Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of mechanical torque-limiting gauges for mini-screw placement.

AIM The purpose of this investigation was to determine and compare the accuracy of four available mechanical torque-limiting gauges (MTLGs) for mini-screw placement. MATERIALS AND METHODS The torque outputs of six randomly obtained MTLGs, either of the screwdriver or torque ratchet type of four mini-screw manufacturers were obtained. Mounted on a joint, a universal testing machine applied perpendicular force to a lever arm with a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. For each device, 10 repetitions of the corresponding target torque level were recorded after initial sterilisation (1) and after 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 times to evaluate its potential influence on MTLGs. The breakpoints (N cm) were calculated for comparison of the groups. Descriptive statistics and mean breakpoints values for each MTLG computed and compared with the reference values indicated on the respective torque gauges provided by the producer. RESULTS The mean torque values for the AbsoAnchor MTLG devices were significantly below torque levels, but provide consistent torque values. All but one obtained values for the Spider Screw, MTLG of the screw driver type, were within the indicated moment range during the first 50-times of sterilization process. But after 100-times of steam sterilization all mean breakpoint values were relevantly higher than the indicated torque range values. Each individual MTLG produced independently constant breakpoint torque values, but differed significantly from each other. For all but the Spider Screw MTLG, the sterilisation process had a statistically significant different influence at the various breakpoint torque levels. CONCLUSION After application of the manufacturers' preset torque levels, significant variations were observed between individual devices. The torque output of each individual device deviated in varying degrees from target torque values and was influenced by various degrees by the sterilisation process over time.
Bacteraemia following dental implants' placement.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence, duration and aetiology of bacteraemias following the placement of implants as well as the prophylactic efficacy of a chlorhexidine digluconate (CHX) mouthrinse. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty patients undergoing implant placement were randomly distributed into two groups: CONTROL GROUP 30 patients with no prophylactic intervention before surgery. CHX group: 20 patients who performed a 0.2% CHX mouthrinse before surgery. Blood samples were collected at baseline, at 30 s after the insertion of implants and at 15 min after completion of the suturing of the mucoperiosteal flap. Samples were processed in the Bactec 9240, and the subculture and further identification of the isolates were performed using conventional microbiological techniques. RESULTS The prevalence of bacteraemias was 2% at baseline. In the control group, the prevalence of bacteraemias was 6.7% at 30 s and 3.3% at 15 min, but no statistically significant differences were achieved compared with the baseline percentage. In the CHX group, there were no positive cultures from blood samples obtained at 30 s or at 15 min. CONCLUSIONS Implant placement via a mucoperiosteal flap does not carry a significant risk of developing bacteraemias. The use of antibiotic prophylaxis for the prevention of focal infections such as bacterial endocarditis in "at-risk" patients undergoing dental implants is therefore questionable. Although its efficacy has not been confirmed statistically, we recommend a 0.2% CHX mouthrinse before treatment as proposed previously by the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.
The influence of functional social support on executive functioning in middle-aged African Americans

ABSTRACT Social support has a positive influence on cognitive functioning and buffers cognitive decline in older adults. This study examined the relations between social support and executive functioning in middle-aged adults. A community-based sample of African Americans completed the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List, a measure of functions of social support, and two measures of executive functioning, the Stroop Color and Word Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Hierarchical regression analyses were used to explore the hypothesis that different facets of perceived social support influence performance on measures of executive functioning. After controlling for age, gender, and education, social support facets including belonging support, selfesteem support, appraisal support, and tangible support were significant predictors of Stroop performance. In addition, tangible support significantly predicted WCST performance. These findings add to previous literature on social support and cognition; however, findings for middle-aged adults are unique and suggest that social support has a positive influence on some executive functions in African Americans prior to old age.
Early healing after elevation of the maxillary sinus floor applying a lateral access: a histological study in monkeys.

AIM To describe the early healing within the void obtained after the elevation of the sinus mucosa and simultaneous implant installation without the use of any grafting material in monkeys. MATERIAL AND METHODS Implants were installed simultaneously with the elevation of the maxillary sinus using the lateral approach in eight monkeys without the use of grafting material. The healing after 4, 10, 20 and 30 days was evaluated in the area distal to the implants. Paraffin sections were prepared and analyzed using qualitative histological methods. RESULTS The healing process was initiated by the formation of a coagulum and followed by a provisional matrix and woven bone. Subsequently, a parallel-fiber bone replaced woven bone. The dimension of the elevated area shrank during the healing process. Sprouts of woven bone, present to a moderate extent after 4 days, were more numerous after 10 and 20 days. Newly formed bone originated from the sinus walls and septa, while there was no evidence of participation of the Schneiderian membrane in this process. After 30 days, the window access appeared to be closed by a layer of newly formed trabecular bone. CONCLUSIONS The coagulum that filled the void distal to the implant after simultaneous elevation of the sinus floor gave rise to newly formed bone. However, the void occupied by the coagulum shrank substantially. The Schneiderian membrane did not provide a basis for new bone formation in the early phase of healing.
Age differences in resolving anaphoric expressions during reading

