Effective Disinfection of Orthodontic Pliers

Objective:: Pathogenic microbes may be transmitted directly from the orthodontist to the patient or from the patient to the doctor, and indirectly from patient to patient. The latter may occur via contaminated instruments or surfaces, and is referred to as cross-contamination. The objective of this study was to evaluate the extent of bacterial contamination of orthodontic pliers and the efficacy of the disinfection techniques applied after clinical use. We also sought to examine under standardized conditions the virucidal, bactericidal and fungicidal effects of disinfection techniques used in practice. Materials and Methods:: The efficacy of various disinfection methods was determined after clinical use in-vivo on 10 test subjects and in-vitro with deliberate contamination. The following disinfection methods were tested: 1. Iso-Septol spray 2. Incidur® spray 3. Trough disinfection in combination with 5% Sekusept® Plus solution 4. Ultrasound bath in combination with 5% Sekusept® Plus solution 5. Thermal disinfection For in-vitro contamination we used the test organisms Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, Coxsackie virus B4, HSV 1, and Adenovirus type 5. The tests were carried out six to eight times for each organism. The Weingart pliers and distalend cutters were tested. The criteria for effective disinfection were a reduction in infectiosity of five log steps (for bacteria and fungi) or four log steps (viruses). Statistical analysis was carried out using the Wilcoxon and Whitney U-test. Results:: The presence of contamination following clinical use was not adequately eliminated with all disinfection methods. The spray methods exhibited shortcomings in disinfection. For the type of contamination defined, trough disinfection with 5% Sekusept® Plus and the Incidur® and Iso-Septol spray disinfection methods provided insufficient disinfection. Conversely, the ultrasound bath with 5% Sekusept® Plus solution and steam disinfection met the criteria for effective disinfection for all microbes. No statistically significant difference was found between the oiled and unoiled states. In some cases, there were slightly higher rates of contamination with the Weingart pliers as with the distalend cutters. However, these were not statistically significant. Conclusions:: It should be possible to disinfect lipophilic viruses and the usual bacterial infections adequately with all methods, provided that the use of sprays and trough disinfection is preceded by cleaning with brush and water, followed by drying. With hydrophilic viruses, however, the spray and trough disinfection methods are limited in their efficacy and cannot be considered adequate. Exclusively chemical methods are therefore less effective than thermal or physical-chemical methods. Thermal disinfection and the ultrasound bath in combination with 5% Sekusept® Plus are clearly superior to spray disinfection and trough disinfection alone. The ultrasound bath and thermal disinfection can therefore be recommended for the disinfection of orthodontic pliers. We recommend that the pliers be cleaned beforehand due to their uneven surface

Hotspot Mittelmeer

Der Klimawandel und seine möglichen Auswirkungen auf Wasserressourcen, Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft stellen den Mittelmeerraum vor große Herausforderungen. Das EU-Projekt CLIMB erarbeitet ein Monitoring- und Modellierungssystem, das bei der Entwicklung geeigneter Anpassungsmaßnahmen helfen soll

Cytoscape Web: an interactive web-based network browser

Summary: Cytoscape Web is a web-based network visualization tool–modeled after Cytoscape–which is open source, interactive, customizable and easily integrated into web sites. Multiple file exchange formats can be used to load data into Cytoscape Web, including GraphML, XGMML and SIF

Onlinebasierte, qualifizierte Zweitmeinung für Patienten mit kolorektalem Karzinom — eine Pilotstudie der Felix Burda Stiftung in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Netzwerk gegen Darmkrebs

BACKGROUND Modern, individualised therapies can improve the survival of patients with colorectal cancer. However, not all patients are referred for treatment to a certified colorectal cancer centre, where a tumor board supports the implementation of their therapy in accordance to guidelines. This study examines the feasibility and demand of a structured, online-based, qualified second opinion for patients with colorectal cancer. METHOD A 15-month pilot study between 2009 and 2011, offered patients with colorectal cancer to obtain a qualified second opinion of a tumour board based on an electronic patient record completed online with the assistance of a case manager. Life-satisfaction levels and quality of life (EORCT QLQ-C30) of the participants has been monitored for a year. RESULTS In 95 % of the cases, a complete electronic patient record and a second opinion could be generated. Less than half of the participants received their first therapy recommendation from a clinic with a tumour board. The second opinion confirmed the initial medical opinion in 40 % of the cases - 33 % showed a partial and 27 % showed a significant deviation. In case of a deviation, the implementation of the second opinion improved the patients' quality of life. CONCLUSION Generating an online-based, qualified second opinion by an interdisciplinary tumour board is technically and logistically well feasible. The online-based second opinion could significantly improve the quality of treatment for patients with colorectal cancer in the future and thus improve their quality of life.HINTERGRUND Moderne, individualisierte Therapien können das Überleben von Patienten mit kolorektalem Karzinom verbessern. Jedoch werden nicht alle Patienten zur Behandlung in ein zertifiziertes Darmkrebszentrum überwiesen, wo ihre Therapie, unterstützt durch ein Tumorboard, leitliniengerecht durchgeführt wird. Daher wird derzeit die Zweitmeinung bei Krebserkrankungen diskutiert. Diese Studie beschreibt Ergebnisse einer Pilotstudie hinsichtlich der Machbarkeit und des Bedarfs einer strukturierten, onlinebasierten, qualifizierten Zweitmeinung für Patienten mit kolorektalem Karzinom. METHODEN Im Rahmen einer 15-monatigen Pilotphase zwischen 2009 und 2011 konnten Patienten mit kolorektalem Karzinom mittels einer onlinebasierten Elektronischen Patientenakte, unterstützt durch einen Case Manager, kostenfrei eine qualifizierte Zweitmeinung eines Tumorboards einholen. Ihre Zufriedenheit und ihre Lebensqualität (EORCT QLQ-C30) wurden über ein Jahr nachbeobachtet. ERGEBNISSE In 95 % der Fälle konnten eine vollständige Elektronische Patientenakte und eine Zweitmeinung erstellt werden. Weniger als die Hälfte der Teilnehmer erhielt die erste Therapieempfehlung aus einer Klinik mit Tumorboard. Die Erstmeinung konnte in 40 % der Fälle durch die Zweitmeinung bestätigt werden, in 33 % zeigte sich ein teilweises, in 27 % ein deutliches Abweichen. Bei Umsetzung der abweichenden Zweitmeinung verbesserte sich die Lebensqualität der Patienten. SCHLUSSFOLGERUNG Die Erstellung einer onlinebasierten, qualifizierten Zweitmeinung durch ein interdisziplinäres Tumorboard ist technisch und logistisch gut durchführbar. Die onlinebasierte Zweitmeinung könnte zukünftig die Qualität der Behandlung von Patienten mit kolorektalem Karzinom deutlich verbessern und damit ihre Lebensqualität erhöhen

