Influence of lip closure on alveolar cleft width in patients with cleft lip and palate

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The influence of surgery on growth and stability after treatment in patients with cleft lip and palate are topics still under discussion. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of early lip closure on the width of the alveolar cleft using dental casts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 44 clefts were investigated using plaster casts, 30 unilateral and 7 bilateral clefts. All infants received a passive molding plate a few days after birth. The age at the time of closure of the lip was 2.1 month in average (range 1-6 months). Plaster casts were obtained at the following stages: shortly after birth, prior to lip closure, prior to soft palate closure. We determined the width of the alveolar cleft before lip closure and prior to soft palate closure measuring the alveolar cleft width from the most lateral point of the premaxilla/anterior segment to the most medial point of the smaller segment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After lip closure 15 clefts presented with a width of 0 mm, meaning that the mucosa of the segments was almost touching one another. 19 clefts showed a width of up to 2 mm and 10 clefts were still over 2 mm wide. This means a reduction of 0% in 5 clefts, of 1-50% in 6 clefts, of 51-99% in 19 clefts, and of 100% in 14 clefts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Early lip closure reduces alveolar cleft width. In most cases our aim of a remaining cleft width of 2 mm or less can be achieved. These are promising conditions for primary alveolar bone grafting to restore the dental bony arch.</p

Advances in estimation by the item sum technique using auxiliary information in complex surveys

To collect sensitive data, survey statisticians have designed many strategies to reduce nonresponse rates and social desirability response bias. In recent years, the item count technique (ICT) has gained considerable popularity and credibility as an alternative mode of indirect questioning survey, and several variants of this technique have been proposed as new needs and challenges arise. The item sum technique (IST), which was introduced by Chaudhuri and Christofides (2013) and Trappmann et al. (2014), is one such variant, used to estimate the mean of a sensitive quantitative variable. In this approach, sampled units are asked to respond to a two-list of items containing a sensitive question related to the study variable and various innocuous, nonsensitive, questions. To the best of our knowledge, very few theoretical and applied papers have addressed the IST. In this article, therefore, we present certain methodological advances as a contribution to appraising the use of the IST in real-world surveys. In particular, we employ a generic sampling design to examine the problem of how to improve the estimates of the sensitive mean when auxiliary information on the population under study is available and is used at the design and estimation stages. A Horvitz-Thompson type estimator and a calibration type estimator are proposed and their efficiency is evaluated by means of an extensive simulation study. Using simulation experiments, we show that estimates obtained by the IST are nearly equivalent to those obtained using “true data” and that in general they outperform the estimates provided by a competitive randomized response method. Moreover, the variance estimation may be considered satisfactory. These results open up new perspectives for academics, researchers and survey practitioners, and could justify the use of the IST as a valid alternative to traditional direct questioning survey modes.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of SpainMinisterio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporteproject PRIN-SURWE

Asymptotic safety guaranteed

We study the ultraviolet behaviour of four-dimensional quantum field theories involving non-abelian gauge fields, fermions and scalars in the Veneziano limit. In a regime where asymptotic freedom is lost, we explain how the three types of fields cooperate to develop fully interacting ultraviolet fixed points, strictly controlled by perturbation theory. Extensions towards strong coupling and beyond the large-N limit are discussed

Measurement of prompt J/ψ pair production in pp collisions at √s = 7 Tev

Peer reviewe

Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons decaying to a pair of tau leptons in pp collisions

Peer reviewe

Measurement of top quark–antiquark pair production in association with a W or Z boson in pp collisions at √s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Searches for electroweak production of charginos, neutralinos, and sleptons decaying to leptons and W, Z, and Higgs bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Study of hadronic event-shape variables in multijet final states in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Peer reviewe

Constraints on parton distribution functions and extraction of the strong coupling constant from the inclusive jet cross section in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Peer reviewe

Study of Vector Boson Scattering and Search for New Physics in Events with Two Same-Sign Leptons and Two Jets

A study of vector boson scattering in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.4 fb(-1) collected with the CMS detector. Candidate events are selected with exactly two leptons of the same charge, two jets with large rapidity separation and high dijet mass, and moderate missing transverse energy. The signal region is expected to be dominated by electroweak same-sign W-boson pair production. The observation agrees with the standard model prediction. The observed significance is 2.0 standard deviations, where a significance of 3.1 standard deviations is expected based on the standard model. Cross section measurements for (WW +/-)-W-+/- and WZ processes in the fiducial region are reported. Bounds on the structure of quartic vector-boson interactions are given in the framework of dimension-eight effective field theory operators, as well as limits on the production of doubly charged Higgs bosons