Dental Disorders and Salivary Changes in Patients with Laryngopharyngeal Reflux

Background: Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is a common inflammatory condition of the upper aerodigestive tract tissues related to the effects of gastroduodenal content reflux, characterized by a wide variety of clinical manifestations. The aim of our study was to evaluate the possible association between dental disorders and LRP, focusing on the role of salivary changes. Methods: Patient’s dental status was evaluated according to Schiff Index Sensitivity Scale (SISS), Basic Erosive Wear Examination (BEWE) and Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) scores. Reflux-associated symptoms were assessed according to Reflux symptom index (RSI). A qualitative and quantitative examination of saliva was performed. Results: Patients suffering from LPR had a higher incidence of dental disorders, regardless the presence of salivary pepsin, and thus, statistically significant higher scores of RSI (p = 0.0001), SISS (p = 0.001), BEWE (p < 0.001) and VAS (p < 0.001). Moreover, they had lower salivary flow compared with healthy patients. Conclusions: The finding of demineralization and dental caries on intraoral evaluation must raise the suspicion of LRP. Reflux treatments should also be aimed at correcting salivary alterations, in order to preserve the buffering capacity and salivary pH, thus preventing mucosal and dental damage

Plasmon Enhancement of the Hot-Band Absorption-Assisted Anti- Stokes Photoluminescence of Near-Infrared Dyes

Plasmon enhancement of the hot-band absorption-assisted anti- Stokes photoluminescence is a nontrivial task because of the specific mechanism of electronic excitation of an emitter that occurs through population of its vibrational energy levels. Here, we compare the interaction of two related near-infrared dyes that possess the same chromophores and terminal groups but different meso-groups, with plasmonic silica-coated gold nanorods (Au@SiO2) and mesoporous silica-coated copper sulfide nanoparticles (Cu2-xS@MSN), respectively, whose near-infrared plasmon bands overlap with the emission band of the dyes. The dye-plasmonic nanoparticle interactions caused the changes in the anti-Stokes emission intensity, resulting from the superposition of the topological factor and the electromagnetic field effect brought by the nanoparticle. First, the emission properties of the dyes were dependent on whether the molecule interacts with the plasmonic particle via terminal sulfonic groups or the phenylamine meso-group. The interaction mediated by terminal groups led to the suppression of both Stokes and anti-Stokes emission due to topological distortion of the dye chromophore, while interaction mediated by the phenylamine meso-group influenced the shape of the emission band owing to the redistribution of electronic density in the dye chromophore. Second, the effect of the plasmon field on the anti-Stokes emission was identified as a function of the excitation wavelength, where an increase in the relative emission was observed upon approaching the surface plasmon resonance. Enhancement of the anti-Stokes emission by 17% upon interaction of the specific dye via its amino-group at the meso-position with Au@SiO2 and that by up to 50% upon interaction with Cu2-xS@MSN have been achieved

High-quality photoelectrodes based on shape-tailored TiO2 nanocrystals for dye-sensitized solar cells

We demonstrate a general approach by which colloidal anatase TiO2 nanocrystals with anisotropically tailored linear and branched shapes can safely be processed into high-quality mesoporous photoelectrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). A detailed study has been carried out to elucidate how the nanoscale architecture underlying the photoelectrodes impacts their ultimate performances. From the analysis of the most relevant electrochemical parameters,an intrinsic correlation between the photovoltaic performances and the structure of the nanocrystal building blocks has been deduced and explained on the basis of relative contributions of the electron transport and light-harvesting properties of the photoelectrodes. Depending on the nanocrystals incorporated,these devices can exhibit an energy conversion efficiency of 5.2% to 7.8%,which ranks 38% to 53% higher than that achievable with corresponding cells based on reference spherical nanoparticles. It has been ascertained that DSSCs based on high aspect-ratio linear nanorods allow for a remarkable improvement in the charge-collection efficiency due to minimization of detrimental charge-recombination processes at the photoelectrode/electrolyte interface. On the other hand,DSSCs fabricated from branched nanocrystals with a peculiar bundle-like configuration are characterized by a drastic reduction of undesired charge-trapping phenomena. These findings can be useful in the design and fabrication of future generations of high-performing DSSCs based on colloidal nanocrystals with properly engineered size and shape parameters

Evaluation of the syntheny for 5AS chromosome in Triticum species with different ploidy level

In the frame of the project “Physical mapping of wheat chromosome 5A”, we have undertaken an investigation about the synteny level of the short arm of chromosome 5A (5AS) among different species of Triticum genus characterized by a different ploidy level and evolutionarily separated on a time scale in order to get insights into possible chromosomal rearrangements occurred during evolution. The analyzed species were Triticum aestivum (AABBDD; 2n=42), Triticum durum (AABB; 2n=28) and Triticum monococcum (AA; 2n=14). In details, we relied on four mapping populations: [1] Chinese Spring (CS, T.aestivum) x Renan (T.aestivum); [2] CS x CS disomic substitution line for chr. 5A (T. turgidum ssp dicoccoides); [3] Latino (T. turgidum ssp durum) x MG5323 (T. turgidum ssp dicoccum); [4] DV92 (T. monococcum) x G3116 (T. monococcum). High density genetic maps have been developed for the short arm of wheat chromosome 5A in these four populations using SSR (simple sequence repeat), SSR-EST (SSR-expressed sequence tags), TE junction (trasponable elements) and COS (conserved ortholog set) comparative anchor markers. The specificity of these markers for chromosome 5AS has been assayed using nulli-tetrasomic lines derived from the reference cultivar Chinese Spring. Moreover the physical position of the developed markers has been assigned to deletion bins of 5AS through the utilization of deletion lines. The evaluation of syntenic blocks and non-conserved regions among the homologous segments of different Triticum species is reported, while the mapping of EST-based markers allowed identification of syntenic regions in the rice and brachypodium genomes. Identification of possible rearrangements in the different 5AS genetic maps of wheat provide valuable information about the subsequent steps on the BAC contigs anchoring while the consensus map deriving from the integration of these four maps will provide a fundamental tool to link the genetic and physical maps