采用分光光度计比较种植支持式氧化锆全瓷和贵金属金瓷修复的牙冠颜色

目的 应用一种小型分光光度计对上前牙区种植支持式氧化锆全瓷修复与贵金属金瓷修复的牙冠颜色进行比较,为临床选择修复材料提供参考依据。方法 纳入 18例（男 7例,女 11例）行口腔种植修复后复查患者的上前牙区种植支持式单冠 29颗进行研究,其中氧化锆全瓷修复单冠 11颗,贵金属金瓷修复单冠 18颗。采用小型反射型分光光度计型比色仪 SpectroShadeTM采集图片并输入计算机,应用相关软件测量每个种植牙冠体 1/3与对照天然牙的CIE L﹡a﹡b﹡颜色差异。应用统计学软件 SPSS 17.0进行统计分析。结果 氧化锆全瓷修复和贵金属金瓷修复的牙冠明度均高于天然牙,全瓷修复引起的明度差异（ 4.5±3.2）大于金瓷修复引起的明度差异（ 1.0±2.6）,具有统计学意义（ P=0.004）;色相差异和饱和度差异均无统计学意义。全瓷修复和金瓷修复与天然牙的颜色差异（ 7.0±2.8和4.0±1.9）均高于人眼的分辨阈值（ 3.7）,且前者差异大于后者,具有统计学意义（ P=0.002）。氧化锆全瓷和贵金属金瓷两种修复方式的临床主观评分无统计学差异（ P=0.977）。上前牙天然牙色由前向后明度渐低,色相变红黄。结论 就本试验所选用的修复材料而言,分光光度计测量显示氧化锆全瓷修复与天然牙的牙冠颜色差异大于贵金属金瓷修复与天然牙的颜色差异,但两种修复方式的临床效果无明显区别。     

The status of antimicrobial resistance of Helicobacter pylori in Eastern Azerbaijan, Iran: comparative study according to demographics

Helicobacter pylori-associated infections are extremely common in Iran, but few data about antibiotic sensitivity of H. pylori are available for this region. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of resistance in isolates against commonly used antibiotics in Eastern Azerbaijan, Iran, and the dependence of prevalence on the sex and age of patients. H. pylori isolates were collected by culture from gastric biopsies. Antibiotic susceptibility of isolates was determined by use of the disk agar diffusion test, and the minimum inhibitory concentration of clarithromycin was established by use of the Etest. A total 395 of biopsy specimens were studied; 112 samples of H. pylori were isolated (28.3 %), 55 (49 %) from males and 57 (51 %) from females. The prevalence of resistance to clarithromycin, metronidazole, erythromycin, amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin, rifampin, nitrofurantoin, and tetracycline were 16 (14.3 %), 86 (76.8 %), 29 (26.0 %), 32 (28.6 %), 37 (33.0 %), 32 (28.6 %), 13 (11.6 %), and 21 (18.7 %), respectively. Antimicrobial resistance was not statistically significantly associated with sex or age. Furthermore, the prevalence of resistance to metronidazole was high and that to clarithromycin was reasonable, consistent with reported low success in H. pylori treatment in this area. Therefore, continuous surveillance of antibiotic resistance of H. pylori is essential.     

Predictors of mental and physical health in non-cirrhotic patients with viral hepatitis: A case control study

ObjectiveTo identify independent predictors of mental and physical health in patients with viral hepatitis.MethodsHepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis B (HBV) infected patients, and community control subjects with equal age and sex distribution were recruited. All subjects filled in personal characteristics questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Iowa Fatigue Scale (IFS), and Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form-12 (SF-12). All patients had measurement of routine laboratory values, and some had recent liver biopsy. Regression analyses were used to identify predictors of physical and mental health.ResultsOne hundred eighty nine subjects (162 males, 27 females, for each group N = 63) with mean (± SD) age of 39 ± 11 years were included. Anxiety and depression were important predictors of SF-12 (and its subscales MCS and PCS) and IFS scores, whereas IFS scores independently predicted HADS, PCS, MCS, and SF-12 scores. After controlling for confounders, HCV infection was independently associated with impairment of physical health. Moreover, creatinine showed an inverse strong relation with fatigue. Genotype 3a of HCV was independently associated with depressed and anxious states, whereas higher inflammation grade was significantly related to depression. Marital status, non-psychiatric comorbidities, and history of alcohol abuse also predicted health scores in the patients. Adjusted R²s for linear models were 0.571 to 0.709, whereas areas under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for logistic models were 0.90 to 0.93.ConclusionIn viral hepatitis patients, besides mental and medical comorbidities, marital status, and alcohol abuse, HCV infection itself is associated with impaired physical and possibly mental health.     

Two-Dimensional Protein Micropatterning for Sensor Applications Through Chemical Selectivity Technique

Two-dimensional protein micropatterning with immobil-ization of IgG and poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) on patterned Au and Si surfaces was performed through a new technique. The technique for micropatterning is based on a chemical selectivity method by creating chemical bonding between protein, self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and substrates rather than physical means. The substrates used in this study are pre-fabricated with silicon wafer patterned with arrays of gold squares. The silicon regions of the substrate are modified with polyethylene glycol (PEG) to resist protein adsorption and cell adhesion. The gold regions on the substrate are first immobilized with bifunctional SAM layers that can covalently bound adhesion proteins for individual cell attachment against a PEG background. The surface coatings are characterized by contact angle measurement, ellips-ometry, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The patterns of fluorescence-labeled proteins are examined using fluorescence microscopy. Our study demonstrated that the PEG modified silicon region showed an effective protein reduction while the gold regions were successfully covalently bonded with proteins. This technique also demonstrated a combined feature of ensuring the activity, selectivity, and stability of the immobilized proteins. A simple lift-off microfabrication process was introduced in this study to pattern metal on silicon substrates without using expensive metal etching.     

What are the core recommendations for rheumatoid arthritis care? Systematic review of clinical practice guidelines

Clinical Rheumatology - Systematic r eview to evaluate the quality of the clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) management and to provide a synthesis of high-quality CPG...     

The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30): translation and validation study of the Iranian version

The objective of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Iranian version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30). The English-language version of the questionnaire was translated into Persian (Iranian language), and its final form was approved by the EORTC Study Group on Quality of Life before it was used in this study. The questionnaire was administered at two time points to a consecutive sample of 168 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, and almost all of them (99%) found the questions easy to understand and acceptable. Crohnbach's alpha coefficient for multi-item scales (to test reliability) ranged from 0.48 to 0.95 at baseline and from 0.52 to 0.98 at follow-up administration of the questionnaire. Validity was checked using two methods: inter-scale correlation and known-groups comparison. Almost all inter-scale correlations were statistically significant in the expected direction. Known-groups comparison analysis showed that all functioning and symptom scales discriminated between subgroups of patients differing in clinical status as defined by their performance status and disease stage. In general, the findings of this study indicate that the Iranian version of the EORTC QLQ-C30 is a reliable and valid measure of quality of life in cancer patients and can be used in clinical trials and studies of outcome research in oncology.