Evaluation of Dentists' Attitudes Towards Principles of Professional Ethics.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research was to investigate attitudes towards principles of professional ethics (PPE) amongst Iranian dentists working in Isfahan, Iran. METHODS: This pilot cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 273 dentists in Isfahan, Iran. A validated, comprehensive questionnaire including principles of respect for patient autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice was used to evaluate dentistry professional ethics aspects. Age, gender, marital status, type of graduate university, level of education, specialised field of study, work experience, workplace, and participation in ethics workshops and courses were registered from participants. Total and domains scores of used questionnaires were calculated and compared across categories of study participants' characteristics. RESULTS: Mean ± SD age of participants was 35.4 ± 10.7 years, and 57% were female; about 73% graduated from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, and 65% were general dentists. The attitude total score of dentists towards PPE was 133.02 ± 13.16. Mean total score of the questionnaire and its domains was different significantly (P < .05) across categories of level of education, marital status, and passing the ethical courses. CONCLUSIONS: The attitude of dentists towards PPE was rated at a good level. However, improvement in attitudes of some specific subgroups such as general dentists and newly graduated ones is needed. Conducting specific workshops about professional ethics and incorporating these principles into university curricula can be beneficial.

Evaluation and comparison of the effect of incorporating zinc oxide and titanium dioxide nanoparticles on the bond strength and microleakage of two orthodontic fixed retainer adhesives.

BACKGROUND: An adhesive with both proper mechanical and antimicrobial properties seems to be beneficial. We aimed to investigate the effect of zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) on bond strength and microleakage of two different fixed retainer adhesives. METHODS: In this in vitro experimental study, 168 extracted human incisors were randomly divided into six groups of 28 (eight double-tooth specimens for the bond strength test and 12 specimens for the microleakage test). In three groups: Transbond XT (3M Unitek, Monrovia, CA) without NPs, with 1% ZnO NPs and with 1% TiO2 NPs were applied. The other three groups included Ortho Connect Flow (GC orthodontics, Tokyo, Japan) composite with the same order to bond a 0.175-inch multistrand wire to the lingual surfaces of the teeth. The bond strength was measured using the Universal Testing Machine, and the adhesive remnant index was reported using a stereomicroscope (Nikon, SMZ800, Tokyo, Japan). The dye-penetration method was used to determine the microleakage. RESULTS: For bond strength, there was no significant difference among groups. For microleakage, there was no significant difference between GC and Transbond XT groups. However, in subgroups of Transbond XT, the addition of TiO2 NPs increased the microleakage significantly in comparison with ZnO and control groups (P = 0.011). There was no significant statistical difference between the groups in terms of residual adhesives (P = 0.166). CONCLUSIONS: Through the incorporation of 1% TiO2 and ZnO NPs into the fixed retainer adhesive, the bond strength was maintained within the clinically acceptable range. The addition of TiO2 NPs to Transbond XT significantly increased the percentage of microleakage.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Axillary Ultrasonography Compared with Intra-operative Pathological Findings in Patients with Breast Cancer

Objective: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and leading cause of mortality in women worldwide. Diagnosis of axillary lymph node involvement, frequently by axillary ultrasonography (AUS), is an important step in patients with primary breast cancer, while the gold standard pathological examination is only applicable during surgery. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the predictive value of AUS in detection of lymph node involvement. Methods: A total of 56 patients with primary breast cancer, who were candidate of mastectomy were included in this study. A single radiologist performed pre-operative axillary sonography for all the patients and reported the results in a checklist. The results were then compared with intra-operative pathological results of lymph node dissection to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of AUS in detection of the disease. Result: The results showed that pre-operative AUS had a sensitivity of 63.3%, specificity of 84.6%, positive predictive value of 82.6%, and negative predictive value of 66.6%. Correlation between axillary lymph node characteristics revealed that the absence of fatty hilum, cortical thickness, and loss of ovality of the lymph nodes were the most specific factors in detection of lymph nodes' involvement. Conclusion: AUS has a low sensitivity and cannot determine the presence of micro-metastases and suspicious lymph nodes accurately in early stages of the disease, and it seems that defining new parameters may help for increasing the sensitivity and specificity of the axillary lymph node sonography. Apparently, pathological examination remains the gold standard diagnostic method.

A Novel Cell Therapy Method for Recovering after Brain Stroke in Rats.

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, stroke leads to a significant part of the adult mortality and morbidity and also it could result in some neurological deficits in the patients' lives. Cell therapy has opened a new approach to treat the brain ischemia and reduce its terrible effects on the patients' lives. There are several articles which show that the cell therapy could be beneficial for treating brain stroke. In this study, we have planned to present a new cell therapy method for stroke by administration of Mesenchymal stem cells and differentiated neural stem cells without astrocytes. METHOD AND MATERIALS: The Mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from tibia and femur of a 250~300 g rat and they were cultured in DMEM/F12, 10% fetal bovine serum, 1% Pen/Strep. Neural stem cells were isolated from 14 days rat embryo ganglion eminence and were cultured in NSA media containing Neurobasal, 2% B27, bFGF 10 ng/ml and EGF 20 ng/ml after 5 days they formed some neurospheres. The isolated neural stem cells were differentiated to neural lineages by adding 5% fetal bovine serum to their culture media. After 48 hours the astrocytes were depleted by using MACS kit. RESULTS: The group that received Mesenchymal stem cells systemically and differentiated neural stem cells without astrocytes had the best neurological outcomes and the least infarct volume and apoptosis. It could be understood that this cell therapy method might cause almost full recovery after brain stoke. CONCLUSION: Using combination cell therapy with Mesenchymal stem cells and differentiated neural stem cells with removed astrocyte could provide a novel method for curing brain stroke.

Combination cell therapy with mesenchymal stem cells and neural stem cells for brain stroke in rats.

OBJECTIVES: Brain stroke is the second most important events that lead to disability and morbidity these days. Although, stroke is important, there is no treatment for curing this problem. Nowadays, cell therapy has opened a new window for treating central nervous system disease. In some previous studies the Mesenchymal stem cells and neural stem cells. In this study, we have designed an experiment to assess the combination cell therapy (Mesenchymal and Neural stem cells) effects on brain stroke. METHOD AND MATERIALS: The Mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from adult rat bone marrow and the neural stem cells were isolated from ganglion eminence of rat embryo 14 days. The Mesenchymal stem cells were injected 1 day after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and the neural stem cells transplanted 7 day after MCAO. After 28 days, the neurological outcomes and brain lesion volumes were evaluated. Also, the activity of Caspase 3 was assessed in different groups. RESULT: The group which received combination cell therapy had better neurological examination and less brain lesion. Also the combination cell therapy group had the least Caspase 3 activity among the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The combination cell therapy is more effective than Mesenchymal stem cell therapy and neural stem cell therapy separately in treating the brain stroke in rats.