A comparison study of periapical repair in dogs` teeth using RoekoSeal and AH plus root canal sealers: A histopathological evaluation

The objective of the study was to evaluate the biocompatibility of RoekoSeal sealer Roeko (Dental Products, Langenau, Germany) with the periapical tissues of dogs and compare it with AH Plus sealer (Dentsply/De Trey, Konstanz, Germany). The pulps of 32 root canals were removed, the apical cementum layer perforated, the biomechanical preparation performed, and the root canals filled by lateral condensation technique. Ninety days after the surgery, the animals were euthanized, the bone with teeth removed, and the samples prepared for histopathological analysis. In group 1 (RoekoSeal Automix), deposition of mineralized tissue was observed, with complete newly mineralized apical formed tissue in 43.8% and partial sealing in 56.2%. In group 2 (AH Plus), in 12.5% there was complete newly mineralized apical formed tissue, in 75% the sealing was partial, and in 12.5% there was no sealing (p < 0.05). There were no differences between the groups in relation to the inflammatory infiltrate; thickness of the periodontal ligament; and the resorption of dentin, cementum or bone (p > 0.05).

Influence of lateral pressure to the implant bed on osseointegration: an experimental study in dogs

Aim To study osseointegration and bone-level changes at implants installed using either a standard or a reduced diameter bur for implant bed preparation. Material and methods In six Labrador dogs, the first and second premolars were extracted bilaterally. Subsequently, mesial roots of the first molars were endodontically treated and distal roots, including the corresponding part of the crown, were extracted. After 3 months of healing, flaps were elevated and recipient sites were prepared in all experimental sites. The control site was prepared using a standard procedure, while the test site was prepared using a drill with a 0.2 mm reduced diameter than the standard one used in the contra-lateral side. After 4 months of healing, the animals were euthanized and biopsies were obtained for histological processing and evaluation. Results With the exception of one implant that was lost, all implants were integrated in mineralized bone. The alveolar crest underwent resorption at control as well as at test sites (buccal aspect similar to 1 mm). The most coronal contact of bone-to-implant was located between 1.2 and 1.6 mm at the test and between 1.3 and 1.7 mm at the control sites. Bone-to-implant contact percentage was between 49% and 67%. No statistically significant differences were found for any of the outcome variables. Conclusions After 4 months of healing, lateral pressure to the implant bed as reflected by higher insertion torques (36 vs. 15 N cm in the premolar and 19 vs. 7 N cm in the molar regions) did not affect the bone-to-implant contact. To cite this article:Pantani F, Botticelli D, Garcia IR Jr., Salata LA, Borges GJ, Lang NP. Influence of lateral pressure to the implant bed on osseointegration: an experimental study in dogs.Clin. Oral Impl. Res. 21, 2010; 1264-1270.doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0501.2009.01941.x.

Cloud condensation nuclei from biomass burning during the Amazonian dry-to-wet transition season

Aircraft measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) during the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) were conducted over the Southwestern Amazon region in September-October 2002, to emphasize the dry-to-wet transition season. The CCN concentrations were measured for values within the range 0.1-1.0% of supersaturation. The CCN concentration inside the boundary layer revealed a general decreasing trend during the transition from the end of the dry season to the onset of the wet season. Clean and polluted areas showed large differences. The differences were not so strong at high levels in the troposphere and there was evidence supporting the semi-direct aerosol effect in suppressing convection through the evaporation of clouds by aerosol absorption. The measurements also showed a diurnal cycle following biomass burning activity. Although biomass burning was the most important source of CCN, it was seen as a source of relatively efficient CCN, since the increase was significant only at high supersaturations.

