Retrospective Evaluation of Skeletal, Dentoalveolar, and Periodontal Changes of Microimplant Assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion (MARPE) In Skeletally Matured Patients

Introduction: Microimplant-assisted rapid palatal expansion (MARPE) has recently been offered to adult patients as a treatment option for correcting maxillary transverse deficiency. However, there is a lack of information in the literature on the effects of this newer expansion technique specifically related to skeletal maturity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate skeletal, dentoalveolar, and periodontal response to MARPE in skeletally matured patients, as assessed by the cervical vertebral maturation (CVM) method, using cone-beam computed tomography.;Experimental Design and Methods: Eight patients (2 females, 6 males; mean age of 21.9 +/- 1.5 years) treated with the maxillary skeletal expander (MSE), a particular type of MARPE appliance, were included in the study. Measurements before and after MARPE of midpalatal suture opening, upper facial bony expansion, aveolar bone bending, dental tipping, and buccal bone thickness were compared using one-way ANOVA or matched-pair t-test (alpha = 0.05).;Results: Midpalatal suture separated in 100% of subjects with no dislodged microimplants. Contribution to total expansion include 41% skeletal, 12% alveolar bone bending, and 48% dental tipping. Pattern of midpalatal suture opening was parallel in both coronal and axial view. On average, absolute dental tipping ranged from 4.17° to 4.96o and buccal bone thickness reduced by 0.27 mm to 0.68 mm, which may be improved overtime with orthodontic uprighting.;Conclusion: MARPE can be a clinically acceptable, nonsurgical treatment option for correcting mild to moderate maxillary transverse discrepancies, less than 7 mm, in skeletally matured adult patients with a healthy periodontium

Patterns and predictors of exclusive breastfeeding duration among women living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is the international gold standard for infant feeding in the first 4-6 months of life. In sub-Saharan Africa, breastfeeding has been adversely affected by the HIV epidemic, due to breastmilk-associated mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) risk in the absence of triple antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, with rapidly expanding global accessibility of ART, HIV treatment and infant feeding guidelines now recommend universal ART for all women ("Option B+") with breastfeeding as the optimal infant feeding choice in most settings. Data is scarce on breastfeeding practices in this context. This project seeks to describe early infant feeding practices among HIV-infected women initiating ART in an Option B+ PMTCT clinic in peri-urban Cape Town, South Africa. Methods: The Maternal-and-Child-Health-Antiretroviral (MCH-ART) study (2013-2016) enrolled HIV-infected women initiating ART in pregnancy; breastfeeding mother-infant pairs were followed until 18 months. Data were collected via interviews at scheduled study visits, including repeated measures of infant feeding practices (24-hour recall). EBF duration was defined from delivery date to date of last visit reporting EBF. A priori-defined maternal-infant characteristics potentially associated with early EBF cessation (< 4 months/never) were evaluated using exploratory data analysis and multivariable logistic regression. Results: Of 471 breastfeeding mother-infant pairs, 429 (91%) were ever EBF. Median duration of EBF was 1.5 months (interquartile range, IQR 0.3-5.4); only 115/471 (24%) were EBF for 4 months or longer. Median maternal age was 28 years (IQR 24-32); 41% were married/co-habiting; 58% delivered at primary care level. Women who reported any lactation concerns by 6 weeks postpartum (22%) were more likely to cease EBF prematurely (adjusted odds ratio, aOR 1.77; 95% CI 0.96-3.27). Adjusting for alcohol use, poverty, gravidity, delivery mode, maternal age and education, other factors associated with early EBF cessation included relationship status (married/co-habiting vs. single, aOR 0.50, 95%CI 0.31-0.81), place of delivery (secondary vs. primary, aOR 1.94, 95%CI 1.06-3.54), and antenatal maternal anxiety (aOR 4.02, 95%CI 0.91-17.72). Conclusions: Exclusive breastfeeding is sub-optimal in this setting. Lactation problems are common, and strongly associated with premature EBF cessation. Additional lactation support is urgently required in PMTCT settings promoting breastfeeding. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0193347

