Our experience demonstrates that the use of disc prosthesis is a safe and effective alternative to interbody fusion.

BACKGROUND The importance of pollen as alternative food for generalist phytoseiid mites occurring in vineyards has been investigated in northeastern Italy. We compared pollen and phytoseiid abundance in four vineyards and in plots located at different distance from flowering hop plants. Pollen (Carpinus betulus and Typha spp.) was sprayed onto the foliage to evaluate the potential impact of this food source on predatory mite abundance. Finally, grass management was investigated to analyze the effect of a reduced mowing frequency on predatory mite population densities. RESULTS Arboreal pollen was found mostly during the spring and the grapevine blossoming period. Nonarboreal pollen dominated throughout the growing seasons. In vineyards, the abundance of Amblyseius andersoni, Kampimodromus aberrans, Phytoseius finitimus, Typhlodromus pyri eggs and motile forms increased after a phase of large pollen availability. Hop pollen promoted K. aberrans population increases in vineyards. Pollen applications increased predatory mite egg and motile form densities and similar effects were obtained by reducing mowing frequency in vineyards. CONCLUSION Pollen availability positively affects the biology of four phytoseiid species, promoting stable predatory mite populations in vineyards. However, natural pollen availability and predatory mite abundance often decrease in summer, and pollen supply can mitigate this trend. A higher pollen availability could be guaranteed by inserting hedges comprising species having scalar bloom, reducing mowing of inter‐row groundcover and spraying pollen. The presence of flowering plants surrounding vineyards and in their inter‐rows should be considered as a relevant factor to enhance the success of biocontrol tactics against phytophagous mites in viticulture.

Hollow-core fibers have been filled by photolumiscent and Raman active materials. The filling can be obtained by capillarity for liquid phase materials, or by pressure for more viscous solutions. An experimental set-up to measure attenuation changes due to the filling process has been arranged and the variations of the transmission properties have been measured over a broad band. The Raman activity of the filling materials has been determined by spectroscopic measurements