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

Scienza e democrazia nella Global Knowledge-society del XXI secolo

Scienza e democrazia sono il binomio istituzionale fondazionale più importante lasciatoci in eredità dall’epoca moderna. Nella misura in cui, però, siamo entrati nella GKS, tanto la scienza quanto la democrazia sembrano segnare il passo di fronte alle difficoltà del loro aggiornamento. Ce se ne può render conto in molti modi, come, ad esempio, confrontando alcuni presupposti evocati dalle attuali politiche della scienza europee (p.es. Horizon 2020) e non europee (p.es. Oecd, Giappone) con evidenze empiriche (stato di salute della scienza contemporanea), prese di posizione pubbliche internazionali (campagna per le Presidenziali statunitensi, Declaration on Research Assessment ecc.) e documenti storici fondativi delle istituzioni in gioco (Università, Unione Europea) che sembrano indicare vie del tutto divergenti in merito al carattere costituzionalmente aperto, pubblico della scienza e della auspicabile società democratica

SEM characterization and ageing analysis on two generation of invisible aligners

Abstract Background: The purpose of the in vitro study is to investigate and compare the morphological features and the chemical stability in weight of two different polyurethane-based blends, Smart Track (LD30) and Exceed30 (EX30), used for orthodontic aligners manufacture before and after the oral usage. Methods: Twenty orthodontic aligners were randomly selected: 10 LD30 and 10 EX30, each group was divided in two subgroups, never used and intra-orally aged. By the employment of a Stereomicroscope, a section of 5 × 5 mm was cut from the buccal surface of the incisal region of each aligner. All samples were subjected to Scanning Electron Microscopy and Ageing tests in different solutions to simulate the hostility of the oral environment. The statistical method used was t-test. Results: At SEM images, LD30 appears more homogeneous in texture respect to EX30. However, after clinical usage, both materials show significant structural alterations: findings have been supported by higher magnifications at SEM, by which it is clearly to observe many superficial cracks cross through the polymer structures of LD30U, absent in never used samples. LD30U surface becomes also smoother due to the disappearance of most of the conglomerates, but at the same time also rougher while EX30U shows a greater irregularity and porosity in which large and deep cracks are also highlighted. Although these changes occur persistently, in the aging tests no significant weight loss from both materials has been found, confirming the initial hypothesis of a good chemical stability and safety of both polyurethane mixtures even in conditions of severe hostility. Conclusion: LD30 is the expression of the technological evolution of EX30, this is made evident above all by its morphological architecture, more homogeneous and defined but also by the chemical stability that can be appreciated even in evident critic situations

In vitro evaluation of structural factors favouring bacterial adhesion on orthodontic adhesive resins

Bacterial adhesion to the surface of orthodontic materials is an important step in the formation and proliferation of plaque bacteria, which is responsible for enamel demineralization and periodontium pathologies. With the intent of investigating if adhesive resins used for bracket bonding are prone to bacteria colonization, the surface roughness of these materials has been analyzed, combining information with a novel methodology to observe the internal structures of orthodontic composites. Scanning electron microscopy, combined with focus ion bean micromachining and stylus profilometry analyses, were performed to evaluate the compositional factors that can influence specific pivotal properties facilitating the adhesion of bacteria to the surface, such as surface roughness and robustness of three orthodontic adhesive composite resins. To confirm these findings, contact angle measurements and bacteria incubation on resin slide have been performed, evaluating similarities and differences in the final achievement. In particular, the morphological features that determine an increase in the resins surface wettability and influence the bacterial adhesion are the subject of speculation. Finally, the focused ion beam technique has been proposed as a valuable tool to combine information coming from surface roughness with specific the internal structures of the polymers

Association between hearing sensitivity and dopamine transporter availability in Parkinson's disease

In a previous study, we observed: significant hearing function impairment, assessed with pure tone audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions, in patients with Parkinson's disease, compared with a matched control group, and lateralization of the hearing dysfunction, worse on the side affected by more pronounced Parkinson's disease motor symptoms. This study investigates the association between the basal ganglia dopamine transporter availability and the hearing function in Parkinson's disease patients, focusing also on the lateralization of both dysfunctions, with respect to that of the motor symptoms, and introducing a further distinction between patients with left-sided and right-sided predominant motor symptoms. Patients with right-handed Parkinson's disease with a recent estimation of 123I-FP-CIT striatal uptake were audiologically tested with pure tone audiometry and distortion product otoacoustic emissions. Thirty-nine patients were included in the study. A statistically significant association was found, in the left-side predominant group only, between the distortion product otoacoustic emission levels and the contralateral dopamine transporter availability, and between the hearing threshold and the dopamine transporter availability difference between the ipsi- and the contralateral sides. The hearing impairment lateralization correlated to the motor symptom asymmetry was found significant only in the left-side predominant patients. The association between hearing function and basal ganglia dopamine transporter availability supports the hypothesis that the peripheral hearing function decline associated with dopamine depletion is involved in Parkinson's disease development, with a significant difference between patients with left- and right-sided predominant motor symptoms. These findings also suggest that peripheral hearing function evaluation and its lateralization could be key elements for subtyping the disease

