Minimally Invasive Approach for Diagnosing TMJ Osteoarthritis.

This study's objectives were to test correlations among groups of biomarkers that are associated with condylar morphology and to apply artificial intelligence to test shape analysis features in a neural network (NN) to stage condylar morphology in temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis (TMJOA). Seventeen TMJOA patients (39.9 ± 11.7 y) experiencing signs and symptoms of the disease for less than 10 y and 17 age- and sex-matched control subjects (39.4 ± 15.2 y) completed a questionnaire, had a temporomandibular joint clinical exam, had blood and saliva samples drawn, and had high-resolution cone beam computed tomography scans taken. Serum and salivary levels of 17 inflammatory biomarkers were quantified using protein microarrays. A NN was trained with 259 other condyles to detect and classify the stage of TMJOA and then compared to repeated clinical experts' classifications. Levels of the salivary biomarkers MMP-3, VE-cadherin, 6Ckine, and PAI-1 were correlated to each other in TMJOA patients and were significantly correlated with condylar morphological variability on the posterior surface of the condyle. In serum, VE-cadherin and VEGF were correlated with one another and with significant morphological variability on the anterior surface of the condyle, while MMP-3 and CXCL16 presented statistically significant associations with variability on the anterior surface, lateral pole, and superior-posterior surface of the condyle. The range of mouth opening variables were the clinical markers with the most significant associations with morphological variability at the medial and lateral condylar poles. The repeated clinician consensus classification had 97.8% agreement on degree of degeneration within 1 group difference. Predictive analytics of the NN's staging of TMJOA compared to the repeated clinicians' consensus revealed 73.5% and 91.2% accuracy. This study demonstrated significant correlations among variations in protein expression levels, clinical symptoms, and condylar surface morphology. The results suggest that 3-dimensional variability in TMJOA condylar morphology can be comprehensively phenotyped by the NN.

Surveying opinions of 149 registrants to the Research Registry: Awareness of and attitudes towards research registration.

BACKGROUND: Research registration is an important ethical principle in the Declaration of Helsinki, however, progress to increase registration has been slow. Understanding the attitudes of users towards registries may provide insights into increase research registration. In this survey-based study, we sought to gain insight from users of a single global research registry, the Research Registry® (www.researchregistry.com). METHODS: A Google Forms survey was created and emailed to all users of the Research Registry® (n = 1432). Multiple choice and free-text answers were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis respectively. RESULTS: From 925 contactable registrations, 149 (16.1%) completed the survey. The most commonly registered study type was retrospective cohort (32.2%). 23 registrations (15.4%) were made during the planning or conception of the study, whereas 67 (45.0%) registered at the time of journal submission, or during the peer review process. Of those that declared whether they had performed unregistered research or not, 51 (45.5%) participants had previously performed unregistered research. Registrants were most commonly made aware of the Research Registry® through submission to the International Journal of Surgery (IJS) family of journals (n = 57, 47.5%). Survey participants identified the most important features of registration to be its convenience, including the ease, time and cost of registration. Thematic analysis revealed the most common motive for registration to be as a mandatory requirement of journal submission, and that registration can be improved by simplification of the registration process. CONCLUSION: Registries must focus on engaging their network of users to ensure that research registration is a dynamic process. They need to adopt a user-centered and agile approach to their development, with a strong focus on "customer service". Moreover, by working in partnership with journals, it is possible to improve compliance with registration.

Benzoxazine resin/carbon nanotube nanostructured composite's degradation kinetic.

In the last decades a new class of thermoset phenolic resin is emerging as a substitute of the traditional epoxy and phenolic resins in the aircraft industry. This new class is called polybenzoxazines and its associates the epoxy resin's mechanical properties and phenolic resin's thermal and flame retardant properties, resulting in a resin with superior properties when analyzed with the others singly. The introduction of carbon nanotubes in low concentration into polymeric matrices can produce nanostructured materials with good properties. Thus, in this study, nanostructured composites of benzoxazine resin were processed with different concentration of carbon nanotubes (0.1%, 0.5% and 1.0% w/w). In order to evaluate the thermostability of the benzoxazine resin and its nanostructured composites, it was performed a degradation kinetic study using the thermogravimetric technique. For that, the analysis have been done with the temperature ranging from 25 degrees C to 1000 degrees C at nitrogen atmosphere (100 mL x min(-1)) and in different heating rates (2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 20 degrees C x min(-1)), in order to obtain the kinetic parameters (activation energy, E(a), and pre-exponential factor, A), based on Ozawa-Wall-Flynn model. The results showed excellent agreement between the thermogravimetric curves obtained and the Ozawa-Wall-Flynn method. The degradation kinetic study showed that the introduction of carbon nanotubes in the benzoxazine matrix does not change the thermostability of the resin, so that it does not have a significant influence in the shelf life of the material.

Sistemas de contención de órganos en movimiento: Radioterapia Adaptada a la Respiración (RAR) / Content systems of moving organs: radiotherapy adapted to respiration (RAR)

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Fibrinogen and plasminogen modifications during oral estradiol replacement therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of oral E2 replacement therapy on various hemostatic parameters and cardiovascular risk factors in healthy, postmenopausal women. DESIGN: A double-blind, randomized, prospective study comparing the effect of a placebo and of oral micronized E2 (2 mg daily) during a 6-month period. Evaluations were performed before treatment and after 3 and 6 months. SETTING: Departments of Gynecology, Hemostasis, and Nutrition, Hôtel-Dieu, Paris, France. PATIENT(S): Thirty-six healthy women with natural or surgical menopause. RESULT(S): Compared with placebo, oral E2 replacement therapy resulted in a significant decrease in fibrinogen and apo B and a significant increase in plasminogen. CONCLUSION(S): Besides the effects on lipoproteins, oral estrogen replacement therapy modifies parameters involved in coagulation and fibrinolysis.