Assessment of the periodontal health and community periodontal index in the Army of Serbia

© 2015, Institut za Vojnomedicinske Naucne Informacije/Documentaciju. All rights reserved. Background/Aim. Promotion of oral health in military population is not only a significant component of general health, but also of the military readiness and represents the strategic orientation of each country. The basic task of military dentistry is to provide oral health of military personnel and to enable their operational readiness at the optimal level. The aim of the study was to assess the periodontal condition in Serbian military population using the community periodontal index of treatment needs (CPITN), and the influence of general life habits and local risk factors on periodontal health. Methods. This prospective cross-sectional pilot study was conducted on 101 examinees at the mean age of 38.94 ± 11.63 years who had dental check-ups at the Dental Clinic of the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade. All the categories of military personnel aged 20–64 years were divided into five groups. The frequency distribution of general and local factors on periodontal health, oral hygiene index, and the assessment of the mean number of sextants by CPITN compared to age were examined. Results. The examinees at the age of 51–60 years had the best oral hygiene index (0.95 ± 0.65), whereas the oldest population had the worst (1.63 ± 0.42). Only one person (5.6%) at the age group of 51–60 years had a completely healthy periodontium. Observed in relation to the age groups, the mean values of sextants increased linearly, but in general population, the most frequent CPITN categories were in sextant with the periodontal pockets 4–5 mm (score 3). Conclusions. Compared to the results from other countries shown by the World Health Organization, the periodontal condition in our examinees is below the average. The appropriate preventive program preparation and its implementation are needed, including primarily the appropriate training on oral hygiene, as well as education based on periodontal disease prevention and treatment

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking: The Case of Crazy Clock and Beyond

peer reviewe

Neural networks in analysing 137Cs behaviour in the air in the Belgrade area

The application of the principal component analysis and artificial neural network method in forecasting Cs-137 behaviour in the air as the function of meteorological parameters is presented. The model was optimized and tested using Cs-137 specific activities obtained by standard gamma-ray spectrometric analysis of air samples collected in Belgrade (Serbia) during 2009-2011 and meteorological data for the same period. Low correlation (r = 0.20) between experimental values of Cs-137 specific activities and those predicted by artificial neural network was obtained. This suggests that artificial neural network in the case of prediction of Cs-137 specific activity; using temperature, insolation, and global Sun warming does not perform well, which can be explained by the relative independence of Cs-137 specific activity of particular meteorological parameters and not by the ineffectiveness of artificial neural network in relating these parameters in general

Paramagnetic pillared bentonites - The new digestive tract MRI contrast agents

The availability of sophisticated diagnostic methods such as MRI has contributed to the increased use of imaging technologies in therapy and diagnostic studies. However, gastrointestinal tract MRI generally shows poor results because of the lack of suitable contrast agents. The iron oxide is traditionally popular material for MRI gastrointestinal studies because of its well-known superparamagnetic properties. On the other hand, it has many disadvantages which include black bowel, side effects of diarrhea and, from an important analytical standpoint, the presence of artifacts arising from clumping. When paramagnetic iron concentrates, it may become ferromagnetic, drastically altering its imaging properties. Other paramagnetic species, represented by gadolinium, also seem to be potentially suitable agents for these studies. Nevertheless, this metal itself cannot be used in humans because of its toxic properties. Therefore, there is clearly a need for orally effective, well tolerated agents that can be used in humans for digestive imaging studies. This MRI contrast should be useful for visualizing the anatomy of the digestive tract and particularly to differentiate between normal and pathological states, such as tumors. The solution has been proposed as zeolites or smectites (hectorite and montmorillonite) enclosing of paramagnetic metal ions obtained by ion-exchange methods. However, such materials could have problems of leakage of paramagnetic ions causing the appearance of the number side-effects. We propose the usage of the pillaring method for paramagnetic metal encapsulation in bentonites. By that way, paramagnetic cations like Fe(+3), Mn(+2) and Gd(+3) are introduced between clay mineral layers as polyoxo cations. After calcination, these polyoxo cations grow to be pillars (oxides of these metals) which are incorporated into the clay mineral matrix which prevents ion-leaching and dangerous side-effects. In this study we show that paramagnetic-pillared bentonites could be successfully used as MRI digestive tract non-leaching contrast agents, altering the longitudinal relaxation times of fluids in contact with the clay minerals

