[en] Despite a relatively high success rate in treating bacterial infection, it is still the major complication following dental implant surgery. Many attempts have been carried out to produce antibacterial effects on implant metals, and there have included coating of antibiotics encapsulated in polymers by using the electro-spray deposition (ESD) method. However, remnant polymer following full release of the medication, resulting in delamination between the surface layers of the implant and newly formed bone, has been a major problem. Hence, different organic polymer of poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) were used in this study. Commercially pure titanium was used in this experiment and was anodized to improve biocompatibility. The PLGA was dissolved in dichloromethane along with tetracycline, and the fabricated tetracycline encapsulated in PLGA was then coated on a porous oxide layer of titanium by using the ESD method. The surface characteristics were analyzed, and the antibacterial effects of the specimen were assessed using bacteria of Staphylococcus aereus. Finally, the cytotoxicity and cell proliferation on the surface was evaluated. The results indicated that such titanium formed by a coating of tetracycline encapsulated in PLGA on a porous titania structure exhibited antibacterial effects and was both non-cytotoxic and biocompatible. Also, PLGA seemed to be an ideal candidate as the medium to encapsulate antibiotics or other medications such as growth factors due to its rapid degradation compared to other organic polymer. From this experiment, we conclude that porous titania coated by tetracycline encapsulated in PLGA by using ESD method is appropriate for use in dental or medical implants to prevent the major complication of surgery, infection.

[en] The proposed study reports the design and testing of spoke coil (SC), that compensates for the degradation in the g-factor that is caused by the insufficient sensitivity of the coil array along the main magnetic field direction. Electromagnetic (EM) simulations were performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed coil in a 7-T MRI system. 25-channel surface loop array and short dipole array containing SC or circular loop coil (LC) on the top of the phantom are 3D modeled. The SENSE g-factor and SNR of coil arrays are calculated and evaluated, and the quality factor (Q), scaling factor (α), and noise-corelated resistance (R) are considered. The directed effective magnetic field (B₁⁻) generated by the SC improves the g-factor by compensating for the insufficient sensitivity information gathered by the array. However, this arrangement should be optimized to increase the available sensitivity information, depending on the type and structure of the coil elements in the array.

[en] Radiofrequency (RF) coils based on two operating frequencies, or dual-tuned (DT) coils, for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in parallel with MR spectroscopy (MRS) and MR spectroscopy imaging (MRSI) are used to obtain morphological and metabolic information for early diagnosis of diseases. However, this method suffers from serious problems such as the extremely low signal sensitivity of X-nuclei and the long image acquisition time required for the two measurements. In this study, a single-channel DT coil was proposed for RF excitation/reception (Tx/Rx) of hydrogen (¹H) and phosphorous (³¹P) by using a monopole antenna and a loop coil, and it was extended to an eight-channel volume coil at 7 T. To verify the DT coil performance, we compared the single RF port of the DT coil with monopole/loop geometry to the individual coil of the ¹H monopole antenna and the ³¹P loop coil with a cylindrical phantom. The monopole/loop coil shows no magnetic flux interaction between individual coils despite the superimposed positions owing to the single RF port. The study results demonstrated that the proposed DT monopole/loop (DTML) coil can be extended to multiple RF Tx/Rx systems and can reduce the acquisition time with a single measurement.

[en] Dental wax (DW), a low-melting and high-molecular-weight organic mixture, is widely used in dentistry for forming moulds of teeth. Hydrophilicity is an important property for DW, as a wet dental investment is used to surround the wax before wax burnout is performed. However, recent attempts to improve the hydrophilicity of DW using a surfactant have resulted in the reduced mechanical properties of the dental investment, leading to the failure of the dental restoration. This study applied a non-thermal air atmospheric pressure plasma jet (AAPPJ) for DW surface treatment and investigated its effect on both DW hydrophilicity and the dental investment's mechanical properties. The results showed that the application of the AAPPJ significantly improved the hydrophilicity of the DW, and that the results were similar to that of cleaner-treated DW using commercially available products with surfactant. A surface chemical analysis indicated that the improvement of hydrophilicity was related to an increase in the number of oxygen-related bonds on the DW surface following the removal of carbon hydrate in both AAPPJ and cleaner-treated DW. However, cleaner treatment compromised the mechanical property of the dental investment when the dental investment was in contact with the treated DW, while the AAPPJ treatment did not. Therefore, the use of AAPPJ to treat DW is a promising method for accurate dental restoration, as it induces an improvement in hydrophilicity without harming the dental investment. (paper)

