The Effect of Water Coolant and Bur Type on Pulp Temperature When Removing Tooth Structure and Restorative Dental Materials.

Objective: The aim was to compare intrapulp temperature (IPT) changes when flat-fissure diamond burs and pear-shaped tungsten carbide burs were used to cut tooth structure, amalgam, and composite resin with and without water coolant.

Methods: Thermocouples were inserted into the pulp chamber of extracted intact mandibular molars. The thermocouples were connected to an electronic thermometer that detects temperature every second to an accuracy of 0.

Feasibility of a Cinematic-Virtual Reality Training Program for Health Professional Students: A Single-Arm Pre-Post Study.

Background: Cinematic-virtual reality (cine-VR) has demonstrated improvements in cultural self-efficacy, diabetes attitudes, and empathy among healthcare providers, but its impact on health professional students is unknown. The purpose of the single-arm pre-post study was to examine the feasibility of this cine-VR diabetes training program as well as to assess changes in cultural self-efficacy, diabetes attitudes, and empathy among health professional students.

Method: Participants viewed 12 cine-VR 12 simulations about a 72-year-old patient with type 2 diabetes.

Structure of the Reston ebolavirus VP30 C-terminal domain.

The ebolaviruses can cause severe hemorrhagic fever. Essential to the ebolavirus life cycle is the protein VP30, which serves as a transcriptional cofactor. Here, the crystal structure of the C-terminal, NP-binding domain of VP30 from Reston ebolavirus is presented.

The effects of ezetimibe/simvastatin versus simvastatin monotherapy on platelet and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with metabolic syndrome.

In a randomized, double-blind, crossover study of 15 aspirin-naive patients (mean age 48.8 ± 10.2 years) with the metabolic syndrome, statin monotherapy (simvastatin 40 mg daily) was compared to combination therapy (simvastatin 40 mg and ezetimibe 10 mg daily) on biomarkers of inflammation and platelet activity.

Structure of hepatitis C virus polymerase in complex with primer-template RNA.

The replication of the hepatitis C viral (HCV) genome is accomplished by the NS5B RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), for which mechanistic understanding and structure-guided drug design efforts have been hampered by its propensity to crystallize in a closed, polymerization-incompetent state. The removal of an autoinhibitory β-hairpin loop from genotype 2a HCV NS5B increases de novo RNA synthesis by >100-fold, promotes RNA binding, and facilitated the determination of the first crystallographic structures of HCV polymerase in complex with RNA primer-template pairs. These crystal structures demonstrate the structural realignment required for primer-template recognition and elongation, provide new insights into HCV RNA synthesis at the molecular level, and may prove useful in the structure-based design of novel antiviral compounds.

Gene composer: database software for protein construct design, codon engineering, and gene synthesis.

Background: To improve efficiency in high throughput protein structure determination, we have developed a database software package, Gene Composer, which facilitates the information-rich design of protein constructs and their codon engineered synthetic gene sequences. With its modular workflow design and numerous graphical user interfaces, Gene Composer enables researchers to perform all common bio-informatics steps used in modern structure guided protein engineering and synthetic gene engineering.

Results: An interactive Alignment Viewer allows the researcher to simultaneously visualize sequence conservation in the context of known protein secondary structure, ligand contacts, water contacts, crystal contacts, B-factors, solvent accessible area, residue property type and several other useful property views.

Improvements in health-related quality of life with sumatriptan treatment for migraine.

Background: The debilitating effects of migraine might be reduced in patients using an effective migraine medication. The serotonin (5HT1) receptor agonist sumatriptan has been shown in clinical trials to alleviate headache and associated symptoms in the majority of patients treated.

Methods: Three hundred forty-four (344) patients with migraine were allowed to treat an unlimited number of migraine attacks for up to 24 months with subcutaneous sumatriptan (6 mg).

In vitro embryonation of Syphacia obvelata eggs.

Mouse infections with the pinworm, Syphacia obvelata, were evaluated as a potential model of human enterobiasis. Eggs of S. obvelata were found to be much less resistant to adverse environmental factors than those of Enterobius vermicularis, perishing rapidly when exposed to desiccation or to water.