Skeletal Divergence and Condylar Asymmetry in Patients with Temporomandibular Disorders (TMD): A Retrospective Study

Introduction. This study was aimed at evaluating the association between vertical skeletal patterns, condylar height symmetry, and temporomandibular disorders in adults. Methods. The study sample consisted of 200 patients (ages 18-30 years old) retrospectively recruited: 100 with temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and 100 without TMD (control), diagnosed by Diagnostic Criteria for the Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD). For each subject, skeletal divergence was assessed on lateral cephalograms, and condylar height symmetry was evaluated by orthopantomography (Habets' method). Results. Subjects with temporomandibular disorders showed a strong association with condylar asymmetry (p0.29). Conclusions. Although it does not imply a direct cause-and-effect relationship, the present study suggests condylar asymmetry and hyperdivergent skeletal pattern are more likely to be associated with a higher risk of temporomandibular disorder joint diseases in adult patients

Performance evaluation of coherent WDM PS-QPSK (HEXA) accounting for non-linear fiber propagation effects

Coherent-detection (CoD) permits to fully exploit the fourdimensional (4D) signal space consisting of the in-phase and quadrature components of the two fiber polarizations. A well-known and successful format exploiting such 4D space is Polarization-multiplexed QPSK (PM-QPSK). Recently, new signal constellations specifically designed and optimized in 4D space have been proposed, among which polarizationswitched QPSK (PS-QPSK), consisting of a 8-point constellation at the vertices of a 4D polychoron called hexadecachoron. We call it HEXA because of its geometrical features and to avoid acronym mix-up with PM-QPSK, as well as with other similar acronyms. In this paper we investigate the performance of HEXA in direct comparison with PM-QPSK, addressing non-linear propagation over realistic links made up of 20 spans of either standard single mode fiber (SSMF) or non-zero dispersion-shifted fiber (NZDSF). We show that HEXA not only confirms its theoretical sensitivity advantage over PM-QPSK in back-to-back, but also shows a greater resilience to non-linear effects, allowing for substantially increased span loss margins. As a consequence, HEXA appears as an interesting option for dual-format transceivers capable to switch on-the-fly between PM-QPSK and HEXA when channel propagation degrades. It also appears as a possible direct competitor of PM-QPSK, especially over NZDSF fiber and uncompensated links

A Simple and Effective Closed-Form GN-Model Correction Formula Accounting for Signal Non-Gaussian Distribution

The GN model of non-linear fiber propagation has been shown to overestimate the variance of non-linearity due to the signal Gaussianity approximation, leading to maximum reach predictions for realistic optical systems which may be pessimistic by about 5% to 15%, depending on fiber type and system set-up. Analytical corrections have been proposed, which however substantially increase the model complexity. In this paper we provide a simple closed-form GN model correction formula, derived from the EGN model, which we show to be quite effective in correcting for the GN model tendency to overestimate non-linearity. The formula also permits to clearly identify the correction dependence on key system parameters, such as span length and loss.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technolog

Antibacterial β-Glucan/Zinc Oxide Nanocomposite Films for Wound Healing

Advanced antimicrobial biomaterials for wound healing applications are an active field of research for their potential in addressing severe and infected wounds and overcoming the threat of antimicrobial resistance. Beta-glucans have been used in the preparation of these materials for their bioactive properties, but very little progress has been made so far in producing biomedical devices entirely made of beta-glucans and in their integration with effective antimicrobial agents. In this work, a simple and eco-friendly method is used to produce flexible beta-glucan/nanostructured zinc oxide films, using glucans derived from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The properties of the films are characterized through scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, infrared and UV–visible spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and water absorption tests. Finally, the antibacterial properties of the nanostructured zinc oxide and of the composite films are assessed against Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli, showing a marked effectiveness against the former. Overall, this study demonstrates how a novel bionanocomposite can be obtained towards the development of advanced wound healing devices

Decreased activity of inducible nitric oxide synthase type 2 and modulation of the expression of glutathione S-transferase alpha, bcl-2, and metallothioneins during the differentiation of CaCo-2 cells.

