Prevalence of dental caries among 6 ? 12 year old schoolchildren in social marginated zones of Valencia, Spain

Background: To estimate the prevalence of caries and to study oral health habits (oral hygiene, toothbrushing fre-quency, cariogenic or no cariogenic diet, visits to dentist) in children aged 6 to 12 with social exclusion risk.Material and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in a sample of 160 children aged form 6 to 12 years belonging to Colegio Madre Petra in Torrent and Colegio Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados in Nazaret (Valen-cia). Among other variables DMFT and Greene and Vermilion simplified plaque index were analyzed. Results: The prevalence of caries observed was 81.87% and the global DMFT was 4.481. The mean plaque in-dex observed was 1.12. No statistically significant differences were found between global DMFT and sex, global DMFT and age, global DMFT and diet, global DMFT and visits to the dentist and global DMFT and plaque index. A significant association was seen between global DMFT and ethnicity and global DMFT and brushing frequency. Statistically significant association was found also between plaque index and visits to the dentist and plaque index and diet. Conclusions: It was observed that children at risk of social exclusion had a very high global DMFT and a regular plaque index. So, it can be concluded that social exclusion constitute an underlying factor that increase caries pre-valence and global DMFT and a marker of poor oral hygiene habits

Gasification of mixed plastic-biomass pellets in an updraft fixed bed reactor: A simplified dynamic model

In the context of materials recycling, updraft gasifiers are promising small and middle-scale reactors to obtain building blocks and/or energy from waste plastic and biomasses. To this aim, these kinds of materials can also be mixed and reduced into pellets, while the needed heat enters the process with a heated carrier gas. In order to preliminarily design a gasifier to check its feasibility with an available feedstock, currently available models are inadequate. Thermodynamic ones are useless for the purposes of sizing, while too detailed rate-based models (e.g. based on fluid-dynamic modelling) are too substrate specific, need detailed input data and are extremely time consuming. A dynamic model of a fixed-bed reactor for biomass gasification is presented here. The gasifier is loaded continuously from the top with solid pellets and fed with counter-current air flow. The model considers: i) a one-step gasification kinetics, yielding a product spectrum which matches experimental data from the literature; ii) dynamic gas and solid energy balances and iii) steady-state energy balance for the furnace. The model has been applied to describe a tubular furnace (Ø 40 cm) which gasifies 500–1000 kg day−1 of mixed wastes using air heated up to 1200 °C: on the basis of the produced chemicals, the energy consumption was estimated as ca. 2 MJ per kg of solid feedstock. This simplified approach proved robust in describing the overall yields and start-up dynamics, showing higher reliability than equilibrium models in addressing the temperature profiles, at the cost of a simplified reaction kinetic and pellet description with respect to more complex simulation models. The model validation was done by comparison between the calculations results and available pilot-plant data. An overall good fit of the data can be concluded. The solid-gas heat transfer and the bed packing are the main computational criticalities to achieve a reliable process description

Role of extracellular vesicles in early synaptic dysfunction in AD

AbstractBackgroundAlzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder associated with amyloid‐β (Aβ) and tau protein accumulation. Synaptic dysfunction is an early mechanism in AD which involves progressively larger areas of the brain over time. However how synaptic dysfunction starts and propagates is unknown. The hypothesis we are testing is that extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by microglia exposed to and carrying Aβ42 (Aβ‐EVs) may be responsible for these early events in AD.MethodCombining optical manipulation and time lapse imaging to place single EVs on RFP‐positive cultured neuron dendrites and test their effects on the synapse, we show that Aβ‐EVs rapidly alter dendritic spine morphology (a structural correlate of synaptic strength) locally at the site of interaction.ResultAβ‐EVs induce a significant increase in the density of immature protrusions around the contact site (60 µm).ConclusionEmploying the same methodologies, we are currently monitoring Aβ‐EV‐neuron dynamics at the neuronal surface, to test whether Aβ‐EVs may propagate dendritic spine alterations to adjacent regions over time, contributing to the spreading of synaptic deficits. Our data provide evidence of the involvement of microglial EVs in early synaptic dysfunction in AD, paving the way for novel therapeutic strategies

