Noninvasive Assessment of Neurodevelopmental Disorders after In Utero Irradiation in Mice: An In Vivo Anatomical and Diffusion MRI Study.

In utero exposure to ionizing radiation can lead to cerebral alterations during adulthood. Using anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), it is possible to assess radiation-induced structural brain damage noninvasively. However, little is currently known about microstructure alterations in brain tissue. Therefore, the goal of this study was to establish, based on an original and robust pipeline of MRI image analysis, whether the long-term effects of in utero radiation exposure on brain tissue microstructure could be detected noninvasively. Pregnant C57BL/6N mice received a single dose of 1 Gy on gestation day 14.5, which led to behavioral impairments in adults. At 3 months old, in vivo MRI data were acquired from in utero irradiated and nonirradiated male mice. An MRI protocol was designed to assess the effects of radiation on the parameters of brain volume, non-Gaussian diffusion (ADC0, kurtosis and signature index) and anisotropic diffusion (fractional anisotropy and mean, axial, radial diffusivities and anisotropic signature index) in 10 key cerebral structures defined using an in-house atlas of the mouse brain. Based on the relative amplitude of these anatomical and microstructural changes, maps of the radiosensitivity of the brain to in utero irradiation were created. We observed microcephaly in irradiated mice with noticeably larger volume changes in the cortex and the corpus callosum. We also observed significantly lower ADC0, anisotropy fraction (sFA), radial diffusivity (sRD), as well as signature index (S-index and SI3) values, which are original markers sensitive to tissue microstructure alterations. All these changes together are in favor of a decreased cellular "imprint" and in some regions a reduced density in myelinated axons. A reduction in the number and complexity of myelinated axons was further revealed by myelin basic protein immunostaining. Combining anatomical and diffusion MRI is a promising approach to noninvasively investigate the radiosensitivity of local brain areas in adult mice after in utero irradiation in terms of microstructure.

Polyelectrolyte multilayer film coating and stability at the surfaces of oral prosthesis base polymers: an in vitro and in vivo study.

A new type of coating involving a layer-by-layer technique has been recently reported. This coating is composed of a polyelectrolyte multilayer film that confers specific properties on surfaces to which it is applied. Here, we studied the applicability of such a technique to the coating of oral prostheses, by first testing the construction of polyelectrolyte multilayer films on several polymers used in oral prosthesis bases, and, subsequently, by studying the stability of these coatings in vitro, in human saliva, and in vivo in a rat model. We demonstrated that the multilayered films are able to coat the surfaces of all tested polymers completely, thus increasing their wettability. We also showed that saliva does not degrade the film after 7 days in vitro and after 4 days in vivo. Taken together, our results establish that the layer-by-layer technique is suitable for the coating of oral devices.

[Microbial contamination of the implant-abutment connections: Review of the literature]. / Pénétration microbienne dans la connectique pilier-implant : revue de littérature.

Today manufacturing process of dental implant parts allows for a precision of fit between implant and abutment of several microns. This microgap opens and closes under occlusal forces, leading to a pumping effect and to a contamination of the implant from bacteria and oral fluids. This kind of contamination is seen in all systems even if less often with internal connections that offers a better fit. Apart from this junction area, the screw well is another contamination pathway if the filling materials do not guarantee a hermetic sealing. The nature of contamination depends on the surrounding oral flora. When present, contamination leads to a persistent inflammatory reaction nearby the seal. The use of antiseptics or other materials for sealing the microgap decreases the risk of contamination and improves the gingival reaction. However, these solutions are time-limited.

Sudden death in patients without structural heart disease.