Hydrogen Consumption by Halophilic Microorganisms - Implications for Underground Hydrogen Storage

Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) in reservoirs and caverns is a possible solution for large-scale and long-term storage of hydrogen (H2) in the subsurface. As the cost of tech- nology installation and electricity from renewable energy, such as solar and wind energy, continues to decrease, utilization and storage of H2 can accelerate the energy transition. H2 and UHS can also contribute to energy security and a more sustainable energy system. How- ever, it is essential to understand the potential implications the microbial processes in the subsurface can cause in the UHS. This thesis quantifies and studies the impacts of different H2 concentrations and pressures on the microbial H2 consumption by two metabolic groups; sulfate-reducers and methanogenesis. The sulfate-reducing bacterium (SRB) and the methanogen used in this experiment are Desulfohalobium retbaense and Methanocalculus halotolerans, respectively. In addition, the microbial H2 consumption by the SRB was also studied in the micromodel experiment to observe the behavior in porous media. The metabolic processes of the SRB were inhibited by the high pH of 9.0 in the higher H2 concentrations and pressures. The highest maximum consumption rate was at 100%H2 with 0.05 mmoles/day and at 90%H2 with 0.22 mmoles/day for the SRB and methanogen, respectively. For the different pressures, the maximum consumption rate for the SRB was stable at 0.04 mmoles/day, while for the methanogen was at 2 barg with 0.59 mmoles/day. In the micromodel at 35 barg, the consumption rate for the SRB was 1.23 ·10−6 mmoles/day. The lower consumption rate could be due to the pore geometry, fewer microbial cells, and unfavorable environments caused by waste and byproducts. The production of H2S by the SRB was influenced by the high pH, resulting in a dominant sulfide concentration in the form of HS–. Meanwhile, the microbial activity of the methanogen did not encounter limiting factors, leading to the highest CH4 concentration of 29.92% at 2 barg. The SRB was able to inhibit their microbial activity and poses a lower risk for H2 loss, corrosion, and clogging in UHS. However, the methanogen had effective metabolic processes and consumed the available H2 regardless and produced CH4. Therefore, more studies should be conducted to control the microbial activity in the subsurface to ensure safe and stable UHS.Masteroppgave i energiENERGI399I5MAMN-ENE

Sexual decision making in the absence of choice: The African American female dating experience.

Although links between low mate availability and increased HIV and STI risk for African American women have been documented in the literature, we know little about the impact of limited mate choices on the quality of relationships between Black men and women and how these relationship dynamics impact risk for young Black women. We conducted a qualitative study with African American female young adults (N=12) to explore the perceived impact of structural forces on African American female young adults’ dating and sexual behavior. Participants reported (1) perceptions of Black men as untrustworthy and manipulative, (2) the limited and often negative roles for Black men in the larger Black community, and (3) heterosexual relationships in the Black community as increasingly influenced by economics and commerce. Recommendations for HIV prevention interventions that include micro and macro level approaches are discussed

Research Roundup: An Analysis of Gun Violence Publication Trends in 2021

Gun deaths have reached some of their highest levels ever in the past few years. The research field needs to be as strong and responsive as it can be in order to end our current crisis.We hope this review will help researchers, funders, policymakers, and stakeholders in their efforts to produce the kind of actionable, equitable research needed to help save lives

Urinary Phthalate Metabolites and Biomarkers of Oxidative Stress in a Mexican-American Cohort: Variability in Early and Late Pregnancy.

