Mineralization defects of primary teeth in children born pre-term

abstract — Investigation of 82 2- to 3-year-old children born pre-term and 39 healthy full-term controls showed that enamel mineralization defects were significantly more common in the pre-term group than among the controls. Pre-term delivery per se does not seem to be the direct cause of enamel mineralization defects, but rather it seems that common complications such as asphyxia and/or hyperbilirubinemia explain the increased incidence in children born pre-term.     

Surgical treatment of ankylosed and infrapositioned reimplanted incisors in adolescents

Abstract – A method for preserving the alveolar ridge of ankylosed and infrapositioned incisors and improving conditions for a subsequent prosthetic therapy is described and evaluated clinically and radiographically. The method involves removal of the crown and root filling from the root, which is retained and covered with a mucoperiosteal flap. Clinically, there were no postoperative complications and after the follow-up a satisfactory prosthetic restoration was performed in all cases, regardless of the degree of infraposition before treatment. Radiographically, no pathologic changes were observed apart from a continuous resorption and replacement of lost root substance by bone. Alveolar bone level shifted only slightly between postoperative and 12-month follow-up radiographs, in a majority of cases in a coronal direction.     

Pacemaker Architecture: A Pacemaker with an Attached Computer or a Computer with an Attached Pacemaker

Les microprocesseurs ont une importance majeure dans la téchnologie des stimulateurs cardiaques. Le développement de systèmes adaptatifs capables de répondre aux variables physiologiques va au bout du compte améliorer les qualityés des soins prodigués à chaque patient. Quoi qu'il en soit et dans le but de minimiser la consommation d'énéergie, il sera nécessaire d'incorporer certaines fonctions dans le boitier, en dehors du microprocesseur. Un langage spécifique supplémentaire peut, de plus, devenir nécessaire.     

An official ATS/ERS/JRS/ALAT statement: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: evidence-based guidelines for diagnosis and management

This document is an international evidence-based guideline on the diagnosis and management of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and is a collaborative effort of the American Thoracic Society, the European Respiratory Society, the Japanese Respiratory Society, and the Latin American Thoracic Association. It represents the current state of knowledge regarding idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and contains sections on definition and epidemiology, risk factors, diagnosis, natural history, staging and prognosis, treatment, and monitoring disease course. For the diagnosis and treatment sections, pragmatic GRADE evidence-based methodology was applied in a question-based format. For each diagnosis and treatment question, the committee graded the quality of the evidence available (high, moderate, low, or very low), and made a recommendation (yes or no, strong or weak). Recommendations were based on majority vote. It is emphasized that clinicians must spend adequate time with patients to discuss patients' values and preferences and decide on the appropriate course of action.     

Natural History of Congenital Complete Atrioventricular Block

An update of studies onthena tural history of congenital complete A V block is presented. A risk for heart failure, syn -cope, and sudden death is present at any age including fetal life. Unfavorable prognostic signs in utero are low and decreasing ventricular rate (VR), hydrops, AV valve regurgitation, and low aortic flow velocity. Indications for pacing in infancy are congestive heart failure, ventricular rate < 55 beats/min in isolated block and < 65 beats/min with associated disease, prolonged QT_c, syncope attacks, frequent ventricular ectopic beats, and alternating ventricular pacemakers. Indications for immediate pacing in childhood and adult life are syncope, presyncope, VR rates lower than median for age, periods ofjunc-tional exit block, prolongation of QT_c and mitral regurgitation, and change of ventricular pacemaker. Pacing is recommended to all patients older than 15 years.     

Two different 8 kDa monomers are involved in the oligomeric organization of the native Echinococcus granulosus antigen B

The present work describes the purification and characterization of antigen B (AgB), the thermostable lipoprotein from E. granulosus . Native AgB was purified to homogeneity by a new strategy involving adsorption on DEAE-Sepharose, followed by immunopurification. The purified antigen was analysed using mapped monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) and peptide isolation by in situ digestion in gels after SDS-PAGE. Epitope mapping of 7 MoAbs using PEPSCAN, synthetic peptides and competition studies, revealed that six of them defined epitopes which clustered the N-terminal extension of a 8 kDa subunit of AgB, whilst the remaining one reacted against the stretch RGLIAEGE, corresponding to the C-terminus. The epitopes defined by the seven MoAbs were found to be present in all the subunits. Furthermore, the similarities of the peptide finger prints obtained by HPLC analysis and amino acid sequencing of tryptic peptides isolated from the 8, 16 and 24 kDa subunits, indicated that they have most if not all the amino acid sequence in common. We also found evidence that the band representing a component of an apparent molecular weight of 8 kDa in SDS-PAGE, believed to be the smallest subunit of AgB, contained at least two components, which may constitute the building blocks of the higher molecular weight subunits.