Sudden unexpected cardiac death generally occurs in persons with known or previously unrecognized heart disease. However, it has become evident that it occurs often enough in patients without any identifiable structural abnormality to warrant the cardiologist's attention. Mostly, it concerns young, active, and otherwise healthy individuals. This paper focuses on various categories of patients with life-threatening events considered to have occurred on a solely "electrical" basis. Currently, several entities are recognized with distinct electrophysiological abnormalities, including Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, long QT syndrome, the Brugada syndrome, short-coupled torsade de pointes, and catecholamine-induced polymorphic ventricular tachyarrhythmia. The remaining patients without such distinct abnormalities are categorized as having idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. Although mechanical cardiac function may seem normal, such patients might have certain discrete anatomic abnormalities, unidentifiable with current investigational tools. Possibly in the future, with development of newer and more sophisticated tools (magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, genetic testing), some or all cases of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation must be redefined as having specific genetic and/or anatomic bases. All patients successfully resuscitated from cardiac arrest due to ventricular tachyarrhythmia without clear precipitating factors (acute myocardial infarction, severe electrolyte or metabolic disturbances) are at high risk of recurrences. Long-term prophylactic therapy is indicated. Contrasting with older belief, survivors of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation are now also considered high-risk patients. The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator appears to be the safest and most effective therapy.

Left ventricular assist device in end-stage heart failure: persistence of structural myocyte damage after unloading. An immunohistochemical analysis of the contractile myofilaments.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to evaluate the contractile proteins in cardiomyocytes of patients with end-stage heart failure (HF) before and after mechanical support with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). BACKGROUND: Improvement of myocyte dysfunction has been suggested after LVAD support. METHODS: Fourteen patients' myocardial biopsies taken at the time of LVAD implantation and after explantation, at the time of heart transplantation, were processed for routine hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibodies against actin, myosin, tropomyosin, troponin C and T and titin. A grading scale from 1 (abnormal staining of all myocytes, no cross-striation) to 5 (normal fiber anatomy and striation) was used. The cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes was also measured. RESULTS: The cardiomyocytes' cross-sectional area decreased after support, from 519 +/- 94 microm(2) to 319 +/- 53 microm(2) (p < 0.001). Actin, tropomyosin, troponin C, troponin T and titin at the time of LVAD implantation showed widespread distortion of architecture; their grades were 1.4 +/- 0.6, 2.3 +/- 1.0, 2.1 +/- 0.9, 2.1 +/- 1.2 and 2.0 +/- 0.6, respectively. In contrast, myosin morphology was preserved (4.6 +/- 0.7). After LVAD support, actin, tropomyosin, troponin C, troponin T and titin showed improvement (grades 2.7 +/- 1.3 [p = 0.004], 3.2 +/- 1.2 [p = 0.021], 3.3 +/- 0.9 [p = 0.004], 3.0 +/- 1.1 [p = 0.048] and 3.1 +/- 0.9 [p = 0.001], respectively), but no normalization. The myosin pattern deteriorated slightly (3.6 +/- 1.6 [p = 0.058]). CONCLUSIONS: After LVAD support, during a period of 213 +/- 135 days in patients with end-stage HF, despite a decrease in the size of the cardiomyocytes, severe structural myocyte damage persisted. This does not support complete recovery of myocyte histologic features.

Polyelectrolyte multilayer films with pegylated polypeptides as a new type of anti-microbial protection for biomaterials.

Adhesion of bacteria at the surface of implanted materials is the first step in microbial infection, leading to post-surgical complications. In order to reduce this adhesion, we show that poly(L-lysine)/poly(L-glutamic acid) (PLL/PGA) multilayers ending by several PLL/PGA-g-PEG bilayers can be used, PGA-g-PEG corresponding to PGA grafted by poly(ethylene glycol). Streaming potential and quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation measurements were used to characterize the buildup of these films. The multilayer films terminated by PGA and PGA-g-PEG were found to adsorb an extremely small amount of serum proteins as compared to a bare silica surface but the PGA ending films do not reduce bacterial adhesion. On the other hand, the adhesion of Escherichia coli bacteria is reduced by 72% on films ending by one (PLL/PGA-g-PEG) bilayer and by 92% for films ending by three (PLL/PGA-g-PEG) bilayers compared to bare substrate. Thus, our results show the ability of PGA-g-PEG to be inserted into multilayer films and to drastically reduce both protein adsorption and bacterial adhesion. This kind of anti-adhesive films represents a new and very simple method to coat any type of biomaterials for protection against bacterial adhesion and therefore limiting its pathological consequences.

Radiation-induced upregulation of telomerase activity escapes PI3-kinase inhibition in two malignant glioma cell lines.

