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The article informs that dip sadine snake Erythrolamprus miliaris has a diverse diet including necrophagy, cannibalism and consumption of various animals including anuran eggs, as observed in a recent finding in southeastern Brazil.

Copyright of Revista Dental Press de Estética is the property of Dental Press International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of resin luting cement's activation mode in the final shade of porcelain veneers after accelerated artificial aging (AAA). Materials and Methods Porcelain veneers (IPS Empress Esthetic) were produced using a standardized shade (ET1) and thickness (0.6 mm). Twenty bovine teeth were collected, prepared, and divided into two groups: group I (n = 10)-light-cured group, only base paste was applied to the veneers; group II (n = 10)-dual-cured group, in which the same base paste used in group I and a transparent catalyst were proportionally mixed for 20 seconds and then applied to the veneers. The specimens were light-cured for 60 seconds each and were next subjected to AAA. They were submitted to color readings with a spectrophotometer in three instances: in the tooth surface (only the substrate), after the cementation and polymerization of the veneers, and after the AAA. The values of L*, a*, and b* were obtained and the total color change was calculated (∆E*). Values obtained were subjected to statistical analysis, with a significance of 0.05. Results There were no significant differences between dual- and light-cured modes considering ∆E*, L*, a*, and b* values obtained after aging ( p > 0.05). Within the dual-cured mode there were no significant differences in ∆E*, L*, a*, and b* values ( p > 0.05). Conclusion No relevant differences were found between the two activation modes in color change. When submitted to aging, dual- and light-cured modes of the resin cement showed visually perceptible (∆E* > 1.0) color changes; however, within the threshold of clinical acceptance (∆E* > 3.3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wolbachia pipientis, a maternally transmitted bacterium that colonizes arthropods, may affect the general aspects of insect physiology, particularly reproduction. Wolbachia is a natural endosymbiont of Aedes fluviatilis, whose effects in embryogenesis and reproduction have not been addressed so far. In this context, we investigated the correlation between glucose metabolism and morphological alterations during A. fluviatilis embryo development in Wolbachia-positive (W+) and Wolbachia-negative (W−) mosquito strains. While both strains do not display significant morphological and larval hatching differences, larger differences were observed in hexokinase activity and glycogen contents during early and mid-stages of embryogenesis, respectively. To investigate if glycogen would be required for parasite-host interaction, we reduced Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 (GSK-3) levels in adult females and their eggs by RNAi. GSK-3 knock-down leads to embryonic lethality, lower levels of glycogen and total protein and Wolbachia reduction. Therefore, our results suggest that the relationship between A. fluviatilis and Wolbachia may be modulated by glycogen metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe CTP, a collection routing protocol for wireless sensor networks. CTP uses three techniques to provide efficient, robust, and reliable routing in highly dynamic network conditions. CTP's link estimator accurately estimates link qualities by using feedback from both the data and control planes, using information from multiple layers through narrow, platform-independent interfaces. Second, CTP uses the Trickle algorithm to time the control traffic, sending few beacons in stable topologies yet quickly adapting to changes. Finally, CTP actively probes the topology with data traffic, quickly discovering and fixing routing failures. Through experiments on 13 different testbeds, encompassing seven platforms, six link layers, and multiple densities and frequencies, and detailed observations of a long-running sensor network application that uses CTP, we study how these three techniques contribute to CTP's overall performance [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are a family of serine/threonine kinases essential for cell cycle progression. Herein, we describe the participation of CDKs in the physiology of Rhipicephalus microplus, the southern cattle tick and an important disease vector. Firstly, amino acid sequences homologous with CDKs of other organisms were identified from a R. microplus transcriptome database in silico. The analysis of the deduced amino acid sequences of CDK1 and CDK10 from R. microplus showed that both have caspase-3/7 cleavage motifs despite their differences in motif position and length of encoded proteins. CDK1 has two motifs (DKRGD and SAKDA) located opposite to the ATP binding site while CDK10 has only one motif (SLLDN) for caspase 3–7 near the ATP binding site. Roscovitine (Rosco), a purine derivative that inhibits CDK/cyclin complexes by binding to the catalytic domain of the CDK molecule at the ATP binding site, which prevents the transfer of ATP's γphosphoryl group to the substrate. To determine the effect of Rosco on tick CDKs, BME26 cells derived from R. microplus embryo cells were utilized in vitro inhibition