Antibacterial effect of taurolidine (2%) on established dental plaque biofilm

Preliminary data have suggested that taurolidine may bear promising disinfectant properties for the therapy of bacterial infections. However, at present, the potential antibacterial effect of taurolidine on the supragingival plaque biofilm is unknown. To evaluate the antibacterial effect of taurolidine on the supragingival plaque biofilm using the vital fluorescence technique and to compare it with the effect of NaCl and chlorhexidine (CHX), 18 subjects had to refrain from all mechanical and chemical hygiene measures for 24 h. A voluminous supragingival plaque sample was taken from the buccal surfaces of the lower molars and wiped on an objective slide. The sample was then divided into three equal parts and mounted with one of the three test or control preparations (a) NaCl, (b) taurolidine 2% and (c) CHX 0.2%. After a reaction time of 2 min, the test solutions were sucked of. Subsequently, the plaque biofilm was stained with fluorescence dye and vitality of the plaque flora was evaluated under the fluorescence microscope (VF%). Plaque samples treated with NaCl showed a mean VF of 82.42 ± 6.04%. Taurolidine affected mean VF with 47.57 ± 16.60% significantly (p < 0.001, paired t test). The positive control CHX showed the lowest mean VF values (34.41 ± 14.79%; p < 0.001 compared to NaCl, p = 0.017 compared to taurolidine). Taurolidine possesses a significant antibacterial effect on the supragingival plaque biofilm which was, however, not as pronounced as that of CHX

Erictho und die Figuren der Entzweiung – Vorüberlegungen zu einer Poetik der Emergenz in Lucans Bellum civile

Im Ausgang von der Möglichkeit, mit dem Wort figura Gestalten der Handlungsebene, dynamisch gefaßte Gedanken- / Wortgebilde und Erscheinungsweisen von Phänomenen geistiger und materieller Natur zu bezeichnen, läßt sich das Bellum civile als Werk beschreiben, an dessen Grund die Figur der Entzweiung steht, die durch eine Poetik der Emergenz in den Stoff entfaltet wird. Die vorgeschlagene Lektüre des Bellum civile wendet sich damit gegen das verbreitete Verständnis des Textes als eines (politischen, moralischen) Kommentars zum Bürgerkrieg und kehrt die Hierarchie um: Der (sekundäre) Bürgerkriegsstoff soll die zugrunde liegende Figur der Entzweiung explizieren, wird von dieser aber nicht gedeutet, sondern benutzt. Emergenz tritt als poetische Verhältnisbestimmung an die Stelle chronologischer und kausaler Erklärungsmodelle und behauptet eine bleibende Verbindung von Untergrund und hervortretendem Relief (Ereignis, Wesen, Gestalt). Dementsprechend lassen sich die Gestalten der Handlungsebene (figurae) als Ekstasen des Textes fassen, die in einer Verdichtung des Textes aus dessen Oberfläche hervortreten, zugleich gemeinsam mit anderen Textelementen Erscheinungsweisen (figurae) der abstrakten Figur der Entzweiung sind. Im sechsten Buch des Bellum civile wird die Ekstase insbesondere im Hervorgehen der Erictho aus der Konstruktion eines raum-zeitlich unmöglichen Thessalien kompositionell konkretisiert und imitationstechnischumgesetzt: Die ovidisch geprägte Begegnungsszenezwischen Sextus Pompeius und der textuell übercodierten Erictho bereitet den Boden für die Auffassung der Hexesowohl als einer Fortschreibung der nach Ovid vergehenden Sibylle als auch als figura (Gestalt und Erscheinungsweise) Roms, das sich in einer Trennung von sich selbst gegenübertritt und im (poetischen) Kannibalismus die Entzweiung zumVollzug bringt

Similarity-Based Framework for Unsupervised Domain Adaptation: Peer Reviewing Policy for Pseudo-Labeling

The inherent dependency of deep learning models on labeled data is a well-known problem and one of the barriers that slows down the integration of such methods into different fields of applied sciences and engineering, in which experimental and numerical methods can easily generate a colossal amount of unlabeled data. This paper proposes an unsupervised domain adaptation methodology that mimics the peer review process to label new observations in a different domain from the training set. The approach evaluates the validity of a hypothesis using domain knowledge acquired from the training set through a similarity analysis, exploring the projected feature space to examine the class centroid shifts. The methodology is tested on a binary classification problem, where synthetic images of cubes and cylinders in different orientations are generated. The methodology improves the accuracy of the object classifier from 60% to around 90% in the case of a domain shift in physical feature space without human labeling

Four-year results following treatment of intrabony periodontal defects with an enamel matrix derivative alone or combined with a biphasic calcium phosphate

