Screening of fixed prosthodontic dentures after five years of use in relation to material and construction.

The aim of this study was to screen patients with fixed prosthodontic appliances that were in oral cavity for a period of 5 years or more and to assess clinically and radiologically root caries, gingival recession, pocket formation, alveolar ridge resorption, as well as gingival (GI) and plaque index (PI). The aim also was to find out the differences between materials and constructions, between abutment and non-abutment teeth, and to find out the need for replacement. A total of 260 patients and their orthopantomograms were examined, with a total of 2,265 teeth, 610 being bridge abutments and 246 being crowns. The most frequent were metal+ acrylic veneer crowns or bridges. Root caries was found under the abutments in 10-20%; however abutments with ceramic crowns had the lowest percentage of caries (p < 0.01). Alveolar ridge resorption, pocket formation deeper than 3 mm and gingival recession of various degree was found in 50% of the cases, again with the lowest percentage of ceramic-fused-to-metal appliances (p < 0.01). Pocket depth was registered in significantly higher percentage in metal-acrylic veneer appliances compared to natural teeth (p < 0.01), while there was no significant difference between metal-ceramic appliances and natural teeth (p > 0.05). Although the worst findings were recorded for metal- + acrylic veneer crowns for PI, no significant difference existed between crowns of different material or non-abutment teeth (p > 0.05). There was statistically significant difference between abutments with metal + acrylic veneer crowns, full metal crowns, metal ceramic crowns and non-abutments for GI scores. Higher percentage of scores 0 and 1 was recorded for metal ceramic crowns and non-abutments and significantly higher percentage of scores 2 and 3 was recorded for metal + acrylic veneer crowns and full metallic crowns. Almost 50% of metal-ceramic abutments had no pathologic findings. Almost 30% of the patients needed replacement, or even some abutments to be extracted and therefore a new prosthodontic appliance.

The EPR study of LDL perturbed by alcohols with different molecular architecture.

In this work, the interaction of different isomers of lower aliphatic alcohols with LDL representing a complex macromolecular assembly is investigated in vitro. Emphasis is given to the comparison of the impact of molecular architecture of methanol, ethanol, propanol (n-, iso-) and butanol (n-, iso-, sec-, tert-) in perturbing the lipid-protein assembly. The geometrical characteristics as well as the lipophilicity of the respective alcohol are considered. The EPR method combined with the spin labeling of both the apoB and the lipid monolayer allowed parallel detection of changes provoked in both phases. In addition to the change in protein environment, the spectral decomposition of the experimental data revealed a decrease in lipid ordering with the increasing concentration of the alcohols. This phenomenon for aliphatic alcohols is linearly correlated with the equal volume occupation (EVO) of alcohol in LDL. The results support the molecular mechanism of alcohol action through its interference with the lipid-protein interactions in LDL, which could be applicable to the molecular mechanism of alcohol interaction with integral membrane proteins.

The use of scientometric parameters for the evaluation of scientific contributions.

This paper deals with the application of scientometric parameters in the evaluation of scientists, either as individuals or in small formal groups. The parameters are divided into two groups: parameters of scientific productivity and citation parameters. The scientific productivity was further subdivided into three types of parameters: (i) total productivity, (ii) partial productivity, and (iii) productivity in scientific fields and subfields. These citation parameters were considered: (i) impact factors of journals, (ii) impact factors of scientific fields and subfields, (iii) citations of individual papers, (iv) citations of individual authors, (v) expected citation rates and relative citation rates, and (vi) self-citations, independent citations and negative citations. Particular attention was payed to the time-dependence of the scientometric parameters. If available, numeric values of the world parameters were given and compared with the data about the scientific output of Croatian scientists.

Scientometric analysis of anthropology in the Republic of Croatia for the period of 1980-1996.

Anthropologists from the Republic of Croatia have published 254 scientific papers in the period from 1980-1996, that are included in the secondary publication Social Science Citation Index. Scientists working in the scientific subfield anthropology participate with approximately 2% in the overall scientific output of the Republic of Croatia. Thirty-six international articles were published (14.2% of the total number), while the rest of 218 papers were published solely by domestic authors. An average anthropological paper is published by 3.06 authors, and approximately one-third of all articles by a single author. The major part of scientific papers (237 articles or 93.3%), Croatian anthropologists have published in a domestic primary scientific journal Collegium Antropologicum. All scientific papers together obtained 380 citations or 1.5 citations per article. The citation of articles is approximately 60% above the expected average for the respective journals. Published international papers had 6.6 citations, while articles by domestic authors had 0.65 citation per paper. Anthropological scientific papers obtained 154 independent citations and participate with 40.5% in the total number of citations. In the first five years after publishing, 166 articles (65.4% of the total number) were not cited, while the world's average for the scientific subfield anthropology was greater, 79.5% uncited articles. Only 19.4% of international papers and 72.9% of domestic papers were not cited in this five-year period. Based on scientometric indicators of a scientific output, that is, the number of published papers, partial scientific contribution, i.e., partial authorship, and scientific influence, i.e. number of citations, a method for the evaluation of scientific papers and their authors has been suggested in this paper.

1H-N.M.R. studies of a natural immunoadjuvant peptidoglycan monomer: proposed structure in solution in methyl sulfoxide.

The conformation in solution in methyl sulfoxide of the immunoadjuvant peptidoglycan monomer (PGM), obtained by digestion with lysozyme of the linear peptidoglycan polymer isolated from Brevibacterium divaricatum, was studied by 1H-n.m.r. spectroscopy. The temperature dependence of the chemical shift of the resonances of the amide protons suggested that the amino group of alanine-5 is involved in hydrogen bonding, most probably to the alpha-carbonyl of the isoglutamine which showed restricted rotation, as indicated by the large chemical shift non-equivalence for the resonances of the beta CH2 group. A cyclic structure is proposed for the C-terminal pentapeptide of PGM, which is further supported by various n.O.e. interactions involving the meso-diaminopimelic residue and the N-acetylmuramoyl group.

NMR studies of the Escherichia coli trp aporepressor. Sequence-specific assignment of the aromatic proton resonances.

The resonances in the aromatic region of the 1H-NMR spectrum of the Escherichia coli trp aporepressor have been assigned to amino acid type by two-dimensional correlated spectroscopy (COSY), homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn (HOHAHA) spectroscopy and nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy (NOESY) techniques and studies of the pH dependence of the chemical shifts, in combination with selective deuteration of the protein. Complete sequence-specific assignments of the aromatic resonances have been made by comparing the observed inter-residue NOEs with those expected on the basis of the crystal structure of the protein [Zhang, R.-G., Joachimiak, A., Lawson, C.L., Shevitz, R.W., Otwinowski, Z. & Sigler, P.B. (1987) Nature 327, 591-597]. The latter experiments have also permitted the sequence-specific assignment of some of the high-field methyl resonances. The complete assignment of the aromatic region of the spectrum, in particular of resonances from residues at the dimer interface, opens the way to detailed studies of the conformational effects of corepressor and operator binding.