assays. Cell viability decreased in the Rosco-treated groups after 24 hours of incubation in a concentration-dependent manner and this was observed up to 48 hours following incubation. To our knowledge, this is the first report on characterization of a cell cycle protein in arachnids, and the sensitivity of BME26 tick cell line to Rosco treatment suggests that CDKs are potential targets for novel drug design to control tick infestation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control of energy metabolism is an essential process for life. In insects, egg formation (oogenesis) and embryogenesis is dependent on stored molecules deposited by the mother or transcribed later by the zygote. In oviparous insects the egg becomes an isolated system after egg laying with all energy conversion taking place during embryogenesis. Previous studies in a few vector species showed a strong correlation of key morphogenetic events and changes in glucose metabolism. Here, we investigate glycogen and glucose metabolism in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, an insect amenable to functional genomic studies. To examine the role of the key enzymes on glycogen and glucose regulation we cloned and analyzed the function of glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) and hexokinase (HexA) genes during T. castaneum embryogenesis. Expression analysis via in situ hybridization shows that both genes are expressed only in the embryonic tissue, suggesting that embryonic and extra-embryonic cells display different metabolic activities. dsRNA adult female injection (parental RNAi) of both genes lead a reduction in egg laying and to embryonic lethality. Morphological analysis via DAPI stainings indicates that early development is impaired in Tc-GSK-3 and Tc-HexA1 RNAi embryos. Importantly, glycogen levels are upregulated after Tc-GSK-3 RNAi and glucose levels are upregulated after Tc-HexA1 RNAi, indicating that both genes control metabolism during embryogenesis and oogenesis, respectively. Altogether our results show that T. castaneum embryogenesis depends on the proper control of glucose and glycogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dental fractures in endodontically treated teeth with a great loss of dental structure may be restored using bonding techniques associated with glass fiber post retention of the fragment. The present study reports a weakened and fractured crown restored by dental reattachment after crown stabilization with polyvinilsiloxane matrix, and a glass fiber post cementation for dental fragment retention. The employed techniques enabled the correct dental positioning during reattachment, with a possible increase of resistance. After 6 months follow-up the periodontal tissues showed itself in health condition and functional evaluations maintained the success of the proposed treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Dental Press de Estética is the property of Dental Press International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this review was to identify the chronic effects of high-intensity intermittent exercises. There are three levels of adjustments due to training involving this type of exercise: functional, metabolic and morphological adjustments. Considering functional adjustments, it is possible to find a satisfactory amount of information, which may be applied to the practical field. On the other hand, there is a lack of information regarding the metabolic adjustments, particularly about the effects of exercise's duration, intensity, and rest interval. Only one study investigated the morphological adjustments caused by high-intensity intermittent exercises with most of them looking at changes in skeletal muscle phenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statement of problem: Removal of large amounts of sound tooth structure may result in a weakened restored tooth. Nevertheless, removal of tooth structure for cuspal coverage has been recommended to protect teeth restored with laboratory-processed composite resin (LPCR) from fracture. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of different cavity preparation designs on fracture strength and modes of fracture of teeth restored with LPCR. Material and methods: Ninety anatomically similar human third mandibular molars were selected. There were 2 experimental factors, occlusal isthmus width (narrow versus wide) and cuspal coverage (inlay, 1-cusp onlay, 2-cusp onlay, and all-cusp onlay), and 1 control group that received no treatment, resulting in 9 groups (n=10). Indirect composite resin (SR Adoro) restorations were manufactured and adhesively cemented with Adper Single Bond 2 and Rely-X ARC. A compressive loading test (0.5 mm/min) was performed. The modes of fracture were classified according to 4 categories. One-way and 2-way ANOVA followed by Tukey-HSD test were used to statistically analyze the fracture load data (α =.05). Results: The statistical analysis failed to show significant differences among restored groups but showed differences between these groups and the control group (P = .001). Two-way ANOVA failed to show any difference when considering the occlusal isthmus width alone (P = .98), cuspal coverage (P = .273), or the interaction between these factors (P = .972). Several teeth had fractures affecting a great amount of both restoration and tooth structure. Conclusions: This in vitro study showed restored teeth having similar fracture strength and fracture modes, suggesting that with the tested preparation designs, there is no advantage of cuspal coverage to protect LPCR restored teeth from fracture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling plays a major role in dorsoventral patterning in vertebrates and in Drosophila. Remarkably, in Tribolium, a beetle with an ancestral type of insect development, early BMP/dpp exhibits differential expression along the anteroposterior axis. However, the BMP/Dpp inhibitor Sog/chordin is expressed ventrally and establishes a dorsal domain of BMP/Dpp activity by transporting BMPs toward the dorsal side, like in Drosophila. Loss of Tribolium Sog not only abolishes dorsoventral polarity in the ectoderm, but also leads to the complete absence of the CNS. This phenotype suggests that sog is the main BMP antagonist in Tribolium, in contrast to vertebrates and Drosophila, which possess redundant antagonists. Surprisingly, Sog also is required for head formation in Tribolium, as are the BMP antagonists in vertebrates. Thus, in Tribolium, the system of BMP and its antagonists is less complex than in Drosophila or vertebrates and combines features from both, suggesting that it might represent an ancestral state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine the radiodensity of base, liner and luting dental materials and to compare them with human enamel and dentin. Four classes of materials were examined: conventional glass ionomers (CG)—Vitro Cem, Ketac Bond, Vidrion F, Vidrion C; resin-modified glass ionomers (RMGI)—Fuji II LC, Vitrebond; resinous cement (RC)—Rely-X ARC; and zinc phosphate cement (ZP)—Cimento LS. Five 2-mm-thick standard samples of each material and five 2-mm-thick enamel and dentin samples were produced. An aluminum step wedge served as control. Samples were positioned over a phosphor plate of Digora digital system, exposed to X-ray, and the radiodensity obtained in the software Digora for Windows 2.0. Data were submitted to Kruskal–Wallis and Dunnett multiple comparisons test ( α=0.05). According to statistical analysis, the following sequence in degree of radiodensity could be seen among the groups: Cimento LS (ZP) > Vitro Cem (CG) = Fuji II LC (RMGI) = Rely-X ARC (RC) = Vitrebond (RMGI) > Ketac Bond (CG) > enamel = Vidrion F (CG) > Vidrion C (CG) = dentin. The presence of radiopaque fillers such as zinc, strontium, zirconium, barium, and lanthanium rather than material type seems to be the most important factor when analyzing material radiodensity. Almost all investigated materials presented an accepted radiodensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statement of problem: Controversy exists concerning the preferred cavity design for posterior ceramic restorations to improve their resistance to fracture under occlusal load. Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the resistance to fracture of leucite-reinforced ceramic restorations placed on molars with different cavity preparation designs. Material and methods: Ninety noncarious molars were selected, stored in 0.2% thymol solution, and divided into 9 groups (n=10): IT, intact teeth; CsI, conservative inlay; ExI, extensive inlay; CsO/mb, conservative onlay with mesio-buccal cusp coverage; ExO/mb, entensive onlay with mesio-buccal cusp coverage; CsO/b, conservative onlay with buccal cusp coverage; ExO/b, entensive onlay with buccal cusp coverage; CsO/t, conservative onlay with total cusp coverage; ExO/t, extensive onlay with total cusp coverage. Teeth were restored with a Leucite-reinforced ceramic (Cergogold). The fracture resistance (N) was assessed under compressive load in a universal testing machine. The data were analyzed with 1-way and 2-way analyses of variance, followed by the Tukey HSD test (α=.05). Fracture modes were recorded, based on the degree of tooth structure and restoration damage. Results: One-way analysis showed that intact teeth had the highest fracture resistance values. Two-way analyses showed no significant differences for the isthmus extention factor, but showed a significant difference for the preparation design type of fracture (P=.03), and also for the interaction between both factors (P=.013). The fracture mode observed in all groups tended to involve only restorations. Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, it was observed that cuspal coverage does not increase fracture resistance of the posterior tooth-restoration complex restored with leucite-reinforced ceramics. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Several studies have aimed to evaluate the characteristics of hard dental tissues from animal species in order to adequately substitute the usage of human teeth. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the radiodensity of enamel and dentin of human, bovine and swine teeth. Five specimens of 2 mm in thickness were obtained from human, bovine and swine teeth and the radiographic images were taken positioning it on a phosphor plaque digital system, Digora (Soredex, Helsinki, Finland). The radiodensity of each specimen was obtained and data were compared by ANOVA following Tukey test (P<0.05). The results showed that human and bovine enamel presented similar radiodensity, which was higher than the one from swine enamel; bovine and swine dentin presented similar radiodensity, and only bovine dentin presented greater similarity to human dentin. Bovine teeth seems to be more similar to human teeth in respect to radiodensity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The sponge homeobox gene EmH-3 had not been attributed to any homeobox family. Comparative promoter and homeodomain sequence analyses suggest that it is related to the Hox11 gene, which belongs to the Tlx homeobox family. Hox11 is highly expressed in proliferating progenitor cells, but expression is downregulated during cell differentiation. Using reporter gene methodology, we monitored function of the sponge EmH-3 promoter transfected into human erythroleukemia K562 cells. These cells express the Tlx/Hox11 gene constitutively, and downregulate its expression upon differentiation. The same pattern of expression and downregulation was observed for the sponge reporter construct. We propose that Tlx/Hox11 genes have structural and functional homologies conserved in phylogenetically distant groups, that represent a deep homology in the regulation of cell proliferation, commitment and differentiation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article offers information on the biennial regional meeting of the European Tribolium research community held at the University of Cologne, Germany from July 27-29, 2009. In this biennial regional meeting, 50 participants focused on developmental genetics topics ranging from embryonic to postembryonic development as well as on evaluation of results in context of arthropod and insect development and evolution. At the meeting, community plans for future research were also discussed.

Background: The constant waiting of patients for the call for medical consultation is a reality in the Brazilian public service. The National Policy for Humanization (NPH) of the Brazilian Ministry of Health (MH) advocates providing welcoming, strengthening, and wholesome care, with the adoption of measures and communication among multiprofessional teams. One of the practices used by the health team to share experiences, feelings, and knowledge between patients of professionals is the Waiting Room Group. The Multiple Sclerosis Care and Treatment Center (MSCTC), established in 1997 at the Neurology Clinic of Santa Casa de Sao Paulo, attends through the Unified Health System (UHS) every Friday morning and has about 500 registered patients who make use of several therapies for treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). To minimize the waiting period, the "Waiting Room" project was created in 2013, consisting of patients, family members, caregivers, social worker, nurse, physiotherapist, psychologist, and neuropsychologist, among others, to provide a welcoming space to minimize anxiety and fear, advise on their rights, inform about the disease and its complications, types of treatment, importance of adoption and adherence of exercise routines, and hospital policy and routines, and providing patients, family members, and caregivers with a space of power and affection in order to have a more active and participative role in their treatment. Objectives: To describe the experience of the Waiting Room Group as part of humanized care for patients with MS, their family members, and caregivers. Methods: Welcoming, integration, and interaction are the key words: the earlier patients talk about and share their experiences with those who are starting their treatment, their anxiety and doubts are minimized. The doctor, psychologist, social worker, nurse. and physiotherapist participate in all meetings, as well as other invited professionals. During the meetings, the doubts presented by the participants are clarified and provide topics for discussion in the next meetings. Results: Not applicable. Conclusions: This project has been developed for 6 years and has been successful, with an average participation of 500 patients per year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mosquito Aedes aegypti is the most notorious vector of illness-causing viruses. The use of entomopathogenic fungi as bioinsecticides is a promising alternative for the development of novel mosquito control strategies. We investigate whether differences in immune responses could be responsible for modifications in survival rates of insects following different feeding regimes. Sucrose and blood-fed adult A. aegypti females were sprayed with M. anisopliae 1 × 106 conidia mL−1, and after 48 h, the midgut and fat body were dissected. We used RT-qPCR to monitor the expression of Cactus and REL1 (Toll pathway), IMD, REL2, and Caspar (IMD pathway), STAT and PIAS (JAK-STAT pathway), as well as the expression of antimicrobial peptides (Defensin A, Attacin and Cecropin G). REL1 and REL2 expression in both the midgut and fat body were higher in blood-fed fungus-challenged A. aegypti than in sucrose-fed counterparts. Interestingly, infection of sucrose-fed insects induced Cactus expression in the fat body, a negative regulator of the Toll pathway. The IMD gene was upregulated in the fat body in response to fungal infection after a blood meal. Additionally, we observed the induction of antimicrobial peptides in the blood-fed fungus-challenged insects. This study suggests that blood-fed A. aegypti are less susceptible to fungal infection due to the rapid induction of Toll and IMD immune pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]