Antimicrobial effectiveness of root canal sealers against Enterococcus faecalis.

We evaluated four root canal sealers to determine their antimicrobial effectiveness against E. faecalis. The direct contact test was used to measure the effectiveness of the study materials and close contact between bacteria on the kinetics of bacterial growth. The agar diffusion test (ADT) was also performed for comparison. Using one-way ANOVA and the F-test, significant differences between the sealers were confirmed. Whereas BioRoot endodontic sealer had an antimicrobial effect statistically similar to the zinc oxide-eugenol control (p=.99), EndoSequence sealer and AH Plus sealer both had a significantly lower antimicrobial effect than the control (p=.0000266 and p=.0000068, respectively).

Dental iron precipitates in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a frequent worldwide disease. There are currently more than 46 million people who suffer this disease in North America and the Caribbean. The objective of this study was to determine if there is an association between DM and the presence of iron precipitates (Fe2+) in dental structure. The third molar was extracted for reasons that merit extraction from 40 individuals with and without DM to analyze dentin tissue. Horizontal and longitudinal slices of tooth samples were made and later stained with 10% potassium cyanoferrate. The samples were observed by optical microscope to identify basophilic elements. A nonparametric Spearman correlation was performed to find an association between the quantitative (gender, group, and dentinal tissue) and qualitative variables (gender). The Mann-Whitney U test was used to find differences in the means of the nonparametric variables in two different groups in relation to the P value (<0.05). Iron elements were found in the predentin and circumpulpal dentin areas, and the results obtained showed a statistically significant difference between dentin tissue from patients with diabetes and those without. Individuals with Type 2 DM are prone to present iron precipitates in predentin and circumpulpal dentin tissue. Few iron elements were found in dental organs of individuals without DM.

Circulating microRNA expression profile in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a highly diverse disease characterized by cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities, including altered microRNA (miRNA) expression signatures. AIM: We perform and validate a plasma miRNA expression profiling to identify potential miRNA involved in leukemogenesis METHODS: MiRNA expression profiling assay was realized in 39 B-ALL and 7 normal control plasma samples using TaqMan Low Density Array (TLDA) plates on Applied Biosystems 7900 HT Fast Real-Time PCR System. MiRNA validation was done for six miRNA differentially expressed by quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS: Seventy-seven circulating miRNA differentially expressed: hsa-miR-511, -222, and -34a were overexpressed, whereas hsa-miR-199a-3p, -223, -221, and -26a were underexpressed (p values < 0.005 for both sets). According to operating characteristic curve analysis, hsa-miR-511 was the most valuable biomarker for distinguishing B-ALL from normal controls, with an area under curve value of 1 and 100% for sensitivity, and specificity respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring circulating levels of specific miRNA implicated in regulation of cell differentiation and/or cell proliferation such as hsa-miRNA-511, offers high sensitivity and specificity in B-ALL detection and may be potentially useful for detection of disease progression, as indicator of therapeutic response, and in the assessment of biological and/or therapeutic targets for patients with B-ALL.