The RAINY3D Code: The Treatment of Condensation in Nova Remnants during Nebular Phase

Classical nova remnants are important scenarios for improving the photoionization modeling. This work describes the pseudo-three-dimensional code RAINY3D, which drives the photoionization code Cloudy as a subroutine. Photoionization simulations of old nova remnants are also presented and discussed. In these simulations we analyze the effect of condensation in the remnant spectra. The condensed mass fraction affects the Balmer lines by a factor of greater than 4 when compared with homogeneous models, and this directly impacts the shell mass determination. The He II 4686/H beta ratio decreases by a factor of 10 in clumpy shells. These lines are also affected by the clump size and density distributions. The behavior of the strongest nebular line observed in nova remnants is also analyzed for heterogeneous shells. The gas diagnoses in novae ejecta are thought to be more accurate during the nebular phase, but we have determined that at this phase the matter distribution can strongly affect the derived shell physical properties and chemical abundances.

Automatic attention lateral asymmetry in visual discrimination tasks

There is evidence that automatic visual attention favors the right side. This study investigated whether this lateral asymmetry interacts with the right hemisphere dominance for visual location processing and left hemisphere dominance for visual shape processing. Volunteers were tested in a location discrimination task and a shape discrimination task. The target stimuli (S2) could occur in the left or right hemifield. They were preceded by an ipsilateral, contralateral or bilateral prime stimulus (S1). The attentional effect produced by the right S1 was larger than that produced by the left S1. This lateral asymmetry was similar between the two tasks suggesting that the hemispheric asymmetries of visual mechanisms do not contribute to it. The finding that it was basically due to a longer reaction time to the left S2 than to the right S2 for the contralateral S1 condition suggests that the inhibitory component of attention is laterally asymmetric.

Neurofilament heavy subunit in cerebrospinal fluid: A biomarker of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

The objectives of this study were to investigate the presence of the three neurofilament subunits, ubiquitin, proteasome and 3-nitrotyrosine, in CSF samples of ALS patients. CSF samples were obtained by lumbar puncture from 10 ALS patients and six controls. All samples were analysed by Western blotting. Results revealed that neurofilament heavy subunit was identified in 70% of ALS cases and we conclude that this subunit may be a promising biomarker for clinical diagnosis of ALS.

NAD Biosynthesis Evolution in Bacteria: Lateral Gene Transfer of Kynurenine Pathway in Xanthomonadales and Flavobacteriales

The biosynthesis of quinolinate, the de novo precursor of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), may be performed by two distinct pathways, namely, the bacterial aspartate (aspartate-to-quinolinate) and the eukaryotic kynurenine (tryptophan-to-quinolinate). Even though the separation into eukaryotic and bacterial routes is long established, recent genomic surveys have challenged this view, because certain bacterial species also carry the genes for the kynurenine pathway. In this work, both quinolinate biosynthetic pathways were investigated in the Bacteria clade and with special attention to Xanthomonadales and Bacteroidetes, from an evolutionary viewpoint. Genomic screening has revealed that a small number of bacterial species possess some of the genes for the kynurenine pathway, which is complete in the genus Xanthomonas and in the order Flavobacteriales, where the aspartate pathway is absent. The opposite pattern (presence of the aspartate pathway and absence of the kynurenine pathway) in close relatives (Xylella ssp. and the order Bacteroidales, respectively) points to the idea of a recent acquisition of the kynurenine pathway through lateral gene transfer in these bacterial groups. In fact, sequence similarity comparison and phylogenetic reconstruction both suggest that at least part of the genes of the kynurenine pathway in Xanthomonas and Flavobacteriales is shared by eukaryotes. These results reinforce the idea of the role that lateral gene transfer plays in the configuration of bacterial genomes, thereby providing alternative metabolic pathways, even with the replacement of primary and essential cell functions, as exemplified by NAD biosynthesis.

Effects of Synthesis Conditions on the Nanostructure of Hybrid Sols Produced by the Hydrolytic Condensation of (3-Methacryloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane

