Treatment of prepubertal periodontitis

This paper reports the treatment of prepubertal periodontitis in a 3-year-old girl with Papillon-Lefèvre Syndrome. Initially, the patient was found to have a myeloperoxidase deficiency and microbiological tests have identified Bacteroides and Fusobacterium, in 60% and 25%, respectively of the total number of microbial flora cultivated. The initial treatment was extraction of all the primary teeth with grade 3 mobility, scaling, root planing and daily subgingival irrigation with a 0.2% solution of chlorhexidine. Several months before the eruption of the first permanent molars, the rest of the primary teeth were extracted. The patient was treated with daily subgingival irrigation of chlorhexidine and weekly professional oral hygiene. At the age 6 1/2 years, the permanent teeth have normal gingiva and crevice depths; microbiological investigation reveals a prevalence of the coccoid forms, and radiographs show no evidence of periodontal pathology.     

Effects of chlordiazepoxide,amitriptyline, imipramine,and their combinations on avoidance behaviour in mice

Chlordiazepoxide, imipramine, and amitriptyline, given alone or in combination, were tested in mice subjected to 5 daily 100-trial avoidance sessions in the shuttle-box. When the drugs were given alone, chlordiazepoxide and the lower doses of imipramine facilitated avoidance behaviour. The higher doses of the two antidepressants impaired avoidance behaviour. Mixtures of chlordiazepoxide and imipramine produced some facilitating effects, while depressant effects prevailed in the chlordiazepoxide-amitriptyline combinations.     

Effect of clonidine,amphetamine, and their combinations on the locomotor activity of CD-1 and C57BL/6 mice

Clonidine inhibited the exploratory motor activity of C57BL/6 mice non-habituated to the testing conditions. In CD-1 mice clonidine did not depress exploratory activity but did elevate the basal locomotor activity of animals both non-habituated and habituated to testing conditions. Amphetamine increased the locomotor activity of many C57BL/6 mice and conversely inhibited the locomotion of many CD-1 mice. In both strains, amphetamine in doses up to 2 mg/kg was unable to alter effects produced by clonidine. Results suggest that the locomotor activity of C57BL/6 mice is more sensitive than that of CD-1 mice to drugs affecting the central noradrenergic system.     

Facilitating effects of chlordiazepoxide on locomotor activity and avoidance behaviour of reserpinized mice

Chlordiazepoxide increased the spontaneous locomotor activity of both normal and reserpinized mice and facilitated the avoidance behaviour of mice pretreated with reserpine. These effects of chlorodiazepoxide on reserpinized animals were unexpected, since they are usually considered characteristic of antidepressant drugs.     

Cross-sectional reference data for phalangeal quantitative ultrasound from early childhood to young-adulthood according to gender, age, skeletal growth, and pubertal development

Bone mineral status by phalangeal quantitative ultrasound (QUS, DBM Sonic, IGEA, Carpi, Modena, Italy) was examined in 3044 (1513 males and 1531 females) healthy subjects, aged 2-21 years. The aim of the study was to provide a reference database for phalangeal QUS parameters, amplitude-dependent speed of sound (AD-SoS) and bone transmission time (BTT), both expressed as centiles and Z score, according to gender, age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and pubertal stage to be used for estimating bone mineral status in patients with disorders of growth or of bone and mineral metabolism. In both sexes, AD-SoS and BTT increased significantly (P<0.0001) according to all the anthropometric variables. Females showed higher values than males in the age groups 9-14 for AD-SoS (P<0.04-P<0.0001) and in the age groups 11-13 for BTT (P<0.02). Males had higher BTT values than females in the age groups 6-8 and 15-21 (P<0.04-P<0.0001). AD-SoS was higher (P<0.02-P<0.0001) in females than in males at pubertal stages 2, 3, and 4, but it was higher (P=0.001) in males compared with females at pubertal stage 5. BTT was higher in males than females at pubertal stages 1 (P<0.0001), 2 (P<0.01), and 5 (P<0.0001). In both sexes, AD-SoS and BTT were significantly correlated between them (r=0.92, P<0.0001) and with all the anthropometric variables (r=0.53-r=0.85, P<0.0001). Age, weight, BMI, and pubertal stage were independent predictors of AD-SoS in males; age and pubertal stage were independent predictors of AD-SoS in females. In both sexes, height and pubertal stage, and also age only in females, were independent predictors of BTT. In conclusion, our data show that gender, age, height, and timing of sexual maturation are main determinants of bone structure and geometry, and that both these two processes may be captured by phalangeal QUS. It may be a useful tool to assess bone mineral status from early childhood to young-adulthood with a very small confounding effect related to bone sizes and without exposing the subjects to a source of radiation.