Camouflaging in a Complex Environment—Octopuses Use Specific Features of Their Surroundings for Background Matching

Living under intense predation pressure, octopuses evolved an effective and impressive camouflaging ability that exploits features of their surroundings to enable them to “blend in.” To achieve such background matching, an animal may use general resemblance and reproduce characteristics of its entire surroundings, or it may imitate a specific object in its immediate environment. Using image analysis algorithms, we examined correlations between octopuses and their backgrounds. Field experiments show that when camouflaging, Octopus cyanea and O. vulgaris base their body patterns on selected features of nearby objects rather than attempting to match a large field of view. Such an approach enables the octopus to camouflage in partly occluded environments and to solve the problem of differences in appearance as a function of the viewing inclination of the observer

Comparison of the fracture resistance of endodontically treated teeth restored with prefabricated posts and composite resin cores with different post lenghts

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the fracture strengths of endodontically treated teeth restored with prefabricated posts with different post lengths. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty freshly extracted canines were endodontically treated. They were randomly divided into groups of 10 teeth and prepared according to 3 experimental protocols, as follows; Group 1/3 PP: teeth restored with prefabricated post and composite resin core (Z250) with post length of 5.0mm; Group 1/2 PP and Group 2/3 PP: teeth restored with prefabricated post and composite resin core (Z250) with different combinations of post length of 7.5mm and 10mm, respectively. All teeth were restored with full metal crowns. The fracture resistance (N) was measured in a universal testing machine (crosshead speed 0.5mm/min) at 45 degrees to the tooth long axis until failure. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (alpha=.05). RESULTS: The one-way analysis of variance demonstrated no significant difference among the different post lengths (P>;.05) (Groups 1/3 PP = 405.4 N, 1/2 PP = 395.6 N, 2/3 PP = 393.8 N). Failures occurred mainly due to core fracture. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed that an increased post length in teeth restored with prefabricated posts did not significantly increase the fracture resistance of endodontically treated teeth

Distinct functions of HTLV-1 Tax1 from HTLV-2 Tax2 contribute key roles to viral pathogenesis

While the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), to date, its close relative HTLV-2 is not associated with ATL or other types of malignancies. Accumulating evidence shows that HTLV-1 Tax1 and HTLV-2 Tax2 have many shared activities, but the two proteins have a limited number of significantly distinct activities, and these distinctions appear to play key roles in HTLV-1 specific pathogenesis. In this review, we summarize the functions of Tax1 associated with cell survival, cell proliferation, persistent infection as well as pathogenesis. We emphasize special attention to distinctions between Tax1 and Tax2

Evaluation of fracture resistance of endodontically treated teeth restored with prefabricated posts and composites with varying quantities of remaining coronal tooth structure Avaliação da resistência à fratura de dentes tratados endodonticamente restaurados com pinos pré-fabricados e resinas compostas variando o remanescente dentário coronal

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of remaining coronal tooth structure on endodontically treated teeth restored with prefabricated posts and two different composites for core build-up: dual-cured resin (Enforce Core) and light-cured resin (Z-250). METHODS: Fourty freshly extracted canines were endodontically treated and divided into four groups: Group I - teeth with 3mm remaining coronal structure, restored with Enforce Core; Group II - teeth with 3mm remaining coronal structure, restored with Z-250; Group III - teeth with no remaining coronal structure, restored with Enforce; Group IV - teeth with no remaining coronal structure, restored with Z-250. After restoration, the teeth were embedded in acrylic resin and the fracture resistance was measured on a universal testing machine at 45 degrees to the long axis of the tooth until failure. RESULTS: Data were analyzed by two-way analysis of variance, which showed significant differences between groups (p=0.00). The Tukey test did not show significant differences between specimens with and without remaining coronal structure. Conversely, significant difference was observed between groups with different core build-up. The highest values of fracture resistance were found in the group restored with light-cured resin. SIGNIFICANCE: The remaining coronal tooth structure did not influence the resistance of endodontically treated teeth; however, the change of core build-up was able to modify this resistence.<br>O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar a influência do remanescente dentário coronal de dentes tratados endodonticamente, restaurados com pinos pré-fabricados e duas resinas como núcleos de preenchimento, uma de presa dual (Enforce Core) e outra fotopolimerizável (Z-250). Foram utilizados 40 caninos superiores humanos extraídos, divididos em quatro grupos de 10 espécimes: Grupo l - com remanescente dentário coronal de 3mm e restaurados com Enforce Core; Grupo ll - com remanescente dentário coronal de 3mm e restaurado com Z-250; Grupo III - sem remanescente dentário coronal e restaurado com Enforce Core; Grupo IV - sem remanescente dentário coronal e restaurado com Z-250. Após restaurados, os dentes foram levados a uma Máquina de Ensaio Universal e submetidos a uma força de compressão à 45º até que ocorresse fratura da restauração. A análise dos resultados (ANOVA, p>0,05) mostrou não haver diferença estatisticamente significativa entre os dentes com e sem remanescente dentário coronal. Com relação ao material utilizado para o preenchimento coronário, constatou-se diferença significativa, sendo que os valores mais elevados de resistência à fratura foram encontrados no grupo restaurado com a resina fotopolimerizável