Evaluation of Possible Associated Factors for Early Childhood Caries and Severe Early Childhood Caries: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Survey.

OBJECTIVES: The present study evaluated associated factors for developing early childhood caries (ECC) and Severe-ECC (S-ECC) in a group of children aged 24-71 months. Potential positive effects of early dental visit on formation of ECC is investigated as well. STUDY DESIGN: This was a multicenter, cross-sectional study conducted at three governmental and university pediatric dentistry clinics in 408 preschool children who were randomly selected from a total of 4116 children. The questionnaires administered to the mothers by interview and intraoral examination performed by calibrated pediatric dentists. The children were evaluated in three groups according to their caries experience as who had caries free, ECC and S-ECC. RESULTS: The following factors were significantly associated with caries formation: 1. Prolonged (i.e., >18 months) breastfeeding in preterm babies (OR=2.4) 2. Prolonged breastfeeding in children who started tooth brushing after 1.5 years of age (OR=3.7), 3. Sugar (p<0.001) and fruit-juice consumption (p<0.0001), and 4. Lack of periodic dental examination (p<0.05). Parental smoking habit does not significantly affect ECC development. Nocturnal bottle feeding and nocturnal feeding also affected S-ECC formation significantly (p=0.043 and p=0.005, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant difference between the children with caries and caries-free associated with the brushing initiation age started before or after 18 months. If a child is under the risk of multiple caries factors, it is very difficult to evaluate which habits affect the caries formation or increase the severity of the caries lesions.

Candida albicans and Pseudomonas aeruginosa adhesion on soft contact lenses.

BACKGROUND: In this study it was aimed to determine the adherence of Pseudomonas and Candida to contact lens surfaces, and to determine the difference in adherence between five contact lens types. Biofilm-negative control strains were also used to emphasize the difference between biofilm-positive and biofilm-negative strains in adherence. METHODS: Five different soft contact lenses were used to investigate the adherence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans strains. P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853, P. aeruginosa ATCC 10145, C.albicans ATCC 10231 standard strains and C. albicans clinical isolate were included in the study. Slime formation was investigated by two methods; modified Christensen macrotube method, and a modified microtiter plate test. P. aeruginosa and C. albicans slime formation on soft contact lenses was studied in adherence and separation phases. Pseudomonas and Candida suspensions were serially diluted and inoculated to blood agar and sabouraud dextrose agar surfaces respectively. After overnight incubation, the colonies were counted. Sterile unworn contact lenses were used as negative controls, and bacterial and fungal culture suspensions were used as positive controls. The experiments were conducted in three parallel series. RESULTS: The number of adherent Pseudomonas was as follows from high to low in polymacon, etafilcon A, hilafilcon, ocufilcon and lotrafilcon contact lenses respectively. However, the number of adherent yeast were determined higher in lotrafilcon and ocufilcon contact lenses, followed by hilafilcon, etafilcon A and polymacon contact lenses. Biofilm-negative Pseudomonas ATCC standard strain and Candida clinical isolate were used to confirm that the number of adherent cells were lower than the biofilm-positive ones. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that in addition to the contact lens properties, the microorganisms themselves and their interactions with the lens material also play an important role in adherence.

Use of aromatase inhibitors in poor-responder patients receiving GnRH antagonist protocols.

The efficacy of aromatase inhibitors incorporated in the ovarian stimulation protocols of poor-responder patients undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer cycles was investigated. A total of 70 poor-responder patients were randomized into two groups on day 3 of their menstrual cycle. In Group A, an aromatase inhibitor (letrozole, 5 mg/day) was administered along with a fixed dosage (450 IU/day) of recombinant FSH (rFSH), whereas Group B were treated with the same rFSH dosage alone. A flexible regimen of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone antagonist was administered in both groups. The mean total dose of rFSH (2980 +/- 435 IU versus 3850 +/- 580 IU, P < 0.05) and serum concentrations of oestradiol on the day of human chorionic gonadotrophin administration (1870 +/- 159 pg/ml versus 2015 +/- 175 pg/ml, P < 0.05) were significantly lower in Group A compared with Group B, respectively. The rate of cycle cancellation due to poor ovarian response was lower in Group A (8.6%) than in Group B (28.6%), ( P < 0.05). The costs of achieving a clinical pregnancy were US$11560 and US$17584, and the clinical pregnancy rates per embryo transfer were 25.8% and 20%, in groups A and B, respectively. In conclusion, adjunctive letrozole administration seems to restore an IVF cycle by decreasing the rate of cycle cancellation and seems to reduce the cost by reducing the total gonadotrophin dosage.

The effect of L-NAME administrations after oral mucosal incision on wound NO level in rabbit.

The aim of the current study was to comparatively investigate the effect of inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) production by N-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), an isoform non-specific inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), after oral mucosal incision on wound tissue NO levels. A standard incision was applied to the oral mucosa of rabbits. After oral mucosal incision, rabbits were divided into five groups as follows: (1) Untreated incisional group (control); (2) Titanium (Ti) implanted group; (3) Ti + Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 4000 implanted group; (4) Ti + PEG 4000 + L-NAME (2 x 10(-4) M) implanted group and (5) i.p. L-NAME administrated group (10 mg/kg). At 5 days after oral incision operations, wound tissue strips and plasma were obtained from rabbits. Oral wound tissue and plasma nitric oxide, plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and total sulfhydryl group (RSH) levels were investigated. Plasma TBARS and NOx levels decreased after i.p. L-NAME administration. Total RSH group levels were not changed in all groups (p>0.05). This means that L-NAME inhibits the deteriorating effects of free radicals without affecting healing. L-NAME in PEG and titanium also has no effect on tissue and plasma NOx levels. These findings indicate that NO generation will not be affected both Ti and local nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor.