Investigating adhesion of primary human gingival fibroblasts and osteoblasts to orthodontic mini-implants by scanning electron microscopy.

Miniscrews offer controlled anchorage and thus optimize tooth movement in orthodontic treatment. Nevertheless, failures such as soft tissue problems, instability due to loosening, partial osseointegration, or even device fracture can occur. While clinical technique can play a role in some of these problems, the manufacturer's design and material choice influence how the implant interacts with the surrounding tissue.

Editorial for the Special Issue "Current Development of Pediatric Minimally Invasive Surgery" of the Journal .

Dear colleagues, [...

Predictors of surgical complications in boys with hypospadias: data from an internationa registry.

Background: Complications are frequently reported after hypospadias repair and there is a need to understand the factors that influence their occurrence.

Methods: Data from boys with hypospadias born between 2000 and 2020 were obtained from the International Disorders of Sex Development (I-DSD) Registry. Logistic regressions, fisher's exact tests and spearman's correlation tests were performed on the data to assess associations between clinical factors and complication rates.

Fetal and Perinatal Expression Profiles of Proinflammatory Cytokines in the Neuroplacodes of Rats with Myelomeningoceles: A Contribution to the Understanding of Secondary Spinal Cord Injury in Open Spinal Dysraphism.

The cellular and molecular mechanisms that presumably underlie the progressive functional decline of the myelomeningocele (MMC) placode are not well understood. We previously identified key players in post-traumatic spinal cord injury cascades in human MMC tissues obtained during postnatal repair. In this study, we conducted experiments to further investigate these mediators in the prenatal time course under standardized conditions in a retinoic acid-induced MMC rat model.

Gonadectomy in conditions affecting sex development: a registry-based cohort study.

Objectives: To determine trends in clinical practice for individuals with DSD requiring gonadectomy.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Methods: Information regarding age at gonadectomy according to diagnosis; reported sex; time of presentation to specialist centre; and location of centre from cases reported to the International DSD Registry and who were over 16 years old in January 2019.

Early osteoblastic activity on TiO thin films decorated with flower-like hierarchical Au structures.

Titanium alloys are the most commonly used dental and orthopedic implant materials due to their proven biocompatibility and mechanical properties. The native oxide layer (TiO layer) formed on such Ti-based implants acts as the self-protecting layer against possible ion release. Increasing the oxide layer thickness further on such TiO implants even opens the triggering of the osseointegration process if the oxide layer is having a certain degree of roughness, preferably higher.

Antiparanodal antibodies and IgG subclasses in acute autoimmune neuropathy.

Objective: To determine whether IgG subclasses of antiparanodal autoantibodies are related to disease course and treatment response in acute- to subacute-onset neuropathies, we retrospectively screened 161 baseline serum/CSF samples and 66 follow-up serum/CSF samples.

Methods: We used ELISA and immunofluorescence assays to detect antiparanodal IgG and their subclasses and titers in serum/CSF of patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), recurrent GBS (R-GBS), Miller-Fisher syndrome, and acute- to subacute-onset chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (A-CIDP). We evaluated clinical data retrospectively.

Expression Patterns of Hypoxia-Inducible Factors, Proinflammatory, and Neuroprotective Cytokines in Neuroepithelial Tissues of Lumbar Spinal Lipomas-A Pilot Study.

Objective: Lumbosacral lipomas (LSLs), one form of closed spinal dysraphism, are congenital disorders of the terminal spinal cord (SC). Delayed neurologic deterioration often occurs in the subsequent developmental course of the patient. Identifying the cellular and molecular factors underlying the progressive damage to neural structures is a prerequisite for developing treatment strategies for LSLs.

MiR-149-5p regulates cisplatin chemosensitivity, cell growth, and metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells by targeting TGFβ2.

Background: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a public health problem worldwide. MicroRNAs, acting as either oncogenes or tumor suppressors, have gathered much attention. The aim of this study was to characterize the role of miR-149-5p in drug resistance, cell growth, and metastasis and its underlying mechanism in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Estimating fetal cholesterol synthesis rates by cord blood analysis in intrauterine growth restriction and normally grown fetuses.

