Breastfeeding and non-nutritive sucking patterns related to the prevalence of anterior open bite in primary dentition

OBJECTIVE: Nutritional, immunological and psychological benefts of exclusive breastfeeding for the frst 6 months of life are unequivocally recognized. However, mothers should also be aware of the importance of breastfeeding for promoting adequate oral development. This study evaluated the association between breastfeeding and non-nutritive sucking patterns and the prevalence of anterior open bite in primary dentition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Infant feeding and non-nutritive sucking were investigated in a 3-6 year-old sample of 1,377 children, from São Paulo city, Brazil. Children were grouped according to breastfeeding duration: G1 - non-breastfed, G2 - shorter than 6 months, G3 - interruption between 6 and 12 months, and G4 - longer than 12 months. Three calibrated dentists performed clinical examinations and classifed overbite into 3 categories: normal, anterior open bite and deep bite. Chi-square tests (p<0.05) with odds ratio (OR) calculation were used for intergroup comparisons. The impact of breastfeeding and non-nutritive sucking on the prevalence of anterior open bite was analyzed using binary logistic regression. RESULTS: The prevalence estimates of anterior open bite were: 31.9% (G1), 26.1% (G2), 22.1% (G3), and 6.2% (G4). G1 would have signifcantly more chances of having anterior open bite compared with G4; in the total sample (OR=7.1) and in the subgroup without history of non-nutritive sucking (OR=9.3). Prolonging breastfeeding for 12 months was associated with a 3.7 times lower chance of having anterior open bite. In each year of persistence with non-nutritive sucking habits, the chance of developing this malocclusion increased in 2.38 times. CONCLUSIONS: Breastfeeding and non-nutritive sucking durations demonstrated opposite effects on the prediction of anterior open bite. Non-breastfed children presented signifcantly greater chances of having anterior open bite compared with those who were breastfed for periods longer than 12 months, demonstrating the benefcial infuence of breastfeeding on dental occlusion.

Systemic treatment in severe cases of recurrent aphthous stomatitis: an open trial

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the systemic drugs thalidomide, dapsone, colchicine, and pentoxifylline in the treatment of severe manifestations of RAS. METHODS: An open, 4-year clinical trial was carried out for 21 consecutive patients with severe RAS. Initially, patients were given a 2-week course of prednisone to bring them to a baseline status. Simultaneously, one of the four test drugs was assigned to each patient to be taken for a period of 6 months. During the course of the trial, patients were switched to one of the other three drugs whenever side effects or a lack of satisfactory results occurred, and the 6-month limit of the treatment was then reset. RESULTS: The most efficient and best-tolerated drug was thalidomide, which was administered to a total of eight patients and resulted in complete remission in seven (87.5%). Dapsone was prescribed for a total of nine patients, of whom eight (89%) showed improvement in their symptoms, while five showed complete remission. Colchicine was administered to a total of ten patients, with benefits observed in nine (90%), of whom four showed complete remission. Pentoxyfilline was administered to a total of five patients, with benefits observed in three (60%), of whom one patient showed complete remission. CONCLUSION: The therapeutic methods used in this trial provided significant symptom relief. Patients experienced relapses of the lesions; however, this occurred after withdrawal of their medication during the follow-up period.

Cardioprotective effect of ornitho-kinin in an anesthetized, open-chest chicken model of acute coronary occlusion

The generation of bradykinin (BK; Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe-Ser-Pro-Phe-Arg) in blood and kallidin (Lys-BK) in tissues by the action of the kallikrein-kinin system has received little attention in non-mammalian vertebrates. In mammals, kallidin can be generated by the coronary endothelium and myocytes in response to ischemia, mediating cardioprotective events. The plasma of birds lacks two key components of the kallikrein-kinin system: the low molecular weight kininogen and a prekallikrein activator analogous to mammalian factor XII, but treatment with bovine plasma kallikrein generates ornitho-kinin [Thr6,Leu8]-BK. The possible cardioprotective effect of ornitho-kinin infusion was investigated in an anesthetized, open-chest chicken model of acute coronary occlusion. A branch of the left main coronary artery was reversibly ligated to produce ischemia followed by reperfusion, after which the degree of myocardial necrosis (infarct size as a percent of area at risk) was assessed by tetrazolium staining. The iv injection of a low dose of ornitho-kinin (4 µg/kg) reduced mean arterial pressure from 88 ± 12 to 42 ± 7 mmHg and increased heart rate from 335 ± 38 to 402 ± 45 bpm (N = 5). The size of the infarct was reduced by pretreatment with ornitho-kinin (500 µg/kg infused over a period of 5 min) from 35 ± 3 to 10 ± 2% of the area at risk. These results suggest that the physiological role of the kallikrein-kinin system is preserved in this animal model in spite of the absence of two key components, i.e., low molecular weight kininogen and factor XII.

