Estudo laboratorial do tempo de fechamento das alças e do grau de inclinação do canino, durante o procedimento de retração, empregando mecânica de arco segmentado Laboratorial study of loops closure time and degree of cuspid´s tipping, during the retraction phase, using segmented arch mechanics

OBJETIVO: avaliar o tempo de retração e o grau da inclinação sofrida pelo canino empregando três tipos de molas ortodônticas para retração - a alça em "T", a alça em "L" e a alça em forma de gota. MÉTODOS: foram utilizados três tipos de fio - aço inoxidável da marca comercial Morelli, aço inoxidável da marca comercial 3M Unitek e liga de beta-titânio da marca comercial Ormco; todos de calibre 0,019" x 0,025". A amostra resultante da combinação dos fatores mola e fio foi submetida à avaliação em modelo de typodont específico para essa finalidade. RESULTADOS: com relação ao tempo de fechamento das alças, verificou-se que um fechamento mais lento, e consequentemente com menor liberação de forças, foi obtido com o desenho de alça em "T" e, ainda, empregando-se a liga de beta-titânio para sua confecção. No que diz respeito à inclinação gerada pelas alças, as alças em forma de gota promoveram uma inclinação dentária maior do que as demais avaliadas. As alças em "T", por outro lado, mantiveram-se relacionadas estatisticamente aos menores valores de inclinação. Porém, quando se empregou o fio de aço inoxidável da marca comercial 3M Unitek para sua confecção, os três tipos de alça não apresentaram diferença estatisticamente significante. CONCLUSÃO: independentemente do desenho de alça empregado, aquelas construídas com liga de beta-titânio mantiveram-se relacionadas estatisticamente aos menores valores de inclinação observados para o elemento dentário movimentado.<br>OBJETIVE: Evaluate the cuspid's retraction time and tipping effects, after submitting it to three different orthodontic retraction loops: the "T" loop, the "boot" loop, and the "tear drop" loop. METHODS: It was used the following orthodontic wires: Morelli 0.019" x 0.025" stainless steel, 3M Unitek 0.019" x 0.025" stainless steel and Ormco 0.019" x 0.025" beta-titanium (TMA&trade;). The resulting sample from the combination of these variables was submitted to a test developed on a typodont simulator used specifically for this purpose. RESULTS: As the closure timing concerns, it was verified that a slower closure and therefore, a smaller releasing force system was achieved by the "T" loop design and still, by employing the beta-titanium alloy on its construction. As to the tipping effects generated by the retraction device, the "tear drop" loop caused greater tipping effects than the other loops evaluated. The "T" loop, on the other hand, showed itself statistically related to the lowest tipping numerical values. However, when the 3M Unitek stainless steel wire was used to produce the device, all of the types of loops evaluated were considered statistically similar. CONCLUSION: Regardless of the loop design, the ones built out of beta-titanium alloy kept them statistically related to the lowest tipping numerical values observed for the retracted dental element

Ecological consequences of sediment on high-energy coral reefs

Sediments are widely accepted as a threat to coral reefs but our understanding of their ecological impacts is limited. Evidence has suggested that benthic sediments bound within the epilithic algal matrix (EAM) suppress reef fish herbivory, a key ecological process maintaining reef resilience. An experimental combination of caging and sediment addition treatments were used to investigate the effects of sediment pulses on herbivory and EAMs and to determine whether sediment addition could trigger a positive-feedback loop, leading to deep, sediment-rich turfs. A 1-week pulsed sediment addition resulted in rapid increases in algal turf length with effects comparable to those seen in herbivore exclusion cages. Contrary to the hypothesised positive-feedback mechanism, benthic sediment loads returned to natural levels within 3 weeks, however, the EAM turfs remained almost 60% longer for at least 3 months. While reduced herbivore density is widely understood to be a major threat to reefs, we show that acute disturbances to reef sediments elicit similar ecological responses in the EAM. With reefs increasingly threatened by both reductions in herbivore biomass and altered sediment fluxes, the development of longer turfs may become more common on coral reefs