No abstract

N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) is a therapeutic drug widely used as mucolytic agent in the treatment of respiratory diseases. Recently it has been proposed that NAC administration may modify the plasma levels of low molecular weight thiols (LMW) like cysteine, homocysteine and glutathione, though it has been still debated if their plasma concentration increases or decreases during the therapy. Therefore research calls for methods able to analyze simultaneously NAC and the other plasma LMW thiols in order to evaluate if NAC is able to modify plasma thiols concentration and in particular to reduce homocysteine levels in hyperhomocysteinemia. In this paper we present a new capillary electrophoresis method that allows a baseline separation of plasma NAC from the physiological thiols. The proposed method has been utilized to measure the drug and the physiological LMW thiols in NAC administered chronic obstructive broncho-pneumopathy (COPB) disease patients.

Purpose. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical and radiographic outcomes of 23 edentulous jaws treated with 3D software planning, guided surgery, and immediate loading and restored with CAD-CAM full arch frameworks. Materials and Methods. This work was designed as a prospective case series clinical study. Twenty patients have been consecutively rehabilitated with an immediately loaded implant supported fixed full prosthesis. A total of 120 fixtures supporting 23 bridges were placed. 117 out of 120 implants were immediately loaded. Outcome measures were implants survival, radiographic marginal bone levels and remodeling, soft tissue parameters, and complications. Results. 114 of 117 implants reached a 30 months follow-up, and no patients dropped out from the study. The cumulative survival rate was 97.7%; after 30 months, mean marginal bone level was 1.25 ± 0.31 mm, mean marginal bone remodeling value was 1.08 ± 0.34, mean PPD value was 2.84 ± 0.55 mm, and mean BOP value was 4% ± 2.8%. Only minor prosthetic complications were recorded. Conclusion. Within the limitations of this study, it can be concluded that computer-guided surgery and immediate loading seem to represent a viable option for the immediate rehabilitations of completely edentulous jaws with fixed implant supported restorations. This trial is registered with Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01866696.

In patients with carotid atherosclerosis, ongoing CE-MRA with a neurovascular coil for the simultaneous detection of unstable plaques is feasible. Our MR protocol accurately identifies the major features of vulnerable plaque.

No abstract