ScriptLattes: an open-source knowledge extraction system from the Lattes platform

The Lattes platform is the major scientific information system maintained by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). This platform allows to manage the curricular information of researchers and institutions working in Brazil based on the so called Lattes Curriculum. However, the public information is individually available for each researcher, not providing the automatic creation of reports of several scientific productions for research groups. It is thus difficult to extract and to summarize useful knowledge for medium to large size groups of researchers. This paper describes the design, implementation and experiences with scriptLattes: an open-source system to create academic reports of groups based on curricula of the Lattes Database. The scriptLattes system is composed by the following modules: (a) data selection, (b) data preprocessing, (c) redundancy treatment, (d) collaboration graph generation among group members, (e) research map generation based on geographical information, and (f) automatic report creation of bibliographical, technical and artistic production, and academic supervisions. The system has been extensively tested for a large variety of research groups of Brazilian institutions, and the generated reports have shown an alternative to easily extract knowledge from data in the context of Lattes platform. The source code, usage instructions and examples are available at http://scriptlattes.sourceforge.net/.

AcMus: an open, integrated platform for room acoustics research

This article describes the design, implementation, and experiences with AcMus, an open and integrated software platform for room acoustics research, which comprises tools for measurement, analysis, and simulation of rooms for music listening and production. Through use of affordable hardware, such as laptops, consumer audio interfaces and microphones, the software allows evaluation of relevant acoustical parameters with stable and consistent results, thus providing valuable information in the diagnosis of acoustical problems, as well as the possibility of simulating modifications in the room through analytical models. The system is open-source and based on a flexible and extensible Java plug-in framework, allowing for cross-platform portability, accessibility and experimentation, thus fostering collaboration of users, developers and researchers in the field of room acoustics.

Ações de saúde mental na atenção básica: caminho para ampliação da integralidade da atenção

A great challenge for the primary healthcare system, implemented by the strategy called the Family Health Program, is to incorporate actions for facing situations of violence and mental health problems. This study analyzed the care delivered to 411 children between five and eleven years of age in a primary care unit in the city of São Paulo. The clinical findings were compared to a standard inventory of symptoms (CBCL). In addition, semi-structured interviews were held with pediatricians. The study shows low capacity of the pediatricians to recognize mental health problems in children. This is mainly due to deficiencies in their training and lack of possibilities for concrete intervention to face a complaint or diagnostic hypothesis. The reorganization process of primary care will need to provide specific technical support in mental health, incorporating more appropriate technologies for intervention such as a humanized approach and qualified listening. The inclusion of psychosocial aspects in the everyday practice of primary care will make it possible to broaden the concept of health and open way for an integrated approach to situations of violence related to children assisted by the primary care network of the Brazilian Health System.

Dose-response effects of systemic anandamide administration in mice sequentially submitted to the open field and elevated plus-maze tests

The endocannabinoid system is involved in the control of many physiological functions, including the control of emotional states. In rodents, previous exposure to an open field increases the anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus-maze. Anxiolytic-like effects of pharmacological compounds that increase endocannabinoid levels have been well documented. However, these effects are more evident in animals with high anxiety levels. Several studies have described characteristic inverted U-shaped dose-response effects of drugs that modulate the endocannabinoid levels. However, there are no studies showing the effects of different doses of exogenous anandamide, an endocannabinoid, in animal models of anxiety. Thus, in the present study, we determined the dose-response effects of exogenous anandamide at doses of 0.01, 0.1, and 1.0 mg/kg in C57BL/6 mice (N = 10/group) sequentially submitted to the open field and elevated plus-maze. Anandamide was diluted in 0.9% saline, ethyl alcohol, Emulphor® (18:1:1) and administered ip (0.1 mL/10 g body weight); control animals received the same volume of anandamide vehicle. Anandamide at the dose of 0.1 mg/kg (but not of 0.01 or 1 mg/kg) increased (P < 0.05) the time spent and the distance covered in the central zone of the open field, as well as the exploration of the open arms of the elevated plus-maze. Thus, exogenous anandamide, like pharmacological compounds that increase endocannabinoid levels, promoted a characteristic inverted U-shaped dose-response effect in animal models of anxiety. Furthermore, anandamide (0.1 mg/kg) induced an anxiolytic-like effect in the elevated plus-maze (P < 0.05) after exposing the animals to the open field test.

