Dentin Hypersensitivity Before and After Periodontal Treatment

Svrha: Želio se procijeniti intenzitet dentinske preosjetljivosti prije postupaka supragingivne i subgingivne instrumentacije i nakon njih. Materijal i metode: Bio je odabran prikladan uzorak od 200 ispitanika obaju spolova u dobi od 18 do 71 godine, a dijagnosticiran im je bio marginalni gingivitis, gingivna recesija i umjeren i/ili izrazit kronični parodontitis. Preosjetljivost je ustanovljena kliničkim pregledom te izmjerena mehanički provlačenjem sonde preko izloženog dentina i toplinskim podražajima – mlazom zraka iz pustera na osjetljivim područjima. Rezultati: Otkriveno je nekoliko vrsta preosjetljivosti kod istog pojedinca, a najčešća je bila preosjetljivost dentina u području korijena zuba. Najviše ispitanika bolovalo je od kroničnog parodontitisa, najčešće su imali više od pet preosjetljivih zuba, a povećana preosjetljivost bila je zabilježena nakon supragingivne i subgingivne instrumentacije. Sekundarni čimbenici koji su pojačavali osjetljivost i sve varijable vezane uz preosjetljivost, statistički su značajni (p<0,05). Zaključak: Preosjetljivost je česta kod pacijenata s parodontnom bolešću, a izraženija je nakon inicijalne parodontne terapije te kada je udružena s ostalim lokalnim čimbenicima.Objective: To evaluate the intensity of dentin hypersensitivity before and after the procedures of supragingival and subgingival instrumentation. Method: The convenience sample consisted of 200 patients of both genders, aged 18-71 years, who had chronic marginal gingivitis, gingival recession and moderate and/or severe chronic periodontitis. The hypersensitivity was diagnosed by clinical examination and measured by means of mechanical (dragging the probe over the exposed dentin) and thermal (air blast from a triple syringe) stimuli in sensitive areas. Results: The data revealed several types of hypersensitivity in the same individual, with the highest percentage in the tooth root; the largest percentage in the sample had chronic periodontitis; most patients had more than five hypersensitive teeth; increased hypersensitivity was found after supragingival and subgingival instrumentation; the presence of secondary factors exacerbating the sensitivity was recorded; and all variables associated with hypersensitivity had statistical significance (p <0.05). Conclusion: It is concluded that hypersensitivity is a common condition in patients with periodontal disease, which is more pronounced after initial periodontal therapy and when associated with other local factors

Protective effect of n-acetyl-L-cysteine and rosuvastatin against oxidative stress in fibroblasts from asymptomatic patients with X-ALD: a preliminary study

Introduction: Several studies in the literature have evaluated the role of oxidative stress and adjuvant therapies for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD). Here, we investigated whether n-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) and rosuvastatin (RSV) could influence the generation of reactive species, redox status and nitrative stress in fibroblasts from asymptomatic patients with X-ALD. Methods: Skin biopsy samples were cultured and treated for 2 hours (37 °C) with NAC and RSV.Results: X-ALD fibroblasts generated high levels of reactive oxygen species. These levels were significantly lower in fibroblasts treated with NAC and RSV relative to untreated samples. The X-ALD fibroblasts from asymptomatic patients also had higher catalase activity, and only NAC was able to increase enzyme activity in the samples.Conclusion: Our results indicated that NAC and RSV were able to improve oxidative stress parameters in fibroblasts from asymptomatic patients with X-ALD, showing that adjuvant antioxidant therapy may be a promising treatment strategy for asymptomatic patients with this disease

Are there differences between partial and total periodontal examination of the mouth?

Background: Diagnosis of periodontal disease for epidemiologic survey is difficult due to complexity of periodontal exam. The aim of this study was &nbsp;to compare data from a full-mouth examination and a partial-mouth examination, observing the agreement between both methods of presenting the Community Periodontal Index (CPI). Methods and Findings: The population comprised of male and female subjects, aged 18 years and over, attending public health centers in the city of Recife, Brazil. A total of 505 patients participated in this study. Each participant completed a form and underwent periodontal examination. Firstly, for each tooth present one of the periodontal conditions was determined: periodontal health, gingival bleeding, dental calculus, shallow periodontal pockets and deep periodontal pockets, according to CPI. Finally, partial data (10 index teeth) was recorded derived from the total version of CPI. Bivariate analysis of frequencies and means was performed. Mc Nemar test was used to calculate the level of statistical significance of the association tested. There are significant statistical differences between partial and full-mouth examination (p&lt;0.001). According to gender, men classified as score 1 presented the same prevalence in both methods; partial recording overestimated 0.2% of women classified as score 1; percentile difference among men was higher for subjects classified as score 0. Among subjects with at least one tooth with deep periodontal pocket, percentile difference between different approaches was higher among elders (60 years and over). Conclusions: Considering the variable age, the smaller amount of lost information refers to periodontal pockets in individuals aged 18 to 30 years of age. In older individuals classified as periodontally healthy and with gingival bleeding no loss of information was observed. Partial examination of the mouth underestimated the presence of periodontal pockets and overestimated the presence of calculus and bleeding. A high concordance between the partial and total examination was observed

Evidence of Müller Glia Conversion Into Retina Ganglion Cells Using Neurogenin2

Degenerative retinopathies are the leading causes of irreversible visual impairment in the elderly, affecting hundreds of millions of patients. Müller glia cells (MGC), the main type of glia found in the vertebrate retina, can resume proliferation in the rodent adult injured retina but contribute weakly to tissue repair when compared to zebrafish retina. However, postnatal and adult mouse MGC can be genetically reprogrammed through the expression of the transcription factor (TF) Achaete-scute homolog 1 (ASCL1) into induced neurons (iNs), displaying key hallmarks of photoreceptors, bipolar and amacrine cells, which may contribute to regenerate the damaged retina. Here, we show that the TF neurogenin 2 (NEUROG2) is also sufficient to lineage-reprogram postnatal mouse MGC into iNs. The efficiency of MGC lineage conversion by NEUROG2 is similar to that observed after expression of ASCL1 and both TFs induce the generation of functionally active iNs. Treatment of MGC cultures with EGF and FGF2 prior to Neurog2 or Ascl1 expression enhances reprogramming efficiencies, what can be at least partially explained by an increase in the frequency of MGCs expressing sex determining region Y (SRY)-box 2 (SOX2). Transduction of either Neurog2 or Ascl1 led to the upregulation of key retina neuronal genes in MGC-derived iNs, but only NEUROG2 induced a consistent increase in the expression of putative retinal ganglion cell (RGC) genes. Moreover, in vivo electroporation of Neurog2 in late progenitors from the neonatal rat retina, which are transcriptionally similar to MGCs, also induced a shift in the generation of retinal cell subtypes, favoring neuronal differentiation at the expense of MGCs and resuming the generation of RGCs. Altogether, our data indicate that NEUROG2 induces lineage conversion of postnatal rodent MGCs into RGC-like iNs in vitro and resumes the generation of this neuronal type from late progenitors of the retina in vivo