Special passcharta öfwer een deel af Österjöön begynnandes ifrån Elsnabben att utwysa Stockholms-Skärgården medh heela cousten intill Gefle, samt och den Finska Skärgården till Åbo jemwäl heela Åland

Julkaisussa: General hydrographisk chart-book öfwer Östersjön och Katte-Gatt till sin raetta figur och stoorleek

Special passcharta öfwer een deel aff Österjöön begynnandes ifrån Calmarsund intill Stockholm, innehållandes jemwäl öjarna Gottland och Öland

Julkaisussa: General hydrographisk chart-book öfwer Östersjön och Katte-Gatt till sin raetta figur och stoorleek

Modulation of Signaling Molecules by Human Leucocyte Antigen B27; Special Reference to STAT1

Reactive arthritis (ReA) is an inflammatory joint disease, which belongs to the group of Spondyloarthritis (SpA). It may occur after infections with certain gram-negative bacteria such as Salmonella and Yersinia. SpAs are strongly associated with the human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-B27. Despite active research, the mechanism by which HLA-B27 causes disease susceptibility is still unknown. However, HLA-B27 has a tendency to misfold during assembly. It is possible that the misfolding of HLA-B27 could alter signaling pathways and/or molecules involved in inflammatory response in cells. We have earlier discovered that in HLA-B27-positive cells the interaction between the host and causative bacteria is disturbed. Our recent studies indicate that the expression of HLA-B27 may alter certain signaling molecules by disturbing their activation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the expression of HLA-B27 disturbs the signaling molecules, especially the phosphorylation of transcription factor STAT1. STAT1 is an important mediator of inflammatory responses. Our results show that the phosphorylation of the STAT1 is significantly altered in HLA-B27-expressing U937 monocytic cells compared with control cells. STAT1 tyrosine 701 is more strongly phosphorylated in HLAB27- expressing cells; whereas the phosphorylation of STAT1 serine 727 is prolonged. Phosphorylation of STAT1 was discovered to be dependent on protein kinase PKR. Furthermore, we found out that the expression of posttranscriptional gene regulator HuR was altered in HLA-B27-expressing cells. We also detected that HLA-B27-positive cells secrete more interleukin 6, which is an important mediator of inflammation. These results help to understand how HLA-B27 may confer susceptibility to SpAs.

Prognostic Factors In Breast Cancer. With Special Reference to Cyclins A, B1, D1 and E, MMP-1 and Decorin

Breast cancer is a highly heterogenous malignancy, which despite of the similar histological type shows different clinical behaviour and response to therapy. Prognostic factors are used to estimate the risk for recurrence and the likelihood of treatment effectiveness. Because breast cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death in women worldwide, identification of new prognostic markers are needed to develop more specific and targeted therapies. Cancer is caused by uncontrolled cell proliferation. The cell cycle is controlled by specific proteins, which are known as cyclins. They function at important checkpoints by activating cyclin-dependent kinase enzymes. Overexpression of different cyclins has been linked to several cancer types and altered expression of cyclins A, B1, D1 and E has been associated with poor survival. Little is known about the combined expression of cyclins in relation to the tumour grade, breast cancer subtype and other known prognostic factors. In this study cyclins A, B1 and E were shown to correlate with histological grade, Ki-67 and HER2 expression. Overexpression of cyclin D1 correlated with receptor status and non-basal breast cancer suggesting that cyclin D1 might be a marker of good prognosis. Proteolysis in the surrounding tumour stroma is increased during cancer development. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are proteolytic enzymes that are capable of degrading extracellular matrix proteins. Increased expression and activation of several MMPs have been found in many cancers and MMPs appear to be important regulators of invasion and metastasis. In this study MMP-1 expression was analysed in breast cancer epithelial cells and in cancer associated stromal cells. MMP-1 expression by breast cancer epithelial cells was found to carry an independent prognostic value as did Ki-67 and bcl-2. The results suggest that in addition to stromal cells MMP-1 expression in tumour cells control breast cancer progression. Decorin is a small proteoglycan and an important component of the extracellular matrix. Decorin has been shown to inhibit growth of tumour cells and reduced decorin expression is associated with a poor prognosis in several cancer types. There has been some suspicion wheather different cancer cells express decorin. In this study decorin expression was shown to localize only in the cells of the original stroma, while breast cancer epithelial cells were negative for decorin expression. However, transduction of decorin in decorin-negative human breast cancer cells markedly modulated the growth pattern of these cells. This study provides evidence that targeted decorin transduction to breast cancer cells could be used as a novel adjuvant therapy in breast malignancies.