Mobility and social network effects on extremist opinions

Understanding the emergence of extreme opinions and in what kind of environment they might become less extreme is a central theme in our modern globalized society. A model combining continuous opinions and observed discrete actions (CODA) capable of addressing the important issue of measuring how extreme opinions might be has been recently proposed. In this paper I show extreme opinions to arise in a ubiquitous manner in the CODA model for a multitude of social network structures. Depending on network details reducing extremism seems to be possible. However, a large number of agents with extreme opinions is always observed. A significant decrease in the number of extremists can be observed by allowing agents to change their positions in the network.

Architecture for machining process and production monitoring based in open computer numerical control

This paper proposes an architecture for machining process and production monitoring to be applied in machine tools with open Computer numerical control (CNC). A brief description of the advantages of using open CNC for machining process and production monitoring is presented with an emphasis on the CNC architecture using a personal computer (PC)-based human-machine interface. The proposed architecture uses the CNC data and sensors to gather information about the machining process and production. It allows the development of different levels of monitoring systems with mininium investment, minimum need for sensor installation, and low intrusiveness to the process. Successful examples of the utilization of this architecture in a laboratory environment are briefly described. As a Conclusion, it is shown that a wide range of monitoring solutions can be implemented in production processes using the proposed architecture.

Anticipation of pain enhances the nociceptive transmission and functional connectivity within pain network in rats

Background: Expectation is a very potent pain modulator in both humans and animals. There is evidence that pain transmission neurons are modulated by expectation preceding painful stimuli. Nonetheless, few studies have examined the influence of pain expectation on the pain-related neuronal activity and the functional connectivity within the central nociceptive network. Results: This study used a tone-laser conditioning paradigm to establish the pain expectation in rats, and simultaneously recorded the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the medial dorsal thalamus (MD), and the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) to investigate the effect of pain expectation on laser-induced neuronal responses. Cross-correlation and partial directed coherence analysis were used to determine the functional interactions within and between the recorded areas during nociceptive transmission. The results showed that under anticipation condition, the neuronal activity to the auditory cue was significantly increased in the ACC area, whereas those to actual noxious stimuli were enhanced in all the recorded areas. Furthermore, neuronal correlations within and between these areas were significantly increased under conditions of expectation compared to those under non-expectation conditions, indicating an enhanced synchronization of neural activity within the pain network. In addition, information flow from the medial (ACC and MD) to the lateral (SI cortex) pain pathway increased, suggesting that the emotion-related neural circuits may modulate the neuronal activity in the somatosensory pathway during nociceptive transmission. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the nociceptive processing in both medial and lateral pain systems is modulated by the expectation of pain.

Dynamical models for computer viruses propagation

Nowadays, digital computer systems and networks are the main engineering tools, being used in planning, design, operation, and control of all sizes of building, transportation, machinery, business, and life maintaining devices. Consequently, computer viruses became one of the most important sources of uncertainty, contributing to decrease the reliability of vital activities. A lot of antivirus programs have been developed, but they are limited to detecting and removing infections, based on previous knowledge of the virus code. In spite of having good adaptation capability, these programs work just as vaccines against diseases and are not able to prevent new infections based on the network state. Here, a trial on modeling computer viruses propagation dynamics relates it to other notable events occurring in the network permitting to establish preventive policies in the network management. Data from three different viruses are collected in the Internet and two different identification techniques, autoregressive and Fourier analyses, are applied showing that it is possible to forecast the dynamics of a new virus propagation by using the data collected from other viruses that formerly infected the network. Copyright (c) 2008 J. R. C. Piqueira and F. B. Cesar. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Border figure detection using a phase oscillator network with dynamical coupling

Oscillator networks have been developed in order to perform specific tasks related to image processing. Here we analytically investigate the existence of synchronism in a pair of phase oscillators that are short-range dynamically coupled. Then, we use these analytical results to design a network able of detecting border of black-and-white figures. Each unit composing this network is a pair of such phase oscillators and is assigned to a pixel in the image. The couplings among the units forming the network are also dynamical. Border detection emerges from the network activity.