Evaluation of the in vitro skin permeation of antiviral drugs from penciclovir 1% cream and acyclovir 5% cream used to treat herpes simplex virus infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Herpes simplex virus infection (HSV) is a common and ubiquitous infection of the skin which causes mucocutaneous lesions called cold sores (herpes labialis) or fever blisters. It is estimated that approximately 80% of the population worldwide are carriers of the Herpes simplex virus, approximately 40% suffer from recurrent recurrent infections. This study evaluates the <it>in vitro </it>skin permeation and penetration of penciclovir and acyclovir from commercialized creams for the treatment of herpes labialis (cold sores), using non viable excised human abdominal skin samples, which were exposed to 5 mg/cm²of acyclovir 5% cream or penciclovir 1% cream.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>After 24 h of cream application, excess cream was washed off and layers of stratum corneum were removed by successive tape stripping. Amounts of active ingredients having penetrated through the skin were measured, as well as the amounts in the washed-off cream, in skin strips and creams remaining in the skin. Molecular modelling was used to evaluate physico-chemical differences between the drugs. Western blot analysis enabled to determine whether the marker of basal cells keratin 5 could be detected in the various tape strips.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Application of penciclovir 1% cream yielded higher concentration of drug in the deeper layers of the epidermis as well as a higher drug flux through the skin. Molecular modelling showed two higher hydrophobic moieties for acyclovir. Presence of the basal cell marker keratin 5 was underscored in the deeper tape strips from the skin, giving evidence that both drugs can reach their target cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Penciclovir 1% cream has the tendency to facilitate the diffusion of the drug through the stratum corneum into the deeper epidermis layers, in which it could reach the target basal cells at effective therapeutical concentration. The small difference in the surface properties between both molecules might also contribute to favour the passage of penciclovir through the epidermis into the deeper basal cells.</p

The GeneMANIA prediction server: biological network integration for gene prioritization and predicting gene function

GeneMANIA (http://www.genemania.org) is a flexible, user-friendly web interface for generating hypotheses about gene function, analyzing gene lists and prioritizing genes for functional assays. Given a query list, GeneMANIA extends the list with functionally similar genes that it identifies using available genomics and proteomics data. GeneMANIA also reports weights that indicate the predictive value of each selected data set for the query. Six organisms are currently supported (Arabidopsis thaliana, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Mus musculus, Homo sapiens and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and hundreds of data sets have been collected from GEO, BioGRID, Pathway Commons and I2D, as well as organism-specific functional genomics data sets. Users can select arbitrary subsets of the data sets associated with an organism to perform their analyses and can upload their own data sets to analyze. The GeneMANIA algorithm performs as well or better than other gene function prediction methods on yeast and mouse benchmarks. The high accuracy of the GeneMANIA prediction algorithm, an intuitive user interface and large database make GeneMANIA a useful tool for any biologist

The fundamental left-right asymmetry in the Germanic verb cluster

Cinque (2005, 2009, 2014a) observes that there is an asymmetry in the possible ordering of dependents of a lexical head before versus after the head. A reflection on some of the concepts needed to develop Cinque’s ideas into a theory of neutral word order reveals that dependents need to be treated separately by class. The resulting system is applied to the problem of word order in the Germanic verb cluster. It is shown that there is an extremely close match between theoretically derived expectations for clusters made up of auxiliaries, modals, causative ‘let’, a main verb, and verbal particles. The facts point to the action of Cinque’s fundamental left-right asymmetry in language in the realm of the verb cluster. At the same time, not all verb clusters fall under Cinque’s generalization, which, therefore, argues against treating all cases of restructuring uniformly