Expression of executive control in situational context: Effects of facilitating versus restraining cues on snack food consumption.

Objectives: To examine the effects of executive function (EF) on objectively measured high-calorie snack food consumption in 2 age groups and to explore the moderating influence of environmental cues.

Methods: In Study 1, 43 older adults (M(age) = 74.81) and in Study 2, 79 younger adults (M(age) = 18.

Cost estimation of single-implant treatment in the periodontally healthy patient after 16-22 years of follow-up.

Background: Costs for single-implant treatment are mostly described for the initial treatment. Information on the additional cost related to aftercare is scarce.

Objective: To make an estimation of complication costs of single implants in periodontally healthy patients after 16-22 years and to compare costs for various prosthetic designs.

Predictors of Alveolar Process Remodeling Following Ridge Preservation in High-Risk Patients.

Purpose: (1) To clinically evaluate horizontal remodeling of the alveolar process (hard and soft tissues) following ridge preservation in high-risk patients and (2) to identify predictors of such remodeling.

Materials And Methods: Periodontally healthy nonsmoking patients with a failing tooth in the anterior maxilla (15-25) were selected for a prospective case series. All were in need of a single implant and demonstrated high risk for aesthetic complications given an incomplete buccal bone wall and/or thin-scalloped gingival biotype.

Ultrasonic Assessment of Mucosal Thickness around Implants: Validity, Reproducibility, and Stability of Connective Tissue Grafts at the Buccal Aspect.

Purpose: (1) To assess validity and reproducibility of mucosal thickness (MT) registration by means of an ultrasonic device and (2) to determine the MT stability of connective tissue grafts (CTGs) when applied at the buccal aspect of single implants demonstrating alveolar process deficiency.

Materials And Methods: For the validity assessment, four human cadaver edentulous maxillae were used to determine MT at 100 different sites. Soft tissue thickness as recorded with the ultrasonic device was compared with MT as registered with Micro-CT (UGent, Ghent, Belgium), taking the latter as gold standard.

If you have an active vagus nerve, cancer stage may no longer be important.

The parasympathetic system, and primarily the vagus nerve, informs the brain about multiple signals and returns the body to homeostasis. Recent studies have shown that vagal nerve activity independently predicts prognosis in cancer. Here, we take this one step further and show that when vagal nerve activity is high, cancer stage no longer predicts tumor burden.

Liver-specific transcriptional modules identified by genome-wide in silico analysis enable efficient gene therapy in mice and non-human primates.

The robustness and safety of liver-directed gene therapy can be substantially improved by enhancing expression of the therapeutic transgene in the liver. To achieve this, we developed a new approach of rational in silico vector design. This approach relies on a genome-wide bio-informatics strategy to identify cis-acting regulatory modules (CRMs) containing evolutionary conserved clusters of transcription factor binding site motifs that determine high tissue-specific gene expression.

Differential expression of placental glucocorticoid receptors and growth arrest-specific transcript 5 in term and preterm pregnancies: evidence for involvement of maternal stress.

Pregnancy-specific stress predicts birth outcomes. We hypothesized that there is a maternal stress-GR interaction that can influence fetal birth weight. This study examined the relationship between mothers' stress and attitude towards their pregnancies, placental glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) and growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) expression, and the status of GR polymorphism, with their infants' birth weights.

Identifying hopelessness in population research: a validation study of two brief measures of hopelessness.

Objective: Hopelessness is an important construct in psychosocial epidemiology, but there is great pressure on the length of questionnaire measures in large-scale population and clinical studies. We examined the validity and test-retest reliability of two brief measures of hopelessness, an existing negatively worded two-item measure of hopelessness (Brief-H-Neg) and a positively worded version of the same instrument (Brief-H-Pos).

Design: Cohort study.

A prospective cohort study on the impact of smoking on soft tissue alterations around single implants.

Objectives: To compare smokers to non-smokers in terms of soft tissue alterations following single implant treatment in healed bone.

Material And Methods: Non-smoking and smoking patients with sufficient bone volume in need of a single implant in the anterior maxilla (15-25) were consecutively recruited in three centres. Conventional single implant surgery was performed and an immediate provisional crown was installed.

Avidity and positive allosteric modulation/cooperativity act hand in hand to increase the residence time of bivalent receptor ligands.

Bivalent ligands bear two target-binding pharmacophores. Their simultaneous binding increases their affinity (avidity) and residence time. They become 'bitopic' when the binding sites at the target permit the pharmacophores the exert allosteric modulation of each other's affinity and/or activity.

The relationship between vagal nerve activity and clinical outcomes in prostate and non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Recent studies suggest that vagal nerve activity, indexed by heart rate variability (HRV), could have a prognostic role in cancer. However, most studies did not control adequately for confounders and included cardiac patients. Furthermore, the validity of this prognostic role needs to be tested in different types of cancer.

Health effects in the Flemish population in relation to low levels of mercury exposure: from organ to transcriptome level.

Due to possible health risks, quantification of mercury accumulation in humans was included in the Flemish biomonitoring programmes FLEHS I (2002-2006) and FLEHS II (2007-2011). The general objective of FLEHS I was to assess regional exposure levels in order to link possible differences in these internal exposure levels to different types of local environmental pressure. Therefore, Hg and MMHg (methylmercury) were only measured in pooled blood samples per region and per age class.

