2023-2024 American Board of Orthodontics practice analysis study: Part 1.

As a specialty board, the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) serves to protect the public and the orthodontic specialty by certifying orthodontists. The demonstration of commitment to lifelong learning and self-improvement is critical to achieving the highest level of patient care. The ABO completed a practice analysis study in 2023 to ensure all examinations represent current assessments of proficiency in orthodontics at a level of quality that satisfies professional expectations. The practice analysis is essential to providing a demonstrable relationship between the examination content and orthodontic practice and provides a critical foundation for ABO's examination programs.

Senatore cappelli (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum) pasta: a study on the nutritional quality of whole grains and its physical form.

Pasta is one of the components of the Mediterranean Diet, despite considerable attention given, its use is still debated. Several studies encouraged the consumption of whole grain because of its many properties and the positive association between refined carbohydrates and insulin resistance, by measuring the Glycaemic Index (GI), an indicator of the physiological effects of a carbohydrate meal. In this study, the GI and polyphenol content of Senatore Cappelli (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum) pasta were evaluated. Using spectrophotometric methods, total polyphenols and flavonoids were found to be 113.5 mg/100 g and 52.96 mg/100 g, respectively. To measure the GI, a standard assay was performed, and values of 47.9 ± 5.2 for long format pasta and 68.5 ± 4.6 for short format pasta were obtained. The present study confirms the presence of polyphenols and flavonoids in pasta Senatore Cappelli. The value of GI is influenced by the pasta shape. These informations could provide valuable data for practitioners preparing personalised diets.

Evaluation of Soil Management Effect on Crop Productivity and Vegetation Indices Accuracy in Mediterranean Cereal-Based Cropping Systems.

Mostly, precision agriculture applications include the acquisition and elaboration of images, and it is fundamental to understand how farmers' practices, such as soil management, affect those images and relate to the vegetation index. We investigated how long-term conservation agriculture practices, in comparison with conventional practices, can affect the yield components and the accuracy of five vegetation indexes. The experimental site is a part of a long-term experiment established in 1994 and is still ongoing that consists of a rainfed 2-year rotation with durum wheat and maize, where two unfertilized soil managements were repeated in the same plots every year. This study shows the superiority of no tillage over conventional tillage for both nutritional and productive aspects on durum wheat. The soil management affects the vegetation indexes' accuracy, which is related to the nitrogen nutrition status. No-tillage management, which is characterized by a higher content of soil organic matter and nitrogen availability into the soil, allows obtaining a higher accuracy than the conventional tillage. So, the users of multispectral cameras for precision agriculture applications must take into account the soil management, organic matter, and nitrogen content.

American Board of Orthodontics: Progress of the scenario-based clinical examination.

In 2017, the directors of the American Board of Orthodontics (ABO) decided to move forward with a new clinical examination format-a scenario-based examination. The first examination of this type was administered in February 2019, and 2 more exams have been given since then. Each examination consisted of at least 6 scenarios with 4-7 questions for each scenario. Questions came from 4 domains or categories-data gathering and diagnosis, treatment objectives and planning, treatment implementation and management, and critical analysis and outcomes assessment. As of today, 49% of members of the American Association of Orthodontists are ABO certified. For more information about the scenario-based examination and ABO certification or certification renewal processes, go to AmericanBoardOrtho.com.

Corticotomy-assisted adult rapid maxillary arch expansion and ridge augmentation: An interdisciplinary case report with 7-year follow-up.

Adult orthodontic treatment involving maxillary transverse deficiency is a challenge for an interdisciplinary team. Surgically assisted rapid palatal expansion to segment the maxilla was once the treatment of choice, but the invasiveness, bone deficiency, and gingival recession hindered its acceptance. Corticotomy-assisted rapid maxillary arch expansion with ridge augmentation has the advantage of augmenting alveolar bony housing to accommodate and facilitate tooth movement. This approach was used to correct a severely constricted maxilla with bilateral posterior crossbite and anterior crowding in a 46-year-old man. Treatment time was 14 months. The accelerated arch expansion overcame the crossbite in 7 months, increasing intercanine distance by 5.2 mm and intermolar distance by 9.8 mm. Subsequent implant prosthesis was able to be restored in a functional normal occlusion. Satisfactory and stable clinical outcome was followed for 7 years. Corticotomy-assisted rapid maxillary arch expansion with alveolar bone augmentation is a novel and effective interdisciplinary approach for correcting adult maxillary transverse deficiency. Well controlled prospective clinical trails are warranted for further investigation.

American Board of Orthodontics: Update on the new scenario-based clinical examination.

