Clinical and radiographic comparison of biodentine, mineral trioxide aggregate and formocresol as pulpotomy agents in primary molars.

AIM: To compare the clinical and radiographic success rates of three different pulpotomy agents in primary molars after 18 months. METHODS: The study was carried out with 51 primary molars of children aged 5-9 years old. The teeth were randomly assigned to the experimental or control groups. After coronal pulp removal and haemostasis, the remaining pulp tissue was covered with Biodentine® or mineral trioxide aggregate in the experimental groups. In the control group, formocresol was placed with a cotton pellet over the pulp tissue for 5 min and after removal the pulp tissue was covered with zinc oxide-eugenol (ZOE) paste. All teeth were immediately restored with reinforced ZOE base and resin modified glass-ionomer cement, and later with pre-formed metal crowns. Follow-up assessments were carried out after 3, 6, 12 and 18 months. RESULTS: Forty-five teeth were available for follow up at the end of 18 months. All of the available teeth for mineral trioxide aggregate and Biodentine® were clinically successful, as were 73.3% of the FC group. Radiographic success rate for the formocresol group at 18 months follow up was 73.3, 100% for mineral trioxide aggregate and 86.6% for Biodentine® group. CONCLUSION: Mineral Trioxide aggregate and Biodentine® showed more favourable results than formocresol.

Determining appropriate imaging parameters for kilovoltage intrafraction monitoring: an experimental phantom study.

Kilovoltage intrafraction monitoring (KIM) utilises the kV imager during treatment for real-time tracking of prostate fiducial markers. However, its effectiveness relies on sufficient image quality for the fiducial tracking task. To guide the performance characterisation of KIM under different clinically relevant conditions, the effect of different kV parameters and patient size on image quality, and quantification of MV scatter from the patient to the kV detector panel were investigated in this study. Image quality was determined for a range of kV acquisition frame rates, kV exposure, MV dose rates and patient sizes. Two methods were used to determine image quality; the ratio of kV signal through the patient to the MV scatter from the patient incident on the kilovoltage detector, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The effect of patient size and frame rate on MV scatter was evaluated in a homogeneous CIRS pelvis phantom and marker segmentation was determined utilising the Rando phantom with embedded markers. MV scatter incident on the detector was shown to be dependent on patient thickness and frame rate. The segmentation code was shown to be successful for all frame rates above 3 Hz for the Rando phantom corresponding to a kV to MV ratio of 0.16 and an SNR of 1.67. For a maximum patient dimension less than 36.4 cm the conservative kV parameters of 5 Hz at 1 mAs can be used to reduce dose while retaining image quality, where the current baseline kV parameters of 10 Hz at 1 mAs is shown to be adequate for marker segmentation up to a patient dimension of 40 cm. In conclusion, the MV scatter component of image quality noise for KIM has been quantified. For most prostate patients, use of KIM with 10 Hz imaging at 1 mAs is adequate however image quality can be maintained and imaging dose reduced by altering existing acquisition parameters.

Unilateral ataxia following herpes zoster of spinal C4 segment.

Focal lesions of central nervous system are extremely rare following cutaneous herpes zoster. A 55 year old male developed cerebellar speech, right sided ataxia and intention tremor, three weeks after herpes zoster of right spinal C4 segment. Clinical examination and investigations confirmed a focal vascular lesion in the midbrain suggestive of granulomatous angiitis which can cause focal neurological defect after herpes zoster.

Chemical Basis for Greenbug Resistance in Small Grains: II. Identification of the Major Neutral Metabolite of Benzyl Alcohol in Barley.

((14)C)Benzyl alcohol was administered either by uptake through the roots or by injection directly into the stems of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor. L Moench) and two strains of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). One strain of barley was susceptible to the greenbug (Schizaphis granium Rondani), and the other was greenbug-resistant. In all four plants, several radioactive metabolites were formed. The major neutral metabolite has been identified as benzyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside. This glucoside was found to have no biological activity against the greenbug under conditions in which the parent compound, benzyl alcohol, inhibits the reproduction of this insect pest.