The art of gathering: histories of international scientific conferences.

Hundreds of thousands of conferences have taken place since their first appearance in the late eighteenth century, yet the history of science has often treated them as stages for scientific practice, not as the play itself. Drawing on recent work in the history of science and of international relations, the introduction to this special issue suggests avenues for exploring the phenomenon of the international scientific conference, broadly construed, by highlighting the connected dimensions of communication, sociability and international relations. It lays out a typology of scientific conferences as a way of gaining an overview of their diversity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

'Super Bowl of the world conference circuit'? A network approach to high-level science and policy conferencing.

Elite conferences, such as the Nobel Symposia organized by the Nobel Foundation since 1965, have often put a premium on the uninhibited exchange of ideas rather than the broad exchange of information. Nobel Symposium 14, The Place of Value in a World of Fact (1969), combined this ethos with the ambition to engage with 'world problems' that were thought by many at the time to constitute a global crisis. This paper examines the relationship between the Nobel Foundation's ideal of scientific neutrality/objectivity and the 'neutral activism' in Swedish 1960s foreign policy.

Kurtosis, a new variable with possible diagnostic value in analysis of jaw muscle surface EMG.

Background: There is a need for methods to compare differences of voltage levels and distribution anomalies in the study of skeletal muscle function. Calculating the kurtosis values has been found to be of value.

Aim: The aim was to record and analyse voltage and kurtosis levels of SEMG recorded bilaterally in the masseter and anterior temporalis areas during rest and clenching and to compare the kurtosis levels between controls and patients with TMJ disc dysfunction.

Is SEMG recorded "hyperactivity" during mandibular rest a sign of dysfunctional jaw muscle activity and temporomandibular disorders (TMD)?

Background: Some authors state that above-normal surface electromyography (SEMG) levels during mandibular rest (MR) are a general sign of temporomandibular disorders (TMD).

Objective: The aim was to compare SEMG levels in the masseter and anterior temporalis areas during MR between patients with disc displacement (DD) and subjects identified as healthy. The hypothesis was that average SEMG levels would be higher in the patients during MR before and after repeated clenches with maximal effort.

An electromyographic study on the sequential recruitment of bilateral sternocleidomastoid and masseter muscle activity during gum chewing.

Mandibular functions are associated with electromyographic activity of the jaw muscles and also the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM). The precise spatiotemporal relation of SCM and masticatory muscles activities during chewing is worthy of investigation. To analyse the sequential recruitment of SCM and masseter activities during chewing as indicated by the spatiotemporal locations of their activity peaks.

Unbalanced lateral mandibular deviation associated with TMJ sound as a sign in TMJ disc dysfunction diagnosis.

The aim was to study the characteristics of lateral mandibular horizontal deviations during opening-closing movements and their association with TMJ sounds of the clicking type. Subjects were 28 healthy volunteers and 38 patients diagnosed with MRI imaging as having TMJ disc dysfunction, 22 with disc displacement without (DD) and 16 as having disc displacement with reduction (DDR). TMJ sounds were recorded with miniature microphones placed in the ear canals, and jaw movements were documented with a kinesiograph.

Self-reported temporomandibular joint disorder symptoms, oral health, and quality of life of children in kindergarten through grade 5: Do sex, race, and socioeconomic background matter?

Background: The authors' objectives were to determine the percentage of children in kindergarten through grade 5 who reported symptoms of temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD); to assess whether sex, race, and socioeconomic background mattered; and to explore the relationships between TMJD and children's oral health and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL).

Methods: The research team conducted face-to-face interviews with 8,302 children in kindergarten through grade 5 (51% female, 49% male; 53% African American, 42% white). They conducted oral health screenings with 7,439 children.

Occlusal splints and quality of life - does the patient-provider relationship matter?

Purpose: Occlusal splints are often prescribed when treating patients with bruxism. The objectives were to determine (a) whether using occlusal splints improves patients' oral health-related quality of life (ohrqol) and (b) whether the quality of the patient-provider relationship affects these patients' splint-related responses and their ohrqol.

Materials And Methods: Survey data were collected from 233 patients who had received bite splints during the 5 years prior to data collection.

Gender differences in low and high pain palpation thresholds in the TMJ and neck areas.

The null hypothesis was that pain pressure thresholds are the same for young healthy males and females and do not differ between the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and muscle sites. The aim of the current study was to compare pain pressure threshold levels using an algometer with a convex-formed contact piece and pressure increase rates similar to those in conventional finger palpation, making the conditions more like clinical examination of painful spots with commonly used physiotherapeutic methods. Healthy subjects, 12 male, mean age 22.

A preliminary anatomical study on the association of condylar and occlusal asymmetry.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that condylar and occlusion asymmetry are not associated. For each of 22 skulls, the asymmetry of condyles was graded by one examiner and the asymmetry of occlusion by another examiner, both blinded to each other's evaluation, as 0 = symmetrical, 1 = mild asymmetrical and 2 = severe asymmetrical. There were 18 condyles graded the same as to their occlusion, but in four, the grades differed by one degree.

Selling eugenics: the case of Sweden.

This paper traces the early (1910s to 1920s) development of Swedish eugenics through a study of the social network that promoted it. The eugenics network consisted mainly of academics from a variety of disciplines, but with medicine and biology dominating; connections with German scientists who would later shape Nazi biopolitics were strong. The paper shows how the network used political lobbying (for example, using contacts with academically accomplished MPs) and various media strategies to gain scientific and political support for their cause, where a major goal was the creation of a eugenics institute (which opened in 1922).

