Investigation of the effects of thrombocyte-rich plasma,systemic ozone and hyperbaric oxygen treatment on intraoral wound healing in rats: experimental study

European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - In this study, it was aimed to evaluate and compare biochemical and histopathological effects of platelet-rich plasma (PRP), ozone and hyperbaric oxygen...     

Silyl-naphthalene endoperoxides as switchable sources of singlet oxygen for bactericidal activity

Singlet oxygen is a short half-life cytotoxic agent which can be generated by chemical and photochemical methods. In order to make use of its antibacterial action at a selected location, it is desirable to have singlet oxygen in a relatively stable, “caged” structure, in the form of an endoperoxide. Here, the trimethylsilyl (TMS) group supplies the steric bulk, inhibiting the cycloreversion reaction to produce very little singlet oxygen under ambient conditions. However, when fluoride ions are added as tetrabutylammonium fluoride, very rapid removal of the TMS group takes place, followed by the unhindered cycloreversion, releasing singlet oxygen much faster. The bactericidal action on surfaces was demonstrated using E. coli, and imaged under fluorescence microscopy. Considering the issues related to emergence of antibiotic resistant bacterial strains, “on demand singlet oxygen” appears to be an exciting alternative.

Fluoride ions remove the bulky stopper, releasing singlet oxygen to kill harmful bacteria.     

From virility to virtue: the psychology of apology in honor cultures

In honor cultures, relatively minor disputes can escalate, making numerous forms of aggression widespread. We find evidence that honor cultures’ focus on virility impedes a key conflict de-escalation strategy—apology—that can be successfully promoted through a shift in mindset. Across five studies using mixed methods (text analysis of congressional speeches, a cross-cultural comparison, surveys, and experiments), people from honor societies (e.g., Turkey and US honor states), people who endorse honor values, and people who imagine living in a society with strong honor norms are less willing to apologize for their transgressions (studies 1–4). This apology reluctance is driven by concerns about reputation in honor cultures. Notably, honor is achieved not only by upholding strength and reputation (virility) but also through moral integrity (virtue). The dual focus of honor suggests a potential mechanism for promoting apologies: shifting the focus of honor from reputation to moral integrity. Indeed, we find that such a shift led people in honor cultures to perceive apologizing more positively and apologize more (study 5). By identifying a barrier to apologizing in honor cultures and illustrating ways to overcome it, our research provides insights for deploying culturally intelligent conflict-management strategies in such contexts.

“Honor has caused more deaths than the plague.” (Peristiany & Pitt-Rivers, 1992)

