Plaque formation and gingivitis after supervised mouthrinsing with 0.2% delmopinol hydrochloride, 0.2% chlorhexidine digluconate and placebo for 6 months

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: A double-blind, randomized, 6-month clinical trial with parallel group design in 162 patients with gingivitis divided into three rinsing groups was conducted in order to study the efficacy and safety of a flavoured solution of delmopinol hydrochloride 2 mg ml“‘ (0.2% w/v, Decapinol Mouthwash”^®) used for supervised mouthrinsing in one rinsing group, in comparison with chlorhexidine digluconate 2 mg ml^-1 (0.2% w/v, Hibitane Dental’^{a, b}) in a second rinsing group, and placebo in the third group. The criteria of the Plaque Index (PI) were used to assess plaque formation. Bleeding on probing (BOP) to the bottom of the pocket with a standard pressure was used as the primary gingivitis assessment. The occurrence of supragingival dental calculus and extrinsic tooth staining were also assessed. In addition, patients were asked to report adverse events at each visit. RESULTS: Delmopinol and chlorhexidine exhibited lower scores of the mean PI and the BOP percentage than placebo, both at the 3-month and 6-month examinations. Furthermore, both active solutions showed a higher extent of staining of the teeth than placebo during these two observation periods. Rinsing with chlorhexidine resulted in more dental calculus than placebo after 6 months. Chlorhexidine showed lower scores for plaque formation and gingivitis development but higher scores of supragingival dental calculus (after 6 months) and tooth staining than did delmopinol. Both active solutions were reported by the patients–approximately to the same extent but more frequently than placebo–to induce taste alterations and a transient anaesthetic sensation of the oral mucosa. However, subjective staining of the teeth and tongue was reported by 16% of the delmopinol patients, but by 86% of the patients rinsing with chlorhexidine for 6 months. Furthermore, 24% of the patients in the chlorhexidine group, 9% in the delmopinol group and 4% in the placebo group wished to withdraw from treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this clinical trial indicate that supervised rinsing with 0.2% delmopinol hydrochloride or with 0.2% chlorhexidine digluconate twice daily for 60 s as a supplement to normal mechanical oral hygiene procedures resulted in less plaque formation and gingivitis than rinsing with placebo. Although chlorhexidine was more effective than delmopinol regarding plaque formation and gingivitis, it was considered by the patients as less tolerable.     

Anthropometric approach to lumbar vertebral body volumes

Objective

To assess the relationship between the maximum volume of lumbar vertebral bodies and patient morphological features. Knowledge of the volume of the vertebral body is useful when performing vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty.

Methods

129 patients (18–85 years) were included consecutively over an 8-month period. All had been subject to abdominopelvic CT scans. The weight, height and body mass index (BMI) were known. The volume of each vertebral body was calculated using the formula V = π R ². H (V = volume, R = radius, H = height). A statistical analysis of the data divided into three groups, men/women, men only and women only, was conducted by calculating the Pearson correlation coefficient.

Results

The volume of the vertebral body increased from L1 to L4, but the volume of the L5 vertebral body was lower than that of L3 and L4 in all three groups. The volumes of the vertebral bodies were greater in men than in women. Calculating the correlation coefficient showed that the variable most correlated with volume was patient’s height in both the men/women and women-only groups, while the most correlated variable in the male-only group was weight. Vertebral height was the variable most correlated with overall height in all three groups.

Conclusion

There is a wide variability in the volume of lumbar vertebrae. The volume of the vertebral body appears to vary not only with a person’s height but also their weight. The vertebral body seems to expand with weight in men.

     

Intubation routes for enteroclysis

The transnasal and peroral intubation routes for enteroclysis examination are described. A survey of 22 patients who underwent enteroclysis by both approaches revealed an overwhelming preference for the transnasal route. Transnasal intubation for enteroclysis is rapidly performed with adequate catheter control and in most patients is associated with less discomfort compared with the peroral route.     

Patients with partial seizures: evaluation by MR, CT, and PET imaging

Fifty patients who experienced partial seizures were imaged with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR); 14 of these also had imaging studies of local cerebral glucose metabolism with positron emission tomography (PET). Thirteen patients with attenuation abnormalities on CT scans also had abnormal signals on MR images; ten other patients had MR-image signal abnormalities but normal CT scans. In all seven patients undergoing PET who had MR-signal and sometimes also CT-attenuation abnormalities, areas of metabolic asymmetry were present. Positive PET scans were also seen in three patients with no evidence of abnormality on CT and MR studies. Focal cerebral substance loss on CT and MR studies, present in 21 patients, did not correlate well with electroencephalographic findings. MR is utilized as the initial imaging procedure in patients with partial seizures because it is more readily available and less invasive than PET and more sensitive than CT scanning.     

Evidence of mucin M1 antigens in seminal plasma and normal cells of human prostatic urethra in relation to embryonic development and tumors

By employing immunoperoxidase methodology, using monoclonal antibodies against the peptide core of gastric mucins (M1 antigens), we demonstrate the presence of M1 mucin-producing cells that are associated with the prostatic urethral epithelium and located mainly in the veru montanum area near the prostatic ductal and utriculus junctions. The significance of these M1 cells is not yet clear. Using an immunoradiometric assay, these M1 mucins were found predominantly in the prostatic fraction obtained from seminal plasma. By chromatography on Sepharose 6B and 2B and cesium chloride gradient centrifugation, we demonstrate that high-molecular-weight components (greater than 10(7) Da) show a density of 1.45 g/ml, similar to mucins, and are immunochemically related to peptidic gastric M1 mucins. The particular location of these M1 antigens in prostatic adult urethra and their fetal expression in cloacal structures suggest that, in males, the prostatic urethral epithelium includes some remnant cells from the enteric cloaca. Finally, the presence of mucin-containing cells in the prostatic urethra could possibly explain the histogenesis of the rare benign villous tumors and primary mucinous adenocarcinomas arising from the prostatic urethral epithelium.