6,754 research outputs found
Global oral health inequalities: task group--periodontal disease.
Periodontal diseases constitute one of the major global oral health burdens, and periodontitis remains a major cause of tooth loss in adults worldwide. The World Health Organization recently reported that severe periodontitis exists in 5-20% of adult populations, and most children and adolescents exhibit signs of gingivitis. Likely reasons to account for these prevalent diseases include genetic, epigenetic, and environmental risk factors, as well as individual and socio-economic determinants. Currently, there are fundamental gaps in knowledge of such fundamental issues as the mechanisms of initiation and progression of periodontal diseases, which are undefined; inability to identify high-risk forms of gingivitis that progress to periodontitis; lack of evidence on how to prevent the diseases effectively; inability to detect disease activity and predict treatment efficacy; and limited information on the effects of integration of periodontal health as a part of the health care program designed to promote general health and prevent chronic diseases. In the present report, 12 basic, translational, and applied research areas have been proposed to address the issue of global periodontal health inequality. We believe that the oral health burden caused by periodontal diseases could be relieved significantly in the near future through an effective global collaboration.published_or_final_versio
Myocardial mechanics in young adult patients with diabetes mellitus: Effects altered load, inotropic state and dynamic exercise
AbstractThe disease entity âdiabetic cardiomyopathyâ has been extensively described in young patients with diabetes in the absence of ischemic, hypertensive or valvular heart disease. The most convincing data have been a 30% to 40% incidence of decreased radionuclide angiographic left ventricular ejection fraction response to dynamic exercise. In the current study, the hypothesis was tested that this abnormal ejection fraction response was due to alterations in ventricular loading conditions or cardiac autonomic innervation (extrinsic factors), or both, rather than to abnormalities in intrinsic ventricular systolic fiber function (contractility).Twenty normotensive patients with diabetes (mean age 30 ± 5 years, mean duration 15 ± 6 years) and 20 age-matched normal subjects were studied. All patients with diabetes had a normal treadmill exercise tolerance test without evidence of myocardial ischemia. By radionuclide angiography, all normal subjects increased ejection fraction with exercise (62 ± 4% to 69 ± 6%; p < 0.001). In contrast, 11(55%) of 20 patients with diabetes maintained or increased ejection fraction with exercise (group 1; 62 ± 4% to 69 ± 6%; p < 0.001) and 9 (45%) of 20 showed an exercise-induced decrease (group 2; 73 ± 4% to 66 ± 6%; p < 0.001). No difference in the incidence of microangiopathy, as noted by funduscopic examination, was present between the diabetic groups. Despite the abnormal ejection fraction response to exercise in the group 2 patients with diabetes, all patients with diabetes had a nor response to afterload manipulation, normal baseline ventricular contractility as assessed by load- and heart rate-independent end-systolic indexes and normal contractile reserve as assessed with dobutamine challenge.Autonomic dysfunction did not explain the disparate results between the group 2 patients' radionuclide angiographic data and their load-independent tests of ventricular contractility and reserve. In addition, the high ejection fraction at rest in group 2 patients (73±4% versus 62 ± 4% for normal subjects; p < 0.001) was not related to the abnormal tests of autonomic function. Thus, when left ventricular systolic performance was assessed by load- and rate-independent indexes, there was no evidence for cardiomyopathy in young adult patients with diabetes who have normal blood nressure and no ischemie heart disease
Biovolume spectrum theories applied: spatial patterns of trophic levels within a mesozooplankton community at the polar front
Three-dimensional data on the mesoscale distribution of hydrography and mesozooplankton were collected at the Polar Front, northwestern Barents Sea, in spring 2008 (29 Aprilâ15 May) using a combination of multinet and towed instrument platform equipped with Laser Optical Plankton Counter, fluorometer and CTD. Trophic levels (TLs) within the zooplankton community (whole community and size-separated) were analysed for three consecutive periods using biovolume spectrum theory, which proved to be a powerful tool in the physically and biologically variable frontal system. Trophic structure was highly variable in time and across the Polar Front, but was mostly related to the phytoplankton bloom (as determined by fluorescence). High TLs of 5.5 within the zooplankton community were observed outside bloom situations (mostly in Atlantic Water) and were likely due to increased omnivory of Calanus spp., which dominated the large zooplankton size group that had a lower TL (2.2) during the bloom than outside blooms (max. TL 5.6). A strong input of herbivorous barnacle nauplii (Cirripedia) into the upper layer (35 000 ind. mâ3 in net samples) substantially decreased mean TL in the marginal ice zone. Differences in TL estimates based on biovolume spectrum theory and other methods (stable isotopes, lipid markers, dietary analyses) are discussed