The aim of this study was to evaluate the 4-year clinical outcomes following regenerative surgery in intrabony defects with either EMD + BCP or EMD. Twenty-four patients with advanced chronic periodontitis, displaying one-, two-, or three-walled intrabony defect with a probing depth of at least 6mm, were randomly treated with either EMD + BCP (test) or EMD alone (control). The following clinical parameters were evaluated at baseline, at 1year and at 4years after regenerative surgery: plaque index, gingival index, bleeding on probing, probing depth, gingival recession, and clinical attachment level (CAL). The primary outcome variable was CAL. No differences in any of the investigated parameters were observed at baseline between the two groups. The test group demonstrated a mean CAL change from from 10.8 ± 1.6mm to 7.4 ± 1.6mm (p < 0.001) and to 7.6 ± 1.7mm (p < 0.001) at 1 and 4years, respectively. In the control group, mean CAL changed from 10.4 ± 1.3 at baseline to 6.9 ± 1.0mm (p < 0.001) at 1year and 7.2 ± 1.2mm (p < 0.001) at 4years. At 4years, two defects in the test group and three defects in the control group have lost 1mm of the CAL gained at 1year. Compared to baseline, at 4years, a CAL gain of ≥3mm was measured in 67% of the defects (i.e., in 8 out of 12) in the test group and in 75% of the defects (i.e., in 9 out of 12) in the control group. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the investigated parameters at 1 and at 4years between the two groups. Within their limits, the present results indicate that: (a) the clinical improvements obtained with both treatments can be maintained over a period of 4years, and (b) in two- and three-walled intrabony defects, the addition of BCP did not additionally improve the outcomes obtained with EMD alone. In two- and three-walled intrabony defects, the combination of EMD + BCP did not show any advantage over the use of EMD alon

Influence of Anti-Infective Periodontal Therapy on Subgingival Microbiota Evaluated by Chair-Side Test Compared to qPCR-A Clinical Follow-Up Study.

A chair-side test (CST) for five periodontal pathogens (Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, A.a.; Porphyromonas gingivalis, P.g.; Prevotella intermedia, P.i.; Treponema denticola, T.d.; Tannerella forsythia, T.f.) was compared with qPCR in a previous clinical study on 100 periodontitis patients at first diagnosis (T0). Following non-surgical treatment alone (SRP) or in combination with systemic or local antibiotics, 74 patients (57.4 ± 13.5 years) were again tested at the same sites from 14 to 24 months after T0. Bacterial elimination (%; compared to T0) was determined for each single species and compared between both test systems. In all patients, all five pathogens could not be fully eliminated regardless of therapy or test method. Tested with CST, the mean elimination ranged from 90% for SRP + Amoxicillin/Metronidazole to 59.13% for SRP only. The corresponding qPCR values were 30% and 29.6%. Only A.a. was eradicated in 100% by SRP + Amoxicillin/Metronidazole tested by CST, and it was 80% when qPCR was the test method. CST agreed with qPCR in 98.7% in the detection of A.a., and 74.3%, 78.4%, 73.0%, and 48.7% for P.g., P.i., T.d., and T.f., respectively. Neither conventional treatment nor the additional use of antibiotics-even with the correct indication-could completely eradicate the tested pathogens or prevent pocket reinfection

Model Predictive Evolutionary Temperature Control via Neural-Network-Based Digital Twins

In this study, we propose a population-based, data-driven intelligent controller that leverages neural-network-based digital twins for hypothesis testing. Initially, a diverse set of control laws is generated using genetic programming with the digital twin of the system, facilitating a robust response to unknown disturbances. During inference, the trained digital twin is utilized to virtually test alternative control actions for a multi-objective optimization task associated with each control action. Subsequently, the best policy is applied to the system. To evaluate the proposed model predictive control pipeline, experiments are conducted on a multi-mode heat transfer test rig. The objective is to achieve homogeneous cooling over the surface, minimizing the occurrence of hot spots and energy consumption. The measured variable vector comprises high dimensional infrared camera measurements arranged as a sequence (655,360 inputs), while the control variable includes power settings for fans responsible for convective cooling (3 outputs). Disturbances are induced by randomly altering the local heat loads. The findings reveal that by utilizing an evolutionary algorithm on measured data, a population of control laws can be effectively learned in the virtual space. This empowers the system to deliver robust performance. Significantly, the digital twin-assisted, population-based model predictive control (MPC) pipeline emerges as a superior approach compared to individual control models, especially when facing sudden and random changes in local heat loads. Leveraging the digital twin to virtually test alternative control policies leads to substantial improvements in the controller’s performance, even with limited training data