AtPIN: Arabidopsis thaliana Protein Interaction Network

Background: Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) constitute one of the most crucial conditions to sustain life in living organisms. To study PPI in Arabidopsis thaliana we have developed AtPIN, a database and web interface for searching and building interaction networks based on publicly available protein-protein interaction datasets. Description: All interactions were divided into experimentally demonstrated or predicted. The PPIs in the AtPIN database present a cellular compartment classification (C(3)) which divides the PPI into 4 classes according to its interaction evidence and subcellular localization. It has been shown in the literature that a pair of genuine interacting proteins are generally expected to have a common cellular role and proteins that have common interaction partners have a high chance of sharing a common function. In AtPIN, due to its integrative profile, the reliability index for a reported PPI can be postulated in terms of the proportion of interaction partners that two proteins have in common. For this, we implement the Functional Similarity Weight (FSW) calculation for all first level interactions present in AtPIN database. In order to identify target proteins of cytosolic glutamyl-tRNA synthetase (Cyt-gluRS) (AT5G26710) we combined two approaches, AtPIN search and yeast two-hybrid screening. Interestingly, the proteins glutamine synthetase (AT5G35630), a disease resistance protein (AT3G50950) and a zinc finger protein (AT5G24930), which has been predicted as target proteins for Cyt-gluRS by AtPIN, were also detected in the experimental screening. Conclusions: AtPIN is a friendly and easy-to-use tool that aggregates information on Arabidopsis thaliana PPIs, ontology, and sub-cellular localization, and might be a useful and reliable strategy to map protein-protein interactions in Arabidopsis. AtPIN can be accessed at http://bioinfo.esalq.usp.br/atpin.

Antidepressant activity evaluation of Hypericum brasiliense standardized extract

Hypericum brasiliense (Hypericaceae) is a Brazilian traditional plant used as an excitant, antispasmodic and antiofidic agent in the South and Southeastern areas. Pharmacological studies were performed to evaluate antidepressant effects of standard extract of H. brasiliense (SEHB) alone or combined with fluoxetine (10 mg/kg i. p.), GBR-12909 (10 mg/kg ip) or Trans-2-phenylcyclopropylamine (5 mg/kg ip) using forced swimming test (FST), open field test (OFT) and rota rod assays. In the FST, SEHB reduced in a dose-dependent manner the immobility time, and has shown antagonistic effect when administrated with fluoxetine. In the OFT, SEHB has caused marginal effect of the evaluated parameters (ambulation and rearing), but when associated with fluoxetine or trans-2-phenylcyclopropylamine, the reduction of the parameters was noticed. On rota rod test, SEHB did not produce significant alteration. Based on results we suggest that SEHB has an antidepressant activity.

A Comparison of Bimatoprost 0.03% Versus the Fixed-Combination of Latanotoprost 0.005% and Timolol 0.5% in Adult Patients With Elevated Intraocular Pressure: An Eight-Week, Randomized, Open-Label Trial

Introduction and Purpose: Bimatoprost and the fixed combination of latanoprost with timolol maleate are 2 medications widely used to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension (OHT). The aim of the study is to compare the efficacy of these 2 drugs in reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) after 8 weeks of treatment in patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) or OHT. Methods: In this randomized, open-label trial, 44 patients with POAG or OHT were allocated to receive either bimatoprost (1 drop QD) or latanoprost/timolol (1 drop QD). Primary outcome was the mean diurnal IOP measurement at the 8th week, calculated as the mean IOP measurements taken at 8:00 AM, 10: 00 AM, and 12: 00 PM Secondary outcomes included the baseline change in IOP measured 3 times a day, after the water-drinking test (performed after the last IOP measurement), and the assessment of side effects of each therapy. Results: The mean IOP levels of latanoprost/timolol (13.83, SD = 2.54) was significantly lower than of bimatoprost (16.16, SD = 3.28; P < 0.0001) at week 8. Also, the change in mean IOP values was significantly higher in the latanoprost/timolol group at 10:00 AM (P = 0.013) and 12:00 PM (P = 0.01), but not at 8: 00 AM (P = ns). During the water-drinking test, there was no signifi cant difference in IOP increase (absolute and percentage) between groups; however, there was a signifi cant decrease in mean heart rate in the latanoprost/timolol group. Finally, no signifi cant changes in blood pressure and lung spirometry were observed in either groups. Conclusions: The fixed combination of latanoprost/timolol was significantly superior to bimatoprost alone in reducing IOP in patients with POAG or OHT. Further studies with large sample sizes should be taken to support the superior efficacy of latanoprost/timolol, as well as to better assess its profile of side effects.