Surfing the spectrum - what is on the horizon?

Diagnostic imaging techniques have evolved with technological advancements - but how far? The objective of this article was to explore the electromagnetic spectrum to find imaging techniques which may deliver diagnostic information of equal, or improved, standing to conventional radiographs and to explore any developments within radiography which may yield improved diagnostic data. A comprehensive literature search was performed using Medline, Web of Knowledge, Science Direct and PubMed Databases. Boolean Operators were used and key-terms included (not exclusively): terahertz, X-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infra-red, magnetic resonance, dental, diagnostic, caries and periodontal. Radiographic techniques are primarily used for diagnostic imaging in dentistry, and continued developments in X-ray imaging include: phase contrast, darkfield and spectral imaging. Other modalities have potential application, for example, terahertz, laser doppler and optical techniques, but require further development. In particular, infra-red imaging has regenerated interest with caries detection in vitro, due to improved quality and accessibility of cameras. Non-ionising imaging techniques, for example, infra-red, are becoming more commensurate with traditional radiographic techniques for caries detection. Nevertheless, X-rays continue to be the leading diagnostic image for dentists, with improved diagnostic potential for lower radiation dose becoming a reality

ATR-FTIR analysis and one-week stress relaxation of four orthodontic aligner materials

The aim of this study was to estimate possible differences in the chemical composition and relaxation of orthodontic aligner materials. Four commercially available thermoplastic materialsCAM (Scheu-Dental, Iserlohn, Germany), COP (Essix, Dentsply Raintree Essix Sarasota, FL, USA), DUR (Great Lakes Dental Technologies, Tonawanda, NY) and ERK (Erkodent Erich Kopp, Pfalzgrafenweiler Germany) were included in this study. Rectangular strips from each material were prepared according to the manufacturer's instructions and subjected to attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy and stress relaxation characterization. The reduction in applied stress (RAS) after one week was estimated and statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA at the 0.05 level of significance. All specimens were subjected to optical microscopy before and after stress relaxation testing under transmittance polarized illumination. ATR-FTIR microscopy revealed that all materials are made of polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) while no significant differences were identified in RAS values among materials tested, which ranged from 6%-10% (p 0.05). All samples illustrated the developments of shear bands during relaxation testing according to optical microscopy findings. The tested materials illustrated similar chemical composition and relaxation behavior and thus no differences in their clinical efficacy are anticipated. © 2020 by the authors

Supercritical deposition of Pt on SnO2-coated Al2O3 foams: Phase behaviour and catalytic performance

Deposition and reduction of an organometallic platinum complex from a supercritical Pt(COD)Me2/CO2 solution was carried out to produce Pt/SnO2 catalysts supported on Al2O3 foams for CO oxidation at moderate temperatures. The phase behaviour of the complex in supercritical carbon dioxide was investigated to find the optimum pressure and temperature conditions for the deposition. For the Pt(COD)Me2/CO2 mixture, the melting point decreased with increasing pressure from 378 K at 0.1 MPa to 360 K at 25.6 MPa. Additional investigations showed that the solubility of Pt(COD)Me2 in CO2 increases from 5.9 × 10-4 mol/mol at 11.2 MPa and 313 K to 3.4 × 10-3 mol/mol at 29.6 MPa and 353 K. The supercritical deposition yielded catalysts with highly dispersed platinum nanoparticles of approx. 3 nm having a narrow size distribution and thus, a superior activity towards oxidation of carbon monoxide in comparison to a catalyst prepared by the conventional aqueous impregnation of Pt.German Research Foundation (DFG