Efficacy and stability of orofacial myofunctional therapy on restoring mature pattern of swallowing and nasal breathing in children before orthodontic treatment

Introduction: Une respiration buccale est souvent associée à une faible musculature oro-faciale et à une position basse de la langue, pouvant mener aux malocclusions et au potentiel de développer des problèmes de respiration pendant le sommeil chez les enfants. Objectifs: Évaluer l’efficacité de la thérapie oro-faciale myofonctionnelle sur le rétablissement d’une déglutition physiologique et d’une respiration nasale en développant une posture linguale et labiale normale au repos. Méthodes: Cette étude contrôlée randomisée prospective à simple aveugle a évalué 37 patients (six à quatorze ans) divisés en deux groupes où un groupe a reçu une thérapie complète (7 séances), comprenant des exercices pour la correction du patron de déglutition et de la posture linguale, et l’autre groupe a reçu une thérapie sommaire, corrigeant seulement la posture linguale (3 séances). Des suivis à trois mois et à un an post-traitement ont été effectués pour les deux groupes. Résultats: Les résultats des deux traitements, soient la thérapie complète et la thérapie sommaire, sont similaires (p = 0.59) et également efficaces pour la correction de la déglutition atypique et le rétablissement d’une respiration nasale, avec une différence significative entre les évaluations avant et après traitement (p = 0.001), qui demeure stable après un an post-traitement. Conclusion: Le traitement avec des exercices spécifiques pour une correction d’une propulsion linguale ne serait pas une composante absolue d’une thérapie oro-faciale myofonctionnelle afin de rétablir une posture linguale adéquate au repos et un patron de respiration nasale chez les enfants n’ayant pas d’autre problème fonctionnel connu.Introduction: Mouth breathing is often associated with a weak orofacial musculature and a low resting tongue position, leading to malocclusion and potentially sleep-disordered breathing in children. Objective: To evaluate the effect of orofacial myofunctional therapy on the reestablishment of a mature pattern of swallowing and nasal breathing by stabilizing a proper position of the tongue and lips at rest. Methods: This prospective randomized single-blind controlled study evaluated 37 patients (age six to fourteen years) divided into two groups who received either a complete orofacial myofunctional therapy (7 sessions) including swallowing pattern and tongue posture, or a simplified therapy modifying their tongue posture (3 sessions). Both groups were seen at three months and one year following treatment completion. Results: Results suggested that treatment outcomes were similar when treating tongue-lip posture at rest along with tongue thrust, and treating without addressing tongue thrust (p = 0.59). Both treatments were efficacious as there was a significant difference between the pre- and post- evaluations for both groups (p < 0.001), and these differences remained stable at the one year follow-up. Conclusion: Treating a tongue thrust habit with specific related exercises, may not be a necessary component of an orofacial myofunctional therapy to reestablish tongue posture at rest and nasal breathing in children with no other functional problems

Preterm infants with necrotising enterocolitis demonstrate an unbalanced gut microbiota

©2017 Foundation Acta Pædiatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd Aim: This Lebanese study tested the hypothesis that differences would exist in the gut microbiota of preterm infants with and without necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), as reported in Western countries. Methods: This study compared 11 infants with NEC and 11 controls, all born at 27-35 weeks, in three neonatal intensive care units between January 2013 and March 2015. Faecal samples were collected at key time points, and microbiota was analysed by culture, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and temperature temporal gel electrophoresis (TTGE). Results: The cultures revealed that all preterm infants were poorly colonised and harboured no more than seven species. Prior to NEC diagnosis, significant differences were observed by qPCR with a higher colonisation by staphylococci (p = 0.034) and lower colonisations by enterococci (p = 0.039) and lactobacilli (p = 0.048) in the NEC group compared to the healthy controls. Throughout the study, virtually all of the infants were colonised by Enterobacteriaceae at high levels. TTGE analysis revealed no particular clusterisation, showing high interindividual variability. Conclusion: The NEC infants were poorly colonised with no more than seven species, and the controls had a more diversified and balanced gut microbiota. Understanding NEC aetiology better could lead to more effective prophylactic interventions and a reduced incidence

The improvement of the management of pharmacies in the Republic of Moldova

Nowadays there are many controversial issues and paradoxes in the pharmaceutical activity of the Republic of Moldova (RM), connected either with the lack of maturity of market or with its already established structure. In this work we tried to express our opinion about the actual situation and propose the alternative model of the development of pharmaceutical industry in RM in the most rational ways, based on the concept “from local to global”. Being in a working process we decided to raise many actual topics which concern the majority of the different social groups connected with the pharmaceutical activity in RM. These groups are: students of faculty Pharmacy, qualified pharmacists, doctors and professors and simple citizens, who face every day with advantages and disadvantages of local pharmacies. Some of the actual topics are: the economic benefits of raising and supporting local drugs’ manufacturers, the gradual introduction of new technologies of organization and management, the rationalization of the whole pharmaceutical industry of RM basing on the models of developed countries, etc. The results of our research were unexpected not at the point of criticism of already established structure of local market, but at the point of a huge will, potential and opportunity to improve the whole system of organization and management of pharmaceutical industry in RM. The selected concept “from local to global” expresses the main idea of this inevitable process - we should realize all the necessary changes step by step, previously providing all the possible ways of the idea’s development. Thus we can forward our desires and powers in the right direction - from starting the improvement in our township, to expansion of its potential results in all the regions of our native land - the Republic of Moldova

