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Cerium doped lutetium orthosilicate thin films were sputter deposited onto rough and smooth alumina substrates to compare their extrinsic photoluminescence efficiency. To understand the photoluminescence results, scanning electron and cathodoluminescence imaging were performed. The plane view and cross-section images revealed that dark cathodoluminescence regions were correlated with topology in both films, though the mechanisms for the degraded luminescence were different. For the rough films, substrate topology causes localized shadowing of the sputtered species which creates compositional inhomogeneities. The smooth films have protrusions caused by thermally induced stress and the reduced cathodoluminescence intensity is attributed to electron-hole surface recombination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violent crime has become a public health Issue, not least because the needs of victims have been neglected in the criminal justice system. Since this group suffer more psychological distress than victims of accidents, we compared illness experience In 433 adult assault victims with paired victims of accidents in a case control study. In the 10 year period prior to injury, there was a significant excess of hospital contacts in the assault group in relation to trauma, elective surgery and drug abuse but not to other psychiatric or medical conditions. This spectrum of disorders constitutes a previously unrecognized syndrome in young adults, probably representing the manifestations of antisocial personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a case in which a patient with a class II division I incisor relationship on a skeletal II base was transferred midway through a treatment that consisted of aligning the upper and lower arches with fixed appliance orthodontics in preparation for a mandibular advancement osteotomy. The lower second molars had previously been extracted; the lower third molars were left unerupted and some distance from the lower first molars. To provide a good occlusion at the end of treatment, it was decided to expose and approximate the lower third molars to the distal aspect of the lower first molars with the use of nickel titanium closed-coil springs; this was to be done before the osteotomy.

Purpose: To assess the success of orthograde endodontic treatment carried out by a group of general dental practitioners over a 15-year period., Population Studied: Patients presenting for their annual dental inspection at a large Air Force station in the UK over a six-month period. All teeth root-filled by Royal Air Force dental practitioners were assessed., Method: Clinical and, where appropriate, radiographic review was undertaken of all root-filled teeth present at inspection. Root-filled teeth removed prior to inspection were included in the study only if extraction was related to failure of the root filling. Root fillings were classified as 'definitely successful', 'probably successful' or 'failed'. The effect on success of several variables was investigated., Findings: There was a total of 136 root-filled teeth, of which 59% (n=80) were classified as 'definitely successful', 26% (n=35) as 'probably successful', and 15% (n=21) as failures. Of the variables studied, only time elapsed since root-filling placement had a statistically significant effect on treatment results with a downward trend in rate of failure with time (P=0.0268)., Conclusions: An overall success rate of 85% was found for this sample of root fillings comparing well with the success rates for root fillings placed by specialists. However, there may be significant differences in the relative importance of clinical variables depending on the experience of the operator. There are few reliable indicators of the likely prognosis for the root filling, questioning the automatic replacement of poor technical quality, but asymptomatic root fillings.

Inflammation resulting from any form of tissue injury causes an increase in plasma concentration of a number of liver-derived proteins (the acute phase reactant proteins), the measurement of which provides an indication of the magnitude of the inflammatory response. C reactive protein (CRP) is an example of an acute phase protein. Although concentrations increase particularly dramatically in response to inflammation and reflect the degree of ongoing tissue damage, this method has yet to be used to assess severity of injury in traumatology and forensic medicine. The rate at which the acute phase protein response occurred after injury was therefore explored in a series of 16 patients with maxillofacial skeletal injuries and in a series of 22 age- and sex-matched control patients. Increases in the plasma concentration of CRP were not detected until 6-12 h after injury and peaked at 48-72 h. Concentration of CRP was less than 10 mgm/l in all control patients. There was significant relation between peak levels and Abbreviated Injury Scale and Injury Severity scores. Results suggest that this method of assessing the severity of traumatic injury deserves further investigation and may be of use clinically, medico-legally and in relation to compensation awards.