Titanium TSME appliance for patients allergic to nickel.

Aim: The aim of this article is to describe the use of a titanium TSME appliance for patients with allergy to resin and nickel. We aim to highlight the optimal way to avoid problems such as stomatitis and peri-labial dermatitis, which generally appear in patients who use traditional orthodontic appliances made in acrylic resin and steel.

Materials And Methods: The construction of a titanium appliance is described and a case treated with it is reported.

Ocular ultrasonographic and biometric features of European brown hares (Lepus europaeus).

The aim of this work is to assess the normal ultrasonographic features and dimensions of eyes in European hares. Corneal thickness, anterior chamber depth, lens thickness, vitreous chamber depth and eye axial length were measured by ultrasound in 40 healthy hares (Lepus europaeus), 20 males and 20 females, mean age of 5.5 months (range 2-15 months).

Three-Dimensional Virtual Treatment Planning: Presurgical Evaluation.

Objective: This article describes a virtual protocol designed to optimize surgical orthodontic diagnosis and treatment plan.

Methods: A total of 15 patients undergoing orthodontic-surgical treatment have been analyzed with a presurgical virtual three-dimensional (3D) treatment planning, which involves 9 steps. All the patients have been treated with the use of occlusal splint guides projected on the basis of the surgical and orthodontic visualized treatment objective .

Results of radiotherapy in minimal stage mycosis fungoides: a reappraisal after ten years.

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, accounting for 54-72% of cases. When it presents as solitary or oligolesional picture, radiotherapy is considered potentially curative. To verify this, we have decided to evaluate the outcome in 15 patients studied in the period 1990-2007 after ten years.

Eculizumab for Thrombotic Microangiopathy Associated with Antibody-Mediated Rejection after ABO-Incompatible Kidney Transplantation.

Thrombotic microangiopathy is a form of antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR): it is the main complication of ABO-incompatible (ABOi) kidney transplantation (KT). Herein, we report on two cases of ABMR with biological and histological features of thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) that were treated by eculizumab after ABOi KT. The first patient presented with features of TMA at postoperative day (POD) 13.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for gastric cancer. Is it a must or a fake?

Aim: To investigate the neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) effect on the survival of patients with proper stomach cancer submitted to D2 gastrectomy.

Methods: We proceeded to a review of the literature with PubMed, Embase, ASCO and ESMO meeting abstracts as well as computerized use of the Cochrane Library for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing NAC followed by surgery (NAC + S) with surgery alone (SA) for gastric cancer (GC). The primary outcome was the overall survival rate.

UV-induced damage to DNA: effect of cytosine methylation on pyrimidine dimerization.

Methylation/demethylation of cytosine plays an important role in epigenetic signaling, the reversibility of epigenetic modifications offering important opportunities for targeted therapies. Actually, methylated sites have been correlated with mutational hotspots detected in skin cancers. The present brief review discusses the physicochemical parameters underlying the specific ultraviolet-induced reactivity of methylated cytosine.

Evaluation of patients' compliance in different age groups: preventive methodology.

Background: The aim of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the SSRD Department of University of Milan PREVENTION PROGRAM between subjects of different sex and ages.

Methods: Prevention Program is divided into six stages, in which specific and standardized procedures are effected on patient; then checkups are planned after three months. Ninety patients (48 females, 42 males) were included.

High-Yield Fabrication of Entangled Photon Emitters for Hybrid Quantum Networking Using High-Temperature Droplet Epitaxy.

Several semiconductor quantum dot techniques have been investigated for the generation of entangled photon pairs. Among the other techniques, droplet epitaxy enables the control of the shape, size, density, and emission wavelength of the quantum emitters. However, the fraction of the entanglement-ready quantum dots that can be fabricated with this method is still limited to around 5%, and matching the energy of the entangled photons to atomic transitions (a promising route toward quantum networking) remains an outstanding challenge.

Inhibition of apoptosis by caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK improves cryotolerance of in vitro derived bovine embryos.

The aim of this work was to evaluate whether the treatment with the pan-caspase inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethyl ketone (Z-VAD-FMK) during cryopreservation and post-warming in vitro culture improves cryotolerance of bovine in vitro produced (IVP) embryos. Abattoir derived bovine oocytes were in vitro matured, fertilized and cultured according to standard procedure. On Day 7, embryo yields were assessed and blastocysts randomly divided in 2 groups: vitrification and post-warming culture in the absence (n = 184) or presence (n = 156) of 20 μM Z-VAD-FMK.

Dissection of Factors Affecting the Variability of the Peptide Bond Geometry and Planarity.

Proteins frequently assume complex three-dimensional structures characterized by marginal thermodynamic stabilities. In this scenario, deciphering the folding code of these molecular giants with clay feet is a cumbersome task. Studies performed in last years have shown that the interplay between backbone geometry and local conformation has an important impact on protein structures.

