Expanding habitat of the imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta): a public health concern.

Residents in the southeastern United States would hardly describe life with the aggressive imported fire ant as peaceful coexistence. The continued spread of these insects has produced agricultural problems, changes in the ecosystem, and increasing numbers of subjects with sting sequelae, including hypersensitivity reactions, secondary infections, and rare neurologic sequelae. Evolutionary changes have facilitated their expansion northward into Virginia and westward into California, and increasing urbanization will likely permit further expansion. Recent reports of building invasion with sting attacks inside occupied dwellings, including health care facilities, heighten public health concerns. This article reviews the medically important entomology, clinical aspects of stings, and the current approaches to chemical control of fire ants. We also propose directions for future research and treatment.

New diagnostic and therapeutic mechanical device.

A new device is described that may be used (1) diagnostically to determine the relationship of the occlusion to tenderness in the lateral pterygoid and other muscles of mastication; (2) to relieve ischemic muscle tenderness; (3) to assist in the reduction of articular clicks; and (4) as a positioning device for the registration of physiologic interocclusal relations. The rationale for the causal relationship between the occlusion and lateral pterygoid muscle tenderness is explained.

The gestalt of occlusion--A clinical appraisal.

1. Occlusion, with its many ramifications, cannot be over simplified. It should not be considered so varied that a sequential and subtle analysis of its ramifications defies simplification. 2. The same mechanisms produce the correct or incorrect physiologic position of the dental units. A faulty mechanism must be recognized and all efforts made to return it to efficiency as soon as possible for the benefit of the entire system. 3. The correct physiologic terminal position of the mandibular condyles is the ideal relationship in the TMJ and activates the posterior component forces of the neurologic system. This forms the dentition into its most harmonious relationship. 4. Any teminal position of the condyle in the mandibular fossa, other than the physiologic terminal position, compromises the potential of a harmonious interdental forming process. The results range from simple deflective occlusal contacts to severe malocclusions. 5. The constancy of the occlusal plane relationship, easily determined from a cephalometric tracing offers a clinical guide as to its best functioning position. 6. A TMJ radiographic technique that ensures repeatable, reproducible, and traceable radiograms is an essential diagnostic aid. It is necessary to know the position of the condyle in the fossa before, during, and after procedures that alter the interocclusal relationship. 7. Not all TMJ problems are necessarily symptomatic. Occlusal adjustment procedures should be utilized to ensure a harmonious interocclusal relationship manifest by the muscles of mastication functioning in a nonsymptomatic, optimal, and physiologic manner, in all working jaw relations. The ideal physiologic terminal position must be established as closely as possible during saliva swallowing. 8. Only occlusal adjustment techniques utilizing the natural forces of the neuromuscular system to reestablish the ideal physiologic terminal position within the TMJ should be used. A technique such as that developed by Long satisfies this requirement. 9. Although there are many imperfections in knowledge, there are no imperfections in truth.