Special Karte vom Herzogthum Magdeburg, der Grafschaft Mansfeld, den Fürstenthümern Anhalt und Blankenburg, und der Abtey Quedlinburg, nebst dem grösten Theil der Altemark, des Fürstenth. Halberstadt, der Grafs. Wernigerode in II Sectionen

Kartta kuuluu A. E. Nordenskiöldin kokoelmaan

Experimental Studies on Non-Metallic Composite Bone Implants With a Special Reference to Staphylococcal Biofilm Infection

Non-metallic implants made of bioresorbable or biostable synthetic polymers are attractive options in many surgical procedures, ranging from bioresorbable suture anchors of arthroscopic surgery to reconstructive skull implants made of biostable fiber-reinforced composites. Among other benefits, non-metallic implants produce less interference in imaging. Bioresorbable polymer implants may be true multifunctional, serving as osteoconductive scaffolds and as matrices for simultaneous delivery of bone enhancement agents. As a major advantage for loading conditions, mechanical properties of biostable fiber-reinforced composites can be matched with those of the bone. Unsolved problems of these biomaterials are related to the risk of staphylococcal biofilm infections and to the low osteoconductivity of contemporary bioresorbable composite implants. This thesis was focused on the research and development of a multifunctional implant model with enhanced osteoconductivity and low susceptibility to infection. In addition, the experimental models for assessment, diagnostics and prophylaxis of biomaterial-related infections were established. The first experiment (Study I) established an in vitro method for simultaneous evaluation of calcium phosphate and biofilm formation on bisphenol-Aglycidyldimethacrylate and triethylenglycoldimethacrylate (BisGMA-TEGDMA) thermosets with different content of bioactive glass 45S5. The second experiment (Study II) showed no significant difference in osteointegration of nanostructured and microsized polylactide-co-glycolide/β-tricalcium phosphate (PLGA /β-TCP) composites in a minipig model. The third experiment (Study III) demonstrated that positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with the novel 68Ga labelled 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid (DOTA) CD33 related sialic-acid immunoglobulin like lectins (Siglec-9) tracer was able to detect inflammatory response to S. epidermidis and S. aureus peri-implant infections in an intraosseous polytetrafluoroethylene catheter model. In the fourth experiment (Study IV), BisGMATEGDMA thermosets coated with lactose-modified chitosan (Chitlac) and silver nanoparticles exhibited antibacterial activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa strains in an in vitro biofilm model and showed in vivo biocompatibility in a minipig model. In the last experiment (Study V), a selective androgen modulator (SARM) released from a poly(lactide)-co-ε-caprolactone (PLCL) polymer matrix failed to produce a dose-dependent enhancement of peri-implant osteogenesis in a bone marrow ablation model.

Relationship between Daily Habits, Oral Microbiota and Caries with Special Reference to Xylitol

Caries is a plaque-associated multifactorial chronic disease. Oral hygiene habits, sugar, and oral micobiota interactions are important for caries to occur. Xylitol has been shown to reduce caries mainly due to its effects on mutans streptococci (MS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of daily oral health habits and bacterial level on the caries occurrence and to study the effect of xylitol on the composition of oral microflora. A total of 192, 10-12 years old, male school children had been screened for salivary MS. Healthy subjects with high MS counts participated in two parallel double-blinded, randomised, controlled trials. In the first 5-week trial, subjects were assigned into xylitol (n=35) and sorbitol gum (n=38) groups. At baseline, children were examined using International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS) criteria and interviewed for oral health habits. In the second 4-week trial, subjects were assigned into xylitol (n=25) and saccharine mouthrinse (n=25) groups. In the end of both interventions, saliva samples were collected. The samples were analysed for changes in MS counts and changes in the composition of the oral microbiota assessed by the Human Oral Microbe Identification Microarray (HOMIM). Relationships between daily habits, bacterial levels and caries were evaluated. Daily use of sweets and soft drinks were the habits significantly associated with caries severity measured by ICDAS Caries Index (CI), while toothbrushing was the only habit associated with the low caries severity. Abiotrophia defectiva and Actinomyces meyeri/ A. odontolyticus were significantly higher in caries-affected children while Shuttleworthia satelles was significantly higher in caries-free children. Xylitol showed significant reduction in salivary levels of MS in both trials. No significant effects on other members of the microbiota were found when evaluated by HOMIM. In conclusion, other members of oral microbiota than MS may be associated with caries occurrence or absence. The use of xylitol had significant effect on MS with no effects on the other members of the salivary microbiota.

