Thickness and marking quality of different occlusal contact registration strips

Objectives

Evaluate the thickness and the marking quality of different occlusal contact registration strips (OCRS) and a possible correlation between them.

Material and Methods

The following OCRS were selected: Accufilm II, BK20, BK21, BK22, BK23, BK28, and BK31. The thickness was measured in three points of the OCRS with an electronic measuring device (TESA), and the mean was calculated. To produce the marks on the strips, composite resin specimens were adapted to a universal testing machine (Versat 2000) with 40 kgf load cell at a speed of 1.0 mm/min. The mark images were photographed with a stereoscopic microscope (Stemi SV11) and processed and analyzed by the 550-Leica Qwin^® analyzer.

Results

Values (μm) found in the 1^st and 2^nd thickness measurements were: Accufilm II - 16.4 and 14.2; BK20 - 10.0 and 8.1; BK21 - 9.5 and 8.0; BK22 - 9.7 and 8.7; BK23 - 9.8 and 7.9; BK28 - 12.8 and 10.0; and BK31 - 8.4 and 8.0, respectively. The mean (mm²) values found in the mark areas were: Accufilm II - 0.078; BK20 - 0.035; BK21 - 0.045; BK22 - 0.012; BK23 - 0.022; BK28 - 0.024; and BK31 - 0.024. The results were submitted to the Kruskal-Wallis (p<0.05) and Pearson’s correlation tests.

Conclusions

Only in the 2^nd measurement, the OCRS thickness observed was similar to the value indicated by the manufacturers; the Accufilm II and the BK28 strips showed the better marks; and no correlation was found between the thickness and the marking area.     

Tumor size and operative risks of extended right-sided hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: implication for preoperative portal vein embolization

HYPOTHESIS: Major hepatic resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is associated with high operative morbidity and mortality, especially in patients with underlying chronic liver disease. The present study evaluated the factors associated with increased operative risks in patients who underwent extended right-sided hepatic resection for HCC. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: Tertiary referral center. PATIENTS: A retrospective study was performed on 172 patients who underwent extended right-sided hepatic resection of more than 4 Couinaud segments for HCC during a 16-year period (January 1, 1989, to December 31, 2004) to evaluate the clinical factors associated with operative morbidity and mortality. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Risk factors associated with hospital mortality and major operative morbidity. RESULTS: The overall major morbidity and hospital mortality rates were 14.0% and 8.1%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, small tumor size, conventional-approach hepatectomy, Child-Pugh grade B cirrhosis, and preexisting tumor rupture were the independent factors significantly associated with an increased risk of operative mortality. Discriminant analysis showed that a tumor size smaller than 10 cm significantly increased the risk of operative mortality compared with larger tumors (17.2% vs 3.5%; P = .046). CONCLUSIONS: Anterior approach is the preferred technique for extended right-sided hepatic resection for HCC. Increased risk of operative mortality was identified in patients who had a small tumor, which was associated with the resection of a large volume of functioning liver parenchyma. Preoperative portal vein embolization should be considered in this group of patients to enhance atrophy of the right lobe and hypertrophy of the future liver remnant to minimize the operative risk.     

AMP-18,一种新发现的胃黏膜保护因子

AMP-18是一种新发现的由胃腺体上皮细胞合成的小分子蛋白质,独特表达于胃黏膜,机体其他部位少见,胃癌组织中表达缺失．AMP-18 由185个氨基酸组成,除去N端信号肽(20个氨基酸)后大小约18 ku,第54-150个氨基酸组成高度保守的结构域(BRICHOS区域)承担主要的生理功能．AMP-18由胃腺体上皮细胞以胞吐的方式分泌到胃黏液中,他的合成和分泌与个体生长发育有关,并受福斯高林、吲哚美辛、地塞米松等药物的影响．目前发现 AMP-18的生理功能主要有促进胃黏膜上皮细胞的有丝分裂,促进细胞的迁徙,促胃肠黏膜损伤的修复,保持胃肠黏膜的完整等．     

Mauve: multiple alignment of conserved genomic sequence with rearrangements

As genomes evolve, they undergo large-scale evolutionary processes that present a challenge to sequence comparison not posed by short sequences. Recombination causes frequent genome rearrangements, horizontal transfer introduces new sequences into bacterial chromosomes, and deletions remove segments of the genome. Consequently, each genome is a mosaic of unique lineage-specific segments, regions shared with a subset of other genomes and segments conserved among all the genomes under consideration. Furthermore, the linear order of these segments may be shuffled among genomes. We present methods for identification and alignment of conserved genomic DNA in the presence of rearrangements and horizontal transfer. Our methods have been implemented in a software package called Mauve. Mauve has been applied to align nine enterobacterial genomes and to determine global rearrangement structure in three mammalian genomes. We have evaluated the quality of Mauve alignments and drawn comparison to other methods through extensive simulations of genome evolution.     

Characterization of the human jumonji gene

While constructing a cDNA library of human embryos, we have isolated a clone homologous to jumonji, a mouse gene required for neural tube formation. We have determined the complete coding sequence of the human homologue (JMJ) and deduced the amino acid sequence of the putative protein. We show here that human and mouse jumonji putative proteins are homologous and present 90% identity. During human embryogenesis, JMJ mRNAs are predominantly expressed in neurons and particularly in dorsal root ganglion cells. They are also expressed in neurons of human adult cerebral cortex. In view of these observations, we propose JMJ as a candidate gene for developmental defects of the central nervous system in the human. The human JMJ gene maps at position 6p24-6p23.