Obtaining reliable intraoral digital scans for an implant-supported complete-arch prosthesis: A dental technique

This article describes a technique for obtaining an accurate complete-arch digital scan for an edentulous patient. To achieve this, an auxiliary polymeric device that simulates a denture is designed, fabricated, and placed in the mouth. This device, having the geometry of a typical dental arch, facilitates the digitalization of the edentulous complete arch. This is because the change in radius of the curvature (change of geometry) enables the scanner to perform a more accurate alignment. Initially, the necessary location of the implants is acquired, and then the soft tissue is added. This technique can achieve accurate complete-arch digital scans. Distances between implants are closer to the gold standard when using this auxiliary geometry piece than those obtained without using it.     

Secondary malignancies after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation using reduced-intensity conditioning and outpatient conduction

Background

Patients given allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCT) may develop secondary malignant neoplasms (SMN). Several variables have been identified but there are no data about the incidence of this complication in individuals given HSCT using reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) methods.

Objective

Define the incidence of SMN in patients given HSCT using a RIC preparative regimen conducted on an outpatient basis.

Materials and methods

Patients given HSCT in two institutions between October 1998 and 2012 were analyzed. To appraise the SMN appearance, those patients dead were also regarded as censored at that moment, as well as those lost to follow up and those alive at the closing of the study. 95% Confidence intervals (CI) for the survival or failure estimate were calculated with the Greenwood's method.

Results

A total of 416 allografted patients with a Karnofsky performance index of 100% were included in the study. All patients received peripheral blood stem cells allografts. The conditioning regimen was delivered as an outpatient procedure in all individuals. No patient was given radiotherapy nor antithymocyte globulin during the conditioning. Three hundred and sixty five patients (88%) were never admitted to the hospital, whereas 12% were admitted because of grade III–IV acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD), fever, or mucositis. Median survival time was 15.7 months. Survival at 6 months (95% CI): 66.4% (61.5–70.8%), at 12 months: 53.3% (48.1–58.1%), at 60 months: 30.6% (30.5–41.5%). Eight patients with a SMN were identified in the group of 416 allografted patients, SMN rates (95% CI) were: one year post graft: 1.9% (0.7–4.9%), 5 years: 3.8% (1.6–9.2%), 10 years: 6.8% (2.6–17.7%) and 13 years post-graft: 20.2% (5.5–59.2%), the cumulative probability of SMN being 6.8 at 10 years. Since the number of expected cases in the general population is 0.62, the ratio of observed to expected cases is 12.9 (P < 0.001). This figure means that the risk of developing a malignant neoplasm in allografted individuals using our method is 12.9 times higher than that in the general population. There were three non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, two M2 acute myelogenous leukemias, one hairy cell leukemia, one tongue epidermoid carcinoma, and one breast carcinoma.

Conclusions

We have found a low incidence of SMN in this group of Mexican patients allografted with the Mexican RIC method. Possible explanations for this difference are discussed, focusing on the RIC preparative regimen.     

Familiarity and face emotion recognition in patients with schizophrenia

Objective

To assess the emotion recognition in familiar and unknown faces in a sample of schizophrenic patients and healthy controls.

Methods

Face emotion recognition of 18 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM-IVTR) and 18 healthy volunteers was assessed with two Emotion Recognition Tasks using familiar faces and unknown faces. Each subject was accompanied by 4 familiar people (parents, siblings or friends), which were photographed by expressing the 6 Ekman’s basic emotions. Face emotion recognition in familiar faces was assessed with this ad hoc instrument. In each case, the patient scored (from 1 to 10) the subjective familiarity and affective valence corresponding to each person.

Results

Patients with schizophrenia not only showed a deficit in the recognition of emotions on unknown faces (p = .01), but they also showed an even more pronounced deficit on familiar faces (p = .001). Controls had a similar success rate in the unknown faces task (mean: 18 +/− 2.2) and the familiar face task (mean: 17.4 +/− 3). However, patients had a significantly lower score in the familiar faces task (mean: 13.2 +/− 3.8) than in the unknown faces task (mean: 16 +/− 2.4; p < .05). In both tests, the highest number of errors was with emotions of anger and fear. Subjectively, the patient group showed a lower level of familiarity and emotional valence to their respective relatives (p < .01).

Conclusions

The sense of familiarity may be a factor involved in the face emotion recognition and it may be disturbed in schizophrenia.     

A three-component biomarker panel for prediction of dengue hemorrhagic fever

Dengue virus infections are a major cause of morbidity in tropical countries. Early detection of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) may help identify individuals that would benefit from intensive therapy. Predictive modeling was performed using 11 laboratory values of 51 individuals (38 DF and 13 DHF) obtained on initial presentation using logistic regression. We produced a robust model with an area under the curve of 0.9615 that retained IL-10 levels, platelets, and lymphocytes as the major predictive features. A classification and regression tree was developed on these features that were 86% accurate on cross-validation. The IL-10 levels and platelet counts were also identified as the most informative features associated with DHF using a Random Forest classifier. In the presence of polymerase chain reaction-proven acute dengue infections, we suggest a complete blood count and rapid measurement of IL-10 can assist in the triage of potential DHF cases for close follow-up or clinical intervention improving clinical outcome.