Home-Applied Dual-Light Photodynamic Therapy in the Treatment of Stable Chronic Periodontitis (HOPE-CP)—Three-Month Interim Results

A single-site, randomized clinical trial was designed to determine the efficacy of regular home use of Lumoral® dual-light antibacterial aPDT in periodontitis patients. For the study, 200 patients were randomized to receive non-surgical periodontal treatment (NSPT), including standardized hygiene instructions and electric toothbrush, scaling and root planing, or NSPT with adjunctive Lumoral® treatment. A complete clinical intraoral examination was conducted in the beginning, at three months, and at six months. This report presents the three-month results of the first 59 consecutive randomized subjects. At three months, bleeding on probing (BOP) was lower in the NSPT + Lumoral®-group than in the NSPT group (p = 0.045), and more patients in the NSPT + Lumoral®-group had their BOP below 10% (54% vs. 22%, respectively, p = 0.008). In addition, patients in the NSPT + Lumoral®-group improved their oral hygiene by visible-plaque-index (p = 0.0003), while the NSPT group showed no statistical improvement compared to the baseline. Both groups significantly reduced the number of deep periodontal pockets, but more patients with a reduction in their deep pocket number were found in the NSPT + Lumoral® group (92% vs. 63%, p = 0.02). Patients whose number of deep pockets was reduced by 50% or more were also more frequent in the NSPT + Lumoral®-group (71% vs. 33%, p = 0.01). Patients with initially less than ten deep pockets had fewer deep pockets at the three-month follow-up in the Lumoral® group (p = 0.01). In conclusion, adjunctive use of Lumoral® in NSPT results in improved treatment outcomes at three months post-therapy

Using the nonlinear control of anaesthesia-induced hypersensitivity of EEG at burst suppression level to test the effects of radiofrequency radiation on brain function

Background In this study, investigating the effects of mobile phone radiation on test animals, eleven pigs were anaesthetised to the level where burst-suppression pattern appears in the electroencephalogram (EEG). At this level of anaesthesia both human subjects and animals show high sensitivity to external stimuli which produce EEG bursts during suppression. The burst-suppression phenomenon represents a nonlinear control system, where low-amplitude EEG abruptly switches to very high amplitude bursts. This switching can be triggered by very minor stimuli and the phenomenon has been described as hypersensitivity. To test if also radio frequency (RF) stimulation can trigger this nonlinear control, the animals were exposed to pulse modulated signal of a GSM mobile phone at 890 MHz. In the first phase of the experiment electromagnetic field (EMF) stimulation was randomly switched on and off and the relation between EEG bursts and EMF stimulation onsets and endpoints were studied. In the second phase a continuous RF stimulation at 31 W/kg was applied for 10 minutes. The ECG, the EEG, and the subcutaneous temperature were recorded. Results No correlation between the exposure and the EEG burst occurrences was observed in phase I measurements. No significant changes were observed in the EEG activity of the pigs during phase II measurements although several EEG signal analysis methods were applied. The temperature measured subcutaneously from the pigs' head increased by 1.6°C and the heart rate by 14.2 bpm on the average during the 10 min exposure periods. Conclusion The hypothesis that RF radiation would produce sensory stimulation of somatosensory, auditory or visual system or directly affect the brain so as to produce EEG bursts during suppression was not confirmed.BioMed Central Open acces

Tupakoitsijan brändiuskollisuuteen ja savukebrändin valintaan vaikuttavat tekijät

