To identify and qualify the scientific evidence on the immediate and long-term effects of rapid maxillary expansion on the midpalatal suture in growing teenage or young adults, the related articles were selected. Literatures were searched in the electronic databases, including Medline, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. A methodologic-quality scoring (13-point) scale was used to evaluate the quality of the studies. Twelve relevant articles were identified. Midpalatal suture opening during orthodontic treatment with rapid maxillary expansion (RME) amounted to 12–52.5 percent of the total screw expansion. After the treatment of RME, the midpalatal suture seemed to be recalcificated, so the expansion of the midpalatal suture was stable, but there was no consistent evidence on whether the midpalatal sutural opening was parallel or triangular. The methodologic quality of the included studies was assessed rigorously and many deficiencies were found. The majority of the articles were judged to be of low quality. Therefore, we could not draw any accurate conclusion on the basis of evidence in this systematic review.

Orthodontic treatment can result in root resorption (RR). Traditional two-dimensional (2D) data exhibit magnification, deformation and positioning problems. Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) contains more accurate three-dimensional (3D) information. This study identified and qualified the extent and location of root resorption using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) after comprehensive orthodontic treatment. Studies comparing the RR before and after comprehensive orthodontic treatment using CBCT were identified using electronic searches of databases, including Cochrane, PubMed, EMBASE, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science, and manual searches in relevant journals and the reference lists of the included studies until Oct 25, 2017. The extraction of data and the risk of bias evaluation were conducted by two investigators independently. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the methodological index for non-randomized studies (MINORS). Studies that reported the length and volume of teeth were used for quantitative analyses. Twelve studies were included in the meta-analysis. The length of all teeth after intervention was significantly shorter than that before treatment (MD = 0.80, 95% CI 0.56, 1.03, P < 0.00001). The sequence of RR from heaviest to lightest was maxillary lateral incisors, maxillary central incisors, mandibular anterior teeth, and maxillary canines. Studies were divided into two subgroups based on the use of tooth extraction. Root shortening after treatment was observed in both groups, and extraction caused more root resorption than was observed in the non-extraction group. There were different degrees of root resorption after orthodontics, but it was clinically acceptable. Root resorption established in CBCT research was less serious and more accurate than that observed in the two-dimensional research. Current evidence suggests that root length and volume were reduced after orthodontic treatment. The order of the amount of RR was maxillary lateral incisors, maxillary central incisors and mandibular anterior teeth. Most of the articles were complicated by different confounding factors. Therefore, more high-quality clinical trials are needed to determine the risk factors of root resorption and optimal protocols for treatment and to draw more reliable conclusions.

Periodontitis is a dysbiotic biofilm-induced and host-mediated inflammatory disease of tooth supporting tissues that leads to progressive destruction of periodontal ligament and alveolar bone, thereby resulting in gingival recession, deep periodontal pockets, tooth mobility and exfoliation, and aesthetically and functionally compromised dentition. Due to the improved biopharmaceutical and pharmacokinetic properties and targeted and controlled drug release, nano-based drug delivery systems have emerged as a promising strategy for the treatment of periodontal defects, allowing for increased efficacy and safety in controlling local inflammation, establishing a regenerative microenvironment, and regaining bone and attachments. This review provides an overview of nano-based drug delivery systems and illustrates their practical applications, future prospects, and limitations in the field of periodontal tissue regeneration.

This paper presents an unsupervised clustering random-forest-based metric for affinity estimation in large and high-dimensional data. The criterion used for node splitting during forest construction can handle rank-deficiency when measuring cluster compactness. The binary forest-based metric is extended to continuous metrics by exploiting both the common traversal path and the smallest shared parent node. The proposed forest-based metric efficiently estimates affinity by passing down data pairs in the forest using a limited number of decision trees. A pseudo-leaf-splitting (PLS) algorithm is introduced to account for spatial relationships, which regularizes affinity measures and overcomes inconsistent leaf assign-ments. The random-forest-based metric with PLS facilitates the establishment of consistent and point-wise correspondences. The proposed method has been applied to automatic phrase recognition using color and depth videos and point-wise correspondence. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in affinity estimation in a comparison with the state-of-the-art.

Purpose: Clinically, it is challenging to manage diabetic patients with periodontitis. Biochemically, both involve a wide range of inflammatory/collagenolytic conditions which exacerbate each other in a “bi-directional manner.” However, standard treatments for this type of periodontitis rely on reducing the bacterial burden and less on controlling hyper-inflammation/excessive-collagenolysis. Thus, there is a crucial need for new therapeutic strategies to modulate this excessive host response and to promote enhanced resolution of inflammation. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the impact of a novel chemically-modified curcumin 2.24 (CMC2.24) on host inflammatory response in diabetic rats. Methods: Type I diabetes was induced by streptozotocin injection; periodontal breakdown then results as a complication of uncontrolled hyperglycemia. Non-diabetic rats served as controls. CMC2.24, or the vehicle-alone, was administered by oral gavage daily for 3 weeks to the diabetics. Micro-CT was used to analyze morphometric changes and quantify bone loss. MMPs were analyzed by gelatin zymography. Cell function was examined by cell migration assay, and cytokines and resolvins were measured by ELISA. Results: In this severe inflammatory disease model, administration of the pleiotropic CMC2.24 was found to normalize the excessive accumulation and impaired chemotactic activity of macrophages in peritoneal exudates, significantly decrease MMP-9 and pro-inflammatory cytokines to near normal levels, and markedly increase resolvin D₁ (RvD₁) levels in the thioglycolate-elicited peritoneal exudates (tPE). Similar effects on MMPs and RvD₁ were observed in the non-elicited resident peritoneal washes (rPW). Regarding clinical relevance, CMC2.24 significantly inhibited the loss of alveolar bone height, volume and mineral density (ie, diabetes-induced periodontitis and osteoporosis). Conclusion: In conclusion, treating hyperglycemic diabetic rats with CMC2.24 (a tri-ketonic phenylaminocarbonyl curcumin) promotes the resolution of local and systemic inflammation, reduces bone loss, in addition to suppressing collagenolytic MMPs and pro-inflammatory cytokines, suggesting a novel therapeutic strategy for treating periodontitis complicated by other chronic diseases.