Emission, kinetic and magnetic phenomena in rare-earth and transition metal doped ZnSe single crystals

In this work emission, optical, electrical and magnetic properties of the d- and f- elements doped zinc selenide crystals were investigated within a wide temperature range. Doping was performed in various technological processes: during the growth by chemical vapor transport method; by thermal diffusion from the Bi or Zn melt. Concentration of the doping impurity in the crystals was controlled by amount of the dopant in the source material or by its concentration in the doping media. Special interest in the work was paid to the influence of the different concentrations of Cr and Yb impurities on ZnSe crystals’ properties, correlations between observed effects and similarities with the Ni, Mn and Gd dopants are analysed. Possibility of formation of the excitons bound to the doping d-ions was shown. In contrast to this, it was observed that f-elements do not bound excitons, but prevent formation of excitons bound to some uncontrolled impurities. A mechanism of Cr doping impurity interaction with background impurities and zinc selenide structural defects was proposed based on experimental data. An assumption about resonant energy transfer between double charged chromium ions and complexes based on crystals’ vacancy defects was made. A correlation between emission and magnetic properties of the d- ions doped samples was established. Based on this correlation a mechanism explaining the concentration quench of the emission was proposed. It was found that f-ions bind electrically active shallow and deep donor and acceptor states of background impurity to electrically neutral complexes. This may be observed as “purification” of ZnSe crystals by doping with the rare-earth elements, resulting i tendency of the properties of f-ion doped crystals to the properties of intrinsic crystals, but with smaller concentration of uncontrolled native and impurity defects. A possible interpretation of this effect was proposed. It was shown that selenium substituting impurities decrease efficiency of the Yb doping. Based on this experimental results an attempt to determine ytterbium ion surroundings in the crystal lattice was made. It was shown that co-doping of zinc selenide crystals with the d- and f- ions leads to the combination of the impurities influence on the material’s properties. On the basis of obtained data an interaction mechanism of the d- and f-elements co-dopants was proposed. Guided by the model of the ytterbium ion incorporation in the selenide sublattice of the ZnSe crystals, an assumption about stabilization of single charged chromium ions in the zinc sublattice crystal nodes, by means of formation of the local charge compensating clusters, was made.

Cardiovascular health from childhood to adulthood – with special reference to early vascular changes. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study

Background: Recent recommendations aim to improve cardiovascular health (CVH) by encouraging the general population to meet positive and modifiable ideal CVH metrics: not smoking, being physically active, and maintaining normal weight, blood pressure, blood glucose and total cholesterol levels and a healthy diet. Aims: The aim of the present study was to report the prevalence of ideal CVH in children and young adults and study the associations of CVH metrics with markers of subclinical atherosclerosis. Participants and methods: The present thesis is part of the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (Young Finns Study). Data on associations of CVH metrics and subclinical atherosclerosis were available from 1,898 Young Finns Study participants. In addition, joint analyses were performed combining data from the International Childhood Cardiovascular Cohort (i3C) Consortium member studies from Australia and the USA. Results: None of the participants met all 7 CVH metrics and thus had ideal CVH in childhood and only 1% had ideal CVH as young adults. The number of CVH metrics present in childhood and adulthood predicted lower carotid artery intima-media thickness, improved carotid artery distensibility and lower risk of coronary artery calcification. Those who improved their CVH status from childhood to adulthood had a comparable risk of subclinical atherosclerosis to participants who had always had a high CVH status. Conclusions: Ideal CVH proved to be rare among children and young adults. A higher number of ideal CVH metrics and improvement of CVH status between childhood and adulthood predicted a lower risk of subclinical atherosclerosis.

