In this work was investigated the effect of pre-treatment with (PhSe) 2 and (PhTe) 2 on chemical seizure and 4-aminopyridine-induced lethality in mice. Additionally, lipid peroxidation levels of whole brain after treatment with 4-aminopyridine and effect of pre-treatment with (PhSe) 2 and (PhTe) 2 on these levels were investigated. Mice were pre-treated with (PhSe) 2 or (PhTe) 2 (50, 100, or 150 $μ$mol/kg) 30 min before 4-aminopyridine (12 mg/kg) administration. The treatment with 4-aminopyridine caused a significant incidence of seizures (clonic, tonic) and death. Pre-treatment with (PhSe) 2 and (PhTe) 2 significantly increased the latency for clonic and tonic seizures, and prevented 4-aminopyridine-induced death. Significantly, the pre-treatment with (PhSe) 2 or (PhTe) 2 increased the latency for clonic seizures in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, a significant increase was observed in the brain lipid peroxidation level after treatment with 4-aminopyridine, which was significantly inhibited by pre-treatment with 150 $μ$mol/kg (PhSe) 2 or (PhTe) 2 . These results demonstrate that (PhSe) 2 and (PhTe) 2 counteract the harmful effects of 4-aminopyridine. It is possible that this effect results from modulation of the redox state of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors and/or of Ca 2+ channel activity with subsequent alteration in neurotransmitter release. Importantly, this study provides evidence for anticonvulsant and antioxidant properties of (PhSe) 2 and (PhTe) 2′ which indicates a neuroprotective activity of these compounds.

A kinetic approach to the problem of wave propagation in dusty plasmas, which takes into account the variation of the charge of the dust particles due to inelastic collisions with electrons and ions, is utilized as a starting point for the development of a new formulation, which writes the components of the dielectric tensor in terms of a finite and an infinite series, containing all effects of harmonics and Larmor radius. The formulation is quite general and valid for the whole range of frequencies above the plasma frequency of the dust particles, which were assumed motionless. The formulation is employed to the study of electrostatic waves propagating along the direction of the ambient magnetic field, in the case for which ions and electrons are described by Maxwellian distributions. The results obtained in a numerical analysis corroborate previous analysis, about the important role played by the inelastic collisions between electrons and ions and the dust particles, particularly on the imaginary part of the dispersion relation. The numerical analysis also show that additional terms in the components of the dielectric tensor, which are entirely due these inelastic collisions, play a very minor role in the case of electrostatic waves, under the conditions considered in the present analysis.

The aim of this study was to evaluate flossing as a diagnostic method for interproximal gingival bleeding in children. For this crossover study, 23 pre-schoolchildren presenting neither restorations nor approximal carious cavities and with at least 15% of gingival bleeding sites were selected. Examinations were performed at three different moments (3-4 days interval). Examinations comprised repeated measurements of two gingival indices with a 10-minute interval in the following sequences: the Ainamo & Bay Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI) followed by the Carter & Barnes flossing index (CBI); CBI followed by GBI; and GBI followed by GBI. Data analysis was performed only for the interproximal sites, considering the GBI as the gold-standard. Agreement between indices, sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), positive (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV) were estimated. Percentage agreements in sequences GBI-CBI, CBI-GBI and GBI-GBI were 70.3%, 76.4% and 84.5%, respectively. Validation of flossing in the first sequence (GBI-CBI) resulted in values of 0.61 (95%CI 0.53 - 0.68), 0.72 (95%CI 0.69 - 0.76), 0.33 (95%CI 0.28 - 0.39) and 0.89 (95%CI 0.86 - 0.92) respectively for SE, SP, PPV and NPV. It can be concluded that professional flossing is a useful tool in the diagnosis of interproximal gingival inflammatory status in children, especially in conditions of gingival health.

The present paper reports on the first two-dimensional (2D) self-consistent solution of weak turbulence equations describing the evolution of electron-beam-plasma interaction in which quasilinear as well as nonlinear three-wave decay processes are taken into account. It is found that the 2D Langmuir wave decay processes lead to the formation of a quasicircular ring spectrum in wave number space. It is also seen that the 2D ring-spectrum of Langmuir turbulence leads to a tendency to isotropic heating of the electrons. These findings contain some important ramifications. First, in the literature, isotropization of energetic electrons, detected in the solar wind for instance, is usually attributed to pitch-angle scattering. The present finding constitutes an alternative mechanism, whose efficiency for other parametric regimes has to be investigated. Second, when projected onto the one-dimensional (1D) space, the 2D ring spectrum may give a false impression of Langmuir waves inverse cascading to longer wavelength regime, when in reality, the wavelength of the turbulence does not change at all but only the wave propagation angle changes. Although the present analysis excludes the induced scattering, which is another process potentially responsible for the inverse cascade, the present finding at least calls for an investigation into the relative efficacy of the inverse-cascading process in 1D vs 2D.

Numerical solutions for equations of weak turbulence theory that describe the beam-plasma interaction are obtained in two dimensions (2D). The self-consistent theory governs quasilinear processes as well as nonlinear decay and scattering processes. It is found that the Langmuir turbulence scatters into a quasi-circular ring spectrum in 2D wave number space, accompanied by quasi-isotropic heating of the electrons. When projected onto the one-dimensional (1D) space, 2D Langmuir turbulence spectrum appears as an inverse cascade, when in reality, the wavelength of the turbulence does not change but only the wave propagation angle changes. These findings are similar to those obtained in a previous analysis in which scattering processes were not taken into account, but it is found that the scattering term leads to a quantifiably higher scattering rate.

AIM: To assess the effect of systemic azithromycin as a supplement to scaling and root planing (SRP) in the treatment of aggressive periodontitis (AgP). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-four individuals (13-26 years old) underwent a plaque control program, and then were treated with SRP. Subjects were assigned randomly into two groups; the test group used 500 mg azithromycin once a day for 3 days, whereas the control group used a placebo. Clinical variables were assessed at baseline, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. The periodontal status at baseline and 12 months was compared using the Wald test, and adjusting for the effect of clustering of teeth within subjects. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in visible plaque, gingival bleeding, and supragingival calculus between groups throughout the study. Periodontal probing depth (PPD) and clinical attachment level improved significantly from baseline to 12 months in both groups, with the test group showing significantly more reduction in mean PPD compared with controls (2.88 mm versus 1.85 mm, respectively, p=0.025). Subjects administering azithromycin showed a higher percentage of teeth with attachment gain >or=1 mm (81.34 versus 63.63, p=0.037), whereas the controls had higher percentage of teeth with attachment loss >or=1 mm (11.57 versus 2.24, p=0.015). CONCLUSIONS: The adjunctive use of azithromycin has the potential to improve periodontal health of young patients with AgP.

Electron distributions with various degrees of asymmetry associated with the energetic tail population are commonly detected in the solar wind near 1 AU. By numerically solving one-dimensional electrostatic weak turbulence equations the present paper demonstrates that a wide variety of asymmetric energetic tail distributions may result. It is found that a wide variety of asymmetric tail formation becomes possible if one posits that the solar wind electrons are initially composed of thermal core plus field-aligned counterstreaming beams, instead of the customary thermal population plus a single beam. It is shown that the resulting nonlinear wave-wave and wave-particle interactions lead to asymmetric nonthermal tails. It is found that the delicate difference in the average beam speeds associated with the forward versus backward components is responsible for the generation of asymmetry in the energetic tail.