The Legacy of Jonathan A. Ship

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/71579/1/j.1754-4505.2008.00031.x.pd

Integration of oral health care into geriatric primary care: proposal for collaboration

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91312/1/j.1754-4505.2012.00255.x.pd

The development of the Coalition for Oral Health for the Aging

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86896/1/j.1754-4505.2011.00206.x.pd

Oral healthcare systems for an ageing population: concepts and challenges

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138847/1/idj12343_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138847/2/idj12343.pd

Oral healthcare access and adequacy in alternative long-term care facilities

This study was undertaken to determine practices and perceived barriers to access related to oral health by surveying administrators in Michigan alternative long-term care facilities (ALTCF). A 24-item questionnaire was mailed to all 2,275 Michigan ALTCF serving residents aged 60+. Facility response rate was 22% (n = 508). Eleven percent of facilities had a written dental care plan; 18% stated a dentist examined new residents; and 19% of facilities had an agreement with a dentist to come to the facility, with 52% of those being for emergency care only. The greatest perceived barriers were willingness of general and specialty dentists to treat residents at the nursing facility and/or private offices as well as financial concerns. Substantial barriers to care were uniformly perceived.Oral health policies and practices within Michigan ALTCF vary, as measured by resources, attitudes, and the availability of professional care. There is limited involvement by dental professionals in creating policy and providing consultation and service.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79086/1/j.1754-4505.2010.00132.x.pd

Customized biofilm device for antibiofilm and antibacterial screening of newly developed nanostructured silver and zinc coatings

Background Bacterial colonisation on implantable device surfaces is estimated to cause more than half of healthcare-associated infections. The application of inorganic coatings onto implantable devices limits/prevents microbial contaminations. However, reliable and high-throughput deposition technologies and experimental trials of metal coatings for biomedical applications are missing. Here, we propose the combination of the Ionized Jet Deposition (IJD) technology for metal-coating application, with the Calgary Biofilm Device (CBD) for high-throughput antibacterial and antibiofilm screening, to develop and screen novel metal-based coatings. Results The films are composed of nanosized spherical aggregates of metallic silver or zinc oxide with a homogeneous and highly rough surface topography. The antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of the coatings is related with the Gram staining, being Ag and Zn coatings more effective against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, respectively. The antibacterial/antibiofilm effect is proportional to the amount of metal deposited that influences the amount of metal ions released. The roughness also impacts the activity, mostly for Zn coatings. Antibiofilm properties are stronger on biofilms developing on the coating than on biofilms formed on uncoated substrates. This suggests a higher antibiofilm effect arising from the direct contact bacteria-coating than that associated with the metal ions release. Proof-of-concept of application to titanium alloys, representative of orthopaedic prostheses, confirmed the antibiofilm results, validating the approach. In addition, MTT tests show that the coatings are non-cytotoxic and ICP demonstrates that they have suitable release duration (> 7 days), suggesting the applicability of these new generation metal-based coatings for the functionalization of biomedical devices.Conclusions The combination of the Calgary Biofilm Device with the Ionized Jet Deposition technology proved to be an innovative and powerful tool that allows to monitor both the metal ions release and the surface topography of the films, which makes it suitable for the study of the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of nanostructured materials. The results obtained with the CBD were validated with coatings on titanium alloys and extended by also considering the anti-adhesion properties and biocompatibility. In view of upcoming application in orthopaedics, these evaluations would be useful for the development of materials with pleiotropic antimicrobial mechanisms

The zebrafish orthologue of the human hepatocerebral disease gene MPV17 plays pleiotropic roles in mitochondria

Mitochondrial DNA depletion syndromes (MDS) are a group of rare autosomal recessive disorders with early onset and no cure available. MDS are caused by mutations in nuclear genes involved in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) maintenance, and characterized by both a strong reduction in mtDNA content and severe mitochondrial defects in affected tissues. Mutations in MPV17, a nuclear gene encoding a mitochondrial inner membrane protein, have been associated with hepatocerebral forms of MDS. The zebrafish mpv17 null mutant lacks the guanine-based reflective skin cells named iridophores and represents a promising model to clarify the role of Mpv17. In this study, we characterized the mitochondrial phenotype of mpv17-/- larvae and found early and severe ultrastructural alterations in liver mitochondria, as well as significant impairment of the respiratory chain, leading to activation of the mitochondrial quality control. Our results provide evidence for zebrafish Mpv17 being essential for maintaining mitochondrial structure and functionality, while its effects on mtDNA copy number seem to be subordinate. Considering that a role in nucleotide availability had already been postulated for MPV17, that embryos blocked in pyrimidine synthesis do phenocopy mpv17-/- knockouts (KOs) and that mpv17-/- KOs have impaired Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase activity, we provided mpv17 mutants with the pyrimidine precursor orotic acid (OA). Treatment with OA, an easily available food supplement, significantly increased both iridophore number and mtDNA content in mpv17-/- mutants, thus linking the loss of Mpv17 to pyrimidine de novo synthesis and opening a new simple therapeutic approach for MPV17-related MDS

Heterogeneity of Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription Binding Sites in the Long-Terminal Repeats of Distinct HIV-1 Subtypes

HIV-1 can be subdivided into distinct subtypes; the consequences of such a genomic variability remain largely speculative. The long terminal repeats (LTR) control HIV transcription and reflect the major differences of distinct viral subtypes. Three regions in the HIV-1 subtype B LTR are close matches to the Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) consensus sequence. Here, we show heterogeneity in these putative STAT binding sites among HIV-1 LTR subtypes A through G. Transfection of constitutively activated STAT5 lead to transcriptional activation of HIV-1 expression in 293T cells transfected with a reporter assay driven by HIV-1 LTR subtype B. Constitutively activated STAT5 transactivated the LTR of various subtypes in U937 cells with different potency. These findings support and expand the potential relevance of STAT5 activation in HIV infection and may bear relevance for a differential regulation of latency and expression of different subtypes of HIV-1

Shorter Survival of SDF1-3′A/3′A Homozygotes Linked to CD4+ T Cell Decrease in Advanced Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection

The SDF-1 3′A allelic polymorphism has been reported to influence either positively or negatively the progression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) disease. Therefore, the SDF-1 genotype of 729 HIV-1-infected individuals pooled from 3 distinct cohorts was determined. A statistically nonsignificant association between the SDF1-3′A/3′A genotype and accelerated disease progression was evident among seroconverters (n = 319), but a striking correlation of decreased survival after either diagnosis of AIDS according to the 1993 definition or loss of CD4+ T cell counts <200 was observed. The relative hazards for SDF1-3′A/3′A homozygotes, compared with heterozygotes and wild-type homozygotes were 2.16 (P = .0047), for time from diagnosis according to the 1993 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention AIDS case definition (AIDS-'93) to death, and 3.43 (P = .0001), for time from CD4+ T cells <200 to death. Because no difference in survival was observed after diagnosis according to AIDS-'87, the association of the SDF1-3′A/3′A genotype with the accelerated progression of late-stage HIV-1 disease appears to be explained for the most part by the loss of CD4+ T lymphocyte