Architectured interfaces and electrochemical modelling in an anode supported SOFC

International audienceIncreasing the SOFC performances is many-fold: i/ at low current density, through the enhancement of the catalytic properties of the electrodes, ii/ at the ohmic loss region, through lower resistance, iii/ at the high current density region, via the optimization of the electrodes microstructure. The present work proposes to explore how the corrugation of electrode/electrolyte interfaces impacts the performances of SOFCs. Taking ideas from the battery community, this approach was applied to the anode/electrolyte interface of a SOFC based on standard compositions. Patterning of this interface was achieved with different geometries at the 10-100µm scale by cold pressing. Thin electrolyte layers have been deposited on top of these architectures by different techniques. In parallel, an electrochemical model was carried out and implemented throughout the interface in FEM (finite element method) with COMSOL Multiphysics. The results showed a 25 % increase in the total current density for a certain ellipsoid geometry

Comparison between ultrathin films of YSZ deposited at the solid oxide fuel cell cathode/electrolyte interface by atomic layer deposition, dip-coating or sputtering

The effect of an 80 nm YSZ interfacial layer, deposited onto a YSZ pellet by different techniques (dip-coating, sputtering and atomic layer deposition) at the SOFC cathode/electrolyte interface to allow a maximum adhesion of the thick cathode layer, was thoroughly analysed. The LSM cathode was deposited on the solid electrolyte by painting and sintered in air at 1200°C for 2 h. The morphological and structural analyses of the samples were performed by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction; their electrical properties were examined between 390 and 700°C by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The impedance responses showed three different contributions. The highfrequency arc is attributed to the YSZ electrolyte. The electrode processes associated with the medium- and low frequency arcs were discussed. The electrochemical performance was influenced by the microstructure at the electrode/electrolyte interface

Interphase chemistry of Si electrodes used as anodes in Li-ion batteries

International audienceThe effect of the Si electrode morphology (amorphous hydrogenated silicon thin films - a-Si:H as a model electrode and Si nanowires - SiNWs electrode) on the interphase chemistry was thoroughly investigated by the surface science techniques: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). XPS analysis shows a strong attenuation and positive shift of the Si 2p peaks after a complete charge/discharge performed in PC- and EC:DMC-based electrolytes for both electrodes (a-Si:H and SiNW), confirming a formation of a passive film (called solid electrolyte interphase - SEI layer). As evidenced from the XPS analysis performed on the model electrode, the thicker SEI layer was formed after cycling in PC-based electrolyte as compared to EC:DMC electrolyte. XPS and ToF-SIMS investigations reveal the presence of organic carbonate species on the outer surface and inorganic salt decomposition species in the inner part of the SEI layer. Significant modification of the surface morphol- ogy for the both electrodes and a full surface coverage by the SEI layer was confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis

Ultrathin Eu- and Er-Doped Y2O3 Films with Optimized Optical Properties for Quantum Technologies

Atomic layer deposited (ALD) YO thin films have been thoroughly investigated for optical or electronic applications. The coherent spectroscopy of lanthanide ions doped into this material has also recently attracted increasing interest in the field of quantum technologies for which they are considered promising candidates in quantum memories or as spin-photon interfaces. However, these most demanding applications require a deep control over the local positioning of the ions and their close environment in the crystalline matrix. This study focuses on the structural as well as optical properties of Eu and Er dopants in YO using photoluminescence (PL), luminescence decay times, and inhomogeneous line width (Γ) measurements within this particular context. While as-grown ALD films do not provide an ideal host for the emitters, we demonstrate that by optimizing the deposition conditions and using appropriate annealing post treatments narrow inhomogeneous lines can be obtained for the F↔D transition of Eu even for nanoscale films. Furthermore, about 1.5 ms lifetime has been measured for the infrared telecom transition of Er in ultrathin films (<10 nm), which is an order of magnitude higher than in nanoparticles of the same size. These results validate optimized rare-earth-doped ALD YO films as a suitable platform for photonics applications where few-nanometer-thick films with well-localized emitters are mandatory. This approach provides the first building blocks toward the development of more complex devices for quantum sensing or hybrid structures coupled with other systems such as two-dimensional materials

Abiotrophia defectiva knee prosthesis infection: A case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Abiotrophia </it>species have rarely been implicated in osteoarticular infections. We report one case of an <it>A. defectiva </it>knee prosthesis infection.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 71-year-old man of Italian origin presented with pain and swelling of the knee four years after the implantation of a total knee replacement prosthesis. While standard culturing of the synovial fluid resulted in no isolation of microorganisms, the direct inoculation of the synovial fluid into a rich culture medium resulted in the identification of <it>A. defectiva </it>by polymerase chain reaction sequencing. Repeated attempts of culturing microorganisms from blood were negative, and echocardiograms and colonoscopies were unremarkable. High-dose amoxicillin for nine months and a two-stage replacement of the knee prosthesis led to full patient recovery by the time of the 12-month follow-up examination.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Because <it>Abiotrophia </it>spp. are fastidious microorganisms, it is likely that cases of <it>Abiotrophia </it>orthopedic infection are misdiagnosed as culture-negative infections. Direct inoculation of synovial fluids into rich broth medium and further polymerase chain reaction-based detection of culture-negative synovial fluids are key tests for accurate documentation and detection of these infections.</p