[en] Dental vinyl polysiloxane (VPS) impression materials are widely used for the replication of intraoral tissue where hydrophilicity is important as the oral tissues are surrounded by wet saliva. Recent attempts to improve the wettability of VPS using a ‘surfactant’, however, have resulted in a high level of cytotoxicity. Hence, in this study, application of a non-thermal atmospheric-pressure plasma jet (NTAPPJ) on VPS and its effects in terms of both hydrophilicity and cytotoxicity were investigated. The results showed that the application of the plasma jet resulted in significant improvement of hydrophilicity of VPS that had no surfactant, whereby the results were similar to commercially available products with the surfactant. The surface chemical analysis results indicated that this was due to the oxidation and decreased amount of hydrocarbon on the surface following NTAPPJ exposure. Meanwhile, an NTAPPJ-treated sample was shown to be non-cytotoxic. Therefore, the use of dental VPS impression materials without any surfactant, in conjunction with an NTAPPJ treatment, is a promising method for ultra-hydrophilic but yet non-cytotoxic materials. (paper)

[en] Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasmas have been applied in the biomedical field for the improvement of various cellular activities. In dentistry, the healing of gingival soft tissue plays an important role in health and aesthetic outcomes. While the biomedical application of plasma has been thoroughly studied in dentistry, a detailed investigation of plasma-mediated human gingival fibroblast (HGF) migration for wound healing and its underlying biological mechanism is still pending. Therefore, the aim of this study is to apply a non-thermal air atmospheric pressure plasma jet (NTAAPPJ) to HGF to measure the migration and to reveal the underlying biological mechanisms involved in the migration. After the characterization of NTAAPPJ by optical emission spectroscopy, the adherent HGF was treated with NTAAPPJ or air with a different flow rate. Cell viability, lipid peroxidation, migration, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the expression of migration-related genes (EGFR, PAK1, and MAPK3) were investigated. The level of statistical significance was set at 0.05. NTAAPPJ and air treatment with a flow rate of 250–1000 standard cubic centimetres per minute (sccm) for up to 30 s did not induce significant decreases in cell viability or membrane damage. A significant increase in the migration of mitomycin C-treated HGF was observed after 30 s of NTAAPPJ treatment compared to 30 s air-only treatment, which was induced by high levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). An increase in migration-related gene expression and EGFR activation was observed following NTAAPPJ treatment in an air flow rate-dependent manner. This is the first report that NTAAPPJ treatment induces an increase in HGF migration without changing cell viability or causing membrane damage. HGF migration was related to an increase in intracellular ROS, changes in the expression of three of the migration-related genes (EGFR, PAK1, and MAPK1), and EGFR activation. Therefore, NTAAPPJ for gingival tissue healing is a promising method for health and aesthetic outcomes. (paper)

[en] The influences of heat treatment and addition of a small amount of base metal (In, Sn, and Ir) for oxidation in Au-Pt-based alloy were investigated by electron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Au-Pt-based alloys were prepared by argon-arc melting furnace and then they are heat treated. Oxidation on alloy was significantly affected by addition of base metal (In and Sn) and heat treatment. The bond strength of the alloys was not dependent on the changing heat treatment. These results indicated that the Sn and In could be effective as oxidation elements for porcelain bonding to gold alloys.

