Amelogenesis imperfecta.

Amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) represents a group of developmental conditions, genomic in origin, which affect the structure and clinical appearance of enamel of all or nearly all the teeth in a more or less equal manner, and which may be associated with morphologic or biochemical changes elsewhere in the body. The prevalence varies from 1:700 to 1:14,000, according to the populations studied. The enamel may be hypoplastic, hypomineralised or both and teeth affected may be discoloured, sensitive or prone to disintegration.

Long-term outcome of skull base surgery with microvascular reconstruction for malignant disease.

Background: Successful resection of malignant skull base disease depends implicitly on the ability to reconstruct the resulting defects in the craniovisceral diaphragm, to support neural structures, and to prevent ascending intracranial infections. Microsurgery reliably achieves these objectives and has increased the scope of curative oncologic surgery. The authors assessed the reconstructive results and the long-term oncologic outcome of patients having skull base surgery with free tissue transfer.

A study of the prescription of radiographs for children by a group of general dental practitioners in the South West of England.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the familiarity of general dental practitioners (GDPs) in the South West of England with the guidelines in the first edition of the then Faculty of General Dental Practitioners (UK) "good practice guidelines" publication Selection Criteria for Dental Radiography (henceforth referred to as "the guidelines") by studying the prescription of radiographs for children in two case scenarios.

Method: A single mailshot of questionnaires containing questions relating to the guidelines and the two case scenarios was sent to 136 GDPs in the South West of England. Their recommendations for the prescription of radiographs for the children in the two scenarios were then compared with the guidelines.

A case study of hemispatial neglect using finite element analysis and positron emission tomography.

Background: The authors present a patient who developed transient hemispatial neglect following surgical drainage of a large right frontotemporal arachnoid cyst. As symptoms evolved in parallel with brain shift over the subsequent months, the authors hypothesized that the disorder was associated with the appearance of mechanical stresses in the cerebral mantle.

Methods: To map tissue stress at the various stages of deformation, a finite element computer simulation was conducted on the basis of computed tomography scans of the patient.