Prevalence and characteristics of aggressive periodontitis

Aggressive Periodontitis is one of periodontal disease that generally affects individuals less than 30 years old, with a rapid attachment loss and alveolar bone destruction. Special features of the disease are affected incisors and first molars with symmetrical bilateral destruction. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of Aggressive Periodontitis at Student Clinics, Faculty of Dentistry Padjadjaran University on May to July 2010. Based on accidentally sampling, 415 new patients at Dental and Oral Hospital, Faculty of Dentistry Padjadjaran University and Dental and Oral Polyclinic at RSUP dr. Hasan Sadikin Bandung participated in this study. Each subject filled out the questionnaire and did a clinical examination. Patients with attachment loss ≥ 4 mm were referred for radiographic and microbiologic examination to support the diagnosis. The results showed that there were 13 patients who have the diagnostic criteria of Aggressive Periodontitis. Nine patients were diagnosed as Localized Aggressive Periodontitis, and 4 patients as Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis. It is concluded that the prevalence of Aggressive Periodontitis was 3.13%, and indicated low prevalence. Characteristics of Localized Aggressive Periodontitis patients were female in 20-29 age range, whereas characteristics of Generalized Aggressive Periodontitis patients were male in 30-39 age range.

Mandibular Condyle Lesions in Children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Objective: To assess the prevalence of radiographically detectable destruction of the temporomandibular joints in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and to study the possible relationships between condylar destruction and type and duration of the disease, as well as the type of occlusion. Material And Method: The study group consisted of 66 children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (27 boys, 39 girls; mean age, 11.9 years). The possible presence of condylar destruction was examined in panoramic radiographs. The medical history and the type of malocclusion were registered also. The statistical evaluation was performed by means of descriptive statistics, Student's t test, Pearson's chi-square, and an analysis of variance test. The whole procedure was repeated after a 4-week interval to estimate the error of the method. Results: Of the children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis, 50% showed some form of condylar destruction. Significant correlation was found between the type of the disease and the condyles affected. In the polyarticular type of juvenile idiopathic arthritis, 75% of the children presented affected condyles and 55.6% of them showed lesions bilaterally. The condylar affection was found to be independent of sex, although girls showed a tendency to bilateral lesions. In children with unilateral destruction, the right condyle was affected four times more frequently than the left. The duration of juvenile idiopathic arthritis seems to be significantly correlated to condylar destruction and especially to bilateral destruction. Conclusion: Children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis presented a remarkable prevalence of condylar destruction, which was correlated to the type and duration of the disease.

Addison’s Disease Presenting with Abdominal Pain

Primary Adrenal Insufficiency is due to bilateral destruction of the adrenal cortex and has a prevalence of approximately 40-60 per million adults. 1 The commonest cause is autoimmune. 1 Prompt treatment not only restores quality of life but also a normal life expectancy. 2 Here we present an unusual case of primary adrenal insufficiency, which illustrates how such an important disease often provides a diagnostic conundrum.

Large lesions in the pre-Bötzinger complex area eliminate eupneic respiratory rhythm in awake goats

In awake goats, 29% bilateral destruction of neurokinin-1 receptor-expressing neurons in the pre-Bötzinger complex (pre-BötzC) area with saporin conjugated to substance P results in transient disruptions of the normal pattern of eupneic respiratory muscle activation (Wenninger JM, Pan LG, Klum L, Leekley T, Bastastic J, Hodges MR, Feroah T, Davis S, and Forster HV. J Appl Physiol 97: 1620–1628, 2004). Therefore, the purpose of these studies was to determine whether large or total lesioning in the pre-BötzC area of goats would eliminate phasic diaphragm activity and the eupneic breathing pattern. In awake goats that already had 29% bilateral destruction of neurokinin-1 receptor-expressing neurons in the pre-BötzC area, bilateral ibotenic acid (10 μl, 50 mM) injection into the pre-BötzC area resulted in a tachypneic hyperpnea that reached a maximum (132 ± 10.1 breaths/min) ∼30–90 min after bilateral injection. Thereafter, breathing frequency declined, central apneas resulted in arterial hypoxemia (arterial Po2 ∼40 Torr) and hypercapnia (arterial Pco2 ∼60 Torr), and, 11 ± 3 min after the peak tachypnea, respiratory failure was followed by cardiac arrest in three airway-intact goats. However, after the peak tachypnea in four tracheostomized goats, mechanical ventilation was initiated to maintain arterial blood gases at control levels, during which there was no phasic diaphragm or abdominal muscle activity. When briefly removed from the ventilator (∼90 s), these goats became hypoxemic and hypercapnic. During this time, minimal, passive inspiratory flow resulted from phasic abdominal muscle activity. We estimate that 70% of the neurons within the pre-BötzC area were lesioned in these goats. We conclude that, in the awake state, the pre-BötzC is critical for generating a diaphragm, eupneic respiratory rhythm, and that, in the absence of the pre-BötzC, spontaneous breathing reflects the activity of an expiratory rhythm generator.

Computerized tomography-guided percutaneous bilateral selective cordotomy

Percutaneous bilateral cordotomy performed using conventional techniques may cause the patient to develop sleep-induced apnea due to bilateral destruction of the ventrolateral reticulospinal tract. Computerized tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous cordotomy using a newly designed needle electrode system has the advantages of safe, selective, and controlled lesioning under direct visualization in the lateral spinothalamic tract. Given its low complication rate, bilateral selective cordotomy performed with CT guidance using this new needle electrode system may prove to be the treatment of choice for cancer patients with bilateral pain of the lower trunk and extremities. The present series included five cancer patients suffering from intractable pain bilaterally in the lower trunk and extremities. All were treated with CT-guided bilateral selective cordotomy: the results demonstrate that this technique may be used effectively and safely.

Homing experiments on pigeons subjected to bilateral destruction of the paratympanic organ

The paratympanic organ (PO) in birds is a specialised sensory organ whose function is still unknown. G. Vitali, who first described the PO from observations of the behaviour of PO-lesioned pigeons, proposed that this organ was needed to maintain normal wing muscle function and called it the 'organ of flight'. This interpretation has since been disputed. To solve this controversy and to test whether the PO is involved in flight and navigation, we performed release tests on homing pigeons subjected to bilateral destruction of this organ. No impairment of either flight or navigation was observed in the lesioned pigeons.