Electric Current Application on Dental Implant Biofilms: Review.

The prevalence of complications due to the presence of biofilms in dental implant surfaces and their relationship with peri-implant diseases, namely peri-implantitis, remain difficult problems to overcome. The information available about the application of electric current on dental implant biofilms; its parameters, namely current level, voltage and exposure time; and related effects are still not enough to understand which individual mechanisms are caused by this technique, culminating in the decrease or eradication of the biofilm. The purpose of this narrative review, based on a systematic search, is to understand the effect of electric current directly applied to biofilms present in dental implants and which parameters are used.

Biclustering data analysis: a comprehensive survey.

Biclustering, the simultaneous clustering of rows and columns of a data matrix, has proved its effectiveness in bioinformatics due to its capacity to produce local instead of global models, evolving from a key technique used in gene expression data analysis into one of the most used approaches for pattern discovery and identification of biological modules, used in both descriptive and predictive learning tasks. This survey presents a comprehensive overview of biclustering. It proposes an updated taxonomy for its fundamental components (bicluster, biclustering solution, biclustering algorithms, and evaluation measures) and applications.

Temporal stratification of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients using disease progression patterns.

Identifying groups of patients with similar disease progression patterns is key to understand disease heterogeneity, guide clinical decisions and improve patient care. In this paper, we propose a data-driven temporal stratification approach, ClusTric, combining triclustering and hierarchical clustering. The proposed approach enables the discovery of complex disease progression patterns not found by univariate temporal analyses.

Zirconia Dental Implants Surface Electric Stimulation Impact on .

Tooth loss during the lifetime of an individual is common. A strategy to treat partial or complete edentulous patients is the placement of dental implants. However, dental implants are subject to bacterial colonization and biofilm formation, which cause an infection named peri-implantitis.

Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) Fauna of a Zoological Park in an Urban Setting: Analysis of and Their Biotypes.

Mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs) are important emerging diseases that affect humans and animals. Zoological parks can work as early warning systems for the occurrence of MBDs. In this study, we characterized the mosquito fauna captured inside Lisbon Zoo from May 2018 to November 2019.

G-bic: generating synthetic benchmarks for biclustering.

Background: Biclustering is increasingly used in biomedical data analysis, recommendation tasks, and text mining domains, with hundreds of biclustering algorithms proposed. When assessing the performance of these algorithms, more than real datasets are required as they do not offer a solid ground truth. Synthetic data surpass this limitation by producing reference solutions to be compared with the found patterns.

Artificial intelligence and statistical methods for stratification and prediction of progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A systematic review.

Background: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterised by the progressive loss of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. The fact that ALS's disease course is highly heterogeneous, and its determinants not fully known, combined with ALS's relatively low prevalence, renders the successful application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques particularly arduous.

Objective: This systematic review aims at identifying areas of agreement and unanswered questions regarding two notable applications of AI in ALS, namely the automatic, data-driven stratification of patients according to their phenotype, and the prediction of ALS progression.

Triclustering-based classification of longitudinal data for prognostic prediction: targeting relevant clinical endpoints in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

This work proposes a new class of explainable prognostic models for longitudinal data classification using triclusters. A new temporally constrained triclustering algorithm, termed TCtriCluster, is proposed to comprehensively find informative temporal patterns common to a subset of patients in a subset of features (triclusters), and use them as discriminative features within a state-of-the-art classifier with guarantees of interpretability. The proposed approach further enhances prediction with the potentialities of model explainability by revealing clinically relevant disease progression patterns underlying prognostics, describing features used for classification.

Tribological Behavior of TiO PEEK Composite and Stainless Steel for Pediatric Crowns.

Dental decay still presents a major health problem among children. Its treatment usually requires the use of stainless steel crowns. This study compares the wear behavior of 316 L stainless steel and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) composite under identical test conditions.

Learning prognostic models using a mixture of biclustering and triclustering: Predicting the need for non-invasive ventilation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Longitudinal cohort studies to study disease progression generally combine temporal features produced under periodic assessments (clinical follow-up) with static features associated with single-time assessments, genetic, psychophysiological, and demographic profiles. Subspace clustering, including biclustering and triclustering stances, enables the discovery of local and discriminative patterns from such multidimensional cohort data. These patterns, highly interpretable, are relevant to identifying groups of patients with similar traits or progression patterns.

Modification of Zirconia Implant Surfaces by Nd:YAG Laser Grooves: Does It Change Cell Behavior?

The aim of this study was to evaluate gingival fibroblasts and human osteoblasts' response to textured Nd:YAG laser microgrooves, with different dimensions, on zirconia implant surfaces. A total of 60 zirconia disks (8 mm in diameter and 2 mm in thickness) were produced and divided between four study groups (N = 15): three laser-textured (widths between 125.07 ± 5.

Biclustering fMRI time series: a comparative study.