People are exposed to phthalates through their wide use as plasticizers and in personal care products. Many phthalates are endocrine disruptors and have been associated with adverse health outcomes. However, knowledge gaps exist in understanding the molecular mechanisms associated with the effects of exposure in early and late pregnancy. In this study, we examined the relationship of eleven urinary phthalate metabolites with isoprostane, an established marker of oxidative stress, among pregnant Mexican-American women from an agricultural cohort. Isoprostane levels were on average 20% higher at 26 weeks than at 13 weeks of pregnancy. Urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations suggested relatively consistent phthalate exposures over pregnancy. The relationship between phthalate metabolite concentrations and isoprostane levels was significant for the sum of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and the sum of high molecular weight metabolites with the exception of monobenzyl phthalate, which was not associated with oxidative stress at either time point. In contrast, low molecular weight metabolite concentrations were not associated with isoprostane at 13 weeks, but this relationship became stronger later in pregnancy (p-value = 0.009 for the sum of low molecular weight metabolites). Our findings suggest that prenatal exposure to phthalates may influence oxidative stress, which is consistent with their relationship with obesity and other adverse health outcomes

Like a bilingual baby: The advantage of visually grounding a bilingual language model

Unlike most neural language models, humans learn language in a rich, multi-sensory and, often, multi-lingual environment. Current language models typically fail to fully capture the complexities of multilingual language use. We train an LSTM language model on images and captions in English and Spanish from MS-COCO-ES. We find that the visual grounding improves the model's understanding of semantic similarity both within and across languages and improves perplexity. However, we find no significant advantage of visual grounding for abstract words. Our results provide additional evidence of the advantages of visually grounded language models and point to the need for more naturalistic language data from multilingual speakers and multilingual datasets with perceptual grounding.Comment: Preprint, 7 pages, 2 tables, 1 figur

Valongo Wharf Transatlantic Slave Trade Memorial

Valongo Wharf is located in central Rio De Janeiro and encompasses the entirety of Jornal de Commercial Square. Historical significance: The lowest level of the wharf contains pavings in the pé de moleque style which is attributed to the original Valongo Wharf. The later layer is aspects of the empress wharf that came later. From data from Unesco. Org and the slave voyage database, roughly 1/5th of the 5 million slaves that arrived in Brazil came in through Valongo wharf. Valongo Wharf was at first related to various other historical structures, such as warehouses, quarantine facilities, the lazaretto, and the New African cemetery. How ever, the wharf is all that remains. This makes the wharf one of the few remains of a greater narrative of the slave trades disembarkment points in Rio De Janeiro. All that is at the Valongo wharf today is a column to remind those who pass of the late empress wharf. With t he empress wharf failing to express the deep historical significance that the Valongo wharf holds it is the perfect place for a memorialhttps://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/historyfrombelow/1016/thumbnail.jp

Skeletal, Dentoalveolar, and Periodontal Changes of Skeletally Matured Patients with Maxillary Deficiency Treated with Microimplant‐assisted Rapid Palatal Expansion Appliances: A Pilot Study

Introduction: Microimplant‐assisted rapid palatal expansion (MARPE) has recently been offered to adult patients for correcting maxillary transverse deficiency. However, there is limited information in the literature on the success of this appliance and its skeletal and dental effects on skeletally matured patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the immediate skeletal, dentoalveolar, and periodontal response to MARPE appliance using cone‐beam computed tomography in a skeletally matured patient as assessed by the cervical vertebral maturation method. Materials and Methods: Eight consecutively treated patients (2 females, 6 males; mean age of 21.9 ± 1.5 years) treated with a maxillary skeletal expander were included in the study. Measurements were taken before and after expansion to determine the amount of midpalatal suture opening, upper facial bony expansion, alveolar bone bending, dental tipping, and buccal bone thickness (BBT). Data were analyzed using a one‐way ANOVA and matched‐pair t‐test (α = 0.05). Results: Midpalatal suture separation was found in 100% of the patients with no dislodged microimplants. Total maxillary expansion was attributed to 41% skeletal, 12% alveolar bone bending, and 48% dental tipping. Pattern of midpalatal suture opening was found to be parallel in both the coronal and axial planes. On average, the absolute dental tipping ranged from 4.17° to 4.96° and the BBT was reduced by an average of 39% measured at the premolars and molars. Conclusions: The MARPE appliance can be a clinically acceptable, nonsurgical treatment option for correcting mild to moderate maxillary transverse discrepancies for skeletally matured adult patients with a healthy periodontium