This study compared the amount and pattern of fluoride release from a new glass-ionomer-based material (nano-ionomer) with other restorative materials and correlated the surface area to volume of nano-sized filler with its capacity to release fluoride in the powder, more quickly increasing the fluoride. The materials evaluated were a nano-ionomer (Ketac N 100), a conventional glass-ionomer cement (GC Fuji II), a resinmodified glass ionomer cement (GC Fuji II LC), a compomer (Dyract F) and a fluoride-releasing resin composite (Tetric N Flow). A resin composite (Synergy Flow) served as the control. Ten specimens were fabricated from each of these materials using a customized metal mold. The fluoride release was measured every 24 hours for the first seven days, and on days 14, 21 and 28, a combination fluoride ion-selective electrode connected to an ion analyzer. The data was analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey HSD test (p=0.05). An initial fluoride "burst effect" was seen with all of the materials, except for the control and compomer. The conventional glassionomer cement showed the highest fluoride release on the first three days. The nano-ionomer showed the maximum release of fluoride for the remaining days. A low constant level of fluoride release was seen from the compomer and fluoride-releasing resin composite throughout the study period.

Context:The results of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET imaging carried out with the current standard techniques for assessment of urinary tract cancers have been reported to be less than satisfactory because of the urinary excretion of the tracer.Aims:To investigate the role of dual-phase FDG-PET/CT in the restaging of invasive cancers of the urinary bladder, with delayed imaging after forced diuresis and oral hydration as the scanning protocol.Settings and Design:FDG-PET has been considered to be of limited value for the detection of urinary tract cancers because of interference by the FDG excreted in urine. We investigated the efficacy of delayed FDG-PET/CT in the restaging of invasive bladder cancer, with imaging performed after intravenous (IV) administration of a potent diuretic and oral hydration.Materials and Methods:Twenty-nine patients with invasive cancer of the urinary bladder were included in this study. Patients were divided into two groups: Group I (22 patients) included cases with invasive bladder cancer who had not undergone cystectomy and group II (seven patients) included cases with invasive bladder cancer who had undergone cystectomy and urinary diversion procedure. All patients underwent FDG-PET/CT scan from the skull base to the mid-thighs 60 min after IV injection of 370 mega-Becquerel (MBq) of FDG. Additional delayed images were acquired 60-90 min after IV furosemide and oral hydration. PET/CT data were analyzed as PET and CT images studied separately as well as fused PET/CT images and the findings were recorded. The imaging findings were confirmed by cystoscopy, biopsy or follow-up PET/CT.Results:The technique was successful in achieving adequate washout of urinary FDG and overcame the problems posed by the excess FDG in the urinary tract. Hypermetabolic lesions could be easily detected by PET and precisely localized to the bladder wall, perivesical region and pelvic lymph nodes. PET/CT delayed images were able to demonstrate 16 intravesical lesions (in 13 patients), with excellent clarity. Lymph node metastases were detected in a total of six patients. Of these, in two patients, FDG-avid lymph nodes were evident only in the delayed images. The information provided by the postdiuretic delayed images changed the PET/CT interpretation in 14 patients of invasive bladder cancer: Recurrent bladder lesions were identified in 12 patients, pelvic lymph node metastasis (only) in one patient and bladder lesion as well as lymph node metastasis in one patient. Distant metastases were detected by PET/CT in two cases. CT scan was false-negative for early recurrence in the bladder wall for seven of 16 lesions. CT also showed two false-positive lesions. There were no false-positives with PET.Conclusions:Detection of recurrent disease in cases of invasive bladder cancer can be significantly improved by using FDG-PET/CT, with delayed imaging following forced diuresis and oral hydration. Composite PET/CT is superior to CT alone for the restaging of invasive bladder cancers.

We assembled an ancestrally diverse collection of genome-wide association studies of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in 180,834 cases and 1,159,055 controls (48.9% non-European descent). We identified 277 loci at genome-wide significance (p<5x10-8), including 237 attaining a more stringent trans-ancestry threshold (p<5x10-9), which were delineated to 338 distinct association signals. Trans-ancestry meta-regression offered substantial enhancements to fine-mapping, with 58.6% of associations more precisely localised due to population diversity, and 54.4% of signals resolved to a single variant with >50% posterior probability. This improved fine-mapping enabled systematic assessment of candidate causal genes and molecular mechanisms through which T2D associations are mediated, laying foundations for functional investigations. Trans-ancestry genetic risk scores enhanced transferability across diverse populations, providing a step towards more effective clinical translation to improve global health.

Positron emission tomography (PET) and PET/ computed tomography (CT) are emerging as important imaging techniques and their popularity is growing within the medical fraternity. Though PET has been a useful research tool for many decades its real growth into clinical applications has occurred in the last one decade or so. Currently its major use is in oncologic imaging. However it has a multitude of clinical applications in cardiology, neurology and psychiatry as well. In oncologic imaging, a major a advantage of PET is that a single whole-body examination can provide accurate assessment of disease activity and spread. PET/CT amalgamates the functional information of PET with the structural details of the CT scan, thus greatly aiding in accurate staging, therapy response assessment and early detection of recurrent disease.

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