Tooth loss and osteoporosis: the OSTEODENT Study.

Aim: To determine the cross-sectional association of the osteoporotic status of patients with the number of their teeth, with and without taking into account age and/or smoking.

Material & Methods: At four centres, the study recruited 665 females aged 45-70 years and the number of teeth was counted for 651 subjects. Bone density was measured at the total hip, femoral neck and lumbar spine.

The influence of the X-ray spectrum at compact bone-titanium interfaces in digital dental radiography.

Objectives: To determine the optimum X-ray spectrum in digital dental radiography once the dose around an implant and the diagnostic usefulness of the image are taken into account.

Materials And Methods: A Monte Carlo code (MCNP4B) was employed for computing the dose distribution across the bone-titanium interface. The X-ray spectra used were those met in digital dental radiography; 50-70 kVp, 2 mm Al total filtration, 5 kVp increment.

Detectability of experimental peri-implant cancellous bone lesions using conventional and direct digital radiography.

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance obtained from direct digital radiographic images (in their original form and after applying a grey-scale inversion) and conventional film in the detection of artificial peri-implant cancellous bone lesions.

Methods: Four titanium implants were placed into the cancellous bone of a dry mandible and increasingly larger bone defects were created in their approximal sites. Radiographs were taken using conventional film and a digital charge-coupled device sensor.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin in patients with high-risk resectable bladder carcinoma: long term results.

Objectives: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been used to improve outcome after cystectomy or for selection for bladder preservation in patients with bladder cancer. We have shown encouraging results using docetaxel and cisplatin in patients with advanced urothelial cancer. We are reporting the results of a phase II study using this combination as neoadjuvant treatment in patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Adjuvant chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin in patients with advanced bladder cancer: a study by the Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group.

Purpose: Radical cystectomy represents the treatment of choice for muscle infiltrative bladder carcinoma. Adjuvant chemotherapy has been used to improve outcome after cystectomy. We report results in a prospective cohort of patients at high risk for relapse who were treated with the combination of paclitaxel and carboplatin as adjuvant treatment following cystectomy for muscle invasive bladder cancer.

Radiation absorbed doses at compact bone-titanium interfaces in diagnostic radiography: a Monte Carlo approach.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to estimate the radiation absorbed dose at cortical tissue-implant interfaces in diagnostic radiology.

Methods: Since our interest was the radiation dose at an interface (cortical bone-implant interface), a Monte Carlo simulation was considered to be the most suitable method for studying the problem. The Monte Carlo code employed was MCNP4B.

Multifocality of renal cell tumors is a factor to consider before performing a partial nephrectomy.

Background: We conducted a retrospective analysis of radical nephrectomies performed in our clinic in order to evaluate the incidence of multifocality in relation to the stage, grade, size and histological type.

Materials And Methods: Preoperative imaging studies and the final pathological results of surgical specimens were reviewed. Separate primary tumors at a distance of more than one cm from the primary tumor were counted.

Cisplatin, ifosfamide, methotrexate and vinblastine combination chemotherapy for metastatic urothelial cancer.

Purpose: We investigated the activity of combination chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin, ifosfamide, methotrexate and vinblastine in patients with metastatic urothelial cancer.

Materials And Methods: A total of 32 consecutive patients was treated with 30 mg./m.

Does free to total ratio of prostate-specific antigen alter decision-making on prostatic biopsy?

Objectives: For patients with prostate specific antigen (PSA) values of 4-10 ng/mL, some urologists perform prostatic biopsies depending upon the findings of digital rectal examination (DRE) and transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS), and others perform biopsies on most of these men regardless of the findings of DRE and TRUS. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the information given by the measurement of the ratio of free to total (F/T) PSA can alter decision-making on prostatic biopsy.

Methods: One hundred and two (102) men with PSA values between 4 and 10 ng/mL, were included in this study.

Threshold of tactile sensitivity perceived with dental endosseous implants and natural teeth.

The aim of this study was to determine the threshold of tactile perception of endosseous dental implants and to assess the relative difference of that threshold between implants and teeth. Twenty-two subjects with implants of the ITI Dental Implant System were included in the study. All implants served as abutments for single tooth crowns and had been in function for a minimum of 1 year.

The value of prostatic specific antigen in the early diagnosis of prostatic cancer: a Greek view.

Objective: To assess whether it is worthwhile to screen asymptomatic men for prostate cancer using serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) and to determine how many patients could be cured of prostatic carcinoma if detected by screening.

Patients And Methods: Between June 1992 and January 1994 the serum PSA level of 1400 asymptomatic men over 50-years-old was assessed. Those men with PSA levels < 4 ng/mL were not evaluated further.

Bleeding on probing as it relates to probing pressure and gingival health in patients with a reduced but healthy periodontium. A clinical study.

A previous study demonstrated that the bleeding on probing (BOP) test using uncontrolled forces may result in a proportion of false positive readings when used as a parameter for inflammation. A strong possibility exists for the traumatization of clinically healthy gingival tissues if a probing force exceeding 0.25 N is applied.

A cytologic, ultrastructural and immunocytochemical comparison of tumor cells and cell cultures originating in invasive bladder carcinoma.

Tumor cells and urine-voided cells from patients with invasive bladder carcinoma as well as from healthy patients were examined cytologically, ultrastructurally and immunocytochemically. The ultrastructure of tumor cells showed an abundant, dilated, rough endoplasmic reticulum in the form of membrane-bound vacuoles full of granular to fibrillar material located perinuclearly and/or paranuclearly. Some cells exhibited enlarged modified lysosomes containing sparce flocculent and particulate precipitate.

Ureterolithotripsy: report of 1000 cases.

A series of 1000 patients with calculi of the ureter at various levels were treated by ureteroscopy and lithotripsy over a period of 27 months. The overall success rate was 88.8%.

Common characteristics of primary cell cultures originated from invasive urothelial carcinoma.

Ten primary cultures from invasive urothelial carcinomas were studied by light and electron microscopy. In all cultures, cells with accumulations of glycosaminoglycans were observed. Long membrane extensions with accumulations of glycosaminoglycans invaded neighboring cells and formed an extracellular matrix as well.

Growth characteristics of cultured human normal bladder epithelial cells: a comparison with urothelial carcinoma cell cultures.

We present the in vitro growth characteristics and morphology of the first established long-term culture of human normal bladder epithelium. Normal bladder cells were grown with a mean generation time of 44 h and a life span of 33 population doublings in 12 weeks. The cells exhibited contact inhibition of growth.

X-ray diffractometric analysis of L-cystine stones in 12 patients.

In 12 of 21 cystinuric patients, the components of cystine stones, either previously passed or removed at surgery, were studied by X-ray diffractometry and chemical analysis. The results of diffractometry suggested that, in addition to cystine, the stones contained sodium urate and ammonium magnesium orthophosphate hydrate, although chemical analysis was negative for these components. The role of uric acid in cystinuria is discussed.