Nichesourcing The Uralic Languages For The Benefit Of Linguistic Research And Lingual Societies

The emerging technologies have recently challenged the libraries to reconsider their role as a mere mediator between the collections, researchers, and wider audiences (Sula, 2013), and libraries, especially the nationwide institutions like national libraries, haven’t always managed to face the challenge (Nygren et al., 2014). In the Digitization Project of Kindred Languages, the National Library of Finland has become a node that connects the partners to interplay and work for shared goals and objectives. In this paper, I will be drawing a picture of the crowdsourcing methods that have been established during the project to support both linguistic research and lingual diversity. The National Library of Finland has been executing the Digitization Project of Kindred Languages since 2012. The project seeks to digitize and publish approximately 1,200 monograph titles and more than 100 newspapers titles in various, and in some cases endangered Uralic languages. Once the digitization has been completed in 2015, the Fenno-Ugrica online collection will consist of 110,000 monograph pages and around 90,000 newspaper pages to which all users will have open access regardless of their place of residence. The majority of the digitized literature was originally published in the 1920s and 1930s in the Soviet Union, and it was the genesis and consolidation period of literary languages. This was the era when many Uralic languages were converted into media of popular education, enlightenment, and dissemination of information pertinent to the developing political agenda of the Soviet state. The ‘deluge’ of popular literature in the 1920s to 1930s suddenly challenged the lexical orthographic norms of the limited ecclesiastical publications from the 1880s onward. Newspapers were now written in orthographies and in word forms that the locals would understand. Textbooks were written to address the separate needs of both adults and children. New concepts were introduced in the language. This was the beginning of a renaissance and period of enlightenment (Rueter, 2013). The linguistically oriented population can also find writings to their delight, especially lexical items specific to a given publication, and orthographically documented specifics of phonetics. The project is financially supported by the Kone Foundation in Helsinki and is part of the Foundation’s Language Programme. One of the key objectives of the Kone Foundation Language Programme is to support a culture of openness and interaction in linguistic research, but also to promote citizen science as a tool for the participation of the language community in research. In addition to sharing this aspiration, our objective within the Language Programme is to make sure that old and new corpora in Uralic languages are made available for the open and interactive use of the academic community as well as the language societies. Wordlists are available in 17 languages, but without tokenization, lemmatization, and so on. This approach was verified with the scholars, and we consider the wordlists as raw data for linguists. Our data is used for creating the morphological analyzers and online dictionaries at the Helsinki and Tromsø Universities, for instance. In order to reach the targets, we will produce not only the digitized materials but also their development tools for supporting linguistic research and citizen science. The Digitization Project of Kindred Languages is thus linked with the research of language technology. The mission is to improve the usage and usability of digitized content. During the project, we have advanced methods that will refine the raw data for further use, especially in the linguistic research. How does the library meet the objectives, which appears to be beyond its traditional playground? The written materials from this period are a gold mine, so how could we retrieve these hidden treasures of languages out of the stack that contains more than 200,000 pages of literature in various Uralic languages? The problem is that the machined-encoded text (OCR) contains often too many mistakes to be used as such in research. The mistakes in OCRed texts must be corrected. For enhancing the OCRed texts, the National Library of Finland developed an open-source code OCR editor that enabled the editing of machine-encoded text for the benefit of linguistic research. This tool was necessary to implement, since these rare and peripheral prints did often include already perished characters, which are sadly neglected by the modern OCR software developers, but belong to the historical context of kindred languages and thus are an essential part of the linguistic heritage (van Hemel, 2014). Our crowdsourcing tool application is essentially an editor of Alto XML format. It consists of a back-end for managing users, permissions, and files, communicating through a REST API with a front-end interface—that is, the actual editor for correcting the OCRed text. The enhanced XML files can be retrieved from the Fenno-Ugrica collection for further purposes. Could the crowd do this work to support the academic research? The challenge in crowdsourcing lies in its nature. The targets in the traditional crowdsourcing have often been split into several microtasks that do not require any special skills from the anonymous people, a faceless crowd. This way of crowdsourcing may produce quantitative results, but from the research’s point of view, there is a danger that the needs of linguists are not necessarily met. Also, the remarkable downside is the lack of shared goal or the social affinity. There is no reward in the traditional methods of crowdsourcing (de Boer et al., 2012). Also, there has been criticism that digital humanities makes the humanities too data-driven and oriented towards quantitative methods, losing the values of critical qualitative methods (Fish, 2012). And on top of that, the downsides of the traditional crowdsourcing become more imminent when you leave the Anglophone world. Our potential crowd is geographically scattered in Russia. This crowd is linguistically heterogeneous, speaking 17 different languages. In many cases languages are close to extinction or longing for language revitalization, and the native speakers do not always have Internet access, so an open call for crowdsourcing would not have produced appeasing results for linguists. Thus, one has to identify carefully the potential niches to complete the needed tasks. When using the help of a crowd in a project that is aiming to support both linguistic research and survival of endangered languages, the approach has to be a different one. In nichesourcing, the tasks are distributed amongst a small crowd of citizen scientists (communities). Although communities provide smaller pools to draw resources, their specific richness in skill is suited for complex tasks with high-quality product expectations found in nichesourcing. Communities have a purpose and identity, and their regular interaction engenders social trust and reputation. These communities can correspond to research more precisely (de Boer et al., 2012). Instead of repetitive and rather trivial tasks, we are trying to utilize the knowledge and skills of citizen scientists to provide qualitative results. In nichesourcing, we hand in such assignments that would precisely fill the gaps in linguistic research. A typical task would be editing and collecting the words in such fields of vocabularies where the researchers do require more information. For instance, there is lack of Hill Mari words and terminology in anatomy. We have digitized the books in medicine, and we could try to track the words related to human organs by assigning the citizen scientists to edit and collect words with the OCR editor. From the nichesourcing’s perspective, it is essential that altruism play a central role when the language communities are involved. In nichesourcing, our goal is to reach a certain level of interplay, where the language communities would benefit from the results. For instance, the corrected words in Ingrian will be added to an online dictionary, which is made freely available for the public, so the society can benefit, too. This objective of interplay can be understood as an aspiration to support the endangered languages and the maintenance of lingual diversity, but also as a servant of ‘two masters’: research and society.

