Mentolabial angle and aesthetics : a quantitative investigation of idealized and normative values

BACKGROUND: This study is a quantitative evaluation of the influence of the mentolabial angle on perceived attractiveness and threshold values of desire for surgery. METHODS: The mentolabial angle of an idealized silhouette male Caucasian profile image was altered incrementally between 84° and 162°. Images were rated on a Likert scale by pretreatment orthognathic patients (n = 75), lay people (n = 75) and clinicians (n = 35). RESULTS: A mentolabial angle of approximately 107° to 118° was deemed the most attractive, with a range of up to 140° deemed acceptable. Angles above or below this range were perceived as unattractive, and anything outside the range of below 98° or above 162° was deemed very unattractive. A deep mentolabial angle (84°) or an almost flat angle (162°) was deemed the least attractive. In terms of threshold values of desire for surgery, for all groups, a threshold value of ≥162° and ≤84° indicated a preference for surgery, although clinicians were least likely to suggest surgery. The clinician group was the most consistent, and for many of the images, there was some variation in agreement between clinicians and lay people as to whether surgery is required. There was even more variability in the assessments for the patient group. CONCLUSIONS: It is recommended that in orthognathic and genioplasty planning, the range of normal variability of the mentolabial angle, in terms of observer acceptance, is taken into account as well as threshold values of desire for surgery. The importance of using patients as observers in attractiveness research is stressed

Marginal increase of sunitinib exposure by grapefruit juice

Clinical Oncolog

Biomarkers in Natural Fish Populations Indicate Adverse Biological Effects of Offshore Oil Production

Despite the growing awareness of the necessity of a sustainable development, the global economy continues to depend largely on the consumption of non-renewable energy resources. One such energy resource is fossil oil extracted from the seabed at offshore oil platforms. This type of oil production causes continuous environmental pollution from drilling waste, discharge of large amounts of produced water, and accidental spills.Samples from natural populations of haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in two North Sea areas with extensive oil production were investigated. Exposure to and uptake of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were demonstrated, and biomarker analyses revealed adverse biological effects, including induction of biotransformation enzymes, oxidative stress, altered fatty acid composition, and genotoxicity. Genotoxicity was reflected by a hepatic DNA adduct pattern typical for exposure to a mixture of PAHs. Control material was collected from a North Sea area without oil production and from remote Icelandic waters. The difference between the two control areas indicates significant background pollution in the North Sea.It is most remarkable to obtain biomarker responses in natural fish populations in the open sea that are similar to the biomarker responses in fish from highly polluted areas close to a point source. Risk assessment of various threats to the marine fish populations in the North Sea, such as overfishing, global warming, and eutrophication, should also take into account the ecologically relevant impact of offshore oil production

Multilocus ISSR Markers Reveal Two Major Genetic Groups in Spanish and South African Populations of the Grapevine Fungal Pathogen Cadophora luteo-olivacea

Cadophora luteo-olivacea is a lesser-known fungal trunk pathogen of grapevine which has been recently isolated from vines showing decline symptoms in grape growing regions worldwide. In this study, 80 C. luteo-olivacea isolates (65 from Spain and 15 from South Africa) were studied. Inter-simple-sequence repeat-polymerase chain reaction (ISSR-PCR) generated 55 polymorphic loci from four ISSR primers selected from an initial screen of 13 ISSR primers. The ISSR markers revealed 40 multilocus genotypes (MLGs) in the global population. Minimum spanning network analysis showed that the MLGs from South Africa clustered around the most frequent genotype, while the genotypes from Spain were distributed all across the network. Principal component analysis and dendrograms based on genetic distance and bootstrapping identified two highly differentiated genetic clusters in the Spanish and South African C. luteo-olivacea populations, with no intermediate genotypes between these clusters. Movement within the Spanish provinces may have occurred repeatedly given the frequent retrieval of the same genotype in distant locations. The results obtained in this study provide new insights into the population genetic structure of C. luteo-olivacea in Spain and highlights the need to produce healthy and quality planting material in grapevine nurseries to avoid the spread of this fungus throughout different grape growing regions

Structure oil-absorption relationships during deep-fat frying

Analysis of the oil-absorption process in deep-fat fried potato cylinders (frying temperatures of 155degreesC, 170degreesC, and 185degreesC) allowed to distinguish 3 oil fractions: structural oil (absorbed during frying), penetrated surface oil (suctioned during cooling), and surface oil. Results showed that a small amount of oil penetrates during frying because most of the oil was picked up at the end of the process, suggesting that oil uptake and water removal are not synchronous phenomena. After cooling, oil was located either on the surface of the chip or suctioned into the porous crust microstructure, with an inverse relationship between them for increasing frying times