Executive Dysfunction Early Postnatal Biomarkers among Children Born Extremely Preterm

Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology - We evaluated the relationship between blood levels of inflammatory and neurotrophic proteins during the first postnatal month in 692 children born before the...     

Optimization of Compound Ranking for Structure‐Based Virtual Ligand Screening Using an Established FRED–Surflex Consensus Approach

The use of multiple target conformers has been applied successfully in virtual screening campaigns; however, a study on how to best combine scores for multiple targets in a hierarchic method that combines rigid and flexible docking is not available. In this study, we used a data set of 59 479 compounds to screen multiple conformers of four distinct protein targets to obtain an adapted and optimized combination of an established hierarchic method that employs the programs FRED and Surflex. Our study was extended and verified by application of our protocol to ten different data sets from the directory of useful decoys (DUD). We quantitated overall method performance in ensemble docking and compared several consensus scoring methods to improve the enrichment during virtual ligand screening. We conclude that one of the methods used, which employs a consensus weighted scoring of multiple target conformers, performs consistently better than methods that do not include such consensus scoring. For optimal overall performance in ensemble docking, it is advisable to first calculate a consensus of FRED results and use this consensus as a sub‐data set for Surflex screening. Furthermore, we identified an optimal method for each of the chosen targets and propose how to optimize the enrichment for any target.     

Overdentures on primary mandibular implants in patients with oral cancer: a follow-up study over 14 years

We aimed to assess oral functioning, patients’ satisfaction, condition of peri-implant tissues, and survival of implants up to 14 years after their insertion in patients with oral cancer who had had mandibular overdentures placed over primary implants. Endosseous dental implants were inserted prospectively in the interforaminal region of the mandible during resection of the tumour in 164/180 patients with oral cancer. All 58 patients were evaluated by questionnaires and clinical assessments during a final assessment in 2012. Implant-retained mandibular overdentures were inserted, and prosthetic rehabilitation and oral functioning were not associated with primary site or stage of the tumour, number or type of implants inserted, or the type of reconstruction. Over time the peri-implant mucosa was usually free of inflammation. More implants were lost in patients treated by radiotherapy (27/318, 8.5%) than in those not so treated (1/206, 0.5%). Patients who had been treated by irradiation reported more problems in oral functioning and less satisfaction than those who had not. Patients with an implant-retained mandibular overdenture reported fewer problems in oral functioning than patients without an overdenture.