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Aim: To analyse the prevalence of periapical lesions and their association with previous root canal treatment, root canal filling length and type of coronal restoration using in vivo cone‐beam computed tomographic (CBCT) assessment. Methodology: A global sample of 20 836 teeth, with a combined total of 27 046 roots, from 1160 patients, was analysed via CBCT assessment in eight health centres. Each tooth was evaluated by one out of five examiners after having performed a defined calibration procedure on the basis of 319 teeth. Intra‐ and inter‐rater reliability tests were performed. Each tooth was classified according the tooth number, presence/absence of periapical lesions, presence/absence of previous root canal treatment, length of root canal filling (short, good or overfilling) and type of coronal restoration. The z‐test for proportions was used to analyse differences between tooth subgroups, and an odds ratio was determined in order to analyse the association between treatment status and periapical lesions. A P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: At a tooth level, the overall prevalence of periapical lesions in the sample was 10.4%. Maxillary teeth were associated with a significantly larger percentage of lesions (13.1%), whilst maxillary first molars had the greater proportion of lesions (21.2%). The prevalence of periapical lesions was significantly larger in root filled teeth (55.5%), short root canal fillings (72.7%) and in teeth restored with crowns (46.1%). At a root level, the mesiobuccal roots of both maxillary first molars had a tendency for a larger percentage of periapical lesions. Conclusion: History of root canal treatment, root canal filling length and type of coronal restoration influenced the presence of periapical lesions. Molars were more commonly associated with periapical lesions on root filled teeth, particularly those with short root fillings and those with crowns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The electrodeposition of gold from a HAuCl4.3H2O solution in 1-butyl-1-methyl-pyrrolidinium dicyanamide is reported in the present paper. A cyclic voltammetry study of the electrochemical behaviour of the plating solution showed that the reduction of gold occurs by a two-step process. Gold thin films were obtained by electrodeposition on nickel substrates under potentiostatic control at a constant potential of −1V, for temperatures from 293 to 353K and deposition times of 1500 and 4500s. The films prepared at 293 and 333K consist of 9–15nm diameter polyhedral particles aggregated in clusters 50–250nm in diameter. The films deposited at 353K consist of a quasi-continuous film of nanoparticles covered by nanosized dendrites. This morphology evolves towards a globular structure with increasing deposition time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background and Purpose: Deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) protects critical organs-at-risk (OARs) for adjuvant breast radiotherapy. Guidance systems e.g. surface guided radiation therapy (SGRT) improve the positional breast reproducibility and stability during DIBH. In parallel, OARs sparing with DIBH is enhanced through different techniques e.g. prone position, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). By inducing repeated DIBH with the same level of positive pressure, mechanically-assisted and non-invasive ventilation (MANIV) could potentially combine these DIBH optimizations., Materials and Methods: We conducted a randomized, open-label, multicenter and single-institution non-inferiority trial. Sixty-six patients eligible for adjuvant left whole-breast radiotherapy in supine position were equally assigned between mechanically-induced DIBH (MANIV-DIBH) and voluntary DIBH guided by SGRT (sDIBH). The co-primary endpoints were positional breast stability and reproducibility with a non-inferiority margin of 1 mm. Secondary endpoints were tolerance assessed daily via validated scales, treatment time, dose to OARs and their inter-fraction positional reproducibility., Results: Differences between both arms for positional breast reproducibility and stability occurred at a sub-millimetric level (p < 0.001 for non-inferiority). The left anterior descending artery near-max dose (14,6 ± 12,0 Gy vs. 7,7 ± 7,1 Gy, p = 0,018) and mean dose (5,0 ± 3,5 Gy vs. 3,0 ± 2,0 Gy, p = 0,009) were improved with MANIV-DIBH. The same applied for the V 5Gy of the left ventricle (2,4 ± 4,1 % vs. 0,8 ± 1,6 %, p = 0,001) as well as for the left lung V 20Gy (11,4 ± 2,8 % vs. 9,7 ± 2,7 %, p = 0,019) and V 30Gy (8,0 ± 2,6 % vs. 6,5 ± 2,3 %, p = 0,0018). Better heart's inter-fraction positional reproducibility was observed with MANIV-DIBH. Tolerance and treatment time were similar., Conclusion: Mechanical ventilation provides the same target irradiation accuracy as with SGRT while better protecting and repositioning OARs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The urge for the development of a more efficient antibiotic crystalline forms led us to the disclosure of new antibiotic coordination frameworks of pyrazinamide, a well-known drug used for the treatment of tuberculosis, with some of the novel compounds unravelling improved antimycobacterial activity. Mechanochemistry was the preferred synthetic technique to yield novel compounds, allowing the reproduction of a 1D zinc framework, the synthesis of a novel hydrogen bonding manganese framework, and three new compounds with silver. The structural characterization of the novel forms is presented along with stability studies. The increased antimicrobial activity of the new silver-based frameworks against Escherichia coli , Staphylococcus aureus, and Mycobacterium smegmatis is particularly relevant.

