Surface proteins of Gram-positive pathogens play important roles in adhering to a site of infection, invading host cells, acquiring nutrients, and evading the immune response. Therefore, surface proteins are of great interest in terms of understanding the process of bacterial infection and have potential as targets for therapy. Many surface proteins associated with infection of Gram-positive bacteria are covalently anchored to the cell wall by membrane-associated transpeptidase, called sortase. Since Gram-positive pathogens deficient in sortase exhibit reduced virulence, it is thought that sortase plays important roles in the pathogenesis of Gram-positive bacteria. In addition, recent bacterial genome analyses reveal that sortase distributes in a wide range of Gram-positive bacteria. These workings suggest that sortase is a universal target for new therapeutic agents against Gram-positive pathogens.

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To evaluate the compulsory knowledge of dentists, questions were introduced for the National examination in 2002. To pass the examinees must correctly answer more than 80% of the 30 questions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the progressive change in compulsory knowledge in predoctoral education. Twenty-nine dentists (13 junior dentists within 1.5 years after graduation, and 16 senior dentists over 2.5 years after graduation) answered 30 compulsory questions in a trial examination for 120 sixth-year students one-half year before graduation. Average scores were compared within the three groups using a t-test and analyzed statistically by the t-test (junior dentists, senior dentists, and students). Discrimination coefficients of five questions out of 30 were smaller than 0.15 (i.e., meaning a question of low quality). The average score of the junior dentists (68) was higher than that of the senior dentists (58) and students (59) (p < 0.05). There was no substantial difference between the senior dentists and students.
Therefore, junior dentists had acquired more knowledge than the students, and maintained the knowledge for a period of 1.5 years. However, after 2.5 years, the level of acquired knowledge appears to decrease.
These results suggest that the compulsory knowledge required for the trial examination should be reviewed, and that continuous and periodical education for dentists should be considered.

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Excitatory synaptic transmission from the reticular formation around the trigeminal motor nucleus (MoV) to trigeminal motoneurons (TMNs) was investigated in neonatal and juvenile rat brain stem slice preparations by high-speed optical recording techniques. Slices were stained with the voltage-sensitive dye Di-4-ANEPPS and optical signals were analyzed by a CCD camera system (MiCAM01, Brain Vision). Electrical stimulation of lateral part of the supratrigeminal region (lSuV) evoked optical responses in MoV. Stimulation of MoV evoked an antidromic response in lSuV when synaptic transmission was suppressed by substitution of external Ca²⁺ with Mn²⁺. Application of CNQX (20μM) and APV (20, μM) reduced the optical responses in MoV evoked by dRF stimulation in both neonatal and juvenile rats. The rate of suppression of the responses in MoV of juvenile rats was greater than that of neonatal rats. Application of strychnine (5, μM) to MoV also suppressed the optical responses in MoV of neonatal rats. In contrast to neonatal animals, application of strychnine to MoV in juveniles enhanced the optical responses in MoV. These results suggest that excitation of TMNs evoked by lSuV stimulation were mediated by activation of glutamate or glycine receptors in TMNs of neonatal rats, whereas glycine receptor activation in TMNs becomes inhibitory in juveniles. Such developmental change might be associated with the transition from suckling to mastication.

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To evaluate the morphological characteristics of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) dental post materials, two kinds of commercial products (FBK, EVS) and one kind of experimental FRP post (EXP) were used in this study. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation was performed to evaluate the surface and internal structure of the FRP posts, and an energy dispersion X-ray (EDX) analysis was performed to analyze the element of fibers. Two kinds of shape were observed for the FRP posts : straight, and with a regularly arranged minute salient. The surfaces of the FRP posts were almost covered by a matrix phase, but a portion where the glass fiber cropped out was observed. In addition, fillers were observed within the matrix region of the product. For all kinds of FRP posts, the glass fibers revealed to be relatively uniform cylindrical shapes, but the diameters of the fibers is differed, from 9 μm to 18,μm for each kind of post product, and each product also varied in fiber density remarkably. As for the composition of the glass fiber used in FRP posts, E-glass, S-glass and a special zirconium-based glass were recognized.

