Pharmaco-Invasive Strategy With Half-Dose Tenecteplase in Patients With STEMI: Prespecified Pooled Analysis of Patients Aged ≥75 Years in STREAM-1 and 2.

Background: In STREAM-1 (Strategic Reperfusion Early After Myocardial Infarction), excess intracranial hemorrhage occurred in patients aged ≥75 years receiving full-dose tenecteplase as part of a pharmaco-invasive strategy, whereas no further intracranial hemorrhage occurred after halving the tenecteplase dose. In STREAM-2 (Second Strategic Reperfusion Early After Myocardial Infarction), half-dose tenecteplase was an effective and safe pharmaco-invasive strategy in older patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction presenting within <3 hours, compared with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We prespecified evaluating the efficacy and safety of a half-dose versus full-dose pharmaco-invasive strategy and compared the half-dose pharmaco-invasive strategy to primary PCI in patients aged ≥75 years.

STREAM-2: Half-Dose Tenecteplase or Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Older Patients With ST-Segment-Elevation Myocardial Infarction: A Randomized, Open-Label Trial.

Background: ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) guidelines recommend pharmaco-invasive treatment if timely primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is unavailable. Full-dose tenecteplase is associated with an increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage in older patients. Whether pharmaco-invasive treatment with half-dose tenecteplase is effective and safe in older patients with STEMI is unknown.

Evolution of root length throughout orthodontic treatment in maxillary incisors with previous history of dental trauma: a longitudinal controlled trial.

Objectives: To compare changes in root length of maxillary incisors with and without dental trauma throughout orthodontic treatment.

Materials And Method: Patients younger than 18 years, with trauma on at least one maxillary incisor, undergoing orthodontic treatment between 2017 and 2021 were included, using the contralateral side as control without trauma when available. Periapical radiographs were taken pre-treatment and at 6 months intervals, and root/crown ratio was calculated.

Azithromycin for treatment of hospitalised COVID-19 patients: a randomised, multicentre, open-label clinical trial (DAWn-AZITHRO).

Background And Objectives: Azithromycin was rapidly adopted as a repurposed drug to treat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) early in the pandemic. We aimed to evaluate its efficacy in patients hospitalised for COVID-19.

Methods: In a series of randomised, open-label, phase 2 proof-of-concept, multicentre clinical trials (Direct Antivirals Working against the novel coronavirus (DAWn)), several treatments were compared with standard of care.

Self-Esteem and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life within a Cleft Lip and/or Palate Population: A Prospective Cohort Study.

(1) Objective: To investigate the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and self-esteem (SE) of a population with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) and to compare it with a non-affected control cohort. (2) Materials and methods: This study comprised 91 CLP patients and a control group of 790 individuals, seeking orthodontic treatment. OHRQoL and SE were assessed by the Child's Perception Questionnaire (CPQ) and the Dutch adaptation of the Harter's Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents.

Short term effects of interceptive expansion treatment: a prospective study.

Objectives: This prospective cohort study investigated the short term effects of interceptive orthodontic treatment with a removable expansion plate, evaluating the changes in occlusion in all its dimensions: transversal, sagittal and vertical.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 226 patients treated with a removable expansion plate (slow maxillary expansion, SME) by orthodontic residents at the Department of Orthodontics, University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium were included. The patients had a mean age of 8.

Validating dental age estimation in Kenyan black children and adolescents using the Willems method.

Purpose: This study aimed to validate the Willems Belgian Caucasian (Willems BC) age estimation model in a Kenyan sample, to develop and validate a Kenyan-specific (Willems KB) age estimation model and to compare the age prediction performances of both models.

Methods: Panoramic radiographs of 1038 (523 female, 515 male) Kenyan children without missing permanent teeth and without all permanent teeth fully developed (except third molars) were retrospectively selected. Tooth development of the seven lower-left permanent teeth was staged according to Demirjian et al.

Dental development in patients with and without unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP): a case control study.

Objective: To evaluate if the presence of unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) causes delay in dental age and tooth development.

Materials And Methods: Panoramic radiographs of 189 non-syndromic UCLP patients, aged from 6 to 20 years, were collected. Two measures of tooth development were examined: dental maturity scale for the seven left mandibular teeth (dental age-DA) and the degree of each tooth development (developmental score-DS).

The Second Strategic Reperfusion Early After Myocardial Infarction (STREAM-2) study optimizing pharmacoinvasive reperfusion strategy in older ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients.

