In-office bleaching with complete cervical third protection protocol: A split-mouth, double-blind, randomized clinical trial.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the bleaching sensitivity and the bleaching effectiveness of in-office bleaching, following a protocol of complete cervical third protection with gingival dam in comparison with a traditional manner of applying gingival dam (used only in the gingival sulcus area). METHODS: 35 participants were selected for this double-blind split-mouth randomized clinical trial. The control group received the gingival barrier in the traditional manner, and in the experimental group the barrier was extended by about 3 mm to include the cervical region. The bleaching agent was applied in two sessions. The risk and intensity of bleaching sensitivity were assessed using two scales. The bleaching effectiveness was evaluated with a digital spectrophotometer with the tip placed in the cervical area. The absolute risk of bleaching sensitivity was compared by the McNemar's test and bleaching effectiveness (ΔEab, ΔE00 and ΔWi) and intensity of bleaching sensitivity was evaluated by Wilcoxon-paired test (α= 0.05). RESULTS: No significant difference at risk (P= 1.0) and intensity of bleaching sensitivity (P> 0.45) was seen between groups. After 30 days, bleaching effectiveness had no statistical difference between the groups (P> 0.09). CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Extending the barrier in the cervical region of teeth did not reduce the risk and intensity of bleaching sensitivity, nor jeopardize the bleaching effectiveness.

Carboxymethylcellulose biofunctionalized ternary quantum dots for subcellular-targeted brain cancer nanotheranostics.

Among the most lethal forms of cancer, malignant brain tumors persist as one of the greatest challenges faced by oncologists, where nanotechnology-driven theranostics can play a critical role in developing novel polymer-based supramolecular nanoarchitectures with multifunctional and multi-modal characteristics to fight cancer. However, it is virtually a consensus that, besides the complexity of active delivering anticancer drugs by the nanocarriers to the tumor site, the current evaluation methods primarily relying on in vitro assays and in vivo animal models have been accounted for the low translational effectiveness to clinical applications. In this view, the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay has been increasingly recognized as one of the best preclinical models to study the effects of anticancer drugs on the tumor microenvironment (TME). Thus, in this study, we designed, characterized, and developed novel hybrid nanostructures encompassing chemically functionalized carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) with mitochondria-targeting pro-apoptotic peptide (KLA) and cell-penetrating moiety (cysteine, CYS) with fluorescent inorganic semiconductor (Ag-In-S, AIS) for simultaneously bioimaging and inducing glioblastoma cancer cell (U-87 MG, GBM) death. The results demonstrated that the CMC-peptide macromolecules produced supramolecular vesicle-like nanostructures with aqueous colloidal stability suitable as nanocarriers for passive and active targeting of cancer tumors. The optical properties and physicochemical features of the nanoconjugates confirmed their suitability as photoluminescent nanoprobes for cell bioimaging and intracellular tracking. Moreover, the results in vitro demonstrated a notable killing activity towards GBM cells of cysteine-bearing CMC conjugates coupled with pro-apoptotic KLA peptides. More importantly, compared to doxorubicin (DOX), a model anticancer drug in chemotherapy that is highly toxic, these innovative nanohybrids nanoconjugates displayed higher lethality against U-87 MG cancer cells. In vivo CAM assays validated these findings where the nanohybrids demonstrated a significant reduction of GBM tumor progression (41% area) and evidenced an antiangiogenic activity. These results pave the way for developing polymer-based hybrid nanoarchitectonics applied as targeted multifunctional theranostics for simultaneous imaging and therapy against glioblastoma while possibly reducing the systemic toxicity and side-effects of conventional anticancer chemotherapeutic agents.