), at T(ss) = (205.5 +/- 0.5) K and T(ss) = (325.2 +/- 0.7) K, respectively, and a melting point at T(f) = (576.5 +/- 0.3) K were found. The crystal structures for both compounds were characterized at 100 and 298 K (and for the lithium propanoate also at 160 K). Single-crystal XRD showed that the SII phase of both compounds has a monoclinic structure with the same symmetry group (P2(1)/c). This is the first time that a single-crystal structure has been reported for any member of the lithium alkanoates series, so far. FTIR and impedance spectroscopies were also carried out to better characterize the solid phases in these compounds.

Lead(II) alkanoates, from hexanoate to dodecanoate, have been analyzed by means of XRD, optical microscopy, DSC, FTIR, and electric spectroscopy. Four different phases have been identified, corresponding to the three thermal transitions measured by DSC:  two of them solid (crystal and “intermediate” phases), and another two fluid (neat phase and isotropic liquid). Powder crystal XRD data indicate that the samples present a bilayered structure. The analysis of the (00l) spacing dependence with temperature in the three ordered phases strongly points to the intermediate phase to be a rotator phase. Optical microscopy and FTIR versus temperature also confirm a structural change from the crystal to the intermediate phase and its solid-state nature. Electrical conductivity maps the thermal transitions of the samples and shows a high ionic conductivity in the intermediate phase, which does not depend much on the carbon chain length. The high conductivity values (3 orders of magnitude higher in comparison with that of the ordered crystal at room temperature) obtained for the intermediate phase gave a further support to the existence of a rotator mesophase in the lead(II) alkanoate series.

We report the case of a 5-year-old girl with an enlarging suboccipital mass, a posttraumatic intraosseous arachnoid cyst. Diagnostic work-up revealed that the lesion consisted of an intradiploic arachnoid cyst and an extra-axial occipital pouch that communicated by way of an osseous and dural defect. Surgical repair was undertaken with good results. A search of the current literature has shown only seven previous reports of leptomeningeal cysts situated at the occipital bones, most of them the result of an antecedent skull fracture. A pathogenetic hypothesis is presented comparing the growth of arachnoid intraosseous cysts and the development of meningocencephaloceles.