Oral lichen planus and malignant transformation: a retrospective follow-up study of clinical and histopathologic data

OBJECTIVE: Patients in the stomatology service of the Department of Oral Surgery and Stomatology who were clinically and histopathologically diagnosed with oral lichen planus (OLP) in the years 1995 to 2001 were examined for a possible malignant transformation of a previously biopsied OLP site. METHOD AND MATERIALS: For the 145 patients included, the recordings were searched for initial localization and type of OLP lesion, potential noxious agents, distribution between symptomatic and asymptomatic OLP types, and for a malignant transformation of a known OLP site during the follow-up period up to December 2003. RESULTS: The group comprised 47 men and 98 women with a mean age of 56.3 years. Of the 497 lesions, almost half were classified as reticular or papular, predominantly located on the buccal mucosa, gingiva, and borders of the tongue. Four patients did not adhere to their scheduled control visits and were dropped from the study. During the follow-up period 4 patients developed malignant transformation of OLP. In 3 of these cases, dysplasia was present at the initial diagnosis of OLP. This results in a malignant transformation rate of 2.84% among the remaining 141 patients; if the 3 patients with initial dysplasia are excluded, the rate drops to 0.71%. CONCLUSIONS: Until further knowledge is derived from large prospective studies, the data supporting or negating a potential malignant character of OLP lesions remains inconclusive. Special emphasis has to be directed toward unified inclusion and exclusion criteria regarding clinical and histologic findings and identifiable risk factors to allow the comparison of different studies.

[Conventional vs minimally invasive total hip arthroplasty. A prospective study of rehabilitation and complications]

BACKGROUND: In a prospective, nonrandomized study the outcome in terms of rehabilitation and complications of total hip arthroplasty (THA) through a superior capsulotomy exposure (study group) was compared to THA performed through a direct lateral exposure (control group). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study group (106 THA) and the control group (107 THA) were controlled for complexity and had no significant differences in age, sex, diagnosis, or body mass index. RESULTS: The study group had improved recovery at 6 weeks after surgery which was statistically significant (p<0.001). In addition, the study group had a lower incidence of perioperative complications. CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrates the potential that less-invasive surgical techniques with the philosophy of maximally preserving the abductors, posterior capsule, and short rotators may result in a safer operation with an accelerated recovery.

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry for measuring total bone mineral content in the rat: study of accuracy and precision

Sequential studies of osteopenic bone disease in small animals require the availability of non-invasive, accurate and precise methods to assess bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which is currently used in humans for this purpose, can also be applied to small animals by means of adapted software. Precision and accuracy of DXA was evaluated in 10 rats weighing 50-265 g. The rats were anesthetized with a mixture of ketamine-xylazine administrated intraperitoneally. Each rat was scanned six times consecutively in the antero-posterior incidence after repositioning using the rat whole-body software for determination of whole-body BMC and BMD (Hologic QDR 1000, software version 5.52). Scan duration was 10-20 min depending on rat size. After the last measurement, rats were sacrificed and soft tissues were removed by dermestid beetles. Skeletons were then scanned in vitro (ultra high resolution software, version 4.47). Bones were subsequently ashed and dissolved in hydrochloric acid and total body calcium directly assayed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (TBCa[chem]). Total body calcium was also calculated from the DXA whole-body in vivo measurement (TBCa[DXA]) and from the ultra high resolution measurement (TBCa[UH]) under the assumption that calcium accounts for 40.5% of the BMC expressed as hydroxyapatite. Precision error for whole-body BMC and BMD (mean +/- S.D.) was 1.3% and 1.5%, respectively. Simple regression analysis between TBCa[DXA] or TBCa[UH] and TBCa[chem] revealed tight correlations (n = 0.991 and 0.996, respectively), with slopes and intercepts which were significantly different from 1 and 0, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Productive Diversification and Sustainable Use of Complex Social-Ecological Systems: A Comparative Study of Indigenous and Settler Communities in the Bolivian Amazon

Agricultural and forest productive diversification depends on multiple socioeconomic drivers—like knowledge, migration, productive capacity, and market—that shape productive strategies and influence their ecological impacts. Our comparison of indigenous and settlers allows a better understanding of how societies develop different diversification strategies in similar ecological contexts and how the related socioeconomic aspects of diversification are associated with land cover change. Our results suggest that although indigenous people cause less deforestation and diversify more, diversification is not a direct driver of deforestation reduction. A multidimensional approach linking sociocognitive, economic, and ecological patterns of diversification helps explain this contradiction.

Indicating Commitment: The Notion of dépense in the Study of Ritual and Religion

By analysing two cases from the recent history of Vaishnavism (a temple festival in Vrindavan; the development of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON), this paper shows that the notion of dépenseas developed by Marcel Mauss, Robert Hertz and Georges Bataille can be applied as an analytical tool in the study of rituals and religion as an indicator of religious commitment. At the same time it is possible to show that, by constructing a kind of macro-economic theory that includes religious behaviour, recent theories of religious economics are part of, and reproduce, a modern discourse of rationality that rules out, rather than understands, forms of irrationality such as unproductive expenditure (dépense).

Perforation of the sinus membrane during sinus floor elevation: a retrospective study of frequency and possible risk factors.

PURPOSE To analyze the frequency of perforation of the sinus membrane during maxillary sinus floor elevation (SFE) and to assess possible risk factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seventy-seven cases of SFE performed with a lateral window approach were evaluated retrospectively. Clinical and radiographic variables potentially influencing the risk of sinus membrane perforation were evaluated and divided into patient-related factors (age, sex, smoking habit); surgery-related factors (type of surgical approach, side, units, sites, and technique of osteotomy); and maxillary sinus-related factors (presence and height of septum, height of residual ridge, thickness of lateral sinus wall, width of antrum, and thickness and status of sinus membrane). RESULTS The following factors presented with at least a 10% difference in rates of perforations: smokers (46.2%) versus nonsmokers (23.4%), simultaneous (32%) versus staged (18.5%) approach, mixed premolar-molar sites (41.2%) versus premolar-only sites (16.7%) versus molar-only sites (26.2%), presence of septa (42.9%) versus no septa (23.8%), and minimum height of residual ridge ≤4 mm (34.2%) versus > 4 mm (20.5%). These same parameters, except minimum height of residual ridge, also showed an odds ratio above 2. However, none of the comparisons reached statistical significance. CONCLUSION The present study failed to demonstrate any factor that statistically significantly increased the risk of sinus membrane perforation during SFE using the lateral window approach.