Cone-Beam Computed Tomographic Assessment of Mandibular Condylar Position in Patients with Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction and in Healthy Subjects

Statement of the Problem. The clinical significance of condyle-fossa relationships in the temporomandibular joint is a matter of controversy. Different studies have evaluated whether the position of the condyle is a predictor of the presence of temporomandibular disorder. Purpose. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the condylar position according to gender in patients with temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and healthy controls using cone-beam computed tomography. Materials and Methods. CBCT of sixty temporomandibular joints in thirty patients with TMD and sixty joints of thirty subjects without TMJ disorder was evaluated in this study. The condylar position was assessed on the CBCT images. The data were analyzed using Pearson chi-square test. Results. No statistically significant differences were found regarding the condylar position between symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. Posterior condylar position was more frequently observed in women and anterior condylar position was more prevalent in men in the symptomatic group. However, no significant differences in condylar position were found in asymptomatic subjects according to gender. Conclusion. This study showed no apparent association between condylar positioning and clinical findings in TMD patients

DICOM Data Transfer of Radiology Images based on Publish-Subscribe Software Architecture

Introduction: Various methods have been introduced for the offline exchange of radiological images between medical centers using technologies such as CD or E-mail. Costly infrastructures such as PACS have also been introduced to exchange images in a medical center. But these methods or dedicated networks between various centers are practically impossible.Methods: In this observational study, publish-subscribe software architecture is presented to facilitate communication between medical centers, considering the challenge of scalability. This approach transfers the images in DICOM format to the publish/subscribe server. Other medical centers receive the images by subscribing to this service and specifying their interesting images.Results: The simulation results of this architecture on a data set of DICOM images and the number of publishers and subscribers showed that the system’s response time does not increase much   and it maintains an appropriate data transfer speed while the number of users increases. For this reason, it has good scalability.Conclusion: Implementing the publish-subscribe architecture showed that eliminating the dependency between imaging and medical centers makes implementing and interacting with users easier. From this point of view, this architecture has excellent potential to create an infrastructure for sharing images between medical centers

Concurrent Odontogenic Keratocyst and Odontoma: Report of an Unusual and Rare Entity

Hybrid lesions of jaws are rare entities defined as two different lesions co-occurring in the same location, with identical histopathological origin. Ameloblastoma, calcifying cystic odontogenic tumor and odontoma are among the most common lesions that have been reported to combine with other lesions. In this study, a hybrid lesion of odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) and odontoma in the mandible of a forty-five years old male reported. Additional to the rarity of this hybrid lesion, the present case had unique radiologic features, including atypical location and extension of the lesion and profound knife-edge root resorption of the teeth in the area, which was not a common feature for any of the two lesions. The surgical procedure was marsupialization to reduce the size of the lesion. As a result of the surgery, the healing of the surgical wound was uneventful. In addition, careful follow-up for the patient was conducted, which had no recurrence till now (after 15 months)

Cone-Beam Computed Tomographic Assessment of Mandibular Condylar Position in Patients with Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction and in Healthy Subjects

Statement of the Problem. The clinical significance of condyle-fossa relationships in the temporomandibular joint is a matter of controversy. Different studies have evaluated whether the position of the condyle is a predictor of the presence of temporomandibular disorder. Purpose. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the condylar position according to gender in patients with temporomandibular disorder (TMD) and healthy controls using cone-beam computed tomography. Materials and Methods. CBCT of sixty temporomandibular joints in thirty patients with TMD and sixty joints of thirty subjects without TMJ disorder was evaluated in this study. The condylar position was assessed on the CBCT images. The data were analyzed using Pearson chi-square test. Results. No statistically significant differences were found regarding the condylar position between symptomatic and asymptomatic groups. Posterior condylar position was more frequently observed in women and anterior condylar position was more prevalent in men in the symptomatic group. However, no significant differences in condylar position were found in asymptomatic subjects according to gender. Conclusion. This study showed no apparent association between condylar positioning and clinical findings in TMD patients

Resisting silence:Moments of empowerment in Iranian women's blogs

This paper illustrates how women in Iran use blogs to write about their relationships and feelings as a way of providing momentarily empowerment in a society that places restrictions on their freedom. We examine a relatively under-explored form of blogging, common to Iran, which we call 'love blogging', and we carry out a qualitative analysis of a small sample of four blog postings from different Iranian women which are used to illustrative different techniques that women use in order to challenge hegemonic gendered discourses in their society. We show how Iranian women use blogs as a way of revealing their innermost thoughts, creating alternative identities and articulating what is left 'unsaid' to their partners. The postings chosen highlight the disempowered status of women in Iranian society, from staying at home to carry out servicework to cases of marital rape and other forms of violence which Iranian women are expected to silently endure. The blog postings also indicate how women use techniques to avoid censorship, including use of metaphor, ambiguity, altered idioms and images

Dental Caries Detection and Classification in CBCT Images Using Deep Learning

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of deep learning algorithms to diagnose tooth caries and classify the extension and location of dental caries in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the application of deep learning for dental caries in CBCT images. Methods: The CBCT image dataset comprised 382 molar teeth with caries and 403 noncarious molar cases. The dataset was divided into a development set for training and validation and test set. Three images were obtained for each case, including axial, sagittal, and coronal. The test dataset was provided to a multiple-input convolutional neural network (CNN). The network made predictions regarding the presence or absence of dental decay and classified the lesions according to their depths and types for the provided samples. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1 score values were measured for dental caries detection and classification. Results: The diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and F1 score for caries detection in carious molar teeth were 95.3%, 92.1%, 96.3%, and 93.2%, respectively, and for noncarious molar teeth were 94.8%, 94.3%, 95.8%, and 94.6%. The CNN network showed high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy in classifying caries extensions and locations. Conclusions: This research demonstrates that deep learning models can accurately identify dental caries and classify their depths and types with high accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. The successful application of deep learning in this field will undoubtedly assist dental practitioners and patients in improving diagnostic and treatment planning in dentistry. Clinical significance: : This study showed that deep learning can accurately detect and classify dental caries. Deep learning can provide dental caries detection accurately. Considering the shortage of dentists in certain areas, using CNNs can lead to broader geographic coverage in detecting dental caries

Comment on Sundseth et al. Global Sources and Pathways of Mercury in the Context of Human Health. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 105

It was with great interest that we read the article by Sundseth et al. [1] entitled Global Sources and Pathways of Mercury in the Context of Human Health which is published in the Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017, 14, 105; doi:10.3390/ijerph14010105.[...