ABSTRACT
One of the factors in dental erosion is consumption of acidic soft drinks. Although the effects of various additives to acidic soft drinks for the prevention of tooth erosion have been assessed, little data have been published on the possibility of preventing the erosion through soft drinks containing calcium-carbonate nanoparticles. To examine the erosive factors of 7up soft drink and to determine the possibilities of decreasing or preventing the erosion phenomenon of the soft drink containing calcium-carbonate nanoparticles. 7up soft drink was assigned as control and a set of solutions containing 0.04, 0.05, and 0.06 vol % of the nano-particles were assigned as the experimental solutions. The pH, titratable acidity [TA], calcium and phosphorus concentrations and degree of saturation with respect to enamel hydroxyapatite [DS[En]] were calculated. These parameters refer to assessment of erosive potential of the soft drinks. The erosion potential was evaluated based on the micro-hardness and the structural changes of the tooth surface using scanning electron microscopy [SEM].Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis H test,andBonferroni-adjusted Mann-Whitney U test. An increase in the nano-additive content of the solutions increased pH and DS[En] however, it decreased the TA [P < 0.05]. There was a significant difference between the micro hardness in the control and experimental groups [p<0.001]. SEM imagesrevealed less surface erosion of the specimens stored in the higher nano-additive concentrations.The modified drink containing 0.06% nano-additive revealed the highest hardness with no evidence of tooth erosion. Adding calcium carbonate nanoparticles to soft drinks can be considered as a novel method to reduce or prevent tooth erosion
ABSTRACT
Background: Hydatidosis is one of the most prevalent zoonotic diseases worldwide caused by the metacestode form of Echinococcus granulosus. The diagnosis of cystic echinococcusis is difficult; using the clinical features of the disease and serological methods help to determine the specific antibody response. Due to medical and economical importance of this disease, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of the human hydatidosis among adults in Kashan, a central region of Iran, in 2008
Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 361 serum samples were randomly collected from adult cases referring to the city and rural health centers of Kashan. All the sera in different age groups were examined using ELISA and IFA tests
Results: The age Mean+/-SD in this study was 33.4+/-9.7 years. Only 11 cases [3.05%] using both ELISA and IFA were positive for hydatidosis and the other cases were negative by two methods. The infection rate among males and females was 3.7% and 2.3%, respectively. There was no significant association between hydatidosis, sex and residency
Conclusion: According to the results, the rate of hydatidosis prevalence in this region was high justifying control programs of hydatidosis