Outcome measures and methods of assessment of soft-tissue augmentation interventions in the context of dental implant therapy: A systematic review of clinical studies published in the last 10 years.

AIM The aim of the study was to identify and report outcome measures and methods of assessment on soft-tissue augmentation interventions in the context of dental implant therapy reported in clinical studies published in the last 10 years. MATERIAL AND METHODS The protocol of this PRISMA 2020-compliant systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021252214). A literature search was conducted to identify articles that met the pre-established eligibility criteria. Data of interest, with an emphasis on outcome measures, were extracted. For each outcome, specific methods and timing of assessment were described in detail. Following a critical qualitative analysis of the data, outcome measures were categorized. Primary outcomes were identified and the frequency of reporting in the selected articles was calculated. Additionally, risk of bias assessments were performed for individual articles and primary outcomes. RESULTS Ninety-two articles, of which 39 reported randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 20 reported non-RCTs, and 33 reported case series studies, were selected. Outcome measures were categorized into either investigator-evaluated outcome measures (i.e., clinical, digital imaging, esthetic, histologic, biomarker, and safety) or patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Clinical outcomes were the most frequently reported type of outcome. Considering all categories, the most frequently reported primary outcomes were facial mucosa thickness assessed with clinical methods (22.83%), facial keratinized mucosa width assessed with clinical methods (19.57%), facial mucosal margin position/recession assessed with clinical methods (18.48%), facial mucosa thickness assessed with digital imaging methods (11.96%), facial soft-tissue volume assessed with digital imaging methods (9.78%), and supracrestal tissue height assessed with clinical methods (9.78%). No distinguishable patterns of association between specific types or quality (level of bias) of clinical studies and the choice of primary outcomes were observed. CONCLUSION Clinical research on peri-implant soft-tissue augmentation has progressively increased in the last 10 years. Although clinical outcome measures were the most frequently reported outcomes in the selected literature, trends in the field are indicative of a shift from traditional clinical assessment methods to the use of digital technologies. PROMs were generally underreported but should be considered an integral methodological component in future clinical studies

Outcome measures and methods of assessment of soft tissue augmentation interventions in the context of dental implant therapy: A systematic review of clinical studies published in the last 10 years.

AIM To identify and report outcome measures and methods of assessment on soft tissue augmentation interventions in the context of dental implant therapy reported in clinical studies published in the last 10 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS The protocol of this Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020-compliant systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021252214). A literature search was conducted to identify articles that met the pre-established eligibility criteria. Data of interest, with an emphasis on outcome measures, were extracted. For each outcome, specific methods and timing of assessment were described in detail. Following a critical qualitative analysis of the data, outcome measures were categorized. Primary outcomes were identified, and the frequency of reporting in the selected articles was calculated. Additionally, risk-of-bias assessments were performed for individual articles and primary outcomes. RESULTS Ninety-two articles, of which 39 reported randomized controlled trials (RCTs), 20 non-RCTs, and 33 case series studies, were selected. Outcome measures were categorized into either investigator-evaluated outcome measures (i.e., clinical, digital imaging, aesthetic, histological, biomarker, and safety) or patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Clinical outcomes were the most frequently reported type of outcome. Considering all categories, the most frequently reported primary outcomes were facial mucosa thickness assessed with clinical methods (22.83%), facial keratinized mucosa width assessed with clinical methods (19.57%), facial mucosal margin position/recession assessed with clinical methods (18.48%), facial mucosa thickness assessed with digital imaging methods (11.96%), facial soft tissue volume assessed with digital imaging methods (9.78%), and supracrestal tissue height assessed with clinical methods (9.78%). No distinguishable patterns of association between specific types or quality (level of bias) of clinical studies and the choice of primary outcomes were observed. CONCLUSIONS Clinical research on peri-implant soft tissue augmentation has progressively increased in the last 10 years. Although clinical outcome measures were the most frequently reported outcomes in the selected literature, trends in the field are indicative of a shift from traditional clinical assessment methods to the use of digital technologies. PROMs were generally under-reported but should be considered an integral methodological component in future clinical studies

Major, Minor and Trace Elements in Surficial Sediments from the Open Adriatic Sea: A Regional Geochemical Study

The concentrations and distributions of major (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg), minor (Mn, P, Ti), and trace elements (Ag, As, Ba, Be, Co, Cr, Cu, Ag, La, Ni, Pb, Sc, Sr, Th, U, V, Zn, Zr), in the surficial sea bottom sediments were studied in an attempt to establish their distribution in the Adriatic Sea. Results indicate that major, minor and several trace elements are strongly related to the catchment geology, their distribution being essentially controlled by the type of sediments. However, the majority of trace elements are believed to have been introduced into the Adriatic from the riverine inflows that are also affected by the impact of industrial, mining and urban wastes. Other sources of these elements are located along the coast. The highest concentrations for several trace elements were thus recorded from the coastal ecosystems and from the most polluted Albanian and Italian rivers. The concentrations of trace elements generally decrease with distance from the coast. The regional distribution patterns are influenced by the counter-clockwise system of the Adriatic Sea currents which carry these elements away from the riverine inflows. Correlation analysis indicates that the trace elements are largely associated with the clay minerals, Fe and P contents rather than with the Mn concentrations. Magnesian minerals are suggested as the carrier for some trace elements (As, Co, Cr, Ni, Se and V) only in the southern Adriatic, which reflects their ophiolitic origin in the Albanian hinterland. Organic matter concentrations does not considerably influence the abundance and distribution of trace metals

Tricritical Points in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick Model in the Presence of Discrete Random Fields

