Retention forces between primary and secondary CAD/CAM manufactured telescopic crowns: an in vitro comparison of common material combinations

Clinical Oral Investigations - To analyze the retention forces between primary and secondary telescopic crowns milled from various materials and to compare them with the retention forces between...     

Changes in serum concentrations of inhibin in cyclic pigs

A sensitive and specific radioimmunoassay (RIA) system for porcine ovarian inhibin has been developed. Antisera to porcine inhibin of molecular weight 32,000 (32 kDa inhibin) were raised in male chickens. The recognition site of the antiserum used in the present study was the N-terminal region of the alpha-subunit of 32 kDa inhibin. The antiserum could recognize higher molecular weight forms of inhibin present in porcine follicular fluid as well as the 32 kDa form. The average effective dose and the least detectable amount of inhibin in this RIA were 643 and 30.7 pg/tube respectively. Non-specific effects of serum on the RIA could be overcome by including 100 microliter serum from a castrated pig in the standards and by incubating at 30 degrees C. Serum concentrations of inhibin fluctuated between 0.6 and 2.5 micrograms/l during the oestrous cycles of the pigs. The amount of serum inhibin gradually increased from the late luteal phase to the early follicular phase and reached a maximum of 2.48 micrograms/l at day -4 (day 0 = day of ovulation). Concentrations then decreased rapidly to reach a minimum of 0.6 micrograms/l. Two small peaks were also observed during the luteal phase, although the concentration was relatively low during this phase. Changes in serum concentrations of oestradiol-17 beta did not parallel those of inhibin, especially during the luteal phase when serum concentrations of oestradiol-17 beta remained quite low. Serum concentrations of FSH were inversely related to those of inhibin rather than to those of oestradiol-17 beta, suggesting that the secretion of FSH during the oestrous cycles of pigs is mainly controlled by ovarian inhibin.     

Characteristics of Japanese subjects who progress from normal to impaired glucose tolerance. Longitudinal study excluding changes in body weight

In this retrospective longitudinal study, we focused on the clinical characteristics of Japanese individuals with recent onset impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) who have been followed up for insulin secretory function and 75-gram oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) for more than 3 years annually before they progressed from normal glucose tolerance (NGT) to IGT. Subjects whose body weight did not show significant change for the period were selected and labeled as either NGT (no change in OGTT over 3 years) or IGT (progressors from NGT to IGT) groups (n = 24, each). We compared the basal biochemical data and response of plasma glucose and serum insulin after OGTT of the two groups. In the IGT progressors, significant increase of plasma glucose at 30 to 120 minutes during OGTT and significant decrease of HDL-cholesterol were observed since 3 years before onset of IGT. In addition to increase of serum glucose and decrease of HDL-cholesterol, serum insulin at 120 minutes during OGTT were significantly and remarkably high at onset and 3 years before onset of IGT. Plasma glucose at 30-120 minutes and serum insulin level at 120 minutes after glucose load are potentially significant predictors of progression from NGT to IGT even in subjects who do not show increase of body weight.     

Brief episode of myocardial ischemia before prolonged ischemia attenuates cardiac sympathetic nerve injury.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of brief ischemia before prolonged ischemia on cardiac sympathetic neural function. Brief ischemia inhibits the sympathetic neural release of norepinephrine (NE) during subsequent sustained ischemia. However, whether it can attenuate the neural function after sustained ischemia remains unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Sympathetic neural function was assessed using 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) in patients who with (Group I) or without angina (Group II) within 3 days prior to acute myocardial infarction. In the rat experiment, cardiac interstitial NE (iNE) with or without pretreatment of 5-min coronary ligation was determined during a 30-min occlusion. Differences between MIBG and Thallium-201 for the total defect score were significantly greater in Group II than in Group I (6.1 +/- 4.0 vs 0.4 +/- 4.4). Levels of iNE were less in rats with a 5-min pretreatment (7.3 +/- 2.3 vs 18.6 +/- 5.9 x 10(3) pg/ml, p < 0.01) and MIBG uptake of ischemic region was greater (0.061 +/- 0.029 vs 0.031 +/- 0.011 %kg dose/g, p < 0.05) compared with rats without the pretreatment. CONCLUSION: A brief episode of ischemia attenuates the sympathetic neural injury caused by subsequent prolonged ischemia and this protective effect is associated with attenuation of NE release during the prolonged ischemia.     

Sphingosine 1-phosphate, a specific endogenous signaling molecule controlling cell motility and tumor cell invasiveness.

Sphingosine 1-phosphate (Sph-1-P), the initial product of Sph degradation by Sph kinase, was shown to be a strong inhibitor of cell motility and phagokinesis of B16 melanoma and other types of cells at 10-100 nM concentration. It also inhibited "chemoinvasion" of tumor cells through a thick layer of Matrigel on a filter membrane. Such inhibitory effects were produced minimally or not at all by Sph, N-methyl derivatives of Sph, or other related sphingolipids and phospholipids. Sph-1-P did not inhibit cell proliferation or protein kinase C (PKC) activity, in contrast to Sph and N-methyl-Sph, which inhibit PKC activity and cell growth in general. Radiolabeled [3H]Sph and [14C]N-methyl-Sph were rapidly incorporated into B16 melanoma cells. However, [14C]N-methyl-Sph was not metabolically converted into other compounds, whereas [3H]Sph was efficiently converted within 10 min to Sph-1-P, followed by conversion to other sphingolipids and phospholipids. The inhibitory effect of Sph-1-P on cell motility and tumor cell invasiveness could be a specific phenomenon independent of PKC and other known transmembrane signaling mechanisms, based on an unknown mechanism. It may directly affect organizational assembly of actin filaments. Since exogenous Sph is rapidly converted into Sph-1-P, some reported effects of Sph may be ascribable to such conversion.     

Value of shear wave velocity measurements for the risk assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma development in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Purpose

To evaluate the value of measuring shear wave velocity evoked by acoustic radiation force impulse (VTTQ) for the risk assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Methods

VTTQ was measured three times in each of the four liver segments in 163 NAFLD patients, including 14 HCC cases; the results were statistically evaluated.

Results

The VTTQ was 3.04 ± 0.17 m/s (median ± median absolute deviation) and 1.27 ± 0.25 m/s in patients with and without HCC, respectively, and was significantly higher in HCC cases (p < 0.001). When the patients were classified as F0–F4 based on VTTQ cutoff values, VTTQ was significantly higher in the left lobe than in the right lobe for F0 (p < 0.0001) and for F1 and F2 combined (p < 0.0001), but not significantly higher for F3 and F4 combined (p = 0.070). The robust coefficient of variation was significantly higher in the left than in the right (p = 0.018) and significantly increased as VTTQ increased (p = 0.0002). Multivariate analysis showed that total bilirubin concentration {p = 0.014, 38.9 (2.08–727) [odds ratio (95 % confidence interval)]} and VTTQ [p = 0.006, 113 (3.91–3245)] were the only independent explanatory factors for HCC presence among the seven variables identified by univariate analysis. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve in the differentiation of HCC from non-HCC was 0.943 for VTTQ and was comparable to that for other noninvasive markers such as Fib-4 (0.964) or higher than that in BARD (0.838).

Conclusions

These results suggest that fibrosis occurs heterogeneously throughout the liver and that VTTQ measurements are useful in HCC risk evaluation in a NAFLD cohort.