In almost all human contexts, conflicts are inevitable and can escalate if unaddressed. In cultures where honor is a central value, conflicts can be particularly common (1, 2). Honor killings and honor-related crimes have been documented by anthropologists for over a century across regions of the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas (3, 4, 5). Within the US Southern culture of honor, aggressive acts dating back to the 1800s often have been deemed appropriate and even necessary (2, 6). Indeed, the culture of honor has been shown to be a major driver of many forms of aggression, from the antebellum Southern duels (7) to domestic violence (8), school shootings (9), gang violence (10), and suicide bombings (11) in the modern era. While research across disciplines has documented a tendency to escalate conflicts in honor cultures (4, 7, 11–13), discussions of how to manage conflicts and promote forgiveness in honor cultures is scarce. Are certain elements of honor cultures at odds with conflict de-escalation?We address this question by examining a critical feature of conflict de-escalation: making an apology. Following conflicts, an apology—the admission of wrongs and regrets—is a widely used remedial device to mitigate conflicts and restore relationships (14–18). Even nonhuman primates demonstrate conciliatory gestures to reduce aggression (19, 20). A large body of evidence suggests that, during conflicts, an offenders'' apology plays a key role in generating forgiveness, repairing relationships, and allowing people to restore trust after transgressions (15, 16, 21–23). Indeed, apologies are critical not only for de-escalating interpersonal conflicts but also professional and even international ones. For example, apologies from companies diffuse customer complaints (24), apologies issued by chief executive officers restore trust toward organizations (25), and apologies from physicians reduce the risk of medical malpractice lawsuits (26). Likewise, political apologies often serve to mitigate international disputes and mark the beginning of collective reconciliation, redress, and reparation processes (27, 28). Yet much of the work on apology takes place in Western contexts, and little is known about apology dynamics in honor cultures. We address this gap by asking whether the culture of honor hinders or facilitates making an apology, a behavior that can deescalate conflicts effectively.To answer this question, we turn to existing theories that define honor as both virility and virtue (29–31). Researchers have shown that the culture of honor tends to evolve in tough environments with weak institutions that cannot be relied on to protect one’s assets (6, 32). In such environments, a reputation of toughness and a willingness to retaliate against others at all costs are viewed as fundamental for survival. Hence, projecting an image of virility is central to claiming honor and reputation needs to be vigorously defended in honor cultures.On the other hand, in honor cultures, virility concerns are often bundled with virtue concerns—behaving morally, being honest and trustworthy, and adhering to well-defined principles and obligations. Such moral integrity norms enable people to structure relationships and avoid conflicts in contexts where institutions are weak (29, 33). Being virtuous allows one to gain social respect, an asset in tough environments (29). The two-edged sword of honor leads us to theorize that virility concerns in honor cultures will crowd out apologizing. However, shifting one''s perspective to virtue concerns may help promote apologizing in honor cultures. We present our reasoning below.The Honor–Apology Link.Because honor is the value of self in the eyes of others, it does not exist without others’ recognition. To prevent the loss of honor, it is important to keep one’s reputation untarnished and display an image of strength so as not to appear vulnerable (6, 34). The logic of honor can interfere with apologizing for one’s transgressions, as apologizing often signifies an admission of fault and an acknowledgment of responsibility (28). By making an apology and admitting wrongdoings, one can potentially damage one’s reputation and lose social standing. Put simply, the act of apologizing can cause one to lose honor. Therefore, we predict that reputation concerns in honor cultures will crowd out apologizing.People in honor cultures may also be less willing to apologize because they perceive apology to be ineffective. Drawing on expectancy theories (35), people are motivated to apologize if they perceive an apology to be effective in achieving the goals of attaining forgiveness, mending relationships, and setting things right (16). However, the logic of honor prescribes that one must stand up for oneself by being willing to retaliate or fight back when wronged by others, lest they be the target of aggression (32, 36). In this view, apologizing can be perceived as risky and ineffective. Indeed, research has shown that, during conflicts, people from honor cultures express more anger, are less willing to forgive the offender, and use more aggressive and defensive conflict-management strategies, as compared to those from nonhonor cultures (37–39). Accordingly, people from honor cultures may come to perceive apologies as less effective in achieving desired outcomes, which in turn reduces their willingness to apologize.However, as noted previously, honor concerns not only virility but also virtue. Accordingly, how people think of honor may have different implications for the willingness to apologize. While apologizing can pose a threat to honor by bringing reputational concerns to mind, apologizing may be seen as a vehicle to gaining honor when norms of virtue—i.e., being honest and trustworthy and having high moral integrity—are salient. Therefore, we hypothesize that shifting people’s perspective of honor from reputation and strength to moral virtue will facilitate apologizing behavior in honor cultures.Current Research. We propose that people in honor cultures are less willing than people in nonhonor cultures to apologize for their transgressions and that concerns about reputation and the perceived ineffectiveness of apology explain this reluctance to apologize. However, honor may be a double-edged sword when it comes to making an apology. We expect that shifting the concern of honor to moral virtue will promote apologizing behavior.We test our hypotheses across five studies both within and across cultures. First, using a newly developed apology dictionary, we examined more than 2.5 million speeches made by US political elites to explore how their expressions of apology varied as a function of the prominence of honor in their home state (study 1). We also conceptually replicated this finding by showing that Google searches for how to apologize are less frequent in states with stronger honor cultures. Next, we examined cross-country differences in tendencies to apologize for offenses by comparing an honor (i.e., Turkey) and a nonhonor (i.e., the United States) culture (study 2). We then examined the mediating processes that predict reluctance to apologize, namely reputation concerns and the perceived effectiveness of apologies, among those who valued honor (study 3). In the last two experiments, we documented the causal impact of honor norms on apologizing behavior (study 4) and asked whether shifting the perspective of honor to moral virtue would motivate apologizing behavior (study 5). Taken together, this research broadens the scientific study of apology by focusing on honor cultures and highlights practical implications for de-escalating conflicts in such settings. All data and codes can be found at https://osf.io/8m7jg/.     

