Evaluation of occlusion and orthodontic needs of thirteen-year-old children from Podlaskie voivodeship

Purpose: One of the main research aims of epidemiological studies is to prove the prevalence of diseases and physiological conditions among people. The results of these studies enable to implement efficient prophylaxis and to plan proper health care management. Information about the prevalence of malocclusions in children and adolescents is a very important aspect of the planning of preventive care in health policy. In addition, evaluation of malocclusion allows for determining current treatment effectiveness and orthodontic treatment need after the completion of free orthodontic treatment under the Polish National Health Fund, which the legislator provided for children up to 13 years of age.Materials and methods: The study included 500 children, aged 13 years (249 girls, 251 boys) from the Podlaskie voivodeship. The study was conducted in nine junior high schools, in a school nursing surgery using basic diagnostic tools (periodontal probe, dental mirror, laryngological spatula). The rules of Polish orthodontic diagnosis by Orlik-Grzybowska were applied in diagnosis of malocclusion. Dental abnormalities were also determined.Results: Malocclusions were found in 57.8% of patients. 34% of children had distal occlusion belonged to the most frequent irregularities, while lingual occlusions (1.6%) was observed the most rarely. Dental abnormalities, including teeth rotations (81.8%) as most frequent were reported in 82.8% of the respondents.Conclusions: The prevalence of malocclusion in 13 - year old school children from the Podlaskie voivodeship is high and indicates the inadequacy of orthodontic health care program. Distal occlusion is the most common malocclusion No significant differences were found between the prevalence of malocclusion and the place of residence

A phase II, randomised clinical trial to demonstrate the non-inferiority of low-dose MF59®-adjuvanted pre-pandemic A/H5N1 influenza vaccine in adult and elderly subjects

ackground. Effective planning and preparedness against a possi- ble future A/H5N1 influenza pandemic is a major global challenge. Because dose sparing strategies are required to meet the global demand for vaccine, efforts have focused on the development of adju- vanted vaccine formulations of relatively lower antigen content. Aim. This study aimed to demonstrate the non-inferiority of a low-antigen-dose (3.75 mg) A/H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccine com- pared with a licensed, higher-dose (7.5 mg) formulation in adult and elderly subjects. Immunogenicity was assessed according to European and U.S. licensure criteria. Methods. A total of 722 subjects were randomized in equal num- bers to receive either the licensed or low-dose formulation. All subjects received two vaccine doses administered three weeks apart. Immunogenicity was assessed three weeks after the admin- istration of each vaccine dose by hemagglutination inhibition HI), single radial haemolysis (SRH) and microneutralization assays (MN). Local and systemic reactions were assessed over a seven day period post-vaccination. Adverse events were recorded throughout. Results. The low-dose vaccine was demonstrated to be non-infe- rior to the licensed formulation in terms of antibody titres against the vaccine strain. All three European licensure criteria were met by adult subjects in response to the low-dose vaccine; two crite- ria were met by the elderly age group. Cross-reactive antibodies were detected against the heterologous A/H5N1 antigen strains A/Indonesia/05/05 and A/turkeyTurkey/01/05. Both vaccines were generally well tolerated by both age groups. Conclusion. These data demonstrate that a low antigen dose in combination with MF59® adjuvant is adequate for the routine pre-pandemic immunization of adult and elderly subjects

A phase II, randomised clinical trial to demonstrate the non-inferiority of low-dose MF59® -adjuvanted pre-pandemic A/H5N1 influenza vaccine in adult and elderly subjects

PubMed ID: 23362618Background. Effective planning and preparedness against a possible future A/H5N1 influenza pandemic is a major global challenge. Because dose sparing strategies are required to meet the global demand for vaccine, efforts have focused on the development of adjuvanted vaccine formulations of relatively lower antigen content. Aim. This study aimed to demonstrate the non-inferiority of a low-antigen-dose (3.75 mg) A/H5N1 pre-pandemic vaccine compared with a licensed, higher-dose (7.5 mg) formulation in adult and elderly subjects. Immunogenicity was assessed according to European and U.S. licensure criteria. Methods. A total of 722 subjects were randomized in equal numbers to receive either the licensed or low-dose formulation. All subjects received two vaccine doses administered three weeks apart. Immunogenicity was assessed three weeks after the administration of each vaccine dose by hemagglutination inhibition (HI), single radial haemolysis (SRH) and microneutralization assays (MN). Local and systemic reactions were assessed over a seven day period post-vaccination. Adverse events were recorded throughout. Results. The low-dose vaccine was demonstrated to be non-inferior to the licensed formulation in terms of antibody titres against the vaccine strain. All three European licensure criteria were met by adult subjects in response to the low-dose vaccine; two criteria were met by the elderly age group. Cross-reactive antibodies were detected against the heterologous A/H5N1 antigen strains A/Indonesia/05/05 and A/turkeyTurkey/01/05. Both vaccines were generally well tolerated by both age groups. Conclusion. These data demonstrate that a low antigen dose in combination with MF59® adjuvant is adequate for the routine pre-pandemic immunization of adult and elderly subjects

Proton/Hydrogen Transfer Mechanisms in the Guanine-\u80\u93Cytosine Base Pair : Photostability and Tautomerism

Proton/hydrogen-transfer processes have been broadly studied in the past 50 years to explain the photostability and the spontaneous tautomerism in the DNA base pairs. In the present study, the CASSCF/CASPT2 methodology is used to map the two-dimensional potential energy surfaces along the stretched NH reaction coordinates of the guanine–cytosine (GC) base pair. Concerted and stepwise pathways are explored initially in vacuo, and three mechanisms are studied: the stepwise double proton transfer, the stepwise double hydrogen transfer, and the concerted double proton transfer. The results are consistent with previous findings related to the photostability of the GC base pair, and a new contribution to tautomerism is provided. The C-based imino-oxo and imino-enol GC tautomers, which can be generated during the UV irradiation of the Watson–Crick base pair, have analogous radiationless energy-decay channels to those of the canonical base pair. In addition, the C-based imino-enol GC tautomer is thermally less stable. A study of the GC base pair is carried out subsequently taking into account the DNA surroundings in the biological environment. The most important stationary points are computed using the quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach, suggesting a similar scenario for the proton/hydrogen-transfer phenomena in vacuo and in DNA. Finally, the static model is complemented by ab initio dynamic simulations, which show that vibrations at the hydrogen bonds can indeed originate hydrogen-transfer processes in the GC base pair. The relevance of the present findings for the rationalization of the preservation of the genetic code and mutagenesis is discussed