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The patient, when first examined, was a 10-year-7-month-old girl who complained about anterior crowding. This patient had a Class II malocclusion with congenital missing of the maxillary canines on both sides, and a linguo-version of maxillary lateral incisors.
In the initial treatment phase, an improved linguo-version of the maxillary lateral incisors (both sides) was achieved. In the second treatment phase, extraction of the mandibular first premolars (both sides) was performed at permanent dentition. After extraction, treatment with edgewise appliances was started.
The first premolar was arranged as the canine and cuspal interference was avoided. When aligning the first premolar as the canine, it is common to avoid cuspal interference by reforming the lingual cusp of the first premolar. However, we were eventually able to avoid cuspal interference by performing tooth movement only, and achieved good function when guiding the lateral excursive and protrusive mandibular movements without interference.

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Dizygotic twins with skeletal Class II malocclusion in the growing period, were treated with functional appliances, and the treatment results were compared and evaluated.
The younger sister was 8 years and 11 months old at the first examination, and was treated with a functional appliance from the age of 11 years 0 months for a period of 8 months. The elder sister was 9 years and 0 months old at the first examination, and was treated with functional appliances from the age of 11 years 9 months for a period of 6 months.
As a result, ∠SNA decreased in both sisters as the result of treatment with functional appliances, showing a slight inhibition in the forward growth of the maxilla. Furthermore, comparing the annual growth velocity during the use of the appliances with the standard growth velocity by Kusumoto et al., although decreases in the maxillary growth velocity were noted, the changes were slight.
In the mandible, ∠SNB increased in both sisters, showing forward growth, and the size of the mandible also increased. In particular, there were marked increases in the length of the ramus height (CD-GO) and the mandibular total length (GN-CD). The increases were larger than the natural growth rate during observation for both sisters. Furthermore, comparing the annual growth velocity during the use of appliances with the standard growth velocity by Kusumoto et al., the length of the ramus height (CD-GO) and the mandibular total length (GN-CD) showed marked increases in the growth velocity, being more than two fold higher than the standard growth velocity.
These findings suggest that functional appliances not only accelerate the forward growth of the mandible exceeding the natural growth rate, but also increase the size of the mandible. In particular, the increases in these cases were marked in the vertical height around the ramus height

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With the recent improvements in dentistry, the importance of interdisciplinary dentistry, in which specialists of many fields cooperate, has begun to be recognized. However, the involvement of many specialists may lead to unnecessary treatments without proper coordination among the members of various fields and agreement in therapeutic goals. A female first examined at the age of 29 years and 9 months was diagnosed as having unilateral Angle Class III, skeletal class 3 jaw deformation accompanied by poor prostheses, mild adult periodontitis and temporomandibular joint dysfunction. The mandibular shift to the left was treated interdisciplinarily by a team of specialists in periodontal treatment, surgical orthodontic, and dental prosthetics. The results were satisfactory with regard to periodontal treatment, occlusal correction and aesthetic outcome. However, sharing the expertise of various fields and establishing therapeutic goals and therapeutic plans by harmonizing concepts within the team were suggested to be important to improve the level of the therapeutic outcome and enable more predictable maintenance.

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A clinico-statistical investigation was performed for 2,419 patients of the speech clinic at Showa University Dental Hospital during the 26-year period from 1977-2003. The results were as follows :
1. Cleft lip and/or palate patients, who were the most common in the first 10 years have decreased, and patients with tumors in the oral region and functional articulation disorders increased over the latter 16 years. 2. Of the patients, 47.1% were referred to our clinic from dental hospitals. 3. The percentage of patients exhibiting misarticulations was 78.4%. 4. The percentage of patients receiving speech therapy was 23.5%, and 20.6% of the patients received prosthodontic treatment in addition to speech therapy.

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The advantages of flumazenil, a specific benzodiazepine antagonist, have been reported for clinical use. However, there has been little investigation of the indications for using flumazenil for dental fear patients under intravenous sedation. This report presents the problems caused by flumazenil administration after benzodiazepine. The patient was a 59-year-old female and who weighed 60 kg. Her lower jaws was implanted under intravenous sedation with propofol and midazolam (Figure 1). Post-operatively she was deeply sedated. When 0.2 mg flumazenil was administrated intravenously, restlessness, palpitation and hypertension occurred within a few minutes. When her condition recovered about one hour later, she was allowed to return home. Therefore, the problems involved in administering flumazenil for dental fear patients require further investigation.

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