Rehabilitation of a periodontal patient with rapidly progressing marginal alveolar bone loss: 1-year follow-up

BACKGROUND: The present case report describes a 1-year follow-up of functional rehabilitation of a young periodontal patient with severely advanced, rapidly progressing marginal bone loss treated by using a new splinting material, i.e., glass fiber-reinforced composite (FRC). Apart from one single tooth, the young man had retained all his natural teeth. TREATMENT: Periodontal treatment was based on cleaning and root planing enabled by partial-thickness-flap operations. This method was selected to avoid further damage to the remaining alveolar bone. After healing for 6 months, a cavity retained internal FRC splint was constructed and 1 missing lower molar was replaced by an inlay-retained FRC resin-bonded fixed partial denture (FPD). A 12 months follow-up period revealed a healthy periodontium and good functional and esthetic results. CONCLUSIONS: The new material allows the use of periodontal treatment methods instead of prosthetic alternatives, which until now have been a more generally used approach in the treatment of severely advanced periodontal cases. Internal fiber-reinforced composite splinting being affordable for the patient, easy for the clinician to construct and giving good esthetic and functional results, suggests that the method may be a valuable aid in periodontal treatment.     

gesundheitsziele.de

In 2008 the forum gesundheitsziele.de selected “Healthy aging” as a new health target. Besides “Healthy aging” three other targets were considered: chronic back pain, myocardial infarction, and vaccination. This paper describes the selection process for all four health targets which followed several criteria: mortality, morbidity, prevalence, burden of disease, economic impact, potential for improvement, equity in health, empowerment of and priorities in the population. The analysis particularly focused on assessment of feasibility and readiness of stakeholders to participate in the development and implementation of the health target.     

Clinical and radiographic assessment of a non-constrained total shoulder

Summary This paper presents the early post-operative results of a non-constrained total shoulder joint prosthesis of the UCLA design in ten patients. Substantial relief of pain was achieved in eight patients. Half the patients showed an increased range of shoulder movement and only one prosthesis was unstable requiring reoperation.Radiolucent zones at the cement-bone interface of the glenoid developed in several patients. The significance of these with regard to joint mobility, resultant forces and incipient loosening of the polyethylene component are discussed. No clinical signs of loosening occured in the observation period.

---

Résumé Cet article rapporte les résultats à court terme d'une prothèse totale d'épaule, de glissement, type UCLA, chez dix malades. Une diminution spectaculaire des douleurs a été obtenue chez huit malades. La moitié de ceux-ci ont eu une augmentation de la mobilité de l'épaule et une seule prothèse s'est montrée instable, nécessitant une réintervention.Des zones claires entre ciment et os sont apparues chez plusieurs malades au niveau de la cavité glénoïde. Leur signification est discutée vis-à-vis de la mobilité de l'épaule, de la résultante des forces et du descellement inapparent de la pièce de polyéthylène. Aucun signe clinique de descellement n'est apparu au cours de la période d'observation.

     

Efficacy of bone-fill favoring treatment on juvenile periodontitis

In this study we evaluated the effect of bone-fill favoring mechanical treatment on the marginal bone level and periodontal pockets of juvenile periodontitis patients. A total of 10 patients (3 men and 7 women) 13–29 yr of age were treated until no gingivitis or periodontal pockets were present. The intensive therapy (3–8 wk) included scaling, curettage and modified Widman flaps. The maintenance therapy comprised 4 recall visits during the first year after therapy and 2–5 visits per year thereafter. The efficacy of the therapy was evaluated by radiologic measurements of bony defects (%) 12 and 16–65 months after the treatment. The results showed a significant improvement both 1 yr after treatment and at the end of the study. The bone loss was 10.1% less than prior to the treatment and no sites with new bone loss were found after therapy in any of the patients. The bulk of healing took place during the first year after the active therapy, while some further improvement was detected thereafter. Our results show that non-resective mechanical treatment allows excellent healing and regeneration of JP lesions. Our findings also suggest that an adequate follow-up period is needed before definite conclusions can be drawn about the efficacy of the treatment procedures used.     

