In vitro evaluation of carrier based obturation technique: a CBCT study

AIM: The goal of the study was to compare the ability of two different carrier based obturation (CBO) techniques to reach working length and fill in three-dimensions root canal systems, by using CBCT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-six extracted molars were scanned with CBCT and 40 curved canals were selected (between 30° and 90°) and divided in two similar groups (n=20). All canals were prepared up to size 25 taper .06 using nickel-titanium instrumentation. The canals in the Group SC were obturated using Soft-Core obturators (Kerr, Romulus, Mi, USA), while Group TH canals (n= 20) were obturated using Thermafil Endodontic Obturators (Tulsa Dental Products, Tulsa, OK, USA), strictly following manufacturers' instructions for use. The obturations were analyzed by means of CBCT to measure the distance from the apical limit of obturation to the apical foramen and the presence of voids inside root canals. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the two groups in the mean distance of the apical extent of the obturation (t test, p>0.05). Overfilling occurred in only 3 cases (2 in Group TH and 1 in Group SC). The percentages of voids in both groups were very low with no significant difference (Z test, p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The two tested CBO techniques showed similar positive results in terms of performance, even if, after checking with verifiers, in most cases the size of the selected Soft-Core obturator was one size smaller than Thermafil

Pyridostigmine in pediatric Intestinal pseudo-obstruction. case report of a 2-year old girl and literature review

Pediatric chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction is a rare disorder characterized by a severe impairment of gastrointestinal motility leading to intestinal obstruction symptoms in the absence of mechanical causes. The diagnosis is usually clinical and diagnostic work is usually aimed to rule out mechanical obstruction and to identify any underlying diseases. Treatment is challenging and requires a multidisciplinary effort. In this manuscript we describe the youngest child successfully treated with the orally administrable, longacting, reversible anti-cholinesterase drug, pyridostigmine. Like other drugs belonging to cholinesterase inhibitors, pyridostigmine enhances gut motility by increasing acetylcholine availability in the enteric nervous system and neuro-muscular junctions. Based on the direct evidence from the reported case, we reviewed the current literature on the use of pyridostigmine in severe pediatric dysmotility focusing on intestinal pseudo-obstruction. The overall data emerged from the few published studies suggest that pyridostigmine is an effective and usually well tolerated therapeutic options for patients with intestinal pseudo-obstruction. More specifically, the main results obtained by pyridostigmine included marked reduction of abdominal distension, reduced need of parenteral nutrition, and improvement of oral feeding. The present case and review on pyridostigmine pave the way for eagerly awaited future randomized controlled studies testing the efficacy of cholinesterase inhibitors in pediatric severe gut dysmotility

Applications of Graph Spectral Techniques to Water Distribution Network Management

Cities depend on multiple heterogeneous, interconnected infrastructures to provide safe water to consumers. Given this complexity, efficient numerical techniques are needed to support optimal control and management of a water distribution network (WDN). This paper introduces a holistic analysis framework to support water utilities on the decision making process for an efficient supply management. The proposal is based on graph spectral techniques that take advantage of eigenvalues and eigenvectors properties of matrices that are associated with graphs. Instances of these matrices are the adjacency matrix and the Laplacian, among others. The interest for this application is to work on a graph that specifically represents a WDN. This is a complex network that is made by nodes corresponding to water sources and consumption points and links corresponding to pipes and valves. The aim is to face new challenges on urban water supply, ranging from computing approximations for network performance assessment to setting device positioning for efficient and automatic WDN division into district metered areas. It is consequently created a novel tool-set of graph spectral techniques adapted to improve main water management tasks and to simplify the identification of water losses through the definition of an optimal network partitioning. Two WDNs are used to analyze the proposed methodology. Firstly, the well-known network of C-Town is investigated for benchmarking of the proposed graph spectral framework. This allows for comparing the obtained results with others coming from previously proposed approaches in literature. The second case-study corresponds to an operational network. It shows the usefulness and optimality of the proposal to effectively manage a WDN. <br/

Measurement of CP Asymmetries and Branching Fractions in Charmless Two-Body B-Meson Decays to Pions and Kaons

We present improved measurements of CP-violation parameters in the decays $B^0 \to \pi^+ \pi^-$, $B^0 \to K^+ \pi^-$, and $B^0 \to \pi^0 \pi^0$, and of the branching fractions for $B^0 \to \pi^0 \pi^0$ and $B^0 \to K^0 \pi^0$. The results are obtained with the full data set collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy $B$ factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, corresponding to $467 \pm 5$ million $B\bar B$ pairs. We find the CP-violation parameter values and branching fractions $S_{\pi^+\pi^-} = -0.68 \pm 0.10 \pm 0.03, C_{\pi^+\pi^-} = -0.25 \pm 0.08 \pm 0.02, A_{K^-\pi^+} = -0.107 \pm 0.016 ^{+0.006}_{-0.004}, C_{\pi^0\pi^0} = -0.43 \pm 0.26 \pm 0.05, Br(B^0 \to \pi^0 \pi^0) = (1.83 \pm 0.21 \pm 0.13) \times 10^{-6}, Br(B^0 \to K^0 \pi^0) = (10.1 \pm 0.6 \pm 0.4) \times 10^{-6},$ where in each case, the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. We observe CP violation with a significance of 6.7 standard deviations for $B^0 \to\pi^+\pi^-$ and 6.1 standard deviations for $B^0 \to K^+ \pi^-$, including systematic uncertainties. Constraints on the Unitarity Triangle angle $\alpha$ are determined from the isospin relations among the $B \to \pi\pi$ rates and asymmetries. Considering only the solution preferred by the Standard Model, we find $\alpha$ to be in the range $[71^\circ,109^\circ]$ at the 68% confidence level.Comment: 18 pages, 11 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

In silico detection of dysregulated genes and molecular pathways in Alzheimer's disease as basis for food restoring approach

Forty-eight million people worldwide suffer from dementia, often associated with the growth of the elderly population. There are also concerns about the younger population, where increasing acute and chronic abuse of alcohol and neurotoxic substances may contribute to brain damage and the early onset of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) accounts for 60% of dementia cases and most therapies used so far have been unsuccessful. Genetic, epigenetic and vascular factors contribute to the pathogenesis of AD. Among the epigenetic mechanisms, modulation of microRNA (miRs) plays an important role. To detect genes and pathways involved in AD, we performed an original bioinformatic analysis of published Alzheimer’s dysregulated miRs using MIcroRNA ENrichment TURned NETwork (MIENTURNET) followed by Reactome tools. The interrogation of these platforms allowed us to discover common putative genes (by MIENTURNET) targeted by the dysregulated miRs and the pathways in which the set of altered genes are involved (by Reactome tool). Our in silico analysis showed that the β-catenin phosphorylation cascade and Netrin-1 signalling, resulted as the most significant. Lastly, based on the assumption that food bioactive compounds (BC) modulate miRs, which in turn modulate dysregulated genes and pathways associated with AD, a literature search demonstrated that some BC are indeed able to modulate dysregulated pathways and genes. Curcumin, osthole, puerarin, xanthoceraside, sulforaphane, salvianolic acid A, resveratrol and andrographolide lead to upregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Choline, methionine, folate and vitamin B6/B12 modulate the upregulation of the Netrin-1 pathway. In conclusion, our in silico analysis of miRs identified dysregulated genes and their associated pathways, paving interesting and new insights for diagnosis and for potential therapeutic interventions