E-cadherin expression and blunted interferon response in blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is an aggressive neoplasm derived from plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). In this study, we investigated by immunohistochemical analysis the expression of E-cadherin (EC) on pDCs in reactive lymph nodes and tonsils, bone marrow, and in BPDCN. We compared the expression of EC in BPDCN to that in leukemia cutis (LC) and cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), the latter typically featuring pDC activation. In BPDCN, we also assessed the immunomodulatory activity of malignant pDCs through the expression of several type I interferon (IFN-I) signaling effectors and downstream targets, PD-L1/CD274, and determined the extent of tumor infiltration by CD8-expressing T cells. In reactive lymph nodes and tonsils, pDCs expressed EC, whereas no reactivity was observed in bone marrow pDCs. BPDCN showed EC expression in the malignant pDCs in the vast majority of cutaneous (31/33 cases, 94%), nodal, and spleen localizations (3/3 cases, 100%), whereas it was more variable in the bone marrow (5/13, 38,5%), where tumor cells expressed EC similarly to the skin counterpart in 4 cases and differently in other 4. Notably, EC was undetectable in LC (n=30) and in juxta-epidermal pDCs in CLE (n=31). Contrary to CLE showing robust expression of IFN-I-induced proteins MX1 and ISG5 in 20/23 cases (87%), and STAT1 phosphorylation, BPDCN biopsies showed inconsistent levels of these proteins in most cases (85%). Expression of IFN-I-induced genes, IFI27, IFIT1, ISG15, RSAD2, and SIGLEC1, was also significantly (P\u3c0.05) lower in BPDCN as compared with CLE. In BPDCN, a significantly blunted IFN-I response correlated with a poor CD8+T-cell infiltration and the lack of PD-L1/CD274 expression by the tumor cells. This study identifies EC as a novel pDC marker of diagnostic relevance in BPDCN. The results propose a scenario whereby malignant pDCs through EC-driven signaling promote the blunting of IFN-I signaling and, thereby, the establishment of a poorly immunogenic tumor microenvironment

FEMuS-Platform: a numerical platform for multiscale and multiphysics code coupling

Nowadays, many open-source numerical codes are available to solve physical problems in structural mechanics, fluid flow, heat transfer, and neutron diffusion. However, even if these codes are often highly specialized in the numerical simulation of a particular type of physics, none of them allows simulating complex systems involving all the physical problems mentioned above. In this work we present a numerical framework, based on the SALOME platform, developed to perform multiscale and multiphysics simulations involving all the mentioned physical problems. In particular, the developed numerical platform includes the multigrid finite element in-house code FEMuS for heat transfer, fluid flow, turbulence and fluid-structure modeling; the open-source finite volume CFD software OpenFOAM; the multiscale neutronic code DONJON-DRAGON; and a system-scale code used for thermal-hydraulic simulations. Efficient data exchange among these codes is performed within computer memory by using the MED libraries, provided by the SALOME platform

A comparative analysis of water ice on the surface of comets Tempel 1 and 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

In this work we compare data of two spectrometers onboard space missions directed to comets: HRI (High Resolution Imager) on board Deep Impact \citep{AHearn2005} which overflown Tempel 1 on 2005 July 4th, and VIRTIS (Visible InfraRd and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) onboard Rosetta which nowadays is orbiting around Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko \citep{Coradini2007}. This work is focused on the detection of water ice on the surface, which seems to be present on both comets in two distinct modalities: - small grain size (1-2 mu m), as derived in the material ejected from the surface of Tempel 1 after the impact \citep{Sunshine2007}, and on the surface of 67P/C-G as result of vapour recondensation \citep{DeSanctis2015}. - large grain size (>30 mu m), in minor amounts, detected as exposed ice on both comets \citep{Sunshine2006, Raponi2013, Filacchione2015}. These two modalities are related to different spectral features. To retrieve the physical properties of the surface we apply the Hapke scattering model to the measured spectra. The data are corrected for artifacts and thermal emission before comparing them with the model. Moreover the estimated signal to noise ratio is taken into account by a least square optimization algorithm in the fitting procedure. This comparative analysis could reveal common processes for comets, which have implication on their formation and evolution. Authors acknowledge the funding from Italian, French and German Space Agencies

Photometric properties of Comet 67P/CG as seen by VIRTIS-M onboard Rosetta: light curves and disk-integrated phase curves

VIRTIS-M is the Visible InfraRed Thermal Imaging Spectrometer onboard the Rosetta Mission orbiter (Coradini et al. 2007) devoted to investigate the spectrophotometric properties of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the 0.25-5.1 μm spectral range. Here we present data acquired during the first observations of the comet, starting from mid-July 2014, when the spacecraft-target distance was approximately 13000 km and the comet nucleus as seen by the instrument was pixel-size, up to more recent acquisitions in which the surface was resolved (Ciarniello et al. 2015). The far-approach data have allowed us to produce both light curves of the nucleus at different solar phase angles and disk-integrated phase curves over the entire instrument spectral range within the 1.2°-14.9° phase angle interval. The light curve is characterized by two asymmetric peaks due to the elongated, e.g. double-lobed, shape of the nucleus. The disk-integrated phase curves exhibit a back -scattering behavior and a well defined surge at low phase angle due to the Shadow Hiding Opposition Effect. The derived geometric albedo at 0.55 μm is Ageo = 0.062 ± 0.002. Dependence of color ratios on rotational phase and phase angle will be discussed in order to exploit large scale surface compositional variations. We also present a retrieval of the main photometric parameters by means of Hapke model (Hapke 1993) from analysis of disk-resolved images. The derived single scattering albedo at 0.55 μm is w=0.052 while the asymmetry parameter of the single particle phase function is b=-0.42. These values indicate a very dark and back-scattering surface, common also to other comets (Li et al. 2007a,b, 2009, 2013). Hapke photometric parameters have been used to perform the photometric correction of the whole investigated dataset and albedo maps of the nucleus have been produced in the visible and infrared range. Albedo appears fairly homogeneous across the surface with Api and Imothep regions showing relatively larger values. Color maps have been produced as well, indicating that Hapi region has a more neutral spectral slope with respect to the rest of the surface. Authors acknowledge the funding from Italian Space Agency