The objective of this study was to assess penetration of adhesive material in enamel bleached with 35% hydrogen peroxide using optical polarized light microscopy. Extracted human teeth were randomly assigned to 5 groups, each representing a specific time interval between bleaching and the application of an adhesive material. They were designated as: (TC) the control group-restorations in unbleached teeth; (T0) comprising restorations carried out immediately after bleaching; (T7) comprising restorations 7 days after bleaching; (T14) comprising restorations 14 days after bleaching; and (T21) comprising restorations 21 days after bleaching. Length of resin tags was measured with an Axiophot photomicroscope at a ×400 magnification, and the results subjected to an ANOVA for a comparison between groups, with a p value of <0.05. Differences between the groups were verified using a Tukey test at a confidence level of 5%. The specimens in the control group (TC) and experimental groups T7, T14 and T21 showed better penetration of adhesive material into enamel in comparison with experimental group T0. This suggests that a gap of at least 7 days should be left between bleaching enamel with 35% hydrogen peroxide and placing adhesive bonding agents and undertaking resin composite restoration work.

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The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relationship between large tubules and dentin caries by using human deciduous incisors that showed various levels of attrition but no macroscopical lesions resulting from caries. The teeth were cut longitudinally in the mesio-distal direction and the exposed surfaces observed with a high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscope. The inside of each large tubule showed dense collagen fibers running parallel to its long axis and small spherical bodies of aggregated crystals, but no marked attrition. In teeth where attrition had exposed dentin at the incisal edge, oral bacteria had infiltrated the large tubules. Furthermore, in teeth with advanced attrition, it was difficult to distinguish between the large tubules and the surrounding dentin matrix, and numerous bacteria were observed in both areas. These findings support the hypothesis that large tubules play a role in the pathway of caries formation in coronal dentin when incisal dentin is exposed by attrition. This suggests that early treatment of exposed dentin surfaces might be effective in preventing dental caries.

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Allelic imbalance or loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and microsatellite instability (MSI) have been used to identify regions on chromosomes that may contain putative tumor suppressor genes. To obtain a detailed understanding of genetic alterations in oral cancer, 10 highly polymorphic markers mapped on chromosome 2 were used to examine 25 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). With these, we analyzed chromosome 2q for LOH in 25 primary oral SCCs and constructed a deletion map for this arm of the chromosome. LOH was detected in 16 (64%) of the 25 informative samples at one or more of the loci examined. MSI was observed in 5 (20%) of the 25 cases. Among the loci examined, LOHs were restricted to D2S1328 and D2S206 on chromosomes 2q14-21 and 2q36, respectively, with the former locus showing a rate of 5 (20.8%) and the latter a rate of 6 (25%) of the 24 informative cases. These observations taken in conjunction with data from 40 former cases analyzed at our laboratory suggest that the high incidence of LOH at chromosome 2q is associated with carcinogenesis of oral SCC. The regions that comprise the D2S1328 and D2S206 loci may play an important role in the development of oral SCC, perhaps containing sites that harbor a putative tumor suppressor gene.

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 In this study, we investigated the effects of 10 cycles of conventional autoclaving (121°C, 20min) on the dimensional integrity and physical properties (flexural rigidity and brittleness) of a newly developed root canal filling point made of polypropylene (FLEX POINT NEO^®). We measured the diameters of autoclave-sterilized and non-treated polypropylene points (020 through 070) and calculated the incidence of deviation from ISO specifications (6877.4.4.1, 1995). In order to ascertain physical properties, we tested autoclave-sterilized and non-treated polypropylene points (030, 050 and 070) for flexural rigidity. This was done by evaluating deflection value when a load was placed at the free tip-end of the point and brittleness in accordance with ISO specifications (6877.6.5.2).
 Ten cycles of autoclaving showed no significant effect on the diameters of the polypropylene points. All the polypropylene points in both the non-treated and the autoclave-sterilized groups met ISO specifications in terms of dimensional integrity of diameter. In the autoclave-sterilized group, 030 and 050 polypropylene points showed a slight decrease in flexural rigidity (3.4% in 030, 10.0% in 050). In terms of brittleness, none of polypropylene points showed any sign of fracture.

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A blood examination was carried out in order to assess the serum zinc level in a patient with taste dysfunction. A blood cell count was also performed simultaneously and promyelocytic leukemia was identified. This case provides an example of leukemia being detected at the time of a blood test being given to assess taste dysfunction.

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