Background: The STREAM study demonstrated that a pharmaco-invasive strategy was at least as effective as primary PCI (pPCI) in patients presenting early with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The current trial is a response to the finding that reduced intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in patients ≥75 years occurred after halving the dose of tenecteplase. Additionally, a subsequent analysis of full dose tenecteplase or alteplase in the Assessment of the Safety and Efficacy of a New Thrombolytic (ASSENT) trials demonstrated a steep increase in bleeding events beginning around the age of 60 years.

Malocclusion, Dental Caries and Oral Health-Related Quality of Life: A Comparison between Adolescent School Children in Urban and Rural Regions in Peru.

Rural, isolated areas benefit less from caries prevention programs and access to treatment than urban areas, and, hence, differences in oral health can be expected. This study aims to assess the prevalence of caries and malocclusion in urban and rural areas of Peru and to compare them with patients' oral health perception. A total of 1062 adolescents were examined in five schools of rural (Titicaca) and urban (Lima and Cuzco) areas in Peru.

The evolution of self-esteem before, during and after orthodontic treatment in adolescents with dental malocclusion, a prospective cohort study.

Objectives: This study aimed (1) to investigate the evolution of self-esteem through orthodontic treatment, and (2) to study how key demographic factors would affect these evolutions and to assess relationships between self-esteem and orthodontic treatment need.

Methods: This longitudinal prospective cohort study comprised of 326 adolescents (172 girls and 154 boys) aged 11-16 years; data were obtained from 325 adolescents at T0 and 123 at T2. Three hundred twenty-one adolescents filled in questionnaires at T0, whereas 118 at T2.

Difference and relation between adolescents' and their parents or caregivers' reported oral health-related quality of life related to orthodontic treatment: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Parents/caregivers play an important role in deciding whether their children will undergo orthodontic treatment or not. Their perceptions also have an influence on other choices involving orthodontic treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference and correlation between the ratings given by children and their parents or caregivers on their oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) before, during and after orthodontic treatment.

Reported changes in oral health-related quality of life in children and adolescents before, during, and after orthodontic treatment: a longitudinal study.

Objectives: To investigate the changes in oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) before, during, and after orthodontic treatment, determine the relationship with the original treatment need and evaluate the influence of self-esteem (SE).

Materials And Methods: OHRQoL questionnaires were used in an ongoing observational prospective cohort study at baseline (T0), 1 year after start (T1), and 1 month after the end of active orthodontic treatment (T2). Participants were 11-16-year-old at baseline and 215 complete cases were obtained from a total of 498.

Outcome of transplantation performed outside the regular working hours: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature.

Transplant procedures are frequently performed outside the regular working hours (after hours). In general surgery, several studies observed worse outcomes for operations performed after hours. The predetermined hypothesis was that patients undergoing transplantation during after hours might suffer from an excess in post-operative mortality and morbidity when compared to patients undergoing transplantations during the regular working hours.

A new imaging technology to reduce the radiation dose during uterine fibroid embolization.

Background: Uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) is a minimally invasive imaging-guided treatment using radiation exposure.

Purpose: To compare the patients' radiation exposure during UFE before and after introduction of a new X-ray imaging platform.

Material And Methods: Forty-one patients were enrolled in a prospective, comparative two-arm project before and after introduction of a new X-ray imaging platform with reduced dose settings, i.

Multicenter, Randomized Trial of Conventional Balloon Angioplasty versus Paclitaxel-Coated Balloon Angioplasty for the Treatment of Dysfunctioning Autologous Dialysis Fistulae.

Purpose: To investigate the potential added value of paclitaxel-coated balloon (PCB) angioplasty to reduce fistula dysfunction related to recurrent stenoses in patients undergoing hemodialysis.

Materials And Methods: A prospective, randomized study was conducted in 3 dialysis referral centers. From January 2013 to October 2015, 64 patients (22 female, 42 male) with dysfunctional autologous dialysis fistulae were randomized to undergo conventional percutaneous balloon angioplasty (n = 31) or PCB angioplasty (n = 33).

Age estimation based on Willems method versus new country-specific method in South African black children.

Aim: The aims of our study were to develop new maturity scores for dental age estimation in South African black children according to the Willems method, which was developed based on Belgian Caucasian (BC) reference data (Willems et al. J Forensic Sci 46(4):893-895, 2001), and to compare age prediction performance of both methods.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 986 panoramic radiographs of healthy South African black (SAB) children (493 males and 493 females) in the age range of 4.