Building Simulation Applications BSA 2024 - Proceedings of 6th IBPSA-Italy conference

BSA 2024 featured more than 100 participants and around 275 different authors, with a significant presence of delegates from 18 different countries, in particular from South Korea, Denmark, the United States of America, and India. The conference programme was organised in 13 sessions in three parallel tracks, providing 77 presentations overall, and covering the following topics: characterization of the building stock and special buildings, performance simulation of educational buildings, acoustic studies and simulations, energy efficiency measures and energy flexibility for the existing building stock, IEQ and occupants' behaviour, use of BIM and Machine Learning techniques to support advanced building design and optimization, simulation of the building envelope and hygrothermal analyses, modelling and simulation of HVAC and renewable energy systems, simulation of the building stock and urban-scale analyses, modelling and simulation of case-studies, modelling and simulation of facades and fenestration systems, and new tools and methods for BPS

Influence of microbiology on endodontic failure. Literature review

The main cause of endodontic failure is the persistence of microorganisms that cause an intraradicular or extratradicular infection and that become resistant to disinfection measures. The objective of this review is to identify the microbiota associated with endodontic failure, as well as the reasons why these microorganisms are capable of surviving basic disinfection measures. Systematic search of scientific articles in the databases PubMed with the following keywords ?Endodontic Infections?, ?Endodontic Microbiology?, ?Endodontic Failure?, ?Enterococcus Faecalis?, ?Endodontics Retreatment? was carried out. Case reports and articles with publication date prior to 2000 were not included in this review. Most authors highlight E. faecalis as the main microorganism associated with endodontic failure, nevertheless there are recent studies that isolate, to a greater extent, other bacteria such as Fusobacterium nucleatum and Propionibacterium. These microorganisms have in common the following proprieties, which make them able to escape the disinfection measures: the ability to form a biofilm, to locate in areas unreachable to root canal instrumentation techniques, synergism, the ability to express survival genes and activate alternative metabolic pathways

Update of the therapeutic planning of irrigation and intracanal medication in root canal treatment. A literature review

The success of endodontic treatment derives from the complete elimination of microorganisms capable of causing an intraradicular or extraradicular infection. To achieve a more effective eradication of these microorganisms, endodontic instrumentation must always be implemented with abundant irrigation, which has to achieve chemical, mechanical and biological effects. The irrigators most used today are NaOCl, CHX and EDTA, released into the ducts through different techniques such as syringe, manual agitation, positive or negative apical pressure, sonic or ultrasonic activation, PIPS and PDT. The objective of this review is to update the different irrigating solutions and intracanal disinfection drugs, as well as to establish an irrigation protocol in the endodontic treatment. Systematic search of scientific articles in the databases PubMed, Medline and Google Scholar, with the following keywords Endodontic, Infection, Failure, Irrigation, Retreatment and Irrigation protocol. The exclusion criteria were ?case report? articles and articles with a publication date prior to 2000. 48 articles that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. Comparing the different articles it can be seen that the NaOCl is the ?gold standard? in terms of immediate antimicrobial efficacy, followed by the CHX that has a long-term antibacterial effect. As an intra-conductive drug it is advisable to use the combination of Ca(OH)2 with CPMC. The most adequate irrigation protocol consists of using 2.5% NaOCl activated with ultrasound followed by a final wash with 7% MA or 0.2% CTR combined with 2% CHX

The Rest Repression of the Neurosecretory Phenotype Is Negatively Modulated by BHC80, a Protein of the BRAF/HDAC Complex