Gene therapy for hemophilia.

Hemophilia A and B are X-linked monogenic disorders resulting from deficiencies of factor VIII and FIX, respectively. Purified clotting factor concentrates are currently intravenously administered to treat hemophilia, but this treatment is non-curative. Therefore, gene-based therapies for hemophilia have been developed to achieve sustained high levels of clotting factor expression to correct the clinical phenotype.

Norms of vagal nerve activity, indexed by Heart Rate Variability, in cancer patients.

Recent research has begun to show the role of the activity of the vagus nerve in cancer prognosis. However, it remains unknown whether cancer severity can impair vagal nerve activity. This study combined data (N=657) of five different cancers (colorectal, pancreas, prostate, lung and ovarian) concerning patients' Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a vagal nerve activity index.

Social participation among older adults living in medium-sized cities in Belgium: the role of neighbourhood perceptions.

This study examines the associations between neighbourhood perceptions and social participation in a sample of older adults living in medium-sized cities in Flanders, Belgium. Strong evidence of the influence of place on older people's physical and mental health exists. However, the question of how neighbourhoods promote or hinder social participation remains under-explored in social gerontology.

Soft tissue preservation and pink aesthetics around single immediate implant restorations: a 1-year prospective study.

Purpose: (1) To document soft tissue aspects using a specific protocol for immediate implant treatment (IIT) following single-tooth removal; (2) to evaluate whether this protocol allows preservation of pink aesthetics as objectively assessed.

Materials And Methods: Patients with a thick gingival biotype and intact buccal bone wall upon extraction of a single tooth in the aesthetic zone (15-25) were consecutively treated. The protocol included flapless extraction and implant surgery, socket grafting, immediate nonocclusal loading with a screw-retained provisional crown, and replacement by a permanent crown 6 months thereafter.

PiggyBac toolbox.

The PiggyBac (PB) transposon system was originally derived from the cabbage looper moth Trichoplusia ni and represents one of the most promising transposon systems to date. Engineering of the PB transposase enzyme (PBase) and its cognate transposon DNA elements resulted in a substantial increase in transposition activities. Consequently, this has greatly enhanced the versatility of the PB toolbox.

Assessment of Atomic Charge Models for Gas-Phase Computations on Polypeptides.

The concept of the atomic charge is extensively used to model the electrostatic properties of proteins. Atomic charges are not only the basis for the electrostatic energy term in biomolecular force fields but are also derived from quantum mechanical computations on protein fragments to get more insight into their electronic structure. Unfortunately there are many atomic charge schemes which lead to significantly different results, and it is not trivial to determine which scheme is most suitable for biomolecular studies.

Clinical, aesthetic, and patient-related outcome of immediately loaded single implants in the anterior maxilla: a prospective study in extraction sockets, healed ridges, and grafted sites.

Purpose: The objective of this prospective clinical study was to document the overall treatment outcome of immediately loaded single Astra Tech Osseospeed™ (Astra Tech AB, Mölndal, Sweden) implants placed in extraction sockets, healed ridges, and grafted sites.

Materials And Methods: Forty-eight patients in need of a single implant in the anterior maxilla (15-25) were recruited. Patients were allocated to a conventional implant treatment (CIT) or immediate implant treatment (IIT) group on the basis of specific criteria.

Decision-making and preventive non-surgical therapy in the context of a European Core Curriculum in Cariology.

This paper is part of a series of papers towards a European Core Curriculum in Cariology for undergraduate dental students. The European Core Curriculum in Cariology is the outcome of a joint workshop of the European Organisation for Caries Research (ORCA) together with the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), which was held in Berlin from 27 to 30 June 2010. The present paper covers decision-making and non-surgical treatment.

Near-infrared spectroscopy for in-line monitoring of protein unfolding and its interactions with lyoprotectants during freeze-drying.

This work presents near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as an in-line process analyzer for monitoring protein unfolding and protein-lyoprotectant hydrogen bond interactions during freeze-drying. By implementing a noncontact NIR probe in the freeze-drying chamber, spectra of formulations containing a model protein immunoglobulin G (IgG) were collected each process minute. When sublimation was completed in the cake region illuminated by the NIR probe, the frequency of the amide A/II band (near 4850 cm(-1)) was monitored as a function of water elimination.

The relationship between heart rate variability and time-course of carcinoembryonic antigen in colorectal cancer.

Background: Identifying new prognostic factors is important for guiding treatments and preventing metastasis in cancer. Vagal nerve activity may predict prognosis in cancer due to its roles in modulating inflammation, sympathetic activity and oxidative stress. This study tested the relationship between heart rate variability (HRV), a vagal nerve index, and the colon cancer (CC) marker carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), in an 'historical prospective' design.

Reliability of circumferential bone level assessment around single implants in healed ridges and extraction sockets using cone beam CT.

Purpose: Cone beam computerized tomography (CBCT) provides three-dimensional information and could absolutely be useful for evaluating circumferential implant bone levels. However, the accuracy and precision of the technique has not been described. The aim of the study was to assess the accuracy and precision of CBCT (i-CAT®, Imaging Sciences International®, Hatfield, PA, USA) using periapical radiographs (PA) as a reference and to evaluate the circumferential bone level on CBCT around immediately loaded single implants placed in healed ridges (CIT, conventional implant treatment) and extraction sockets (IIT, immediate implant placement).