Large-scale analysis of herpesviridae in epilepsy-patients with signs of autoimmune encephalitis.

Purpose: Epilepsy is one of the most common primary brain disorders. Nonparaneoplastic autoimmune encephalitis is increasingly recognized as an important cause of adult onset epilepsy. However, only in rare cases an initiating factor of the syndrome can be identified.

NONO ubiquitination is mediated by FBW7 and GSK3 β via a degron lost upon chromosomal rearrangement in cancer.

NONO is an RNA-binding protein involved in transcription, mRNA splicing, DNA repair, and checkpoint activation in response to UV radiation. NONO expression has been found altered in several tumor types, including prostate, colon, breast, melanoma, and in papillary renal carcinoma, in which an X chromosome inversion generates a NONO-TFE3 fusion protein. Upon such rearrangement, NONO loses its C-terminal domain.

The NIH Science of Behavior Change Program: Transforming the science through a focus on mechanisms of change.

The goal of the NIH Science of Behavior Change (SOBC) Common Fund Program is to provide the basis for an experimental medicine approach to behavior change that focuses on identifying and measuring the mechanisms that underlie behavioral patterns we are trying to change. This paper frames the development of the program within a discussion of the substantial disease burden in the U.S.

Relative deprivation: Measurement issues and predictive role for body image dissatisfaction.

The study of how relative standing in the socioeconomic hierarchy affects health outcomes faces a number of challenges. Two critical issues are the choice of the indicator quantifying relative standard of living and the collinearity which typically arises when absolute standard of living is controlled for. We address these issues by taking into examination linear and concave measures of relative deprivation and by showing that collinearity can be lessened through manipulations of the measures' formulae.

Skin lesions caused by Tabanus bovinus bites.

We report seven Caucasian adult patients who were bitten by horseflies (Tabanus bovinus Linnaeus, 1758) during a trip to Bolivia. Clinical picture was superimposable in all patients: it was characterized by multiple, erythematous, roundish, flattened, large plaques, often with a central point corresponding to horsefly bite, surrounded by satellite, similar, although smaller, lesions. All lesions were located on the neck and/or the upper chest and/or the shoulders; one patient had lesions also on the face.

Multiple Electronic and Structural Factors Control Cyclobutane Pyrimidine Dimer and 6-4 Thymine-Thymine Photodimerization in a DNA Duplex.

The T-T photodimerization paths leading to the formation of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD) and 6-4 pyrimidine pyrimidone (64-PP), the two main DNA photolesions, have been resolved for a T-T step in a DNA duplex by two complementary state-of-the-art quantum mechanical approaches: QM(CASPT2//CASSCF)/MM and TD-DFT/PCM. Based on the analysis of several different representative structures, we define a new-ensemble of cooperating geometrical and electronic factors (besides the distance between the reacting bonds) ruling T-T photodimerization in DNA. CPD is formed by a barrierless path on an exciton state delocalized over the two bases.

Factors affecting the amplitude of the τ angle in proteins: a revisitation.

The protein folded state is the result of the fine balance of a variety of different forces. Even minor structural perturbations may have a significant impact on the stability of these macromolecules. Studies carried out in recent decades have led to the convergent view that proteins are endowed with a flexible spine.

Malignancies in hepatitis C virus-positive and -negative kidney transplant recipients: A case-controlled study.

Background: Malignancies and lymphoma are common complications after kidney transplantation. However, no link has been made between the incidence of malignancies and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in this setting. This case-controlled study compared the incidence of malignancies, including lymphoma, between kidney transplant (KT) patients with or without HCV replication.

Impact of transplant accessibility for sensitized patients by avoiding unacceptable antigens.

Recent data have confirmed the negative impact of preformed donor-specific antibodies (pDSAs) after liver transplantation (LT). In order to reduce the risk of developing lesions associated with acute and chronic antibody-mediated rejection in LT recipients, we evaluated the consequences in terms of transplant accessibility, associated with avoiding pDSAs according to several mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) titer thresholds that have been previously reported to be relevant in LT. Among the 484 included LT candidates, 99 (20.

Evolutionary interpretations of mycobacteriophage biodiversity and host-range through the analysis of codon usage bias.

In an genomics course sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), undergraduate students have isolated and sequenced the genomes of more than 1,150 mycobacteriophages, creating the largest database of sequenced bacteriophages able to infect a single host, , a soil bacterium. Genomic analysis indicates that these mycobacteriophages can be grouped into 26 clusters based on genetic similarity. These clusters span a continuum of genetic diversity, with extensive genomic mosaicism among phages in different clusters.

Firecracker eye exposure: experimental study and simulation.

Understanding the mechanisms of traumatic ocular injury is helpful to make accurate diagnoses before the symptoms emerge and to develop specific eye protection. The comprehension of the dynamics of primary blast injury mechanisms is a challenging issue. The question is whether the pressure wave propagation and reflection alone could cause ocular damage.