A prospective, multicentre study of 6-mm short implants in posterior alveolar bone supporting splinted crowns: A 5-year follow-up study.

AIM: To evaluate the clinical and radiographic outcomes of 6-mm short implants, placed in the posterior jaws and supporting splinted crowns, at 5 years after early loading. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-five patients with 95 implants (diameter: 4 mm; length: 6 mm) were enrolled at three centres. Two to three implants were placed in either the maxillary or the mandibular posterior region in each patient and restored with screw-retained splinted crowns at 6 weeks later. Clinical and radiographic outcomes were evaluated at implant placement, at loading, and at 6, 12, 24, 36, and 60 months after loading. Biological and mechanical complications were recorded. Marginal changes in bone level in relation to clinical parameters were evaluated using a generalized linear mixed model. RESULTS: During the 5 years of follow-up, the mean change in the marginal bone level (MBL) was 0.04 ± 0.14 mm. Four implants in four patients were lost before loading, one implant in one patient was lost at the 5-year follow-up, and two patients were lost to follow-up. The survival and success rates were 88.4% (38/43) at the patient level. The incidence rates of peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis were 29.4% and 7.0%, respectively. The rate of technical complications was 14.0%. CONCLUSIONS: Over a 5-year period, 6-mm short implants supporting early loaded splinted crowns in maxillary or mandibular posterior regions showed stable MBLs and acceptable technical and biological complication rates.

iRGD conjugated TPGS mediates codelivery of paclitaxel and survivin shRNA for the reversal of lung cancer resistance.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the major obstacles in tumor treatment. Herein, we reported an active targeting strategy with peptide-mediated nanoparticles deep into tumor parenchyma, which iRGD conjugated d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) mediated codelivery of paclitaxel (PTX) and survivin shRNA (shSur) for the reversal of lung cancer resistance. Pluronic P85-polyethyleneimine/TPGS complex nanoparticles incorporated with iRGD-TPGS conjugate codelivering PTX and shSur systems (iPTPNs) could induce effective cellular uptake, RNAi effects, and cytotoxicity on A549 and A549/T cells. In particular, iPTPNs showed superiority in biodistribution, survivin expression, tumor apoptosis, and antitumor efficacy by simultaneously exerting an enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect and iRGD mediated active targeting effects. iPTPNs significantly enhanced the accumulation of PTX and shSur, down-regulated survivin expression, and induced cell apoptosis in tumor tissue. The in vivo antitumor efficacy showed the tumor volume of iPTPNs group (10 mg/kg) was only 12.7% of the Taxol group. Therefore, the iRGD mediated PTX and shSur codelivery system could be a very powerful approach for the reversal and therapy of lung cancer resistance.