The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of calcaneal lengthening in the treatment of planovalgus foot deformity of children with spastic cerebral palsy. Sixteen children (27 feet) with spastic cerebral palsy underwent calcaneal lengthening along with peroneal tendons. The results were assessed clinically and radiographically. Over an average of 3.2 years of follow-up (2.0-5.0), 20 (74.1%) feet showed a satisfactory clinical result, and 21 (77.8%) feet showed a satisfactory radiographic result, according to the modified Mosca's criteria. Dependent ambulators with severe pes planovalgus showed unsatisfactory results compared with independent ambulators with mild to moderate pes planovalgus. These findings suggest that for severe pes planovalgus of children with cerebral palsy, it may be difficult to correct the foot deformity by calcaneal lengthening with peroneal tendons.

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We investigated the relationships between the head field strength and the time response of a single-pole-type head and the thickness of its soft under layer, using a micromagnetic simulator that takes into account the full interactions between SPT head and a double-layered medium. The results obtained showed that the head field strength is dramatically enhanced by a very thin soft under layer of 20 nm and that it saturates with a relatively thin layer of 60 nm. Moreover, the delay time and the response of the head field to the exciting field increase with a thicker soft under layer.

Rationale:The recently reported acetone method for δ 15 N-NO 3 − analysis is a straightforward sample preparation process. However, the applicability of the method to water samples having high salinity and low concentration of nitrates is not good. Therefore, we developed a new method to measure δ 15 N-NO 3 − values in a saline sample having low nitrate concentration by improving the acetone method (the adapted method), and verified its usability. Methods: The adapted method involves (a) reducing a large volume of sample by evaporation, (b) removing NaCl by mixing acetone twice, (c) changing the volume ratio of the acetone/NaI/n-hexane solvent from 21/0.35/10 to 30/0.25/5 mL, (d) using an increased volume of BaI 2 (0.1 M)from 0.75 to 1 mL, and (e) using an alternative capsule drying process of lyophilization. Results: The adapted method has provided nearly exact δ 15 N-NO 3 − values of standard materials with high precision and accuracy (<0.1‰) at a lower cutoff of 2 μmol of NO 3 − in a sample capsule. The recovery of NO 3 − in this method was significantly dependent (P < 0.05) on the Cl − concentration of the samples. However, a minimum recovery of 60% NO 3 − , required for the reproducibility of the accurate value of δ 15 N-NO 3 − , was possible from the concentrated sample aliquot containing up to 6 g of Cl − . The application of the adapted acetone method to creek water samples, collected from mangrove watersheds, has shown high consistency in the analysis results. Conclusions:It was proved that the inexpensive and easy-to-handle adapted acetone method could be used for the δ 15 N-NO 3 − analysis of saline water samples when the sample aliquot contained about 4 μmol of NO 3 − with less than 6 g of Cl − .