Clinical use of alumina-toughened zirconia abutments for implant-supported restoration: prospective cohort study of survival analysis

Objectives The aim of this prospective cohort study was to compute the long-term clinical survival and complication rates of alumina-toughened zirconia abutments used for implant-supported restorations and to evaluate the effects of several clinical variables on these rates. Material and methods From May 1998 to September 2010, 213 patients aged 18years or older were recruited. The patients received 611 external hex implants and 328 implant-supported fixed restorations using alumina-toughened zirconia abutments. During the follow-up, each restoration was coded as a dental event, which included loosening or fracture of abutment screws, and abutment fracture. From the coded data, the effects of the investigated clinical variablesrestored area (anterior/posterior), number of prosthodontic units (one/two units or over), prosthesis type (single-unit/multiunit without pontic/multiunit with pontic), implant system, and patient genderon the survival of the abutments were evaluated. Survival analysis using KaplanMeier method and Cox proportional hazard model was applied. The 5-year survival and complication rates of the abutments were assessed. Results The number of prosthodontic units and the type of prosthesis had a significant association with complication rates (P<0.05). KaplanMeier survival analysis estimated that the cumulative 5-year complication rate of the abutments used in single restorations was 19.7%. Multiunit-fixed dental prostheses without and with pontics had complication rates of 3.9% and 3.8%, respectively. The 5-year survival rate of the abutments was more than 95%, regardless of the type of prosthesis. Conclusions Alumina-toughened zirconia abutments are likely to exhibit excellent long-term survival in clinical use for fixed restorations. Single tooth replacement with the abutment at the molar region may require special care and extra attention.OAIID:oai:osos.snu.ac.kr:snu2013-01/102/0000030821/3SEQ:3PERF_CD:SNU2013-01EVAL_ITEM_CD:102USER_ID:0000030821ADJUST_YN:YEMP_ID:A076080DEPT_CD:861CITE_RATE:2.514FILENAME:2013 05월 coir 24(5),2013,517-522.pdfDEPT_NM:치의학과EMAIL:[email protected]_YN:YCONFIRM:

Effects of Insulation Coating with Metal Salt on the Performance of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells

This work reports on the preparation of modified TiO2 electrodes, which could be applied to the photoanodes in a dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). TiO2 layer was formed on a FTO (fluorine-doped tin oxide) coated glass via doctor-blade method and post heat treatment. Then, the various metal hydroxides and metal oxides were selectively deposited onto the TiO2 layers via electrophoretic deposition and annealing process to give modified TiO2 layer in DSSCs. When metal hydroxide-deposited electrodes were employed in DSSCs, photovoltaic efficiencies were improved by ca. 3-16% compared to those of the cells with bare TiO2 electrodes. However, it was found that the efficiencies regressed when the metal hydroxides were converted to metal oxides via the annealing process. Copyright © Taylor &amp;amp; Francis Group, LLC.

Characteristics of Al-Doped ZnO Films Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition for Silicon Nanowire Photovoltaic Device

We report the structural, electrical, and optical characteristics of Al-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al) ?lms deposited on glass by atomic layer deposition (ALD) with various Al2O3 film contents for use as transparent electrodes. Unlike films fabricated by a sputtering method, the diffraction peak position of the films deposited by ALD progressively moved to a higher angle with increasing Al2O3 film content. This indicates that Zn sites were effectively replaced by Al, due to layer-by-layer growth mechanism of ALD process which is based on alternate self-limiting surface chemical reactions. By adjusting the Al2O3?lm content, a ZnO:Al film with low electrical resistivity (9.84 × 10-4ω cm) was obtained at an Al2O3 film content of 3.17%, where the Al concentration, carrier mobility, optical transmittance, and bandgap energy were 2.8 wt%, 11.20 cm2V-1s-1, 94.23%, and 3.6 eV, respectively. Moreover, the estimated figure of merit value of our best sample was 8.2 mω-1. These results suggest that ZnO:Al films deposited by ALD could be useful for electronic devices in which especially require 3-dimensional conformal deposition of the transparent electrode and surface passivation © 2012 American Scientific Publishers.

Leukocyte-specific protein 1 regulates T-cell migration in rheumatoid arthritis

Copy number variations (CNVs) have been implicated in human diseases. However, it remains unclear how they affect immune dysfunction and autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here, we identified a novel leukocyte-specific protein 1 (LSP1) deletion variant for RA susceptibility located in 11p15.5. We replicated that the copy number of LSP1 gene is significantly lower in patients with RA, which correlates positively with LSP1 protein expression levels. Differentially expressed genes in Lsp1-deficient primary T cells represent cell motility and immune and cytokine responses. Functional assays demonstrated that LSP1, induced by T-cell receptor activation, negatively regulates T-cell migration by reducing ERK activation in vitro. In mice with T-cell-dependent chronic inflammation, loss of Lsp1 promotes migration of T cells into the target tissues as well as draining lymph nodes, exacerbating disease severity. Moreover, patients with RA show diminished expression of LSP1 in peripheral T cells with increased migratory capacity, suggesting that the defect in LSP1 signaling lowers the threshold for T-cell activation. To our knowledge, our work is the first to demonstrate how CNVs result in immune dysfunction and a disease phenotype. Particularly, our data highlight the importance of LSP1 CNVs and LSP1 insufficiency in the pathogenesis of RA and provide previously unidentified insights into the mechanisms underlying T-cell migration toward the inflamed synovium in RA.

Properties of Cu(In,Ga)Se-2 Thin Film Solar Cells on Ga Temperature Variation

In this paper the effect the Ga/(In+Ga) ratio, which was controlled by Ga cell temperature, on the growth behavior of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film and its photovoltaic performance is presented. It was found that both the grain size and the void density of CIGS layer decreased due to higher incorporation of Ga in CIGS by increasing Ga temperature. It was revealed that the CIGS films satisfying the composition ratio of Ga/(In+Ga)=0.3∼0.4 and Cu/(In+Ga)=0.84∼1.04, which were obtained at the Ga temperature of 1033∼1035°C, has the comparable diffraction intensity of (112) and (220) peaks. The (112)/(220) peak ratio of either Cu-rich or heavily Cu-poor CIGS films was found to deviate from unity and the solar cells made at these composition range showed lower photovoltaic performances. The highest efficiency of solar cell obtained by adjusting Ga cell temperature was 8.93% on device area of 0.16cm2 (fill factor, open circuit voltage, and short circuit current were 50.34%, 576mV and 30.79mA/cm2, respectively). Copyright © Taylor &amp;amp; Francis Group, LLC.