Expression of neurosecretion by nerve cells requires the levels of the transcription repressor element-1 silencing transcription factor (REST) to be very low. However, when high-REST clones of PC12 cells, defective of neurosecretion, were fused to other high-REST, non-neurosecretory cells, some neurosecretion was recovered. To clarify the mechanism of this recovery, we fused defective PC12 cells with human lymphocytes. A cytogenetic analysis revealed all hybrid clones that recovered neurosecretion to contain a fragment of chromosome 11 including the gene encoding BHC80, a protein of one of the complexes that mediate REST repression. In these clones, REST levels were as high as in defective PC12, whereas BHC80, localized in the nucleus, was 4- to 5-fold higher. Transient transfection of defective PC12 with various amounts of BHC80 cDNA induced (1) in defective PC12, the reexpression of only neurosecretion mRNAs; (2) in defective PC12 cotransfected with the REST negative construct DNA-binding domain (to attenuate gene repression), the recovery of a weak, but complete neurosecretory phenotype, including dense-core granules and their regulated exocytosis. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and immunodepletion analyses revealed the extensive BHC80 association with REST at the genes of two neurosecretion proteins, chromograninB and SNAP25, however only in the low-REST PC12, whereas in high-REST defective PC12 no association was appreciable. In defective PC12 transfected with BHC80 some association was reestablished. Therefore, the recovery of neurosecretion observed after fusion/transfection of defective PC12 depends on the reciprocal level of BHC80 and REST, with BHC80 working as a negative modulator of REST repression. This role appears of possible cell physiological and pathological importance

Role of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in diagnosis and treatment planning of two-rooted maxillary lateral incisor with palatogingival groove. Case report

The embryonic root groove is an anatomical abnormality that starts in the cingulum and extends longitudinally down the long axis root towards the apex. This developmental anomaly is more frequently reported in maxillary lateral incisors. Gu YC in 2011 established three types of radicular grooves depending on its severity. According to this classification, type III presents a greater diagnostic and therapeutic complexity. The prevalence of palatogingival grooves in maxillary lateral incisors ranges from 1.9 to 14%. This case report provides valuable information about the diagnosis and treatment plan of palatogingival grooves with Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan. The patient was referred to the University Dental Clinic of European University of Valencia, with recurrent abscesses at the upper right lateral incisor region for the last two years. Palpation and percussion tests were positive for tooth 1.2. There was no clinical history of caries or previous trauma. Periapical radiography showed periapical radiolucent lesions located, not only in the apical area of tooth 1.2, but also in tooth 1.3. Both teeth had previously been endodontically treated. Periodontal probing showed normal values. CBCT scan was perfomed in order to establish a definitive diagnosis and appropriate treatment plan. The complex anatomy of the palatal root groove requires detailed knowledge of the internal root morphology for endodontic treatment success. This complementary tool allows a more accurate image of hard tissue structures, such as palatal grooves and/or accessory roots, in comparison to conventional periapical radiography. The treatment plan of this primary periodontal lesion with secondary endodontic involvement was as follows: periapical surgery combined with root amputation and sealing with MTA, and guided bone regeneration

Calibrating the Dynamic Energy Simulation Model for an Existing Building: Lessons Learned from a Collective Exercise

Calibration of the existing building simulation model is key to correctly evaluating the energy savings that are achievable through retrofit. However, calibration is a non-standard phase where different approaches can possibly lead to different models. In this study, an existing residential building is simulated in parallel by four research groups with different dynamic simulation tools. Manual/automatic methodologies and basic/detailed measurement data sets are used. The calibration is followed by a validation on two evaluation periods. Monitoring data concerning the windows opening by the occupants are used to analyze the calibration outcomes. It is found that for a good calibration of a model of a well-insulated building, the absence of data regarding the users’ behavior is more critical than uncertainty on the envelope properties. The automatic approach is more effective in managing the model complexity and reaching a better performing calibration, as the RMSE relative to indoor temperature reaches 0.3 C compared to 0.4–0.5 C. Yet, a calibrated model’s performance is often poor outside the calibration period (RMSE increases up to 10.8 times), and thus, the validation is crucial to discriminate among multiple solutions and to refine them, by improving the users’ behavior modeling