Edistyneen oppijan suomen konstruktiopiirteitä korpusvetoisesti: avainrakenneanalyysi

Ensikielen jälkeen opittavan kielen tutkimusta ja suomi toisena kielenä alaa sen osana ovat koko niiden olemassaolon ajan hallinneet samat peruskysymykset: millaista oppiminen on eri vaiheissa ja eri ympäristöissä, sekä mikä oppimisessa on yleistä ja toisaalta mikä riippuu opittavasta kielestä ja oppijoiden kielitaustasta. Sähköisten oppijankielen tutkimusaineistojen eli korpusten lisääntymisen myötä tutkijat voivat aiempaa helpommin tutkia näitä ilmiöitä määrällisesti ja tarkastella oppijankielen sisäistä vaihtelua ja sen suhdetta tyypilliseen ensikieliseen kielenkäyttöön kielen eri osa-alueilla käyttöpohjaisesti eli todelliseen kielenkäyttöön pohjautuen. Tekninen kehitys on tuonut mukanaan aineisto- eli korpusvetoisuuden kaltaisia uusia tapoja lähestyä tutkimusaineistoa, jolloin tyypillisiä tutkimuskysymyksiä ”Miksi?” ja ”Miten?” edeltää kysymys: ”Mikä?”. Tässä väitöskirjassa tarkastellaan edistyneiden suomenoppijoiden kirjoitettua akateemista kieltä ja suhteutetaan suomen oppimiselle ominaisia seikkoja käyttöpohjaisen mallin perusolettamuksiin. Aineisto on suomea toisena kielenä käyttävien opiskelijoiden tenttivastauksia, ja se on osa Edistyneiden suomenoppijoiden korpusta. Tutkimus on osin metodologinen, sillä väitöskirjassa esitellään ja siinä sovelletaan uutta korpusvetoista avainrakenneanalyysi-menetelmää, jonka avulla aineistoa lähestytään ilman hypoteeseja siitä, mitkä kielen ilmiöt ovat ominaisia edistyneelle oppijansuomelle. Tutkimus kuuluu kieliopin tutkimuksen piiriin, ja se nojaa kognitiivisen konstruktiokieliopin ajatukseen abstraktiudeltaan vaihtelevista konstruktioista kielijärjestelmän perusyksiköinä. Tulokset puoltavat menetelmän sovellettavuutta kielen oppimisen tutkimukseen, sillä sen avulla kyettiin tunnistamaan konstruktioita, jotka erottavat edistyneitä oppijoita ensikielisistä kirjoittajista (esim. modaaliset verbiketjut), eri ensikieliä puhuvia suomenoppijoita (esim. konjunktiot) sekä konstruktioita, joiden käyttö muuttuu ajan kuluessa (esim. preteriti ja preesens). Monet havaitut erot ovat akateemisen kirjoittamisen erityispiirteitä, mikä tukee ajatusta kielen käyttö- ja kontekstikohtaisesta oppimisesta. Tuloksia voidaan yhtäältä soveltaa akateemisen kielitaidon opetuksessa. Toisaalta menetelmää voidaan käyttää kielenoppimisen tutkimuksen ohella uusien näkökulmien kartoittamiseksi erilaisten tai eri-ikäisten tekstien tyypillisten ominaisuuksien ja erojen tutkimuksessa.

