Reconstruction of the adult hemifacial microsomia patient with temporomandibular joint total joint prosthesis and orthognathic surgery

HFM patients' reconstruction has always been a challenge for maxillofacial surgeons, and numerous reconstructive techniques have been described. Surgical treatment depends on the patient's age and contemplates Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) reconstruction in conjunction with orthognathic surgery, usually necessary following completion of growth to maximize the functional and esthetic results. Distraction osteogenesis had gained popularity as valid alternative in growing patients, but the two primary methods to reconstruct the TMJs involve the use of autogenous, using free or microvascular bone grafts, or alloplastic graft, but there is no widely accepted method

Distant yet personal: equality in distant education during Covid-19 lockdown in Italy

Since March 2020, Italy imposed a lockdown to the Northern-Central regions, leading to the massive use of distant learning approaches in middle and high school level. This change was sudden and unsupported by any forms of preparation for the teachers, who were required to shift attitude towards digital devices in their teaching from (cit.): “They cannot have their phones in class, into use whatever you can!” This article aims at investigating the main challenges experienced by middle and high school teachers in literature and languages related subjects, through eleven interviews. We conducted a thematic analysis and identified three main challenges related to: Efficiency of teaching, social contact, and technical challenges. The sum of these challenges undermines equality in the pupils’ participation during class activities. It also highlights existing issues related to social status and family role in education, pupils’ engagement, and proficiency. At the same time, we found that teachers experienced their role, as actors in creating a framework for equality in education in digital learning rooms, dividing teachers and pupils while connecting them on a more personal level

MicroRNA expression analysis of in vitro dedifferentiated human pancreatic islet cells reveals the activation of the pluripotency-related microRNA cluster miR-302s

β-cell dedifferentiation has been recently suggested as an additional mechanism contributing to type-1 and to type-2 diabetes pathogenesis. Moreover, several studies demonstrated that in vitro culture of native human pancreatic islets derived from non-diabetic donors resulted in the generation of an undifferentiated cell population. Additional evidence from in vitro human β-cell lineage tracing experiments, demonstrated that dedifferentiated cells derive from β-cells, thus representing a potential in vitro model of β-cell dedifferentiation. Here, we report the microRNA expression profiles analysis of in vitro dedifferentiated islet cells in comparison to mature human native pancreatic islets. We identified 13 microRNAs upregulated and 110 downregulated in islet cells upon in vitro dedifferentiation. Interestingly, among upregulated microRNAs, we observed the activation of microRNA miR-302s cluster, previously defined as pluripotency-associated. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that miR-302s are predicted to target several genes involved in the control of β-cell/epithelial phenotype maintenance; accordingly, such genes were downregulated upon human islet in vitro dedifferentiation. Moreover, we uncovered that cell-cell contacts are needed to maintain low/null expression levels of miR-302. In conclusion, we showed that miR-302 microRNA cluster genes are involved in in vitro dedifferentiation of human pancreatic islet cells and inhibits the expression of multiple genes involved in the maintenance of β-cell mature phenotype