[en] Highlights: • Urinary 3-PBA is a biomarker of pyrethroids related with adverse health outcomes. • We repeatedly measured urinary 3-PBA levels and pulmonary function in urban elderly. • Community-level exposure to pyrethroids induced pulmonary function reduction. • Stringent control of pyrethroids is necessary to protect health of the elderly. -- Abstract: Pyrethroids are a class of man-made insecticides associated with various adverse health outcomes including respiratory problems. However, there were limited evidences on the relation between 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) as a metabolite of pyrethroids and pulmonary function, particularly among elderly population who have declining pulmonary function. Therefore, we collected urine samples and performed pulmonary function test (PFT) repeatedly in a total of 559 Korean elderly living in Seoul as an urban area. After measurement of urinary 3-PBA levels, cross-sectional relations of visit-to-visit variation in 3-PBA level on visit-to-visit variation in PFT parameters were evaluated using linear mixed effect models and generalized additive mixed models after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, education, visit episode, and phthalate metabolite levels. The Korean elderly were highly exposed to pyrethroids with 30.2% of elderly people with 3-PBA level over reference value derived on the 95th percentile of representative samples (2 ng/mL). Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV₁), forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of FVC (FEF_25–75) as PFT parameters showed significant reductions by an increase of 3-PBA level (FEV₁, β = −1.48, p-value < 0.01; FVC, β = −1.14, p-value < 0.01; and FEF_25-75, β = −1.11, p-value = 0.03). The negative associations of 3-PBA level with FEV₁, FVC, and FEF_25-75 were found only for females (FEV₁, β = −1.64, p-value < 0.01; FVC, β = −1.47, p-value < 0.01; and FEF_25-75, β = −1.06, p-value = 0.07), but not for males. However, the longitudinal effect of 3-PBA level on the trajectory of FEV₁, FVC, and FEF_25-75 declines in females was not found. Community-level exposure to pyrethroids was associated with pulmonary function reduction in elderly population, indicating that more stringent control of pyrethroids is necessary to protect the elderly who have declining pulmonary function.

[en] Highlights: • Phthalate exposure affects the development of a variety of diseases in the elderly. • We repeatedly determined urinary DEHP and DnBP metabolite levels in Korean elderly. • DEHP and DnBP variations were mainly attributed to intra-individual variation. • DEHP exposure was strongly correlated to DnBP exposure. • Urine samples with DEHP > RfD and DnBP > TDI were 20.2% and 3.6%, respectively. Recent studies indicated that exposure to phthalates affects the development of a variety of diseases in the elderly population. However, limited information was available about the variability of phthalate daily intakes (DIs) and the proportion of the population that is highly exposed to phthalates. Therefore, we measured the levels of three phthalate metabolites, mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxyhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP), mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP), and mono-n-butyl phthalate (MnBP) in 4014 urine samples repeatedly collected from 1646 elderly people. The DIs of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP) were calculated using urinary MEHHP, MEOHP, and MnBP levels, and then the proportion of the population that was highly exposed to DEHP and DnBP was calculated. The intra-class correlation (ICC) for MEHHP, MEOHP, and MnBP levels was 0.07, 0.02, and 0.03, respectively, and exposures to DEHP and DnBP were strongly correlated with each other (correlation coefficient = 0.89 and p-value < 0.0001). The geometric mean of estimated DI was 8.8 μg/kg_body-weight/day (range 0.005–3382.0) for DEHP and 1.5 μg/kg_body-weight/day (range 0.0002–1076.8) for DnBP. The percentages of urine samples with DEHP > reference dose (RfD, 20 μg/kg_body-weight/day) and DnBP > tolerable daily intake (TDI, 10 μg/kg_body-weight/day) were 20.2% and 3.6%, respectively. The Korean elderly were co-exposed to DEHP and DnBP, and the variation of DEHP and DnBP metabolite levels was mainly attributed to intra-individual variation, rather than inter-individual variation. Furthermore, Korean elderly were exposed to the hazards of DEHP and DnBP based on the high level of the exceedance rate over TDI or RfD for DEHP and DnBP. Since the elderly are very susceptible to environmental pollutants, the harmful effects of DEHP and DnBP in the elderly population should be further studied in the future.

[en] Highlights: • DEHP exposure was associated with the risk of depressive symptoms in the elderly. • Affective and spiritual symptoms were significantly associated with DEHP metabolite concentrations. • No significant association between depressive symptoms and either MnBP or MBzP. Animal studies have reported an association between phthalates and depression, although there is limited evidence from epidemiological studies. We investigated the association between phthalate exposure and symptoms of depression in an elderly population.