ABSTRACT One crucial component of reading comprehension is the ability to bind current information to earlier text, which is often accomplished via anaphoric expressions (e.g., pronouns referring to previous nouns). Processing time for anaphors that violate expectations (e.g., ‘The firefighter burned herself while rescuing victims from the building’) provide a window into how the semantic representation of the referent is instantiated and retained up to the anaphor. We present data from three eye-tracking experiments examining older and younger adults' reading patterns for passages containing such local expectancy violations. Younger adults quickly registered and resolved the expectancy violation at the point at which it first occurred (as measured by increased gaze duration on the anaphor), regardless of whether sentences were read in isolation or embedded in a discourse context. Older adults, however, immediately noticed the violation only when sentences were embedded in discourse context, suggesting that they relied more on situational grounding to instantiate the referent. For neither young nor old did prior disambiguation within the context (e.g., stating the firefighter was a woman) reduce the effect of the local violation on early processing. For older readers, however, prior disambiguation facilitated anaphor resolution by reducing reprocessing. These results suggest that (a) anaphor resolution unfolds serially, such that prior disambiguating context does not ‘inoculate’ against local activation of salient (but contextually inappropriate) features, and that (b) older readers use the situational grounding of discourse context to support earlier access to the antecedent, and are more likely to reprocess the context for anaphor resolution.
Pharmacokinetics, dose‐range, and mutagenicity studies of methylphenidate hydrochloride in B6C3F1 mice

Methylphenidate hydrochloride (MPH) is one of the most frequently prescribed pediatric drugs for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In a recent study, increased hepatic adenomas were observed in B6C3F1 mice treated with MPH in their diet. To evaluate the reactive metabolite, ritalinic acid (RA) of MPH and its mode of action in mice, we conducted extensive investigations on the pharmacokinetics (PK) and genotoxicity of the drug in B6C3F1 mice. For the PK study, male B6C3F1 mice were gavaged once with 3 mg/kg body weight (BW) of MPH and groups of mice were sacrificed at various time points (0.25–24 hr) for serum analysis of MPH and RA concentrations. Groups of male B6C3F1 mice were fed diets containing 0, 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, or 4,000 ppm of MPH for 28 days to determine the appropriate doses for 24‐week transgenic mutation studies. Also, the micronucleus frequencies (MN‐RETs and MN‐NCEs), and the lymphocyte Hprt mutants were determined in peripheral blood and splenic lymphocytes, respectively. Mice fed 4,000 ppm of MPH lost significant BW compared to control mice (P < 0.01). There was a significant increase in the average liver weights whereas kidneys, seminal vesicle, testes, thymus, and urinary bladder weights of mice fed higher doses of MPH were significantly lower than the control group (P ≤ 0.05). There was no significant increase in either the Hprt mutant frequency or the micronucleus frequency in the treated animals. These results indicated that although MPH induced liver hypertrophy in mice, no genotoxicity was observed. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. , 2008. Published 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Hiv Risk Behaviour of Idus Before, During and After Imprisonment in New South Wales