Bandwidth-controlled Mott transition in I. Optical studies of localized charge excitations
Infrared reflection measurements of the half-filled two-dimensional organic
conductors -(BEDT-TTF)Cu[N(CN)]BrCl were
performed as a function of temperature ( K) and
Br-substitution (, 40%, 73%, 85%, and 90%) in order to study the
metal-insulator transition. We can distinguish absorption processes due to
itinerant and localized charge carriers. The broad mid-infrared absorption has
two contributions: transitions between the two Hubbard bands and intradimer
excitations from the charges localized on the (BEDT-TTF) dimer. Since the
latter couple to intramolecular vibrations of BEDT-TTF, the analysis of both
electronic and vibrational features provides a tool to disentangle these
contributions and to follow their temperature and electronic-correlations
dependence. Calculations based on the cluster model support our interpretation.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure
A uniform treatment of the orbital effects due to a violation of the Strong Equivalence Principle in the gravitational Stark-like limit
We analytically work out several effects which a violation of the Strong
Equivalence Principle (SEP) induces on the orbital motion of a binary system
constituted of self-gravitating bodies immersed in a constant and uniform
external field. We do not restrict to the small eccentricity limit. Moreover,
we do not select any specific spatial orientation of the external polarizing
field. We explicitly calculate the SEP-induced mean rates of change of all the
osculating Keplerian orbital elements of the binary, the perturbation of the
projection of the binary orbit onto the line-of-sight, the shift of the radial
velocity, and the range and range-rate signatures and as well. We find that the
ratio of the SEP precessions of the node and the inclination of the binary
depends only on and the pericenter of the binary itself, being independent on
both the magnitude and the orientation of the polarizing field, and on the
semimajor axis, the eccentricity and the node of the binary. Our results, which
do not depend on any particular SEP-violating theoretical scheme, can be
applied to quite general astronomical and astrophysical scenarios. They can be
used to better interpret present and future SEP experiments, especially when
several theoretical SEP mechanisms may be involved, and to suitably design new
dedicated tests.Comment: LaTex2e, 14 pages, no figures, no tables, 42 references. To appear in
Classical and Quantum Gravity (CQG
Synthesis, structural and physical properties of -FeSe
We report on synthesis, structural characterization, resistivity, magnetic
and thermal expansion measurements on the as yet unexplored -phase of
FeSe, here synthesized under ambient- (AP) and high-pressure (HP)
conditions. We show that in contrast to -FeSe, monophasic
superconducting -FeSe can be obtained in off-stoichiometric
samples with excess Fe atoms preferentially residing in the van der Waals gap
between the FeSe layers. The AP -FeSe sample studied here
( 8.5\,K) possesses an unprecedented residual resistivity ratio
RRR 16. Thermal expansion data reveal a small feature around
90\,K, which resembles the anomaly observed at the structural and
magnetic transitions for other Fe-based superconductors, suggesting that some
kind of "magnetic state" is formed also in FeSe. %indicative of a fluctuating
magnetic ordering. For HP samples (RRR 3), the disorder within the
FeSe layers is enhanced through the introduction of vacancies, the saturated
magnetic moment of Fe is reduced and only spurious superconductivity is
observed.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, published versio
Estimating the nuclear level density with the Monte Carlo shell model
A method for making realistic estimates of the density of levels in even-even
nuclei is presented making use of the Monte Carlo shell model (MCSM). The
procedure follows three basic steps: (1) computation of the thermal energy with
the MCSM, (2) evaluation of the partition function by integrating the thermal
energy, and (3) evaluating the level density by performing the inverse Laplace
transform of the partition function using Maximum Entropy reconstruction
techniques. It is found that results obtained with schematic interactions,
which do not have a sign problem in the MCSM, compare well with realistic
shell-model interactions provided an important isospin dependence is accounted
for.Comment: 14 pages, 3 postscript figures. Latex with RevTex. Submitted as a
rapid communication to Phys. Rev.
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