Tämä tutkimus on jatkoa aiemmalle tutkimukselle Kuluttajan savukebrändiuskollisuuteen ja savukebrändin valintaan vaikuttavat tekijät (Heikkinen, 2014), jonka tarkoituksena on selvittää tarkemmin tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat tupakoitsijoiden brändin valintaan ja brändiuskollisuuteen. Tämä tutkimus pyrkii tarkentamaan havaintoja siitä, miten eri tekijät vaikuttavat savukebrändiuskollisuuden muodostumiseen ja mitkä tekijät vaikuttavat tupakoitsijoiden ostokäyttäytymiseen ja tupakoinnin lopettamiseen. Aihetta tutkittiin ottamalla huomioon sekä yksilölliset että ulkopuoliset tekijät. Yksilöllisiä tekijöitä ovat psykologiset tekijät, kuten mielikuvat ja tunnistettavuus, oman elämäntilanneen muutokset ja aikaisemmat tupakointikokemukset. Suomalaiset tupakoitsijat olivat erittäin brändiuskollisia, vaikka suurimmalla osalla ostotiheys olikin alle 4 krt/vko. Tämä selittyy sillä, että päivittäin poltettujen savukkeiden määrä suhteutettuna savukeaskin kokoon vaatii ainoastaan kaksi ostokertaa viikossa. Miehillä oli voimakkaampi psykologinen suhde tupakointiin naisiin verrattuna. He pitivät muun muassa kalliimpaa hintaa paremman laadun merkkinä, olivat uskollisempia ensimmäistä savukemerkkiään kohtaan sekä jatkoivat tupakointia naisia useammin lapsen saamisen, hinnankorotuksen ja lailla kieltämisen jälleen. Miesten uskollisuuden ja ostokäyttäytymisen voidaan olettaa olevan enemmän tunneperäistä, kun naiset toimivat enemmän rationaalisesti. Taloudellisella tilanteella oli selkeä vaikutus ostokäyttäytymiseen. Mitä matalammat tulot vastaajalla oli, sitä voimakkaammin hän reagoi markkinoiden muutoksiin. Kevytsavukkeet ovat edelleen markkinajohtajia, kuten aiemmat tutkimuksetkin osoittivat. Selkeä ero oli aikaisempien (etenkin varhaisiän) kokemusten merkitys uskollisuuden muodostumiselle. Aiemman olettamuksen mukaan 67% nuorista valitsee jatkossa saman savukebrändin kuin ensimmäisellä kerralla, tämä tutkimus antoi tulokseksi 27,7%. Tämä osoittaa sen, että suomalaiset nuoret tupakoitsijat tykkäävät kokeilla alkuvaiheessa eri vaihtoehtoja oman suosikkinsa löytämiseksi

Ubilibrary:situated large public display as interactive interface to library services

Abstract We present the UbiLibrary service developed for a large public display deployed at the lobby of a municipal library. The design of the system was driven by library surveys, interviews of library users and library staff, and analyzing the use of library’s current digital services. The system provides library customers with rich information on library’s services and events through a metadata engine that semantically complements the library’s database with supplementary metadata crawled from online sources and further personalizes information according to the age and gender of the user estimated through face recognition. The service was assessed with a task-based evaluation by library customers, expert evaluation by professional librarians and in the wild field study. The service was found easy to use and regarded as a valuable addition to the library’s digital services. Consequently, it was also deployed on two smaller displays at book collections

Noncyclic continuous Pancharatnam—Berry phase in dual-beam interference

Abstract The geometric phase for classical electromagnetic light beams, in its original formulation as introduced by Pancharatnam, concerns fields experiencing cyclic, discrete in-phase polarization-state changes. A similar phase was later recognized by Berry to govern the behavior of adiabatic quantum systems, with consequent extensions to nonadiabatic and noncyclic evolutions of the quantum state. However, no optical counterpart for the noncyclic, adiabatic (continuous) evolution has been demonstrated. Here we employ a modified Young’s two-pinhole setup with controlled pinhole polarizations and intensities to generate on interference an arbitrary continuous spatial evolution of the polarization state, an optical analogue to the adiabatic case. The customized arrangement allows separating at any point the accumulated dynamical and geometric phases from the total phase, enabling a detailed study of the noncyclic Pancharatnam–Berry phase in a continuous transformation. Our theoretical and experimental results are in excellent agreement and consistent with the geodesic rule for noncyclic evolutions

Reduction characteristics of Kiviniemi ferrous scandium concentrate

Abstract Scandium provides technological advantages particularly in solid oxide fuel cells and aluminum alloys. Potential new sources are investigated to respond to the expected increasing demand of this rare earth metal, which is currently classified as a critical raw material for the European Union. The recently discovered Kiviniemi mafic intrusion in Finland has been estimated to contain a total resource of 13.4 Mt of Sc with an average grade of 163 g/t. At Kiviniemi, Sc is incorporated within the lattices of ferrous silicates. Magnetic separation has been proposed as the first processing step to lower the amount of alkali-bearing diamagnetic minerals in Kiviniemi concentrates. Pyrometallurgical processing is suggested as the second step to decrease the amount of the ferrous oxide component from the concentrate prior hydrometallurgical processing. This study presents the first results of thermogravimetric experiments on pyrometallurgical reduction of the Kiviniemi concentrate up to temperatures of 1350–1500 °C. The aim of the study was to investigate the progression and extent of ferrous oxide reduction in the concentrate and to characterize the properties of resulting Sc-enriched slag and metal. The main reduction stage is initiated at ∼ 950 °C with a sharp increase in the derivative conversion rates between 1050 and 1170 °C and high rates until ∼ 1250 °C. Although complete reduction of FeO is achieved, the segregation of metal from the highly viscous slag will need to be promoted by adjusting the viscosity of the slag prior hydrometallurgical experiments