Incidence, etiology, and management of type III endoleak after endovascular aortic repair.

Objective: The objective of this study was to retrospectively assess the incidence, etiology, and management of type III endoleaks in a large cohort of patients treated with endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) in two European university centers.

Methods: From 1995 until 2014, 965 EVAR procedures were performed with use of first- and second-generation (n = 79) or third-generation (n = 886) endografts. Radiologic follow-up was performed with computed tomography and abdominal plain film examinations in accordance with the European Collaborators on Stent/graft Techniques for aortic Aneurysm Repair (EUROSTAR) scheme.

Safety and efficacy of doxorubicin-eluting superabsorbent polymer microspheres for the treatment of liver metastases from neuroendocrine tumours: preliminary results.

Background: The aim of the study was to retrospectively evaluate the symptom control, tumour response, and complication rate in patients with liver-predominant metastatic neuroendocrine tumours treated with transarterial chemoembolization using doxorubicin-eluting superabsorbent polymer (SAP) microspheres.

Patients And Methods: Patients with neuroendocrine liver metastases who underwent hepatic transarterial chemoembolization using doxorubicin-eluting SAP-microspheres (50-100 μm Hepasphere/Quadrasphere Microsphere® particles, Merit Medical, South Jordan, Utah, USA) were included in this study. Pre-and post-procedure imaging studies were evaluated to assess short and intermediate-term tumour response using modified RECIST criteria.

Short-term hard and soft tissue changes after mandibular advancement surgery in Class II patients: a retrospective cephalometric study.

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe hard and soft tissue changes after mandibular advancement surgery and to investigate the possible differences between Class II facial patterns.

Materials And Methods: Lateral cephalograms of 109 patients who underwent combined orthodontic treatment and bilateral sagittal split osteotomy (BSSO) were studied. Radiographs were taken within 6 weeks before surgery (T0) and at least 6 months postoperatively (T1).

The effect of headgear on upper third molars: a retrospective longitudinal study.

Objectives: To investigate the effects of orthodontic non-extraction treatment with or without headgear on the position of and the space available for upper third molars in growing children with class II malocclusions.

Materials And Methods: The sample consisted of pre- and post-treatment panoramic radiographs and lateral cephalograms of 294 class II orthodontic patients; 160 were treated with headgear and 134 were treated without headgear. The space available for the upper third molar was measured on the lateral cephalogram as the distance from pterygoid vertical (PTV) to the distal surface of the upper first molar crown (PTV-M1).

Cephalometric appraisal of Class II treatment effects after functional and fixed appliances: a retrospective study.

Objective: To assess the dental, skeletal, and profile changes after functional appliances and subsequent fixed appliances treatment in order to quantify their effect and evaluate the influence of initial incisal inclination and growth pattern.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective cephalometric analysis was performed in 125 patients (77 females and 48 males). Three lateral cephalograms per patient were available: before treatment (T0, mean age 11.

Dental development in patients with agenesis.

Aim: Recent research concerning tooth development and dental agenesis suggests that specific genes are associated with agenesis, and that these genetic factors could also cause delayed dental development of the remaining teeth. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether dental development of patients with agenesis is delayed, compared to a control group.

Subjects And Method: Panoramic radiographs of 1145 patients with dental agenesis were collected (452 males, 693 females) aged 6.

Drug Treatment of STEMI in the Elderly: Focus on Fibrinolytic Therapy and Insights from the STREAM Trial.

Elderly patients constitute a large and growing proportion of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients, yet they have been under-represented or even excluded from reperfusion trials. Despite evidence that fibrinolysis improves outcomes irrespective of age, many elderly STEMI patients still remain undertreated or subject to major delays to primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The fear of an excessive risk of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in these patients can lead to avoidance of potentially life-saving reperfusion treatment, despite the fact that current STEMI guidelines do not exclude the elderly from a pharmaco-invasive strategy.

Yttrium-90 radioembolization for the treatment of chemorefractory colorectal liver metastases: Technical results, clinical outcome and factors potentially influencing survival.

Background: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively assess the technical and clinical outcomes, overall survival and prognostic factors for prolonged survival after yttrium-90 ((90)Y) radioembolization as a salvage therapy for patients with chemorefractory liver-only or liver-dominant colorectal metastases.

Material And Methods: From January 2005 to January 2014, all the patients selected for (90)Y radioembolization to treat chemorefractory colorectal liver metastases were identified. Demographic, laboratory, imaging and dosimetry data were collected.