Pseudotype-dependent lentiviral transduction of astrocytes or neurons in the rat substantia nigra

Gene transfer to the central nervous system provides powerful methodology for the study of gene function and gene–environment interactions in vivo, in addition to a vehicle for the delivery of therapeutic transgenes for gene therapy. The aim of the present study was to determine patterns of tropism exhibited by pseudotyped lentiviral vectors in the rat substantia nigra, in order to evaluate their utility for gene transfer in experimental models of Parkinson's disease. Isogenic lentiviral vector particles encoding a GFP reporter were pseudotyped with envelope glycoproteins derived from vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), Mokola virus (MV), lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), or Moloney murine leukemia virus (MuLV). Adult male Lewis rats received unilateral stereotactic infusions of vector into the substantia nigra; three weeks later, patterns of viral transduction were determined by immunohistological detection of GFP. Different pseudotypes gave rise to transgene expression in restricted and distinct cellular populations. VSV and MV pseudotypes transduced midbrain neurons, including a subset of nigral dopaminergic neurons. In contrast, LCMV- and MuLV-pseudotyped lentivirus produced transgene expression exclusively in astrocytes; the restricted transduction of astroglial cells was not explained by the cellular distribution of receptors previously shown to mediate entry of LCMV or MuLV. These data suggest that pseudotyped lentiviral vectors will be useful for experimental gene transfer to the rat substantia nigra. In particular, the availability of neuronal and astrocytic-targeting vectors will allow dissociation of cell autonomous and cell non-autonomous functions of key gene products in vivo.     

Optical Method and Biochemical Source for the Assessment of the Middle-Molecule Uremic Toxin β2-Microglobulin in Spent Dialysate

Optical monitoring of spent dialysate has been used to estimate the removal of water-soluble low molecular weight as well as protein-bound uremic toxins from the blood of end stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients. The aim of this work was to develop an optical method to estimate the removal of β2-microglobulin (β2M), a marker of middle molecule (MM) uremic toxins, during hemodialysis (HD) treatment. Ultraviolet (UV) and fluorescence spectra of dialysate samples were recorded from 88 dialysis sessions of 22 ESKD patients, receiving four different settings of dialysis treatments. Stepwise regression was used to obtain the best model for the assessment of β2M concentration in the spent dialysate. The correlation coefficient 0.958 and an accuracy of 0.000 ± 0.304 mg/L was achieved between laboratory and optically estimated β2M concentrations in spent dialysate for the entire cohort. Optically and laboratory estimated reduction ratio (RR) and total removed solute (TRS) of β2M were not statistically different (p > 0.35). Dialytic elimination of MM uremic toxin β2M can be followed optically during dialysis treatment of ESKD patients. The main contributors to the optical signal of the MM fraction in the spent dialysate were provisionally identified as tryptophan (Trp) in small peptides and proteins, and advanced glycation end-products.     

Coping abilities and social support of Myanmar teenage refugees in Malaysia

A high number of Myanmar refugees in Malaysia fled their home countries due to political turmoil. Officially, more than 33,000 of them are children below the age of 18. Psychological distress for teenage refugees was reported, but the study of coping abilities and social support employed by teenage refugees is lacking. We have used a concurrent mixed method approach to collect data from 115 Myanmar adolescent refugees from six different education centres around Klang Valley in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Adolescent Coping Scale and the Social Support Measure were used to measure coping abilities and social support of the teenage refugees. Two open-ended questions and a focus group interview were designed to collect qualitative data from the research participants. Results showed that subscales Non-Productive Coping were significantly correlated with Social Support Measure at p < .01. Findings from the qualitative analysis revealed that financial, social and academic were the three main challenges. The coping strategies used by the participants were problem-focused, avoidance and social support. Our participants also utilized personal conviction such as religion and cultural values as coping strategies. Social support is a much needed aspect which could further enhance their coping abilities.