Guaranteed-cost stabilization of non-linear stochastic systems

The control of uncertain non-linear discrete-time systems having stochastic cone-bounded non-linearities is considered. First, a quadratic performance bound and a guaranteed-cost optimal state feedback controller are derived. Then, an auxiliary system is introduced. It is shown that the quadratic optimal control for this auxiliary system is the same as the guaranteed-cost control for the original system, and, therefore, the existence of the infinite-horizon guaranteed-cost controller can be based on the stabilizability and observability properties of the auxiliary system. Finally, the stochastic boundedness of the controlled uncertain system is proved based on the properties of the auxiliary system. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is dysphonia permanent or temporary after anterior cervical approach?

The rate, causes and prognosis of dysphonia after anterior cervical approach (ACA) were investigated in our clinical series. During a 10-year interval, 235 consecutive patients with cervical disc disease underwent surgical treatment using anterior approach. Retrospective chart reviews showed recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) injury in 3 (1.27%) patients. All three patients were men and only one patient had multilevel surgery. These patients had RLN injury after virgin surgery. Laryngoscopic examination demonstrated unilateral vocal cord paralysis in all patients who had postoperative dysphonia. No permanent dysphonia was observed in our series and patients recovered after a mean of 2 months (range 1–3 months) duration. Dysphonia after ACA was a rare complication in our clinical series. Pressure on RLN or retraction may result in temporary dysphonia.     

Single dose of anti-transforming growth factor-beta1 monoclonal antibody enhances liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy in biliary-obstructed rats

BACKGROUND: Transforming growth factor (TGF) beta is a potent inhibitor of hepatocyte DNA synthesis and liver regeneration. TGF-beta(1) expression progressively increases in obstructive jaundice. We investigated the effect of TGF-beta(1) blockage on liver regeneration in rats induced with obstructive jaundice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Male Wistar-albino rats were divided into three groups: sham, control, and study groups. In the study and control groups, the common bile duct was ligated and divided, and 7 days later a partial hepatectomy was performed. In the study group, anti-TGF-beta(1) monoclonal antibody (10-microg single dose) was administered immediately after the 70% hepatectomy. In the control group, those rats in which obstructive jaundice was induced received normal saline after the 70% hepatectomy, and nonjaundiced rats received anti-TGF-beta(1) monoclonal antibody after the 70% hepatectomy. Rats were sacrificed after 48 or 72 h. Relative liver weight, AST, ALT, total and conjugated bilirubin, and TGF-beta(1) levels were measured. The mitotic index and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) labeling index were evaluated as histopathologic parameters. RESULTS: At 72 h, the TGF-beta(1) level in the study group was similar to that in the sham group, whereas TGF-beta(1) in the study group was significantly lower than that of the jaundiced control group at 48 or 72 h (P < 0.001). The relative liver weight, mitotic index, and PCNA labeling index were significantly higher in the study group than in the jaundiced control group at 48 and 72 h (P < 0.001). The AST, ALT, and TGF-beta(1) levels were significantly higher in the jaundiced control group compared to the study group after 48 and 72 h, whereas these values were significantly lower in the nonjaundiced control group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In obstructive jaundiced rats, TGF-beta(1) blockage with anti-TGF-beta(1) monoclonal antibody after liver resection improved liver regeneration both morphologically and functionally.     

Comparison of outcomes of Holmium enucleation of the prostate for small- and moderate-sized prostates

There is an ongoing discussion in the literature on the surgical treatment option for small prostate size benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) patients. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) surgery in small (<30 ml) and moderate (30–80 ml) prostate size as accepted in European Association of Urology guideline. We retrospectively analysed our database between May 2016 and May 2019 and patients who underwent HoLEP surgery. Patients who have prostate size <80 ml were included the study. These patients were divided into two group: group 1 with prostate size <30 ml (n: 64) and group 2 with prostate size 30–80 ml (n: 101). Enucleation time (ET), morcellation time (MT), total operation time (OT), enucleation efficiency (EE), morcellation efficiency (ME), intra- and post-operative complications were analysed. While EE and Hb drop were better in favour of group 2; PSA drop, ET, MT, OT and ME were superior in favour of group 1. In group 1, intra-operative complications were higher (6 vs. 2; p < .05) and post-operative complications did not differ statistically between groups (p = .14). No statistically significant finding was found between groups regarding incontinence. In conclusion, HoLEP is a reliable method in terms of its results in patients with small prostates.