Infection control in the dental practice with emphasis on the orthodontic practice

Infections present a significant hazard in the orthodontic office because they can be transmitted by blood or saliva through direct or indirect contact, droplets, aerosols, or contaminated instruments and equipment. Because the incidence of certain microbial cross-infections in the dental environment has not been well documented, orthodontic personnel may not take the problem of cross-infection as seriously as they should, and they may transmit or contract more infections than they realize. The use of effective infection-control procedures in the orthodontic office and laboratory will prevent cross-contamination that may extend to the orthodontist, office staff, assistants, and patients. The goal of this article is to present infection control in a simple, yet comprehensive, manner, and to encourage all orthodontic practitioners to implement essential infection-control procedures in their practices.     

Are weaning foods causing impaired iron and zinc status in 1-year-old Swedish infants? A cohort study

Retrobulbar hematoma is a rare complication of blunt periorbital trauma with the potential disastrous consequence of visual impairment and blindness. The preoperative assessment, diagnostic symptoms and signs, as well as the treatment of this condition are reviewed. The patients presented as well as a review of the literature confirm that although retrobulbar hematoma is a rare complication of blunt periorbital trauma, irreversible visual sequelae can be prevented by prompt diagnosis and immediate surgical and pharmacological therapy.     

The effect of 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-2-fluoroadenine and 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine on the cell cycle phase distribution, topoisomerase II level, mitoxantrone cytotoxicity, and DNA strand break production in K562 human leukemia cells

The UvrA and UvrB proteins form part of the UvrABc endonuclease, which is responsible for nucleotide excision repair in Escherichia coli. Using a mobility shift gel assay we have studied the binding of UvrA dimer, UvrB monomer and UvA(2)B trimer complexes with 40, 50 and 136 bp (32)P-end-labelled DNA fragments adducted with aflatoxin B(1). UvrA was shown to re-associate with adduct specific UvrB: DNA complexes, a phenomenon which could be reversed by the addition of 500 mM potassium chloride or anti-UvrA anti-sera. Re-association was shown to be UvrA concentration dependent. Re-association of UvrA(2)B to the UvrB:DNA complex was not seen. We have also shown that the UvrB:DNA complex, in the case of aflatoxin B(1), is extremely stable with a half-life excess of 400 min and that fragment termini are not a specific substrate for UvrA binding.     

Diagnosis of hemostasis disorders in young children using turbidimetry

Practical application of turbidimetrical method for the diagnosis of haemostasis disorders in babies with acute intestinal infections (AII) is described. The results of plasma biochemical analysis show that disturbances in balance between coagulation and fibrinolytic systems takes place in patients with this pathology. The correlation between biochemical parameters and clinical characteristics is observed. As follows from our data, the phase of the haemostasis disorders in babies with AII does not depend on etiology of the disease, but indicates its severity.     

The BsmI vitamin D receptor restriction fragment length polymorphism (bb) influences the effect of calcium intake on bone mineral density

Previous studies of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and bone mineral density (BMD) have suggested that there may be differences in calcium absorption among groups of women with different VDR genotypes, and that the association may be stronger in younger women. To investigate the association between the VDR polymorphisms and BMD, this study was undertaken in the Framingham Study Cohort and a group of younger volunteers. Subjects from the Framingham Study (ages 69-90 years) included those who underwent BMD testing and who had genotyping for the VDR alleles (n = 328) using polymerase chain reaction methods and restriction fragment length polymorphisms with BsmI (B absence, b presence of cut site). A group of younger volunteer subjects (ages 18-68) also underwent BMD testing and VDR genotyping (n = 94). In Framingham Cohort subjects with the bb genotype, but not the Bb or BB genotypes, there were significant associations between calcium intake and BMD at five of six skeletal sites, such that BMD was 7-12% higher in those with dietary calcium intakes greater than 800 mg/day compared with those with intakes < 500 mg/day. The data also suggested that BMD was higher in persons with the bb genotype only in the group with calcium intakes above 800 mg/day. No significant differences were found in the Framingham Cohort for age-, sex-, and weight-adjusted BMD at any skeletal site between those with the BB genotype and those with the bb genotype regardless of 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels or country of origin. In the younger volunteers, BMD of the femoral neck was 5.4% higher (p < 0.05) in the bb genotype group compared with the BB group and 11% higher (p < 0.05) in males with the bb genotype compared with the BB group. There were no significant differences at the lumbar spine. In this study, the association between calcium intake and BMD appeared to be dependent upon VDR genotype. The findings of an association between dietary calcium intake and BMD only in the bb genotype group suggests that the VDR genotype may play a role in the absorption of dietary calcium. Studies that do not consider calcium intake may not detect associations between VDR genotype and BMD. In addition, the association between VDR alleles and BMD may become less evident in older subjects.     

Binding of human single chain urokinase to Chinese Hamster Ovary cells and cloning of hamster u-PAR

In the present study, we assessed oxidative stress in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy of ischemic or idiopathic etiology. For this reason we measured whole blood reduced glutathione, erythrocyte superoxide dismutase, susceptibility of erythrocyte membranes and erythrocytes to peroxidation, and SH content of erythrocyte membranes in 12 patients (8 men and 4 women, ages 31 to 66 years) with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, in 11 patients (8 men and 3 women, ages 32 to 65 years) with ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, and in 21 healthy volunteers (12 men and 9 women, ages 25 to 67 years). There was no statistically significant difference between the two patient groups for the indicators studied (P >0.05). Blood glutathione, erythrocyte superoxide dismutase, and membrane SH content of both groups of patients was decreased compared with controls (P <0.05), whereas erythrocyte and membrane susceptibility to peroxidation were increased (P <0.05). We conclude that patients with idiopathic or ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy exhibit abnormalities of a range of markers of increased oxidative stress. These abnormalities may contribute to contractile dysfunction, increased incidence of fatal arrhythmias, and sudden death.     

Nucleoside-diphosphate kinase-mediated signal transduction via histidyl-aspartyl phosphorelay systems in Escherichia coli

Nucleoside-diphosphate kinase (NDP kinase), a key enzyme in nucleotide metabolism, is also known to be involved in growth and developmental control and tumor metastasis suppression. Interestingly, we find that coexpression of NDP kinase with Taz1, a Tar/EnvZ chimera, in the absence of its native signal, can activate a porin gene ompC-lacZ expression in Escherichia coli. Further studies show that NDP kinase can act as a protein kinase to phosphorylate histidine protein kinases such as EnvZ and CheA which are members of the His-Asp phosphorelay signal transduction systems in E. coli. Instead of ATP, the exclusive phosphodonor for histidine kinases, GTP can be utilized in vitro in the presence of NDP kinase to phosphorylate EnvZ and CheA, which then transfer the phosphoryl group to OmpR and CheY, the respective response regulators. The direct involvement of GTP for the phosphorylation of EnvZ through NDP kinase was further demonstrated by the use of a mutant EnvZ, which lost ability to be autophosphorylated with ATP. Phospho-OmpR thus formed can bind specifically to an ompF promoter sequence. These results suggest that NDP kinase may play a physiological role in signal transduction.