Polysilsesquioxanes containing methacrylate pendant groups were prepared by the sol-gel process through hydrolysis and condensation of (3-methacryloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTS) dissolved in a methanol/methyl methacrylate (MMA) mixture. The effects of different water, MMA, and methanol contents, as well as of pH, on the nanoscopic and local structures of the system, at advanced stages of the condensation reaction, were studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and (29)Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, respectively. SAXS results indicate that the nanoscopic features of the hybrid sol could be described by a hierarchical model composed of two levels, namely (i) silsesquioxane (SSQO) nanoparticles Surrounded by the methacrylate pendant groups and the methanol/MMA mixture. and (ii) aggregation zones or islands containing correlated SSQO nanoparticles, embedded in the liquid medium. The (29)Si NMR results Show that the inner Structures of SSQO nanoparticles produced at pH 1 and 3 were built Up of polyhedral structures. mainly cagelike octamers and small linear oligomers, respectively. Irrespective of MMA and methanol contents, for a [H(2)O]/[MPTS] ratio higher than or equal to 1, the SSQO nailoparticles produced at pH I exhibit an average condensation degree (CD approximate to 69-87%) and average radius of gyration (R(g) approximate to 2.5 angstrom) larger than those produced at pH 3 (CD approximate to 48-67% and R(g) approximate to 1.5 angstrom). Methanol appears to act as a redispersion agent, by decreasing the number of particles inside the aggregation zones, while the addition of MMA induces a swelling of the aggregation zones.

Restoring the azimuthal symmetry of lateral distributions of charged particles in the range of the KASCADE-Grande experiment

The reconstruction of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) observed by particle detectors at the ground is based on the characteristics of observables like the lateral particle density and the arrival times. The lateral densities, inferred for different EAS components from detector data, are usually parameterised by applying various lateral distribution functions (LDFs). The LDFs are used in turn for evaluating quantities like the total number of particles or the density at particular radial distances. Typical expressions for LDFs anticipate azimuthal symmetry of the density around the shower axis. The deviations of the lateral particle density from this assumption arising from various reasons are smoothed out in the case of compact arrays like KASCADE, but not in the case of arrays like Grande, which only sample a smaller part of the azimuthal variation. KASCADE-Grande, an extension of the former KASCADE experiment, is a multi-component Extensive Air Shower (EAS) experiment located at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Campus North), Germany. The lateral distributions of charged particles are deduced from the basic information provided by the Grande scintillators - the energy deposits - first in the observation plane, then in the intrinsic shower plane. In all steps azimuthal dependences should be taken into account. As the energy deposit in the scintillators is dependent on the angles of incidence of the particles, azimuthal dependences are already involved in the first step: the conversion from the energy deposits to the charged particle density. This is done by using the Lateral Energy Correction Function (LECF) that evaluates the mean energy deposited by a charged particle taking into account the contribution of other particles (e.g. photons) to the energy deposit. By using a very fast procedure for the evaluation of the energy deposited by various particles we prepared realistic LECFs depending on the angle of incidence of the shower and on the radial and azimuthal coordinates of the location of the detector. Mapping the lateral density from the observation plane onto the intrinsic shower plane does not remove the azimuthal dependences arising from geometric and attenuation effects, in particular for inclined showers. Realistic procedures for applying correction factors are developed. Specific examples of the bias due to neglecting the azimuthal asymmetries in the conversion from the energy deposit in the Grande detectors to the lateral density of charged particles in the intrinsic shower plane are given. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tryptophan photooxidation promoted by new hybrid materials prepared by condensation of naphthalene imides with silicate by the sol-gel process

Three novel hybrid organic/inorganic materials were synthesized from 4-substituted (NO(2), Br, H) 1,8-naphthalene imide-N-propyltriethoxysilane by the sol-gel process. These materials were obtained as a xerogel and partially characterized. The ability to photosensitize the oxidation and degradation of tryptophan indole ring by these materials was studied through photophysical and photochemical techniques. Although the derivatives containing Br and NO(2) as substituent do not cause efficient tryptophan photodamage, the hybrid material obtained from 1,8-naphthalic anhydride is very efficient to promote tryptophan photooxidation. By using laser flash photolysis it was possible to verify the presence of naphthalene imide transient radical species. The presence of oxygen causes an increase of the yield of radical formation. These results suggest that the mechanism of photodegradation of tryptophan occurs by type I, i.e. the transient radical (TrpH(center dot+)) formed by the direct reaction of the triplet state of the naphthalene imide moiety with tryptophan. Thus a inorganic-organic hybrid material that can be used to promote the oxidation of biomolecules was obtained. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.