The Efficacy of a New AMCOP® Elastodontic Protocol for Orthodontic Interceptive Treatment: A Case Series and Literature Overview

Background: Elastodontics is a specific interceptive orthodontic treatment that uses removable elastomeric appliances. They are functional appliances that produce neuromuscular, orthopedic and dental effects. Thus, these devices are useful in the developmental age, when skeletal structures are characterized by important plasticity and adaptation capacity, allowing to remove factors responsible for malocclusions. Elastomeric devices are generally well tolerated by patients requiring simple collaboration and management. This work can be useful to update all orthodontists already adopting these appliances or for those who want to approach them for the first time. This study aimed to describe four cases treated with new elastomeric devices called AMCOP Bio-Activators and to provide an overview of elastodontics, its evolution, indications and limits. Methods: A total of four clinical cases were presented after a treatment period of 16–20 months to evaluate the clinical and radiological effects of the elastodontic therapy. Results: The effectiveness of Bio-Activators on clinical cases was evidenced with a significant improvement in skeletal and dentoalveolar relationship, and malocclusion correction in a limited treatment period (16–20 months). Conclusions: The Bio-Activators showed clinical effectiveness to achieve therapeutic targets according to a low impact on the patient’s compliance

Enhanced osteoclastogenesis in women after natural delivery

In the pre-expulsive and expulsive phases of labor, oxytocin and several other osteoclastogenic mediators, such as prostaglandins and IL-6, are secreted in high concentrations. This study was undertaken to assess whether the peripheral blood obtained from healthy women after vaginal delivery contains a larger pool of osteoclast precursors compared with age- and gender-matched controls. Our results clearly show that the number and size of osteoclasts generated in vitro from osteoclast precursors isolated from women after delivery are significantly larger than those from controls. This finding can account for the decrease in bone mass that is often observed during the breastfeeding period and the concomitant release of high quantities of calcium in the milk. Further investigations are required to establish whether analysis of blood osteoclast precursors can be predictive of changes in bone remodeling in this setting

Metapocyrtus Heller 1912

Metapocyrtus Heller, 1912 Diagnosis of the genus. Rostrum longer than broad except in subgenus Artapocyrtus; with distinct transverse groove that separates it from frons; antennae inserted at or near apex of rostrum. Frons is distinct median impressed line with a cross groove between rostrum and frons. Eyes not swollen, semi-circular, and slightly convex. Antennal segments variable in size; scape reaching at least or beyond hind margin of eye. Pronotum subglobular, broader than long, granulated or punctured, except for some species of subgenus Orthocyrtus with smooth pronotum; anterior submarginal groove distinct and dilated towards sides. Elytra elliptical or subovate, broader than pronotum, more or less striate-punctate or granulate. Distance between mid and hind coxae wider than that between fore and mid coxae. Hind femora clavate, usually reaching or extending beyond apex of elytra. Tibiae generally straight; apex of tibia with tuft of hairs; mucro and flange present. Tarsi ventrally spongyhairy (Yap & Gapud, 2007).Published as part of Patano Jr, Romeo R., Amoroso, Victor B., Mohagan, Alma B., Guiang, Maria Melanie M. & Yap, Sheryl A., 2021, Two new species of the genus Metapocyrtus Heller, 1912 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), from Mindanao Island and an updated checklist of Metapocyrtus species in the Philippines, pp. 282-303 in Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 69 on page 284, DOI: 10.26107/RBZ-2021-0052, http://zenodo.org/record/535223