The infinite-range-interaction Ising spin glass is considered in the presence of an external random magnetic field following a trimodal (three-peak) distribution. The model is studied through the replica method and phase diagrams are obtained within the replica-symmetry approximation. It is shown that the border of the ferromagnetic phase may present first-order phase transitions, as well as tricritical points at finite temperatures. Analogous to what happens for the Ising ferromagnet under a trimodal random field, it is verified that the first-order phase transitions are directly related to the dilution in the fields (represented by $p_{0}$). The ferromagnetic boundary at zero temperature also exhibits an interesting behavior: for $0<p_{0}<p_{0}^{*} \approx 0.30856$, a single tricritical point occurs, whereas if $p_{0}>p_{0}^{*}$ the critical frontier is completely continuous; however, for $p_{0}=p_{0}^{*}$, a fourth-order critical point appears. The stability analysis of the replica-symmetric solution is performed and the regions of validity of such a solution are identified; in particular, the Almeida-Thouless line in the plane field versus temperature is shown to depend on the weight $p_{0}$.Comment: 23pages, 7 ps figure

Random Field Models for Relaxor Ferroelectric Behavior

Heat bath Monte Carlo simulations have been used to study a four-state clock model with a type of random field on simple cubic lattices. The model has the standard nonrandom two-spin exchange term with coupling energy $J$ and a random field which consists of adding an energy $D$ to one of the four spin states, chosen randomly at each site. This Ashkin-Teller-like model does not separate; the two random-field Ising model components are coupled. When $D / J = 3$, the ground states of the model remain fully aligned. When $D / J \ge 4$, a different type of ground state is found, in which the occupation of two of the four spin states is close to 50%, and the other two are nearly absent. This means that one of the Ising components is almost completely ordered, while the other one has only short-range correlations. A large peak in the structure factor $S (k)$ appears at small $k$ for temperatures well above the transition to long-range order, and the appearance of this peak is associated with slow, "glassy" dynamics. The phase transition into the state where one Ising component is long-range ordered appears to be first order, but the latent heat is very small.Comment: 7 pages + 12 eps figures, to appear in Phys Rev

Randomized controlled clinical study comparing two types of two-piece dental implants supporting fixed restorations-Results at 8 years of loading

Objectives To assess clinical, technical, biological, and radiographic outcomes of implants supporting fixed restorations using two types of dental implants with non-matching implant–abutment junctions at 8 years. Materials and methods Sixty-four patients were randomly assigned to receive one of two implant systems (S1 or S2) and eventually fixed restorations. Patients were examined at loading (TL), one (T1), three (T3), five (T5), and eight years (T8). Outcome measures included implant and restoration survival, technical and biological complications, and radiographic bone levels. All data were analyzed on the implant and patient level. Results Ninety-eight implants were inserted in 64 patients and loaded with fixed restorations. At 8 years, 49 patients with 42 (S1) and 36 (S2) implants (25 in group S1 and 24 in group S2 on the patient level) were re-examined. The survival rates on the patient level were 97.6% (S1) and 97.2% (S2). The marginal bone levels (the primary endpoint) amounted to a gain of 0.21 mm (Q1: −0.11 mm; Q3: 0.5 mm) (S1) (p = .007) and to a loss of 0.24 mm (Q1: −0.79 mm; Q3: 0.05 mm) (S2) (p = .001) between baseline (TL) and T8 (intergroup p < .001). The technical complication rates were 28% (S1) and 12.5% (S2) (intergroup p = .289). Peri-implant mucositis was observed in 24% (S1) and 50% (S2) of the implants on the patient level (intergroup p = .792). The respective figures for peri-implantitis were 0% (S1) and 12.5% (S2) (intergroup p = .11). Conclusions Dental implants with non-matching implant–abutment junctions supporting fixed restorations resulted in high survival rates independent of the system used. Differences, mainly observed in terms of technical complications (in favor of S2), biological complications (in favor of S1), and marginal bone-level changes (in favor of group S1), appear to be clinically negligible

Classical transverse Ising spin glass with short- range interaction beyond the mean field approximation

The classical transverse field Ising spin- glass model with short-range interactions is investigated beyond the mean- field approximation for a real d- dimensional lattice. We use an appropriate nontrivial modification of the Bethe- Peierls method recently formulated for the Ising spin- glass. The zero- temperature critical value of the transverse field and the linear susceptibility in the paramagnetic phase are obtained analytically as functions of dimensionality d. The phase diagram is also calculated numerically for different values of d. In the limit d -> infinity, known mean- field results are consistently reproduced.Comment: LaTex, 11 pages, 2 figure

Cor Triatriatum Sinister diagnosed in adult life with three dimensional transesophageal echocardiography

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cor triatriatum is a very rare congenital abnormality, usually symptomatic during childhood, diagnosis in adult age is less common.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 40 years old woman referred to our hospital for atrial flutter ablation, transthoracic cardiac bidimensional echocardiography showed an abnormal membrane bisecting the left atrium, the diagnosis of cor triatriatum was fully made via three dimensional transesophageal echocardiography. More interstingly three other cardiac anomalies were associated: ostium secundum atrial septal defect, dilated coronary sinus due probably to persistent left superior vena cava and normally functioning bicuspid aortic valve.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Cor triatriatum sinister in adult life is important to recognize because it may be easily surgically correctable when hemodynamically significant. Three Dimensional transesophageal echocardiography is a minimally invasive and highly sensitive diagnostic modality.</p

Time reparametrization group and the long time behaviour in quantum glassy systems

We study the long time dynamics of a quantum version of the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model. Time reparametrizations of the dynamical equations have a parallel with renormalization group transformations, and within this language the long time behaviour of this model is controlled by a reparametrization group (R$_p$G) fixed point of the classical dynamics. The irrelevance of the quantum terms in the dynamical equations in the aging regime explains the classical nature of the violation of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem.Comment: 4 page