Objectives: To assess risk behaviours of HIV infected and HIV negative Injecting Drug Users (IDUs) in and out of prison in New South Wales in a case control study.Methods: 25 (20 M, 5 F) cases and 160 (135 M, 25 F) controls were recruited in 1993. HIV status was determined by testing dried blood spots.Results: Cases and controls were similar on basic demographic characteristics. Reports of injecting by cases and controls were more common before entry (84%, 90%) and after prison discharge (60%, 80%) than during incarceration (44%, 44%). However, reported syringe sharing was more common during imprisonment (64%, 71%) than before entry (19%, 24%) and after prison discharge (20%, 15%). Male cases were significantly more likely to use condoms outside prison (44% vs 7%) but also to be sexually active in prison (60%, 6%) than male controls.Conclusions: This study indicates the potential for HIV transmission among IDUs in prison and following release. To prevent HIV transmission in prisons, prison methadone progr.
Effect of implant drill characteristics on heat generation in osteotomy sites: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of drill-bone contact area on bone temperature during osteotomy preparation. MATERIAL AND METHODS Conventional triflute Ø3. 6 mm drills were modified with the intent to reduce frictional heat induction. The peripheral dimensions of the drill were reduced 0.15, 0.35 and 0.5 mm to evaluate the effect of surface area on induction of frictional heat between the drill and bone/cutting debris (parameter A). Also, the lateral cutting surface of the drill was set to 0.1, 2 and 7.5 mm to estimate heat induced by direct function of the drill (parameter B). A non-modified triflute drill (parameter A: 0 mm; parameter B: 15 mm) served as control. Thus, nine drills with different A/B combinations vs. one control were tested in artificial bone. Real-time temperature changes (during drilling and withdrawing) were assessed using an infrared thermal imager. Each drilling procedure was performed up to 20 times. Thermal image data were transferred to a PC for simultaneous analysis. RESULTS Mean temperature changes for all modified drill combinations were smaller than for the control (P<0.001). The effects of parameters A and B were statistically significant (P<0.001). There was a significant interaction effect between the two parameters (P<0.001) showing that the effect of parameter A on the mean temperature changes is different depending on the values of parameter B. As the dimensions of parameter B decreased, the temperature change during drilling also decreased. However, a tendency for the temperature to increase or decrease by parameter A was not observed. CONCLUSIONS Within the limitations of this pilot study, the observations herein suggest that reduction in contact area between the drill and bone reduces heat induction. Further studies to optimize drill/bone contact dimensions are needed.
Natalizumab: α4-integrin antagonist selective adhesion molecule inhibitors for MS

Natalizumab (Antegren™, Elan Corp. plc.; Biogen Idec.) is the first α4-integrin antagonist in the class of selective adhesion molecule inhibitors and is in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. After a 300 mg intravenous infusion, natalizumab has an elimination half-life of 6 to 9 days, but α4-integrin receptors expressed on the surface of peripheral blood leukocytes are more than 80% saturated approximately 1 month postinfusion. Therefore, natalizumab is given as a 300 mg dose administered monthly. Preliminary efficacy results showed a marked reduction (~90%) in the formation of new gadolinium-enhancing lesions and reduced the number of patients with relapse by 50% in patients with relapsing–remitting or secondary progressive multiple sclerosis receiving natalizumab versus those receiving placebo over a 6-month period. In clinical studies, natalizumab has demonstrated a favorable safety profile. Pivotal Phase III studies of natalizumab as monotherapy and in combination with intramuscular interferon-β-1a are underway in patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis. Natalizumab may be an important addition to the therapeutic armamentarium for multiple sclerosis.
Czech version of Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test: Normative data

ABSTRACT The present study provides normative data stratified by age for the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test Czech version (RAVLT) derived from a sample of 306 cognitively normal subjects (20–85 years). Participants met strict inclusion criteria (absence of any active or past neurological or psychiatric disorder) and performed within normal limits on other neuropsychological measures. Our analyses revealed significant relationships between most RAVLT indices and age and education. Normative data are provided not only for basic RAVLT scores, but for the first time also for a variety of derived (gained/lost access, primacy/recency effect) and error scores. The study confirmed a logarithmic character of the learning slope and is consistent with other studies. It enables the clinician to evaluate more precisely subject’s RAVLT memory performance on a vast number of indices and can be viewed as a concrete example of Quantified Process Approach to neuropsychological assessment.
Clinical Complications of Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus in South Asian and Chinese Populations: An Overview

According to recent projections of World Health Organization (WHO), India already leads the world, with the largest number of diabetic subjects. China is fast approaching to claim the number one spot. World Diabetes Federation estimates, that India has over 65 million diabetics and an equal number of pre-diabetics. Major contributors for the development of this chronic disorder are hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, endothelial dysfunction, obesity, oxidative stress, and metabolic syndrome. Some of the early symptoms related to this altered glycemia include polydipsia, polyphagia, polyuria and changes in the vision. Later clinical complications include vasculopathy, peripheral neuropathy, nephropathy and pre-disposition to infections. Clinical trials have demonstrated the benefits of tight control of hyperglycemia as well as of multiple risk factors. Early detection of hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, altered lipid metabolism and better management of these observed risks, is the best choice we have, to reduce the Global Health Care burden. Excess glucose in the circulating blood seems to impair the endothelial dependent vasodilatation in both the microcirculation as well as macro-circulation. Prolonged exposure to hyperglycemic environment and altered endothelial function seems to accelerate the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and type-2 diabetes and its clinical complications.
The role of prior knowledge in error correction for younger and older adults

