Foreign body mimicking an oral pathology

Foreign bodies’ adherence to the hard palate is unusual and can mimic an oral pathology. The diagnosis of this foreign body is challenging: it is based on an amnestic history, unspecific or absent symptoms and oral examination. The oral examination could be difficult when dealing with paediatric patients. Imaging techniques may mislead and so an exam under anaesthesia is often necessary to make the proper diagnosis. We report a case of 2 years-old male child referred to our attention for a strange lesion on the hard palate. After poorly significant MRI, we were unable to perform an oral examination and a general anaesthesia procedure was performed. A small translucent mass that turned out to be a piece of plastic adherent to the hard palate, was removed

(1)H-NMR analysis provides a metabolomic profile of patients with multiple sclerosis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the metabolomic profiles of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and to define the metabolic pathways potentially related to MS pathogenesis. METHODS: Plasma samples from 73 patients with MS (therapy-free for at least 90 days) and 88 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed by (1)H-NMR spectroscopy. Data analysis was conducted with principal components analysis followed by a supervised analysis (orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis [OPLS-DA]). The metabolites were identified and quantified using Chenomx software, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated. RESULTS: The model obtained with the OPLS-DA identified predictive metabolic differences between the patients with MS and HC (R2X = 0.615, R2Y = 0.619, Q2 = 0.476; p < 0.001). The differential metabolites included glucose, 5-OH-tryptophan, and tryptophan, which were lower in the MS group, and 3-OH-butyrate, acetoacetate, acetone, alanine, and choline, which were higher in the MS group. The suitability of the model was evaluated using an external set of samples. The values returned by the model were used to build the corresponding ROC curve (area under the curve of 0.98). CONCLUSION: NMR metabolomic analysis was able to discriminate different metabolic profiles in patients with MS compared with HC. With the exception of choline, the main metabolic changes could be connected to 2 different metabolic pathways: tryptophan metabolism and energy metabolism. Metabolomics appears to represent a promising noninvasive approach for the study of M

On the variability of functional connectivity and network measures in source-reconstructed eeg time-series

The idea of estimating the statistical interdependence among (interacting) brain regions has motivated numerous researchers to investigate how the resulting connectivity patterns and networks may organize themselves under any conceivable scenario. Even though this idea has developed beyond its initial stages, its practical application is still far away from being widespread. One concurrent cause may be related to the proliferation of different approaches that aim to catch the underlying statistical interdependence among the (interacting) units. This issue has probably con-tributed to hindering comparisons among different studies. Not only do all these approaches go under the same name (functional connectivity), but they have often been tested and validated using different methods, therefore, making it difficult to understand to what extent they are similar or not. In this study, we aim to compare a set of different approaches commonly used to estimate the functional connectivity on a public EEG dataset representing a possible realistic scenario. As expected, our results show that source-level EEG connectivity estimates and the derived network measures, even though pointing to the same direction, may display substantial dependency on the (often ar-bitrary) choice of the selected connectivity metric and thresholding approach. In our opinion, the observed variability reflects the ambiguity and concern that should always be discussed when re-porting findings based on any connectivity metric

Comparison of the microleakage in class II bulk-fill restorations and different filling techniques: An “in vitro study”

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the microleakage at the interproximal horizontal margin in Class II restorations realized using four different types of composite resin: SDR® (Dentsply, Dentsply Sirona Italy – Piazza dell’Indipendenza, 11, 00185 Rome RM), Xtra-base® (VOCO, VOCO GmbH – 27457 Cuxhaven, Germany), Ceram-XTM (Dentsply, Dentsply Sirona Italy – Piazza dell’Indipendenza, 11, 00185 Rome RM), GrandioSO®(VOCO, VOCO GmbH – 27457 Cuxhaven, Germany). Additionally, two of these (SDR® and Xtra-base®) were used following a bulk fill technique following the producer’s instructions, while the other two (Ceram-XTM and GrandioSO®) were used following the traditional incremental technique. Methods: A total of 20 freshly extracted human teeth, either molar or premolars, were selected. They were randomly divided in four groups, one for each material: for each tooth, two Class II cavities, one mesial and one distal, were realized in order to be reconstructed with the material assigned to each tooth. In total, each group had five teeth and 10 restorations made, for a total of 40 restorations. After restoration, the teeth were covered with nail polish except for a 2mm-wide area which included the interproximal horizontal margin, and the apexes were sealed using Dyract®Seal sealer (Dentsply, Dentsply Sirona Italy – Piazza dell’Indipendenza, 11, 00185 Rome RM). The samples were then thermocycled at 55°C for 500 cycles and immersed in a solution of 0.2% Fuchsin dye for 24 hours. They were then sectioned mesiodistally and examined using an optical microscope (Leica DMS 1000) at a magnification of 20x: the microleakage was assessed by measuring the dye penetration through the floor of the restoration and scored using the Demarco scale (Demarco 2001). A Kruskal-Wallis Test and six Mann-Whitney tests were then performed to investigate whether or not the difference between the results in the different groups was statistically significant. Results: In this study, the best performance was observed in Group 2 (Xtra-base® VOCO; Bulk Fill technique) since no signs of microleakage were noticed. In Group 1 (SDR® Dentsply; Bulk Fill technique) the worst performance was observed: five samples showed no infiltration, while the other five showed a score of 2. In group 3 (Ceram-XTM Dentsply; Incremental technique.) six samples showed a score of 0, two samples a score of 1 and two samples a score of 2. In group 4 (GrandioSO®VOCO; Incremental technique) seven samples showed a score of 0, while one sample showed a score of 1 and two samples showed a score of 2. The Kruskal-Wallis test, however, did not reveal any statistically significant difference. Six different Mann-Whitney tests (one for each pair of groups, every combination possible) confirmed these results by not showing statistically significant differences between the different composites and techniques. Conclusion: Within the natural limitations of an in-vitro study, there is no statistically significant difference in terms of microleakage scores, even after thermocycling, between four different composite resins (Xtra-base® VOCO, SDR® Dentsply, Ceram-XTM Dentsply, GrandioSO®VOCO) two of which used with a bulk fill technique (Xtra-base® VOCO, SDR® Dentsply) and two with an incremental technique (Ceram-XTM Dentsply, GrandioSO®VOCO), as per the manufacturer’s instructions. These results encourage the design of clinical studies which could highlight differences between the performance of these composites through time when subjected not only to intra-oral temperature variation, but to occlusal forces, pH variations and plaque accumulation too