Improving oral healthcare in Scotland with special reference to sustainability and caries prevention

Brett Duane Improving oral healthcare in Scotland with special reference to sustainability and caries prevention University of Turku, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Dentistry, Community Dentistry, Finnish Doctoral Program in Oral Sciences (FINDOS-Turku), Turku, Finland Annales Universitatis Turkuensis, Sarja- Ser. D, Medica-Odontologica. Painosalama Oy, Turku, Finland, 2015. Dentistry must provide sustainable, evidence-based, and prevention-focused care. In Scotland oral health prevention is delivered through the Childsmile programme, with an increasing use of high concentration fluoride toothpaste (HCFT). Compared with other countries there is little knowledge of xylitol prevention. The UK government has set strict carbon emission limits with which all national health services (NHS) must comply. The purpose of these studies was firstly to describe the Scottish national oral health prevention programme Childsmile (CS), to determine if the additional maternal use of xylitol (CS+X) was more effective at affecting the early colonisation of mutans streptococci (MS) than this programme alone; secondly to analyse trends in the prescribing and management of HCFT by dentists; and thirdly to analyse data from a dental service in order to improve its sustainability. In all, 182 mother/child pairs were selected on the basis of high maternal MS levels. Motherswere randomly allocated to a CS or CS+X group, with both groups receiving Childsmile. Theintervention group consumed xylitol three times a day, from when the child was 3 months until 24 months. Children were examined at age two to assess MS levels. In order to understand patterns of HCFT prescribing, a retrospective secondary data analysis of routine prescribing data for the years 2006-2012 was performed. To understand the sustainability of dental services, carbon accounting combined a top-down approach and a process analysis approach, followed by the use of Pollard’s decision model (used in other healthcare areas) to analyse and support sustainable service reconfiguration. Of the CS children, 17% were colonised with MS, compared with 5% of the CS+X group. This difference was not statistically significant (P=0.1744). The cost of HCFT prescribing increased fourteen-fold over five years, with 4% of dentists prescribing 70% of the total product. Travel (45%), procurement (36%) and building energy (18%) all contributed to the 1800 tonnes of carbon emissions produced by the service, around 4% of total NHS emissions. Using the analytical model, clinic utilisation rates improved by 56% and patient travel halved significantly reducing carbon emissions. It can be concluded that the Childsmile programme was effective in reducing the risk for MS transmission. HCFT is increasing in Scotland and needs to be managed. Dentistry has similar carbon emissions proportionally as the overall NHS, and the use of an analytic tool can be useful in helping identify these emissions. Key words: Sustainability, carbon emissions, xylitol, mutans streptococci, fluoride toothpaste, caries prevention.

Safety and outcome of coronary interventions with special reference to anticoagulation and stent type