The American Board of Orthodontics has updated its clinical examination process to remove barriers to the case-based examination, strengthen the specialty, and further distinguish board-certified orthodontists from other dental practitioners providing orthodontic care. The ABO adopted a scenario-based clinical examination and discontinued case requirements. The first new exam was administered in February 2019. It consisted of 6 scenarios with 4-7 questions for each scenario. The scenarios represent a variety of problems and patients, and the questions relate to data gathering and diagnosis, treatment objectives and planning, treatment implementation and management, and critical analysis and outcomes assessment. Feedback from the February 2019 exam was positive, and 4 more have been scheduled. For more information about the ABO certification process, go to AmericanBoardOrtho.com.

Contemporary Class II Division 2 nonextraction adult treatment.

Achieving ideal results when treating a difficult malocclusion is a challenge that orthodontists frequently encounter. Maintaining those results is sometimes more challenging than the correction itself. As specialists in orthodontics, we should be able to apply bone physiology concepts during the diagnosis and treatment planning process and predict how bone will react after biomechanical stimuli. Understanding bone physiology and the biology of tissue response during orthodontic tooth movement should allow us to develop the proper mechanical design and consequently the therapeutic procedures necessary to achieve the expected tooth position and bone architecture. Surgically facilitated orthodontic therapy uses basic bone biology and physiologic bone turnover procedures as well as basic orthodontic biomechanical principles to correct dental malocclusions in the shortest, safest, and most conservative manner. The correction of such malocclusions with this approach is expected to be functional and stable.

Potentialities of aqueous extract from cultivated Onopordum tauricum (Willd.) as milk clotting agent for cheesemaking.

In Western and Central Mediterranean countries proteases from wild herbaceous perennial plants commonly known as "thistles" have been used as milk coagulants in cheese-making for centuries. For the first time, the technological and biochemical traits of proteases from cultivated Onopordum tauricum Willd. (Taurian thistle, bull cottonthistle) were assessed. The optimal conditions for minimizing the clotting time and the non-specific proteolytic activity were estimated at the highest (T = 43-45 °C; [Ca2+] = 11-13 mM) and the lowest (T = 35-39 °C; [Ca2+] = 5 mM) temperature and calcium ion levels in the explored range respectively, thus highlighting the difficulty to set the best operative compromise in the first step of cheesemaking. In the conditions adopted in common cheesemaking practice (T = 37 °C; pH = 6.5) 1 mL of reconstituted extract from cultivated thistles coagulated 10 mL of ewe's and goat's milk in 114-146 and 129-167 s, respectively, and 1 mL of reconstituted extract from spontaneous thistles coagulated 10 mL of ewe's and goat's milk in 232-294 and 428-621 s, respectively, while no significant differences in the non-specific proteolytic activity between cultivated and spontaneous O. tauricum extracts were observed. The purified enzyme (tauricosin) was identified as an aspartic protease made up of two sub-units with molecular weights of 32 and 9.6 kDa, respectively. Experimental data encouraged the exploitation of O. tauricum as a new and sustainable non-food crop in marginal and rainfed lands of Mediterranean countries, thus reducing the potential biodiversity losses due to wild collection.

Nitrogen and chlorophyll status determination in durum wheat as influenced by fertilization and soil management: Preliminary results.

Handheld chlorophyll meters as Soil Plant Analysis Development (SPAD) have proven to be useful tools for rapid, no-destructive assessment of chlorophyll and nitrogen status in various crops. This method is used to diagnose the need of nitrogen fertilization to improve the efficiency of the agricultural system and to minimize nitrogen losses and deficiency. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of repeated conservative agriculture practices on the SPAD readings, leaves chlorophyll concentration and Nitrogen Nutrition Index (NNI) relationships in durum wheat under Mediterranean conditions. The experimental site is a part of a long-term-experiment established in 1994 and is still on-going where three tillage managements and three nitrogen fertilizer treatments were repeated in the same plots every year. We observed a linear relationship between the SPAD readings performed in the central and distal portion of the leaf (R2 = 0.96). In fertilized durum wheat, we found all positive exponential relationships between SPAD readings, chlorophyll leaves concentration (R2 = 0.85) and NNI (R2 = 0.89). In the unfertilized treatment, the SPAD has a good attitude to estimate leaves chlorophyll concentration (R2 = 0.74) and NNI (R2 = 0.77) only in crop grow a soil with relative high content of soil organic matter and nitrogen availability, as observed in the no tilled plots. The results show that the SPAD can be used for a correct assessment of chlorophyll and nitrogen status in durum wheat but also to evaluate indirectly the content of soil organic matter and nitrogen availability during different growth stages of the crop cycle.