Development of undergraduate students' diagnostic accuracy for the classification of molar incisor hypomineralization.

Introduction: One of the major difficulties with respect to molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH) is its classification and differentiation from other enamel development defects (EDDs). The aim of this study was to evaluate diagnostic accuracy in dental students to classify MIH as well as its differentiation from other EDDs by combining conventional theoretical classes and e-learning-assisted pre-clinical practices.

Methods: In this one-group pre-test and post-test study, 59 second-year students assessed 115 validated photographs using the MIH Index on the Moodle learning platform.

Developing diagnostic skills from preclinical dental education: Caries detection and assessment using e-learning assisted practice.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of developing visual diagnostic skills for detecting and assessing dental caries using e-learning assisted practice in preclinical dental education.

Methods: A one-group before and after the study was conducted. After a theoretical lesson on cariology, 53 inexperienced second-year preclinical students assessed 78 clinical photographs using the Nyvad criteria; they received automated feedback upon completion of the test.

Examiner's experience and the outcome interpretation of ICDAS and Nyvad's system - a prospective in vitro study.

Objective: To evaluate, prospectively, the influence of examiner's experience in interpreting and applying the caries detection systems ICDAS (IC) and Nyvad (NY).

Material And Methods: Twelve second-year undergraduate dental students (UG) and 12 postgraduates (PG) MSc level analysed and codified 77 clinical dental caries photographs at three different moments: initially, without any training; after one week of receiving training through a theoretical class; and after two years. Reproducibility and correlation was evaluated; sensitivity, specificity and area under ROC curve (AUC) were dichotomized according to the presence of cavitation (IC) and in relation to disease activity (NY).

Glial activation in a pilocarpine rat model for epileptogenesis: a morphometric and quantitative analysis.

In this work we examined the correlation between long-term glial resilience and slow epileptogenesis using the pilocarpine-insult rat model. We assessed, quantitatively and morphometrically, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression and cell densities in hippocampus in a dose-response manner 2, 4 and 8 weeks after the pilocarpine insult. GFAP changes were correlated with observations on microglial activation.

Reduction of serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe due to chronic prenatal administration of a tryptophan-free diet.

Serotonin (5-HT) is a widely studied neurotransmitter which plays an important role in the development and proper functioning of the organism throughout life. The appearance of 5-HT system early in ontogeny suggests the hypothesis that 5-HT plays a regulatory role in neurodevelopment. This study investigated the effect of administration of a tryptophan deficient diet during prenatal development on the morphology and cell population of the dorsal raphe.

Increased transvascular transport of WGA-peroxidase after chronic perinatal stress in the hippocampal microvasculature of the rat.

Brain endothelial ultrastructural properties contribute to maintain proper blood-brain barrier (BBB) function. Several physiological and pathological conditions have been shown to alter BBB permeability to blood-borne molecules, acute and chronic stress among them. In the rat, early life stress increased transvascular transport of Evans blue, however, the route of tracer extravasation is not fully known; therefore the aim of the present experiment was to describe the ultrastructural changes in endothelial cells subsequent to chronic perinatal stress in order to ascertain the route for transvascular transport of an electrodense tracer.

Brief report: life history and neuropathology of a gifted man with Asperger syndrome.

Despite recent interest in the pathogenesis of the autism spectrum disorders (pervasive developmental disorders), neuropathological descriptions of brains of individuals with well documented clinical information and without potentially confounding symptomatology are exceptionally rare. Asperger syndrome differs from classic autism by lack of cognitive impairment or delay in expressive language acquisition. We examined the 1,570 g brain of a 63 year old otherwise healthy mathematician with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder of Asperger subtype.

Clinical heterogeneity of human neurocysticercosis results from complex interactions among parasite, host and environmental factors.

Human neurocysticercosis (NC) is endemic in most countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa and is re-emerging in some industrialized nations. Both within and among endemic countries, NC is very variable in its clinical and radiological features, as well as in the intensity of the immuno-inflammatory reactions of the hosts. This review, focusing on the Mexican experience, describes and interprets the heterogeneity of NC as the result of different combinations among factors associated with the parasite, host and environment.

Prenatal stress alters microglial development and distribution in postnatal rat brain.

Stress affects microglial function and viability during adulthood and early postnatal life; however, it is unknown whether stress to the pregnant dam might alter offspring microglia. The effects of prenatal stress on microglial development and distribution in the postnatal brain were studied using Wistar rats. Prenatal stress consisting of 20 min of forced swimming occurred on embryonic days 10-20.

Dietary tryptophan restriction in rats triggers astrocyte cytoskeletal hypertrophy in hippocampus and amygdala.

We have previously reported that dietary tryptophan (TRP) restriction in a rat crucial postnatal developmental stage induces depression-like behavior and alters dendritic spine density in CA1 pyramidal neurons and granule cells of the hippocampus. Due to astrocyte involvement in critical brain mechanisms, it seems worth to investigate possible adaptive changes in the glial population with TRP restriction. Experimental rats were fed with low TRP diet (20% of TRP level of the laboratory rat chow) from postnatal days 30-60.

Rats subjected to extended L-tryptophan restriction during early postnatal stage exhibit anxious-depressive features and structural changes.

Serotonin transmission dysfunction has been suggested to play an important role in depression and anxiety. This study reports the results of a series of experiments in which rats were subjected to extended maize-based tortilla diets during early postnatal stages. This diet contains only approximately 20% of the L-tryptophan in normal diets of laboratory rodents.

Fullerene C60 and ascorbic acid protect cultured chromaffin cells against levodopa toxicity.

Adrenal chromaffin cell (ACC) transplants, alone or combined with levodopa treatment, were used in attempted therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). In a previous study, we demonstrated that levodopa caused chromaffin cell death either by necrosis or by apoptosis in cell culture. Here we report the beneficial effect of a water-soluble derivative of fullerene C(60) (a novel molecule with potent antioxidant properties) and of ascorbic acid when applied to chromaffin cell cultures exposed to levodopa.

Neuroprotective effects of progesterone on damage elicited by acute global cerebral ischemia in neurons of the caudate nucleus.

Background: In addition to the hippocampus, the dorsolateral caudate nucleus (CN) and the pars reticularis of the substantia nigra (SNr) are among the most vulnerable brain areas to ischemia. A possible association of the neuronal injury in these two subcortical nuclei has been proposed, the primary damage affecting the CN GABAergic neurons innervating the SNr, and secondarily the SNr neurons as a result of an imbalance of GABAergic and glutamatergic input to the SNr. Progesterone (P(4)) exerts a GABAergic action on the central nervous system (CNS) and is known to protect neurons in the cat hippocampus from the damaging effect of acute global cerebral ischemia (AGCI).