Plastic changes in the brain after a neuro-prosthetic leg use

ISSN:1388-2457ISSN:1872-895

Dosimetry using HS GafChromic films the influence of readout light on sensitivity of dosimetry

Various forms of Gafchromic films that are increasingly used for dosimetry in radiotherapy offer the prospect of reproducible and accurate high-resolution two-dimensional dose measurements, but there are many unresolved issues regarding the optimal choice of densitometric procedure used for the films optical density (OD) readout. There are conflicting requirements for scanners (sensitivity, availability, price) and commercial document scanners appears to be a reasonable option, hence we analyzed the measured sublinear dose response of these scanners. Using measured film absorption spectra we were able to make quantitative distinction between various factors affecting the sublinearity and to demonstrate that the dose response curve can be predicted for any selected light source used for scanning. We also used the commercial narrow bandpass filters in conjunction with document scanners to investigate whether such an inexpensive option can improve their sensitivity, but results were not encouraging. Finally, we analyzed the suitability of proposed fitting equations for the calibration of the dose response and found that their reliability largely depends on the dose range used for the calibration. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Cortical thickness, surface area and folding in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures

OBJECTIVE: To determine cortical thickness (CTh), cortical surface area (CSA), curvature and sulcal depth (SD) in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). METHODS: Freesurfer software was used to identify differences between active and control group in Cth, CSA, curvature, and SD. Neuropsychological tests intending to document possible frontal lobe deficit were applied. RESULTS: We included 37 patients with PNES (age 37.3±13.8; female/male 31/6; age of disease onset 26.1±10.6; age of disease duration 11.1±11.1), and 37 healthy controls (age 38.4; ±12.7; female/male 26/11). No difference in CSA and curvature was detected between groups. Patients with PNES had increased CTh in the left insula, left and right medial-orbitofrontal, and left lateral-orbitofrontal, and decreased CTh in the left and right precentral, right enthorinal, and right lateral-occipital region than healthy controls. SD was increased at the level of the left and right insula, right rostral anterior cingulate, right posterior cingulate, and left cuneus, and reduced at the level of the right and left medial-orbitofrontal sulci in patients with PNES compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSION: Individuals with PNES display a distinct profile of changes in CTh, in association with increase in SD in both insula as compared to controls. Our results may contribute to the understanding of the neurobiological background of PNES. Further research, to include replication of the findings and directed to understand the role of insula is needed

The paramagnetic pillared bentonites as digestive tract mri contrast agents

The increased use of imaging techniques in diagnostic studies, such as MRI, has contributed to the development of the wide range of new materials which could be successfully used as image improving agents. However, there is a lack of such substances in the area of gastrointestinal tract MRI. Many of the traditionally popular relaxation altering agents show poor results and disadvantages provoking black bowel, side effects of diarrhea and the presence of artifacts arising from clumping. Paramagnetic species seem to be potentially suitable agents for these studies, but contrast opacification has been reported and less than 60% of the gastrointestinal tract magnetic resonance scans showed improved delineation of abdominal pathologies. The new solution has been proposed as zeolites or smectite clays (hectorite and montmorillonite) enclosing of paramagnetic metal ions obtained by ion-exchange methods. However, such materials have problems of leakage of paramagnetic ions causing the appearance of the various side-effects. In this study we show that Co(+2) and Dy(+3) paramagnetic-pillared bentonites could be successfully used as MRI digestive tract non-leaching contrast agents, altering the longitudinal and transverse relaxation times of fluids in contact with the clay minerals