University of Turku, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine, Doctoral Programme of Clinical Investigation, Heart Center, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Cardiology, Seinäjoki Central Hospital, Seinäjoki, Finland Heart Center, Satakunta Central Hospital, Pori, Finland Annales Universitatis Turkuensis Painosalama Oy, Turku, Finland 2015 Antithrombotic therapy during and after coronary procedures always entails the challenging establishment of a balance between bleeding and thrombotic complications. It has been generally recommended to patients on long-term warfarin therapy to discontinue warfarin a few days prior to elective coronary angiography or intervention to prevent bleeding complications. Bridging therapy with heparin is recommended for patients at an increased risk of thromboembolism who require the interruption of anticoagulation for elective surgery or an invasive procedure. In study I, consecutive patients on warfarin therapy referred for diagnostic coronary angiography were compared to control patients with a similar disease presentation without warfarin. The strategy of performing coronary angiography during uninterrupted therapeutic warfarin anticoagulation appeared to be a relatively safe alternative to bridging therapy, if the international normalized ratio level was not on a supratherapeutic level. In-stent restenosis remains an important reason for failure of long-term success after a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Drug-eluting stents (DES) reduce the problem of restenosis inherent to bare metal stents (BMS). However, a longer delay in arterial healing may extend the risk of stent thrombosis (ST) far beyond 30 days after the DES implantation. Early discontinuation of antiplatelet therapy has been the most important predisposing factor for ST. In study II, patients on long-term oral anticoagulant (OAC) underwent DES or BMS stenting with a median of 3.5 years’follow-up. The selective use of DESs with a short triple therapy seemed to be safe in OAC patients, since late STs were rare even without long clopidogrel treatment. Major bleeding and cardiac events were common in this patient group irrespective of stent type. In order to help to predict the bleeding risk in patients on OAC, several different bleeding risk scorings have been developed. Risk scoring systems have also been used also in the setting of patients undergoing a PCI. In study III, the predictive value of an outpatient bleeding risk index (OBRI) to identify patients at high risk of bleeding was analysed. The bleeding risk seemed not to modify periprocedural or long-term treatment choices in patients on OAC after a percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients with a high OBRI often had major bleeding episodes, and the OBRI may be suitable for risk evaluation in this patient group. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a novel technology for imaging intravascular coronary arteries. OCT is a light-based imaging modality that enables a 12–18 µm tissue axial resolution to visualize plaques in the vessel, possible dissections and thrombi as well as, stent strut appositions and coverage, and to measure the vessel lumen and lesions. In study IV, 30 days after titanium-nitride-oxide (TITANOX)-coated stent implantation, the binary stent strut coverage was satisfactory and the prevalence of malapposed struts was low as evaluated by OCT. Long-term clinical events in patients treated with (TITANOX)-coated bio-active stents (BAS) and paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) in routine clinical practice were examined in study V. At the 3-year follow-up, BAS resulted in better long-term outcome when compared with PES with an infrequent need for target vessel revascularization. Keywords: anticoagulation, restenosis, thrombosis, bleeding, optical coherence tomography, titanium

Monolithic zirconium dioxide as a full contour restorative material: With special emphasis on the optical and mechanical properties

Full contour monolithic zirconia restorations have shown an increased popularity in the dental field over the recent years, owing to its mechanical and acceptable optical properties. However, many features of the restoration are yet to be researched and supported by clinical studies to confirm its place among the other indirect restorative materials This series of in vitro studies aimed at evaluating and comparing the optical and mechanical properties, light cure irradiance, and cement polymerization of multiple monolithic zirconia material at variable thicknesses, environments, treatments, and stabilization. Five different monolithic zirconia materials, four of which were partially stabilized and one fully stabilized were investigated. The optical properties in terms of surface gloss, translucency parameter, and contrast ratio were determined via a reflection spectrophotometer at variable thicknesses, coloring, sintering method, and after immersion in an acidic environment. Light cure irradiance and radiant exposure were quantified through the specimens at variable thicknesses and the degree of conversion of two dual-cure cements was determined via Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. Bi-axial flexural strength was evaluated to compare between the partially and fully stabilized zirconia prepared using different coloring and sintering methods. Surface characterization was performed using a scanning electron microscope and a spinning disk confocal microscope. The surface gloss and translucency of the zirconia investigated were brand and thickness dependent with the translucency values decreasing as the thickness increased. Staining decreased the translucency of the zirconia and enhanced surface gloss as well as the flexural strength of the fully stabilized zirconia but had no effect on partially stabilized zirconia. Immersion in a corrosive acid increased surface gloss and decreased the translucency of some zirconia brands. Zirconia thickness was inversely related to the amount of light irradiance, radiant exposure, and degree of monomer conversion. Type of sintering furnace had no effect on the optical and mechanical properties of zirconia. Monolithic zirconia maybe classified as a semi-translucent material that is well influenced by the thickness, limiting its use in the esthetic zones. Conventional acid-base reaction, autopolymerizing and dual-cure cements are recommended for its cementation. Its desirable mechanical properties give it a high potential as a restoration for posterior teeth. However, close monitoring with controlled clinical studies must be determined before any definite clinical recommendations can be drawn.