Methods: Bedside instruments that can be used includes a measuring tape, compass, goniometer, inclinometer and cervical range of motion (CROM) instrument.
Discussion: Cervical flexion-extension, lateral flexion and rotation will be assessed with bedside instruments. This would aid in increasing accuracy and precision of objective measurement while conducting clinical examination to determine the cervical range of motion.
METHODS: This animal protocol has been approved by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Animal Ethical Committee. The TEHB scaffold prepared from hydroxyapatite using gel casting method. A total of six adolescent female sheep were chosen for this study. Later, all the sheep were euthanized in a proper manner and the bone harvested for biomechanical study. Bone marrow was collected from iliac crest of the sheep and bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) isolated and cultured. BMSCs then cultured in osteogenic medium for osteoprogenitor cells development and the plasma collected was seeded with osteoprogenitor cells mixed with calcium chloride. Bone defect of 3 cm length of tibia bone created from each sheep leg and implanted with autologous and TEHB scaffold in 2 different groups of sheep. Wound site was monitored weekly until the wound completely healed and conventional X-ray performed at week 1 and 24. Shear test was conducted to determine the shear force on the autologous bone and TEHB scaffold after implantation for 24 weeks.
RESULTS: All of the sheep survived without any complications during the study period and radiograph showed new bone formation. Later, the bone harvested was for biomechanical study. The highest shear force for the autologous group was 13 MPa and the lowest was 5 MPa while for the scaffold group, the highest was 10 MPa and the lowest was 3 MPa. Although, proximal and distal interface of autologous bone graft shows higher shear strength compared to the TEHB scaffold but there is no significant difference in both groups, p value > 0.05. Histologically in both proximal and distal interface in both arms shows bone healing and woven bone formation.
CONCLUSION: TEHB scaffold impregnated with osteoprogenitor cells has the potential to be developed as a bone substitute in view of its strength and capability to promote bone regeneration.
Materials and Methods: Twenty gel matrices were prepared with different durations of microwave irradiation, amounts of maize, and concentrations of sodium bicarbonate as suggested by Design Expert (DX®). The percentage drug release, the coefficient of variance (CV) in release, and the mean dissolution time (MDT) were the properties explored in the designed experimentation.
Results: Target responses were dependent on microwave irradiation time, cross-linker amount, and salt concentration. Classical and microwave heating did not demonstrate statistically significant difference in modifying the percentage of drug released from the matrices. However, the CVs of microwave-assisted formulations were lower than those of the gel matrices prepared via classical heating. Thus, microwave heating produced lesser variations in drug release. The optimized gel matrices demonstrated that the observed percentage of drug release, CV, and MDT were within the prediction interval generated by DX®. The release mechanism of the matrix formulations followed the Peppas-Korsmeyer anomalous transport model.
Conclusion: The DoE-supported microwave-assisted approach could be applied to optimize the critical factors of drug release with less variation.
Materials and Methods: The main health databases were selected such as SCOPUS, Medline, CINAHL, and Dentistry and Oral Sciences. A set of keywords was defined to identify the relevant article were (i.e., Snoezelen OR Multisensory OR sensory-adapted and Dentistry OR Oral). The articles were selected and extracted by two reviewers based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis guidelines and some predetermined exclusion criteria. Furthermore, the risk of bias assessment was done.
Results: A total of 317 papers were selected at the first phase from SCOPUS (97 papers), Medline (108 papers), CINAHL (110 papers), and Dentistry and Oral Sciences (2 papers). After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria and duplicated papers were removed, only four eligible papers were selected for final synthesis.
Conclusions: Multisensory-adapted dental environment effectively improves oral health behavior among special needs children in terms of physiological changes, behaviors, pain, and sensory discomfort. Thus, the clinician may introduce this approach in their clinical settings.
EXPERIMENT: Geological formations contain organic acids in minute concentrations, with the alkyl chain length ranging from C4 to C26. To fully understand the wetting characteristics of H2 in a natural geological picture, we aged mica mineral surfaces as a representative of the caprock in varying concentrations of organic molecules (with varying numbers of carbon atoms, lignoceric acid C24, lauric acid C12, and hexanoic acid C6) for 7 days. To comprehend the wettability of the mica/H2/brine system, we employed a contact-angle procedure similar to that in natural geo-storage environments (25, 15, and 0.1 MPa and 323 K).
FINDINGS: At the highest investigated pressure (25 MPa) and the highest concentration of lignoceric acid (10-2 mol/L), the mica surface became completely H2 wet with advancing (θa= 106.2°) and receding (θr=97.3°) contact angles. The order of increasing θa and θr with increasing organic acid contaminations is as follows: lignoceric acid > lauric acid > hexanoic acid. The results suggest that H2 gas leakage through the caprock is possible in the presence of organic acids at higher physio-thermal conditions. The influence of organic contamination inherent at realistic geo-storage conditions should be considered to avoid the overprediction of structural trapping capacities and H2 containment security.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight rabbits were randomized into Giftbox and Krackow groups. Tenotomy was performed on the Achilles tendon of one side of the lower limb and repaired with the respective techniques. The contralateral limb served as control. Subjects were euthanized six weeks post-operative, and both repaired and control Achilles tendons were harvested for biomechanical tensile test.
RESULTS: The means of maximum load to rupture and tenacity in the Giftbox group (156.89 ± 38.49 N and 159.98 ± 39.25 gf/tex) were significantly different than Krackow's (103.55 ± 27.48 N and 104.91 ± 26.96 gf/tex, both p = 0.043).
CONCLUSION: The tendons repaired with Giftbox technique were biomechanically stronger than those repaired with Krackow technique after six weeks of tendon healing.
Purpose: To evaluate the cytotoxic effect of DDMM as GBR membrane on MC3T3-E1 osteoblast cell line.
Methods: Cytotoxic effect was evaluated using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cell culture was used as a parameter of cell viability after reacting with GBR materials. The absorbance values were examined at each treatment to determine the percentage of cell viability. There were four groups created in the present study: two treatment groups and two control groups. The treatment groups consisted of a DDMM group and a bovine pericardium collagen membrane (BPCM) group. The control groups comprised a group containing cell culture medium as a negative control group and another positive control group that contained cell cultures.
Results: The results revealed no significant difference in MC3T3-E1 cell viability between the treatment and control groups (p < 0.05). Moreover, as observed in the DDMM group, there was an increase in the number of osteoblast cells.
Conclusion: DDMM is a suitable alternative biomaterial for GBR as it is non-cytotoxic and could potentially increase the rate of repair of craniofacial defects.