Slag modification in reduction of Kiviniemi ferrous scandium concentrates

Abstract Several research projects are currently focused on the search for new sources of scandium due to its expected increasing demand in advanced technology applications. The Kiviniemi Fe-Sc-enriched mafic intrusion is a potential primary source for Sc. According to the recent investigations on the FeO component reduction in the Kiviniemi magnetic Sc concentrate at various end temperatures, complete FeO reduction is achieved at the highest experimental temperature (1500 °C). However, efficient separation of metal from the Sc₂O₃-enriched slag is hindered by the high viscosity of the slag. In this study, investigations of the Kiviniemi-type concentrate reduction characteristics are complemented from three perspectives: (1) slag modification with CaF₂ and/or CaO to promote the reduction of the FeO component and metal separation, (2) reduction characteristics of the concentrates with a slightly different modal mineralogy and chemical composition, and (3) description of the main features of the progression of reduction at selected temperatures (950, 1050, 1150, 1250, and 1350 °C) with CaO addition. Both CaF₂ and CaO increase conversion rates at a lower temperature region and promote the separation of metal from the slag. High-temperature behavior of the concentrates used in this study is essentially similar, although the main reduction stage is initiated at a slightly higher temperature for concentrates with less amphibole and a higher amount of nonferrous gangue minerals. Only after the complete decomposition and melting of clinopyroxene and nonferrous minerals of the concentrate, the final reduction of the FeO component from the slag can take place

Home-Applied Dual-Light Photodynamic Therapy in the Treatment of Stable Chronic Periodontitis (HOPE-CP) Three-Month Interim Results

A single-site, randomized clinical trial was designed to determine the efficacy of regular home use of Lumoral (R) dual-light antibacterial aPDT in periodontitis patients. For the study, 200 patients were randomized to receive non-surgical periodontal treatment (NSPT), including standardized hygiene instructions and electric toothbrush, scaling and root planing, or NSPT with adjunctive Lumoral (R) treatment. A complete clinical intraoral examination was conducted in the beginning, at three months, and at six months. This report presents the three-month results of the first 59 consecutive randomized subjects. At three months, bleeding on probing (BOP) was lower in the NSPT + Lumoral (R)-group than in the NSPT group (p = 0.045), and more patients in the NSPT + Lumoral (R)-group had their BOP below 10% (54% vs. 22%, respectively, p = 0.008). In addition, patients in the NSPT + Lumoral (R)-group improved their oral hygiene by visible-plaque-index (p = 0.0003), while the NSPT group showed no statistical improvement compared to the baseline. Both groups significantly reduced the number of deep periodontal pockets, but more patients with a reduction in their deep pocket number were found in the NSPT + Lumoral( )(R) group (92% vs. 63%, p = 0.02). Patients whose number of deep pockets was reduced by 50% or more were also more frequent in the NSPT + Lumoral (R)-group (71% vs. 33%, p = 0.01). Patients with initially less than ten deep pockets had fewer deep pockets at the three-month follow-up in the Lumoral (R) group (p = 0.01). In conclusion, adjunctive use of Lumoral (R) in NSPT results in improved treatment outcomes at three months post-therapy.Peer reviewe

Polarization dependent beaming properties of a plasmonic lattice laser

Funding Information: The work was funded by the Academy of Finland (Projects 322002, 308393, 310511). The work is part of the Academy of Finland Flagship Programme, Photonics Research and Innovation (PREIN), decisions 320166 and 320165. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf of the Institute of Physics and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.We study beaming properties of laser light produced by a plasmonic lattice overlaid with organic fluorescent molecules. The crossover from spontaneous emission regime to stimulated emission regime is observed in response to increasing pump fluence. This transition is accompanied by a strong reduction of beam divergence and emission linewidth due to increased degree of spatial and temporal coherence, respectively. The feedback for the lasing signal is shown to be mainly one-dimensional due to the dipolar nature of the surface lattice resonance. Consequently, the beaming properties along x and y directions are drastically different. From the measurements, we obtain the M 2 value along both principal directions of the square lattice as a function of the pump fluence. Our work provides the first detailed analysis of the beam quality in plasmonic lattice lasers and reveals the underlying physical origin of the observed strong polarization dependent asymmetry of the lasing signal.Peer reviewe

Finite size mediated radiative coupling of lasing plasmonic bound state in continuum

Radiative properties of lasing plasmonic bound state in continuum are analyzed. The topological charge of the lasing signal is analyzed in the far field as well as in the source plane of the finite sized plasmonic lattice. The physical mechanism enabling the coupling of the BIC to radiation continuum is identified. We show that while the BICs have their origin in multipolar resonances, their far-field radiation properties are governed by the position dependent dipole moment distribution induced by the symmetry breaking in a finite plasmonic lattice. Remarkably, this dipole-moment enabled coupling to radiation continuum maintains the essential topological features of the infinite lattice BICs