Previous work has demonstrated that, when given feedback, younger adults are more likely to correct high-confidence errors compared with low-confidence errors, a finding termed the hypercorrection effect. Research examining the hypercorrection effect in both older and younger adults has demonstrated that the relationship between confidence and error correction was stronger for younger adults compared with older adults. However, recent work suggests that error correction is largely related to prior knowledge, while confidence may primarily serve as a proxy for prior knowledge. Prior knowledge generally remains stable or increases with age; thus, the current experiment explored how both confidence and prior knowledge contributed to error correction in younger and older adults. Participants answered general knowledge questions, rated how confident they were that their response was correct, received correct answer feedback, and rated their prior knowledge of the correct response. Overall, confidence was related to error correction for younger adults, but this relationship was much smaller for older adults. However, prior knowledge was strongly related to error correction for both younger and older adults. Confidence alone played little unique role in error correction after controlling for the role of prior knowledge. These data demonstrate that prior knowledge largely predicts error correction and suggests that both older and younger adults can use their prior knowledge to effectively correct errors in memory.
Demonstration of the accessory mental foramen using rotational panoramic radiography compared with cone-beam computed tomography.

OBJECTIVE Rotational panoramic radiography is routinely used in dental practice. It has not been clarified, however, whether an accessory mental foramen can be demonstrated using this technique. The visibility of accessory mental foramina on rotational panoramic radiographs was compared with those on para-panoramic images reconstructed from cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 365 patients (130 males and 235 females) were retrospectively analyzed. Para-panoramic images were reconstructed from CBCT images with the accessory mental foramen/foramina using three-dimensional visualization and measurement software, and then the accessory mental foramen on rotational panoramic images was compared with that on para-panoramic images. RESULTS A total of 37 accessory mental foramina were observed in 28 patients on CBCT images. The rate of being able to visualize the accessory mental foramen or bony canal between the point of bifurcation from the mandibular canal and the accessory mental foramen on rotational panoramic radiographs was 48.6% (18 of 37 accessory mental foramina). CONCLUSION Approximately half of the accessory mental foramina-positive CBCT images demonstrated the accessory mental foramen, or bony canal between the point of bifurcation from the mandibular canal and accessory mental foramen on rotational panoramic radiographs.
Novel Therapies for Cyclic GMP Control of Vascular Smooth Muscle Growth

Cyclic GMP, guanosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate, is a critical and multifunctional second-messenger molecule that mediates diverse physiological and pathophysiological functions in cardiac and vascular tissues. Synthesized through nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, and/or natriuretic peptide-mediated guanylate cyclase stimulation and guanosine triphosphate dephosphorylation, cyclic GMP is capable of stimulating a cascade of serine/threonine kinase events, including signaling through cyclic GMP- and/or cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinases, eliciting protein kinase-independent actions such as modulation of ion channels or transporters, or undergoing hydrolytic degradation through actions of cyclic GMP-regulated phosphodiesterases. Substrates, enzymes, cofactors, and associated variables in this multifaceted system have historically been targets of vital pharmacotherapies with perhaps most common the use of vascular smooth muscle-targeting organonitrates in cardiac patients and phosphodiesterase inhibitors in individuals with erectile dysfunction. Accumulating basic science and clinical evidence, however, suggests that cyclic GMP signaling is compromised under conditions of disease or elevated physiological stresses. Moreover, nitric oxide can stimulate an array of cytotoxic effects and nitric oxide-based therapies can be limited by diminished bioactivity and the development of tachyphylaxis or tolerance after prolonged use. Consequently, an emerging area for clinical drug development and therapeutic drug evaluation for conditions of cardiovascular adversity has focused on identification of cyclic GMP signaling pathways that act under oxidized or nitric oxide-unresponsive conditions and/or that operate irrespective of nitric oxide-induced complications. The aim of this therapeutic review is to describe novel, nitric oxide-alternate avenues for cyclic GMP signaling in vascular smooth muscle growth with particular emphasis on pharmacotherapeutics of recently characterized cyclic GMP-specific approaches.
The ironic effect of guessing: increased false memory for mediated lists in younger and older adults

ABSTRACT Younger and older adults studied lists of words directly (e.g., creek, water) or indirectly (e.g., beaver, faucet) related to a nonpresented critical lure (CL; e.g., river). Indirect (i.e., mediated) lists presented items that were only related to CLs through nonpresented mediators (i.e., directly related items). Following study, participants completed a condition-specific task, math, a recall test with or without a warning about the CL, or tried to guess the CL. On a final recognition test, warnings (vs. math and recall without warning) decreased false recognition for direct lists, and guessing increased mediated false recognition (an ironic effect of guessing) in both age groups. The observed age-invariance of the ironic effect of guessing suggests that processes involved in mediated false memory are preserved in aging and confirms the effect is largely due to activation in semantic networks during encoding and to the strengthening of these networks during the interpolated tasks.