Tumor relapse after radiotherapy is a great concern in the treatment of high-grade gliomas. Inhibition of the PI3-kinase/AKT pathway is known to radiosensitize cancer cells and to delay their DNA repair after irradiation. In this study, we show that the radiosensitization of CB193 and T98G, two high-grade glioma cell lines, by the PI3K inhibitor LY294002, correlates with the induction of G1 and G2/M arrest, but is inconsistently linked to a delayed DNA double-strand break (DSBs) repair. The PI3K/AKT pathway has been shown to activate radioprotective factors such as telomerase, whose inhibition may contribute to the radiosensitization of cancer cells. However, we show that radiation upregulates telomerase activity in LY-294002-treated glioma cells as well as untreated controls, demonstrating a PI3K/AKT-independent pathway of telomerase activation. Our study suggests that radiosensitizing strategies based on PI3-kinase inhibition in high-grade gliomas may be optimized by additional treatments targeting either telomerase activity or telomere maintenance.

Surface roughness and morphology of three nanocomposites after two different polishing treatments by a multitechnique approach.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the surface roughness and morphology of three nanocomposites polished with two different polishing systems. METHODS: Specimens made of hybrid composite (Tetric Ceram [TC] as control) and nanocomposites: nanofilled (Filtek Supreme [FS]), nanofilled hybrid (Grandio [Gr]), complex nanofilled hybrid (Synergy D6 [Syn]) were polished with CompoSystem [CS] or Sof-Lex [SL] polishing discs. The average surface roughness (Ra) before and after polishing was measured using optical profilometry. Both AFM and SEM techniques were additionally used to analyze the surface morphology after polishing with the aim of relating the surface morphology and the surface roughness. Statistical analysis was done by ANOVA using a general linear model (alpha=0.05) with an adjustment for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Within the same polishing system, FS exhibited the smoothest surface, followed by Syn, TC and Gr (p<0.0001). Sof-Lex polishing discs produced the smoothest surface compared to CompoSystem (p<0.0001). AFM and SEM observations confirmed that the surface roughness was related to the surface morphology and to the average filler size. SIGNIFICANCE: Positive correlation between the average filler size and the surface roughness suggest that using nanoparticles in the formulation does not necessary improve the surface texture. The nanofilled composite FS, which contains only nanofillers, showed the best results when associated to Sof-Lex polishing discs.

Use of bar-clip attachments to enhance the retention of a maxillofacial prosthetic obturator: a clinical report.

Precision attachments are commonly used in prosthetic dentistry but are still questioned in maxillofacial prosthetics. The aesthetic enhancement and functional rigidity provided by attachments are favourable features to many challenging clinical situations such as class-III defect (Aramany's maxillectomy classification). Surgical reconstruction is the standard treatment for this type of defect repair. However, owing to the need for dental rehabilitation and patient reserve, prosthetic rehabilitation was the modality chosen in this clinical case. The use of bar attachments is described in this paper as providing increased stability and retention of the prosthesis, and improved obturator water and airtightness.

Multilayer polyelectrolyte films functionalized by insertion of defensin: a new approach to protection of implants from bacterial colonization.

Infection of implanted materials by bacteria constitutes one of the most serious complications following prosthetic surgery. In the present study, we developed a new strategy based on the insertion of an antimicrobial peptide (defensin from Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes) into polyelectrolyte multilayer films built by the alternate deposition of polyanions and polycations. Quartz crystal microbalance and streaming potential measurements were used to follow step by step the construction of the multilayer films and embedding of the defensin within the films. Antimicrobial assays were performed with two strains: Micrococcus luteus (a gram-positive bacterium) and Escherichia coli D22 (a gram-negative bacterium). The inhibition of E. coli D22 growth at the surface of defensin-functionalized films was found to be 98% when 10 antimicrobial peptide layers were inserted in the film architecture. Noticeably, the biofunctionalization could be achieved only when positively charged poly(l-lysine) was the outermost layer of the film. On the basis of the results of bacterial adhesion experiments observed by confocal or electron microscopy, these observations could result from the close interaction of the bacteria with the positively charged ends of the films, which allows defensin to interact with the bacterial membrane structure. These results open new possibilities for the use of such easily built and functionalized architectures onto any type of implantable biomaterial. The modified surfaces are active against microbial infection and represent a novel means of local host protection.