Reactive oxygen species modulate the cell growth of a wide variety of mammalian cells. To determine whether oxidative metabolism is altered during the differentiation process, we studied the expression of pro- and antioxidant proteins in proliferating and differentiated CaCo-2 cells, a human colon adenocarcinoma cell line. Nitric oxide synthase type 2 (iNOS) produces nitric oxide (NO). Depending on its rate of synthesis, NO may either promote cellular and DNA damage or reduce the ability of other free radicals to induce cell injury. Using Western and Northern blot analysis and arginine conversion assay, we demonstrate that the expression of iNOS decreases when cells undergo differentiation. This biological event entails a diminished production of NO metabolites and correlates with the loss of activation of soluble guanylate cyclase activity. In differentiated cells, a 2-fold down-regulation of the nuclear factor kappa B activity was observed, suggesting that nuclear factor kappa B could be one of the iNOS gene regulatory factors in the CaCo-2 model. In parallel, we studied the expression of other antioxidant proteins including glutathione S-transferase alpha (GST alpha), bcl-2, and the metallothioneins (MTs). We show that the protein levels of GST alpha and MT increase during the differentiation of CaCo-2 cells, whereas bcl-2 levels decrease. Our investigation indicates that the expression of iNOS, GST alpha, bcl-2, and MT is associated with the enterocytic differentiation. The shift in the expression of specific antioxidant genes during CaCo-2 cell differentiation may occur to avoid alterations in the cell redox potential

Prevalence and pharmacologic management of familial hypercholesterolemia in an unselected contemporary cohort of patients with stable coronary artery disease

INTRODUCTION: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited disorder characterized by elevated plasma levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) associated with premature cardiovascular disease. METHODS: Using the data from the START (STable Coronary Artery Diseases RegisTry) study, a nationwide, prospective survey on patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD), we described prevalence and lipid lowering strategies commonly employed in these patients. The study population was divided into "definite/probable FH," defined as a Dutch Lipid Clinic Network (DLCN) score ≥6, "possible FH" with DLCN 3-5, and "unlikely FH" in presence of a DLCN <3. RESULTS: Among the 4030 patients with the DLCN score available, 132 (3.3%) were classified as FH (2.3% with definite/probable and 1.0% with possible FH) and 3898 (96.7%) had unlikely FH. Patients with both definite/probable and possible FH were younger compared to patients not presenting FH. Mean on-treatment LDL-C levels were 107.8 ± 41.5, 84.4 ± 40.9, and 85.8 ± 32.3 (P < 0.0001) and a target of ≤70 mg/dL was reached in 10.9%, 30.0%, and 22.0% (P < 0.0001) of patents with definite/probable, possible FH, and unlikely FH, respectively. Statin therapy was prescribed in 85 (92.4%) patients with definite/probable FH, in 38 (95.0%) with possible FH, and in 3621 (92.9%) with unlikely FH (P = 0.86). The association of statin and ezetimibe, in absence of other lipid-lowering therapy, was more frequently used in patients with definite/probable FH compared to patients without FH (31.5% vs 17.5% vs 9.5%; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort of consecutive patients with stable CAD, FH was highly prevalent and generally undertreated with lipid lowering therapies

Evaluation of altered functional connections in male children with autism spectrum disorders on multiple-site data optimized with machine learning

No univocal and reliable brain-based biomarkers have been detected to date in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Neuroimaging studies have consistently revealed alterations in brain structure and function of individuals with ASD; however, it remains difficult to ascertain the extent and localization of affected brain networks. In this context, the application of Machine Learning (ML) classification methods to neuroimaging data has the potential to contribute to a better distinction between subjects with ASD and typical development controls (TD). This study is focused on the analysis of resting-state fMRI data of individuals with ASD and matched TD, available within the ABIDE collection. To reduce the multiple sources of heterogeneity that impact on understanding the neural underpinnings of autistic condition, we selected a subgroup of 190 subjects (102 with ASD and 88 TD) according to the following criteria: male children (age range: 6.5–13 years); rs-fMRI data acquired with open eyes; data from the University sites that provided the largest number of scans (KKI, NYU, UCLA, UM). Connectivity values were evaluated as the linear correlation between pairs of time series of brain areas; then, a Linear kernel Support Vector Machine (L-SVM) classification, with an inter-site cross-validation scheme, was carried out. A permutation test was conducted to identify over-connectivity and under-connectivity alterations in the ASD group. The mean L-SVM classification performance, in terms of the area under the ROC curve (AUC), was 0.75 ± 0.05. The highest performance was obtained using data from KKI, NYU and UCLA sites in training and data from UM as testing set (AUC = 0.83). Specifically, stronger functional connectivity (FC) in ASD with respect to TD involve (p &lt; 0.001) the angular gyrus with the precuneus in the right (R) hemisphere, and the R frontal operculum cortex with the pars opercularis of the left (L) inferior frontal gyrus. Weaker connections in ASD group with respect to TD are the intra-hemispheric R temporal fusiform cortex with the R hippocampus, and the L supramarginal gyrus with L planum polare. The results indicate that both under-and over-FC occurred in a selected cohort of ASD children relative to TD controls, and that these functional alterations are spread in different brain networks