Background: The effectiveness of biclustering, simultaneous clustering of rows and columns in a data matrix, was shown in gene expression data analysis. Several researchers recognize its potentialities in other research areas. Nevertheless, the last two decades have witnessed the development of a significant number of biclustering algorithms targeting gene expression data analysis and a lack of consistent studies exploring the capacities of biclustering outside this traditional application domain.

Dynamic Bayesian networks for stratification of disease progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background And Purpose: Progression rate is quite variable in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); thus, tools for profiling disease progression are essential for timely interventions. The objective was to apply dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs) to establish the influence of clinical and demographic variables on disease progression rate.

Methods: In all, 664 ALS patients from our database were included stratified into slow (SP), average (AP) and fast (FP) progressors, according to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale Revised (ALSFRS-R) rate of decay.

Human Gingival Fibroblast and Osteoblast Behavior on Groove-Milled Zirconia Implant Surfaces.

Two type of cells representing periodontal hard tissues (osteoblasts) and soft tissues (fibroblasts) were evaluated in response to microgroove-milled zirconia surfaces. A total of 90 zirconia discs were randomly assigned to four width-standardized milling microgroove-textured groups and a control group without grooves (UT). The sandblast and acid-etch protocol were applied to all samples.

Peri-implant cell response on groove and pore-textured zirconia surfaces.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the independent influence of grooves and pores texturized by milling on gold-standard zirconia implant surfaces.

Methods: Milled groove and pore textured with equivalent width, depth, and spacing on zirconia discs were produced using press and sintering techniques. All samples were sandblasted and acid-etched (SBAE), and untextured discs were used as controls.

Design and surface characterization of micropatterned silica coatings for zirconia dental implants.

The use of zirconia as an alternative biomaterial for titanium implants has been increasing due to its biocompatibility, favorable aesthetic features, less potential for early plaque accumulation and mechanical properties. Despite the developed efforts, strategies to promote an effective osseointegration are still enough. In this sense and combining the silica properties to improve bone formation with the micropatterning guidance characteristics, silica coatings with micropatterns were designed and evaluated regarding their hydrophilicity and integrity through resistance to scratch and friction tests against femoral bone plates (simulating implant insertion).

Bacteria co-culture adhesion on different texturized zirconia surfaces.

Zirconia is becoming reckoned as a promising solution for different applications, in particular those within the dental implant investigation field. It has been proved to successfully overcome important limitations of the commonly used titanium implants. The adhesion of microorganisms to the implants, in particular of bacteria, may govern the success or the failure of a dental implant, as the accumulation of bacteria on the peri-implant bone may rapidly evolve into periodontitis.

A DNA barcode reference library of Portuguese mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes are important biological vectors of pathogens and species identification in all life stages is the first step for effective monitoring and control of mosquito-borne diseases. Molecular methods for species identification have been developed over the last years to overcome the limitations of the taxonomic identification based on morphology. DNA barcoding, using a fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene, can be used for species identification but a reliable and comprehensive reference database of verified sequences is required.

Laser surface treatment on Yttria-stabilized zirconia dental implants: Influence on cell behavior.

Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is being proposed as an alternative material to Titanium for dental implants due to its aesthetic and biocompatibility properties. However, is it yet to define the optimal surface treatment to improve YSZ bioactivy. Texturization is a promising approach, but the biological role of patterned YSZ surfaces in cell cultures is yet to be determined.

Digital scanning under rubber dam: An innovative method for making definitive impressions in fixed prosthodontics.

Objective: To provide a comprehensive protocol for final impressions making under rubber dam isolation by using an intraoral scanner.

Clinical Consideration: Impression making after tooth preparation with rubber dam isolation are impossible with conventional physical impressions, which are not with intraoral scanners. Digital technologies have disrupted dentistry in the last decades, bringing new, straightforward, and more time-efficient protocols for dental practice.

Learning Prognostic Models Using Disease Progression Patterns: Predicting the Need for Non-Invasive Ventilation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is a devastating neurodegenerative disease causing rapid degeneration of motor neurons and usually leading to death by respiratory failure. Since there is no cure, treatment's goal is to improve symptoms and prolong survival. Non-invasive Ventilation (NIV) is an effective treatment, leading to extended life expectancy and improved quality of life.

Customized Root-Analogue Implants: A Review on Outcomes from Clinical Trials and Case Reports.

(1) It is estimated that 10% of the world's population will need a dental implant in their lifetime. Despite all the advances in the comprehension of dental implant designs, materials and techniques, traditional implants still have many limitations. Customized root-analogue implants are, therefore, gaining increased interest in dental rehabilitation and are expected to not only preserve more hard and soft tissues but also avoid a second surgery and improve patient overall satisfaction.

Learning dynamic Bayesian networks from time-dependent and time-independent data: Unraveling disease progression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease causing patients to quickly lose motor neurons. The disease is characterized by a fast functional impairment and ventilatory decline, leading most patients to die from respiratory failure. To estimate when patients should get ventilatory support, it is helpful to adequately profile the disease progression.