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The shape of the bands for photon absorption and emission by the local constituents of a solid is governed mainly by processes involving many low-energy acoustic phonons. This applies not only to wide bands, such as those exhibited by F centers, but also to narrow ones, as those observed for infrared absorption by local vibration modes of U centers and heavier impurities. The line shapes are theoretically studied on a general basis to show they provide a nice example to illustrate the power of field theory and methods to reproduce experimental facts. To this aim, the phonon induced broadenings of infrared absorption lines by U centers in KCl and KBr, and by substitutional Ag + in KI, were calculated to compare theoretical predictions with experiment. The agreement obtained between both is remarkable.

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Study design: Evaluation of knees of tetraplegic patients who have been walking for several months with the aid of a system that involves neuromuscular stimulation, treadmill and a harness support device. Objectives: To investigate if the training program could cause knee injury to tetraplegic patients. Setting: Hospital das Clinicas -UNICAMP. Campinas-SP, Brazil. Methods: Nine patients were evaluated. Clinical exam and magnetic resonance images (MRIs) were used for evaluation. MRIs were taken before and after the training program, in a 6-month interval for each patient. There were two sessions of training every week. Each session lasted 20 min. Results: No severe clinical abnormality was observed in any patient. Mild knee injury was observed in four of nine patients studied. Conclusions: Tetraplegic patients undergoing treadmill gait training deserve a close follow-up to prevent knee injury.

Coloration accompanied by an increase of several orders of magnitude in electrical conductivity can be induced at room temperature in rutile single crystals by contact with a Na amalgam. Sodium and hydrogen (which is present as an impurity of metallic sodium) diffuse during treatment. The crystals can be bleached by heating at temperatures T≳100 °C. The coloration process is highly anisotropic, being effective only along the c direction. Coloration is not observed in crystals previously irradiated with neutrons.