The effect of experimental occlusal interferences on nerve growth factor levels in periodontal tissues.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that experimental occlusal interferences increase the nerve growth factor (NGF) levels in periodontal tissues and cause an up-regulation of preprotachykinin-A (PPTA) mRNA.

Background: NGF is related to hyperalgesia and inflammation. PPTA mRNA, a primer of substance P, is a possible factor in the aetiology of pain.

SEMG activity of jaw-closing muscles during biting with different unilateral occlusal supports.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that experimental and reversible changes of occlusion affect the levels of surface electromyographic (SEMG) activity in the anterior temporalis and masseter areas during unilateral maximal voluntary biting (MVB) in centric and eccentric position. Changes were achieved by letting 21 healthy subjects bite with and without a cotton roll between the teeth. The placement alternated between sides and between premolar and molar areas.

Magnetic resonance imaging on TMJ disc thickness in TMD patients: a pilot study.

Statement Of Problem: Studies of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) discs removed from autopsy specimens and in surgery indicate that they are often thicker in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). Disc thickness may also change when the condyle moves in and out of the joint fossa during opening and closing.

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was to test the hypothesis that the TMJ disc thickness is greater in TMD patients than in healthy subjects and is affected by the degree of jaw opening.

Experimentally created nonbalanced occlusion effects on the thickness of the temporomandibular joint disc in rats.

Objectives: To test the hypothesis that experimentally created physiologically nonbalanced occlusion will not affect the thickness of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) discs in rats.

Material And Methods: Twenty-four 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into a control group that was left untreated and an experimental group where a nonbalanced occlusion was created. Elastic rubber bands, 1 mm in diameter, were inserted and 1 week later were replaced by plastic material between the first and the second molars of the left maxillary and the right mandibular dentitions to move the first molars about 0.

The effect of physiological nonbalanced occlusion on the thickness of the temporomandibular joint disc: a pilot autopsy study.

Statement Of Problem: The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc is often observed to be thicker in temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients. This clinical observation requires verification.

Purpose: The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate whether the TMJ disc responds to dysfunctional occlusal changes by an increase in thickness.

Asymmetric muscle function in patients with developmental mandibular asymmetry.

The aim was to test the hypothesis that developmental mandibular asymmetry is associated with increased asymmetry in muscle activity. Patients with mandibular condylar and/or ramus hyperplasia having unilateral cross-bite were compared with healthy subjects with normal occlusion. Muscle activity was recorded with surface electrodes in the masseter, suprahyoid, sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) and upper trapezius areas during jaw opening-closing-clenching, head-neck flexion-extension, and elevation-lowering of shoulders.

Limitation of the diagnostic value of MR images for diagnosing temporomandibular joint disorders.

Objectives: Many studies have shown that MRI findings are reliable when experienced calibrated observers work as a group. The hypothesis was that MRI findings can be used as the gold standard also when evaluation is made by single expert observers.

Study Design: Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) MRIs of 34 patients were evaluated independently by four reviewers with expert knowledge of radiology for the presence of 13 specified pathologic entities, as well as the quality of the images, on a 5-step scale from "Sure Yes" to "Sure No".

Inaudible temporomandibular joint vibrations.

The aim was to test the hypothesis that inaudible vibrations with significant amounts of energy increasing during jaw movements can be recorded in the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) area. Twenty one subjects, who could perform wide opening movements without feeling discomfort, 12 with and 9 without TMJ sounds audible at conventional auscultation with a stethoscope, were included. Recordings were made during opening-closing, 2/s without tooth contact, and during mandibular rest, using accelerometers with a flat frequency response between the filter cutoff frequencies 0.

Usefulness of proton density and T2-weighted vs. T1-weighted MRI in diagnoses of TMJ disk status.

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that proton density and T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images are more useful than T1-weighted MR images in the diagnoses of disk displacement, disk reduction, and disk shape. The subject group consisted of 92 patients referred for bilateral MRI imaging because of diagnosed signs of temporomandibular disorders (TMD). In the experimental group (52 patients), both T2-weighted and proton density images were made.

The dynamic range of TMJ sounds.

It is of clinical interest to record the amplitudes of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) sounds. The aim was to test the hypothesis that sealing the meatus, when placing a microphone in the ear canal affects such recording by increasing the sound pressure level (SPL). Bilateral recordings of 249 TMJ clickings were made from three subjects, using sampling rates of 48 or 96 kHz and 24 bits A/D conversion, with and without the ear canals sealed by Silicone putty.

The frequency range of TMJ sounds.

There are conflicting opinions about the frequency range of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) sounds. Some authors claim that the upper limit is about 650 Hz. The aim was to test the hypothesis that TMJ sounds may contain frequencies well above 650 Hz but that significant amounts of their energy are lost if the vibrations are recorded using contact sensors and/or travel far through the head tissues.

Localization of TMJ sounds to side.

Differential diagnosis depends in cases with disk displacement on accurate identification of sound source. Mistakes may occur when clicking from one temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is heard on both sides of the head at auscultation and neither examiner nor patient, is sure about side. The hypothesis was that the head tissues affect spectral characteristics of TMJ sounds and that differences due to different positioning of sensors can be used in localization of source.