Bilateral microform cleft lip

Microform cleft lip (MCL), also called congenital healed cleft lip or cleft lip "frustré", is a rare congenital anomaly. MCL has been described as having the characteristic appearance of a typical cleft lip which has been corrected in utero. We present a girl with bilateral microform cleft lip associated with a preauricular sinus and bilateral camptodactyly.peer-reviewe

Oral Clefts with Associated Anomalies: Findings in the Hungarian Congenital Abnormality Registry

BACKGROUND: Over the years, great efforts have been made to record the frequency of orofacial clefts in different populations. However, very few studies were able to account for the etiological and phenotypic heterogeneity of these conditions. Thus, data of cases with syndromic orofacial clefts from large population-based studies are infrequent. METHODS: Clinically recognized and notified syndromes and associations including cleft lip with or without cleft palate and other congenital anomalies were selected from the Hungarian Congenital Abnormality Registry (HCAR) between 1973 and 1982 and prevalence rates were calculated. RESULTS: Of 3,110 cases reported as having orofacial clefts, 653 had multiple congenital abnormalities. Of these, 60 (9.2%) had a known etiology (monogenic: 25 or 3.8%, chromosomal: 31 or 4.7%, teratogenic: 4 or 0.6%). Seventy-three subjects (11.2%) had schisis in addition to the oral cleft. Skeletal anomalies were the most common malformations among cases with cleft lip with/without cleft palate (CL/P) and cleft palate (CP). Disorders of the central nervous system and cardiovascular malformations were also frequently associated. CONCLUSION: Surveillance systems, such as the HCAR, provide useful information about prevalence rates of congenital anomalies in a population. However, in a field where new syndromes are being discovered and classifications regularly updated, these rates should only be accepted as provisional.Massachusetts Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; Peer Foundation/Cleft Palate Foundation Etiology Gran

The gingival Stillman's clefts: histopathology and cellular characteristics

Stillman's cleft is a mucogingival triangular-shaped defect on the buccal surface of a root with unknown etiology and pathogenesis. The aim of this study is to examine the Stillman's cleft obtained from excision during root coverage surgical procedures at an histopathological level

A cleft care workshop for speech and language pathologists in resource-limited countries : the participants' experiences about cleft care in Uganda and satisfaction with the training effect

Objectives: workshops and specialized training programs are often inaccessible for speech and language pathologists (SLPs) based in resource-limited countries given the lack of supply, the long travel distances and the excessive participation fees. To stimulate life-long learning opportunities for all, this study described and measured the effect of a free, two-day cleft care workshop for SLPs in Uganda. The workshop included different topics related to the assessment and treatment of children with a cleft of the palate with or without a cleft of the lip (CP +/- L). Methods: The participants who presented during the two-day course were asked to complete a pre- and postworkshop questionnaire to evaluate their satisfaction. The pre-workshop form also included some questions concerning cleft care in Uganda. Both the pre- and post-workshop forms included three visual analogue scales to investigate the evolution of the participants' estimation of their knowledge regarding speech in patients with a CP +/- L and to assess the changes in their self-confidence in the diagnosis and treatment of this population. Results: seventeen SLPs completed the pre- and post-workshop questionnaires. In general, the participants were highly satisfied with the different themes covered in the program. After the training course, the participants rated their general knowledge about CP +/- L and their self-confidence in the diagnosis and treatment of children with a CP +/- L significantly higher than before the workshop. Conclusion: the vast majority of the SLPs reported that cleft care was not easily accessible in Uganda. The most commonly reported obstacle for cleft care was a lack of knowledge about this matter in the SLPs themselves highlighting the importance of the organization of additional education opportunities. The participants reported a significantly higher level of self-confidence in diagnosing and treating children with a CP +/- L after the workshop. The content of this workshop can form the basis for future learning opportunities for SLPs based in resource-limited countries

A Mathematical Model of Tripartite Synapse: Astrocyte Induced Synaptic Plasticity

In this paper we present a biologically detailed mathematical model of tripartite synapses, where astrocytes modulate short-term synaptic plasticity. The model consists of a pre-synaptic bouton, a post-synaptic dendritic spine-head, a synaptic cleft and a peri-synaptic astrocyte controlling Ca2+ dynamics inside the synaptic bouton. This in turn controls glutamate release dynamics in the cleft. As a consequence of this, glutamate concentration in the cleft has been modeled, in which glutamate reuptake by astrocytes has also been incorporated. Finally, dendritic spine-head dynamics has been modeled. As an application, this model clearly shows synaptic potentiation in the hippocampal region, i.e., astrocyte Ca2+ mediates synaptic plasticity, which is in conformity with the majority of the recent findings (Perea & Araque, 2007; Henneberger et al., 2010; Navarrete et al., 2012).Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures, Journal of Biological Physics (to appear

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal (1964-1989)Electronic Archive

Current research and clinical practice in cleft palate and craniofacial disorders “stands on the shoulders of giants” who came before us. To enable thirty years of seminal research articles to become digitally available to a worldwide community of students, scholars, and clinicians, a collaboration was forged in 2004 between University of Pittsburgh’s Digital Research Library (DRL) and ACPA, (with the agreement of Allen Press), to create an electronic archive of the first thirty years of the Cleft Palate Craniofacial Journal . The work was performed pro bono, by all parties

Long-term potentiation through calcium-mediated N-Cadherin interaction is tightly controlled by the three-dimensional architecture of the synapse

Poster presentation: Twenty Second Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting: CNS*2013. Paris, France. 13-18 July 2013. The synaptic cleft is an extracellular domain that is capable of relaying a presynaptically received electrical signal by diffusive neurotransmitters to the postsynaptic membrane. The cleft is trans-synaptically bridged by ring-like shaped clusters of pre- and postsynaptically localized calcium-dependent adhesion proteins of the N-Cadherin type and is possibly the smallest intercircuit in nervous systems [1]. The strength of association between the pre- and postsynaptic membranes can account for synaptic plasticity such as long-term potentiation [2]. Through neuronal activity the intra- and extracellular calcium levels are modulated through calcium exchangers embedded in the pre- and postsynaptic membrane. Variations of the concentration of cleft calcium induces changes in the N-Cadherin-zipper, that in synaptic resting states is rigid and tightly connects the pre- and postsynaptic domain. During synaptic activity calcium concentrations are hypothesized to drop below critical thresholds which leads to loosening of the N-Cadherin connections and subsequently "unzips" the Cadherin-mediated connection. These processes may result in changes in synaptic strength [2]. In order to investigate the calcium-mediated N-Cadherin dynamics at the synaptic cleft, we developed a three-dimensional model including the cleft morphology and all prominent calcium exchangers and corresponding density distributions [3-6]. The necessity for a fully three-dimensional model becomes apparent, when investigating the effects of the spatial architecture of the synapse [7], [8]. Our data show, that the localization of calcium channels with respect to the N-Cadherin ring has substantial effects on the time-scales on which the Cadherin-zipper switches between states, ranging from seconds to minutes. This will have significant effects on synaptic signaling. Furthermore we see, that high-frequency action potential firing can only be relayed to the Calcium/N-Cadherin-system at a synapse under precise spatial synaptic reorganization