Aim: In this study, we intend to compare two different setup procedures for female breast cancer patients., Background: Imaging in radiotherapy provides a precise localization of the tumour, increasing the accuracy of the treatment delivery in breast cancer., Materials and Methods: Twenty breast cancer patients who underwent whole breast radiotherapy (WBRT) were selected for this study. Patients were divided into two groups of ten. Group one (G1) was positioned by tattoos and then the patient positioning was adjusted with the aid of AlignRT (Vision RT, London, UK). In group two (G2), patients were positioned only by tattoos. For both groups, the first 15 fractions were analyzed, a daily kilovoltage (kV) cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) image was made and then the rotational and translational displacements and, posteriorly, the systematic ( Σ ) and random ( σ ) errors were analyzed., Results: The comparison of CBCT displacements for the two groups showed a statistically significant difference in the translational left-right (LR) direction ( ρ  = 0.03), considering that the procedure with AlignRT system has smaller lateral displacements. The results of systematic ( Σ ) and random ( σ ) errors showed that for translational displacements the group positioned only by tattoos (G2) demonstrated higher values of errors when compared with the group positioned with the aid of AlignRT (G1)., Conclusions: AlignRT could help the positioning of breast cancer patients; however, it should be used with another imaging method.

Mechanochemistry is a powerful and environmentally friendly synthetic technique successfully employed in different fields of synthetic chemistry. Application spans from organic to inorganic chemistry including the synthesis of coordination compounds. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of compounds with numerous applications, from which we highlight herein their application in the pharmaceutical field (BioMOFs), whose importance has been growing and is now assuming a relevant and promising domain. The need to find cleaner, greener and more energy and material-efficient synthetic procedures led to the use of mechanochemistry into the synthesis of BioMOFs.

Objectives: In a short approach, we want to present the improvements that have recently been done in the world of new solid forms of known active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The different strategies will be addressed, and successful examples will be given., Key Findings: This overview presents a possible step to overcome the 10-15 years of hard work involved in launching a new drug in the market: the use of new forms of well-known APIs, and improve their efficiency by enhancing their bioavailability and pharmacokinetics. It discusses some of the latest progresses., Summary: We want to present, in a brief overview, what recently has been done to improve the discovery of innovative methods of using well-known APIs, and improve their efficiency. Multicomponent crystal forms have shown to be the most promising achievements to accomplish these aims, by altering API physico-chemical properties, such as solubility, thermal stability, shelf life, dissolution rate and compressibility. API-ionic liquids (ILs) and their advantages will be briefly referred. An outline of what has recently been achieved in metal drug coordination and in drug storage and delivery using bio-inspired metal-organic frameworks (BioMOFs) will also be addressed., (© 2015 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.)

Introduction: The C-shaped configuration is rare in the upper first molar.The purpose of this article is to present 2 cases diagnosed during endodontic therapy and perform a literature review of this anatomy in the upper first molar., Methods: Endodontic therapy was performed by using a dental operating microscope and a cone-beam computed tomography analysis for better understanding of this anatomy. A literature search was conducted to identify and compare all the published cases of C-shaped upper first molar., Results: Before the cases reported in this article, only 5 cases were available in the published literature. Three different types of C-shaped configurations in the upper first molar have been presented., Conclusions: The C-shaped maxillary first molar is a rare anatomic configuration. The use of the dental operating microscope may help in the endodontic therapy of these cases. Three types of C-shaped configurations have been reported; the fusion of the distobuccal root with the palatal root appears to be the most usual one., (Copyright © 2013 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)