Cavalier King Charles Spaniels with Chiari-like malformation and Syringomyelia have increased variability of spatio-temporal gait characteristics

Abstract Background Chiari-like malformation in the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a herniation of the cerebellum and brainstem into or through the foramen magnum. This condition predisposes to Syringomyelia; fluid filled syrinxes within the spinal cord. The resulting pathology in spinal cord and cerebellum create neuropathic pain and changes in gait. This study aims to quantify the changes in gait for Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with Chiari-like malformation and Syringomyelia. Methods We compared Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with Chiari-like malformation with (n = 9) and without (n = 8) Syringomyelia to Border Terriers (n = 8). Two video cameras and manual tracking was used to quantify gait parameters. Results and conclusions We found a significant increase in coefficient of variation for the spatio-temporal characteristics and ipsilateral distance between paws and a wider base of support in the thoracic limbs but not in the pelvic limbs for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels compared with the border terrier

Post-disaster social recovery: disaster governance lessons learnt from Tropical Cyclone Yasi

Post-disaster social recovery remains the least understood of the disaster phases despite increased risks of extreme events leading to disasters due to climate change. This paper contributes to advance this knowledge by focusing on the disaster recovery process of the Australian coastal town of Cardwell which was affected by category 4/5 Tropical Cyclone Yasi in 2011. Drawing on empirical data collected through semi-structured interviews with Cardwell residents post-Yasi, it examines issues related to social recovery in the first year of the disaster and 2 years later. Key findings discuss the role played by community members, volunteers and state actors in Cardwell’s post-disaster social recovery, especially with respect to how current disaster risk management trends based on self-reliance and shared responsibility unfolded in the recovery phase. Lessons learnt concerning disaster recovery governance are then extracted to inform policy implementation for disaster risk management to support social recovery and enhance disaster resilience in the light of climate change

Considerações técnicas, materiais e artísticas sobre o retábulo da Misericórdia de Almada e o seu pintor

Giraldo Fernandes de Prado (about 1530-1592) was a treaty writer, painter of fresco and altarpieces, illuminator, calligrapher and knight educated and serving the Bragança Ducal court. To this painter, with strong Italian education, is due the first treatise of calligraphy in Portugal -- the Tratado de Letra Latina (1560-1561), now in the Columbia University, New York. In 1590-1591 Francisco de Andrada and Manuel de Sousa Coutinho, Providers of Almada’s confernitie of the Misericórdia, made various payments to Giraldo for the six painting of the main altar, which is a very important testimony of Mannerist Portuguese painting. His “criado” and disciple André Peres had collaboration in the execution of some of the paintings. These panels reveal the inspiration in other paintings of Giraldo, such as four tables of the Nossa Senhora da Luz altarpiece of Portalegre’s Cathedral and two panels presumably from the old monastery lóio of Vilar de Frades (Barcelos). Currently under restoration, the Almada’s altarpiece shows interesting specific techniques. The artist highlights its particular way of painting, with unusual techniques at the time, like printing the marks of his fingerprints or the dotted contour of the figures with a white material. The specificities of the altarpiece, and its changes, are part of an integrated study the material and technical characterization combining microanalytical techniques with in-situ area techniques like x-ray radiography and IR reflectography

Characterization of glue sizing under calcium carbonate ground layers in Flemish and Luso-Flemish painting - analysis by SEM-EDS, µ-XRD and µ -Raman spectroscopy

This work regards the study of painting techniques in Portuguese workshops of the 15th and early 16th centuries, specifically addressing the methodology used on the preparation of ground layers. The influence of Flemish painting in Portugal is evident in stylistic and iconographic themes of that period. As regards the painting materials, we confirmed that this influence also extended to the ground layer technique. The use of a sizing layer with calcium sulphate or garlic to isolate the support from the calcium carbonate layer was verified by SEM-EDS but not confirmed by m-XRD or m-Raman spectroscopy. This work is part of a larger project, “The invisible ground layer and its influence in Portuguese paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries: a question to be settled”