Background: Cholesterol is an essential component in human development. In fetuses affected by intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), fetal blood cholesterol levels are low. Whether this is the result of a reduced materno-fetal cholesterol transport, or due to low fetal de novo synthesis rates, remains a matter of debate.

Enabling Global Clinical Collaborations on Identifiable Patient Data: The Minerva Initiative.

The clinical utility of computational phenotyping for both genetic and rare diseases is increasingly appreciated; however, its true potential is yet to be fully realized. Alongside the growing clinical and research availability of sequencing technologies, precise deep and scalable phenotyping is required to serve unmet need in genetic and rare diseases. To improve the lives of individuals affected with rare diseases through deep phenotyping, global big data interrogation is necessary to aid our understanding of disease biology, assist diagnosis, and develop targeted treatment strategies.

Expression profiles of pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic mediators in secondary tethered cord syndrome after myelomeningocele repair surgery.

Purpose: The literature on histopathological and molecular changes that might underlie secondary tethered cord syndrome (TCS) after myelomeningocele (MMC) repair surgeries remains sparse. To address this problem, we analyzed specimens, which were obtained during untethering surgeries of patients who had a history of MMC repair surgery after birth.

Methods: Specimens of 12 patients were analyzed in this study.

Spatial and Cellular Expression Patterns of Erythropoietin-Receptor and Erythropoietin during a 42-Day Post-Lesional Time Course after Graded Thoracic Spinal Cord Impact Lesions in the Rat.

Erythropoietin (Epo) exhibits promising neuroregenerative potential for spinal cord injury (SCI), and might be involved in other long-term sequelae, such as neuropathic pain development. The current studies investigated the time courses and spatial and cellular patterns of Epo and erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) expression along the spinal axis after graded SCI. Male Long Evans rats received 100 kdyn, 150 kdyn, and 200 kdyn thoracic (T9) contusions from an Infinite Horizon impactor.

Restrictive enlargement of the pulmonary annulus at repair of tetralogy of Fallot: a comparative 10-year follow-up study.

Objectives: Since 1996, our centre performs restrictive enlargement of the pulmonary annulus at surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot. A transannular patch is only used if the z-score of the pulmonary annulus is smaller than -2. We sought to determine whether this strategy reduces pulmonary insufficiency (PI) and reoperation rate compared to a nationwide contemporary cohort that has not been operated using a uniform strategy.

Clinical, imaging, and immunohistochemical characteristics of focal cortical dysplasia Type II extratemporal epilepsies in children: analyses of an institutional case series.

OBJECTIVE Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) Type II is divided into 2 subgroups based on the absence (IIA) or presence (IIB) of balloon cells. In particular, extratemporal FCD Type IIA and IIB is not completely understood in terms of clinical, imaging, biological, and neuropathological differences. The aim of the authors was to analyze distinctions between these 2 formal entities and address clinical, MRI, and immunohistochemical features of extratemporal epilepsies in children.

Cellular Profiles and Molecular Mediators of Lesion Cascades in the Placode in Human Open Spinal Neural Tube Defects.

Myelomeningoceles (mmc) are clinically challenging CNS malformations. Although improvement in their management has been achieved with respect to antenatal diagnosis, prevention, and fetal surgery, the cellular mechanisms of damage in the neural placode are poorly understood. We aimed to identify cellular and molecular factors in lesion amplifying cascades in mmc placodes.

Haematopoietic SCT for children and adolescents with relapsed and refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Despite the generally excellent prognosis of children and adolescents with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), approximately 15% of patients relapse. Salvage therapy options include further chemo-radiotherapy and autologous or allogeneic haematopoietic SCT (HSCT). Autologous HSCT following high-dose chemotherapy, the standard treatment for adult patients with relapsed HL, is also effective in paediatric patients, but randomized trials showing its superiority to conventional therapy are lacking.

Small bowel cancer: single-centre results over a period of 12 years.

Background/aims: Tumors of the small bowel are rare, accounting for about 3-6% of all gastrointestinal neoplasms. However, diagnosis and treatment are difficult and an ongoing challenge.

Methodology: Follow-up and clinical data of 43 patients with small bowel cancer who underwent surgery at our hospital.