Sequence and assembly of the genome of Seiridium unicorne, isolate CBS 538.82, causal agent of cypress canker disease

According to the most recent taxonomy, Cypress Canker Disease (CCD) is caused by seven Ascomycete fungi belonging to the genus Seiridium: S. cardinale (W. Wagener) B. Sutton &amp; I.A.S. Gibson, S. cupressi (Guba) Boesew., S. unicorne (Cooke &amp; Ellis) B. Sutton, S. neocupressi (Bonthond, Sandoval-Denis &amp; Crous), S. cancrinum (Bonthond, Sandoval-Denis &amp; Crous), S. pseudocardinale (Wijayaw., Camporesi, McKenzie &amp; K.D. Hyde) and S. kenyanum (Bonthond, SandovalDenis &amp; Crous) (Bonthond et al. 2018). Differently from other Seiridium species which appear to be associated mostly with hosts in the Cupressaceae family, S. unicorne has been isolated from a wider range of plant families, including the Anacardiaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Cornaceae, Cupressaceae, Hamamelidaceae, Rosaceae and Vitaceae (Guba 1961; Boesewinkel 1983; Cho and Shin 2004)

Neuroimaging, Networking and Systems Biology: The New Way to Investigate Pathologies with Neurological System Implications. The example of Tourette Syndrome as a Pilot Study

Purpose: Recently, many academic research groups have focused their attention on changes in human brain networks related to several kinds of pathologies and diseases, generating the new discipline termed “Network Medicine”. Purpose of this paper is to investigate the ability of the Network Medicine to give deeper insights in the functionality of brain activity. Material and Methods: In the proposed study of Tourette syndrome, we have investigated with the functional magnetic resonance imaging the possibility that the mechanisms associated with the monitoring and internal control of movements were compromised in individuals with Tourette syndrome; we enrolled 20 Tourette Syndrome patients in comparison with a healthy Controls group of 15 subjects matching for age and sex distribution. We proposed, for the fMRI analysis, a novel task based on the execution of switching between complex movements on demand. Results: The elementary activation model found that the effort related to the task in comparing Tourettic vs Controls mainly concerns the areas of the Gyrus of the Cingulum, the precuneus and the thalamic area of the ventral-lateral nucleus. In particular, the BA11 plays an essential role in the Tourette Patients related to the continue tentative to correct the TIC. Considering the status of the pilot study of this work, we remark the power of proposed methods to investigate the complex interaction of the brain networks. Conclusion: Alteration in brain activity for a population of Tourette Syndrome patients is evaluable by the use of complex indexes, results confirm the literature about this pathology and these medical physics methods can be applied to all neurological diseases investigation by opportune task-driven experiments or by resting state fc-MRI experiments

SINONASAL TUMOURS WITH ORBITAL INVOLVEMENT: THE COMBINED APPROACH

Advanced sinonasal tumours often present with orbital involvement. Surgical treatment and radical excision are also possible, preserving the eye. Oncological safety and functional outcome of the preserved eye are the counterpart in orbital preservation surgery. Irrespective of the orbital invasion, tumour histology influences the prognosis. Surgical approaches to the orbit in sinonasal tumour are divided in anterior and posterolateral procedures. The combined transfacial and trancranial surgical approaches have been well described in the literature for craniofacial resection, when the anterior or medium skull base are involved. Multidisciplinary collaboration with microscopic and/or endoscopic control have improved surgical technique to extirpate tumours extended to dura, spehenopalatine area and pterygomaxilmary fissure, infratemporal fossa, roof of nasopharynx and apex of orbit. We describe the multiphase combined surgical approach with maxillofacial, otolaryngology and neurosurgical collaboration in sinonasal tumour treatment

Gallium arsenide photodetectors for imaging in the far ultraviolet region

The aim of the present work is to systematically investigate the response and stability of commercial GaAs devices in the 200–400 nm UV range with a view to establishing their potentiality in imaging devices. The irradiation results of GaAs detectors with various geometries are presented and discussed. The detectors were reverse biased in fully depleted condition and in partially depleted condition (5 V reverse bias) in order to investigate the possibilities of integration with the standard bias values of read-out-integrated circuits. The results show that fabrication technology for nondedicated devices is still immature