The ultrasonic device can be used as a non-invasive, reliable, and reproducible method to evaluate MT. Using this technology around single implants demonstrated that CTG may substantially thicken the peri-implant mucosa with acceptable stability over a 9-month period.

Gross anatomy is one of the fundamental topics in medical education. Dissection courses still play an important role in learning it, as well in undergraduate as in postgraduate education. In addition new endoscopical techniques for surgery and interventional radiology are invented and demand improved training at postgraduate level. The Endogent Centre for Anatomy and Invasive Techniques at the Ghent University support these requirements by establishing hands-on practical training courses by using new procedures for cadaver embalming. This new approach is introduced by Endogent, which is a cooperation and a collaboration between the surgeryanaesthesia department (Commission of Surgery) of the University Hospital Ghent and the department of anatomy, embryology, histology and medical physics (University Ghent). It is used for training techniques in postgraduate education: workshops for international surgeons and aspirant-surgeons are organized to learn already known and new invasive techniques on human bodies. In the future also undergraduate medical students will have the opportunity to get practical experience through Endogent.

The aim of the present study was to develop a method for threedimensional (3D) reconstruction of the brachial plexus to study its morphology and to calculate strain and displacement in relation to changed nerve position. The brachial plexus was finely dissected and injected with contrast medium and leaden markers were implanted into the nerves at predefined places. A reverse shoulder prosthesis was inserted in a cadaveric specimen what induced positional change in the upper limb nerves. Computed tomography (CT) was performed before and after this surgical intervention. The computer assisted image processing package Mimics 1 was used to reconstruct the pre-and postoperative brachial plexus in 3D. The results show that the current interactive model is a realistic and detailed representation of the specimen used, which allows 3D study of the brachial plexus in different configurations. The model estimated strains up to 15.3% and 19.3% for the lateral and the medial root of the median nerve as a consequence of placing a reverse shoulder prosthesis. Furthermore, the model succeeded in calculating the displacement of the brachial plexus by tracking each implanted lead marker. The presented brachial plexus 3D model currently can be used in vitro for cadaver biomechanical analyses of nerve movement to improve diagnosis and treatment of peripheral neuropathies. The model can also be applied to study the exact location of the plexus in unusual upper limb positions like during axillary radiation therapy and it is a potential tool to optimize the approaches of brachial plexus anesthetic blocks.

A system was developed in which it is possible to detect in vivo changes in hepatic H2O2 production, using a combination of the catalase inhibitor, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole and methanol. In mice, starvation significantly increases hepatic H2O2 production and plasma non-esterified fatty acid concentrations. Short-term refeeding after a 24 h starvation period brings H2O2 production and plasma non-esterified fatty acid concentration back to normal in 3h. Administration of insulin 24 h after the onset of starvation normalizes H2O2 production in less than 2h and decreases non-esterified fatty acid concentration below normal values. The suppression by insulin of H2O2 production, as well as its coherence with plasma non-esterified fatty acid concentration, indicate that increased H2O2 production in starved mice reflects peroxisomal beta-oxidation.

The peroxisomes in the liver of four patients with alcoholic hepatitis and in six patients with drug-induced hepatitis are compared to eight control livers by catalase cytochemistry and morphometry. A decrease of catalase activity is observed in alcoholic, amitriptyline, aprindine, clomipramine and methiomazole hepatitis. Peroxisomes with a heterogeneous distribution of the catalase reaction product are found in most hepatitis livers. The number of organelles is increased 1.5 to 4.2 times in alcoholic, aprindine, methimazole and phenytoin hepatitis livers. In the last case, peroxisomes are also smaller. Changes in shape are seen in all hepatitis livers; they include invaginations, tails, funnel-like constrictions and gastruloid cisternae. In aprindine, phenytoin, methimazole and two alcoholic hepatitis livers, surface density exceeds the upper control value. These data indicate a loss of catalase activity in most hepatitis livers but also peroxisomal proliferation and shape modifications. It has been proposed that the latter changes are favorable for metabolic activity.