Unlocking Endocrown Restoration Expertise Among Dentists: Insights from a Multi-Center Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND This study, employing an online questionnaire, aimed to assess and contrast the awareness, knowledge, and perceptions of dentists in Saudi Arabia (SA) regarding endocrowns (EC) as post-endodontic restorations with those of dentists educated in various other countries. MATERIAL AND METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional survey among dental interns and practicing dentists in government facilities, private dental centers, and dental colleges in SA, including participants of diverse nationalities. We disseminated validated, closed-ended questionnaires through WhatsApp via Google Forms. The Chi-square test was applied to assess associations between categorical variables, with a P-value of ≤0.05 indicating statistical significance. RESULTS The majority of participants (61.2%) indicated that EC restorations are best suited for molar teeth. Furthermore, 69.6% asserted that the primary objective of employing EC is to accomplish minimally invasive preparations while preserving the existing tooth structure. Among the responses, 68.3% pinpointed debonding of ECs as a significant cause of failure. Notably, substantial differences were observed in responses concerning the knowledge or practice of EC across various factors such as gender, educational attainment, country of graduation, and workplace. CONCLUSIONS The findings reveal a comparatively low adoption of ECs among the participants, irrespective of experience or country of education. This underscores the need for incorporating ECs into dental curricula through theoretical and clinical discussions or considering them as a subject for post-graduate continuing education programs.

Persistent Organic Nanopores Amenable to Structural and Functional Tuning.

Rigid macrocycles 2, which share a hybrid backbone and the same set of side chains while having inner cavities with different inward-pointing functional groups, undergo similar nanotubular assembly as indicated by multiple techniques including (1)H NMR, fluorescence spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The formation of tubular assemblies containing subnanometer pores is also attested by the different transmembrane ion-transport behavior observed for these macrocycles. Vesicle-based stopped-flow kinetic assay and single-channel electrophysiology with planar lipid bilayers show that the presence of an inward-pointing functional (X) group in the inner cavity of a macrocyclic building block exerts a major influence on the transmembrane ion-transporting preference of the corresponding self-assembling pore. Self-assembling pores with inward-pointing amino and methyl groups possess the surprising and remarkable capability of rejecting protons but are conducive to transporting larger ions. The inward-pointing groups also resulted in transmembrane pores with a different extent of positive electrostatic potentials, leading to channels having different preferences for transporting chloride ion. Results from this work demonstrate that synthetic modification at the molecular level can profoundly impact the property of otherwise structurally persistent supramolecular assemblies, with both expected tunability and suprisingly unusual behavior.

Spectrophotometric methods manipulating ratio spectra for simultaneous determination of binary mixtures with sever overlapping spectra: a comparative study.

Three simple, specific and accurate spectrophotometric methods manipulating ratio spectra were developed and validated for simultaneous determination of Rabeprazole sodium (RB) and Domperidone (DP) in their binary mixture without prior separation. Method A, is constant center spectrophotometric method (CC). Method B is a ratio difference spectrophotometric one (RD), while method C is a combined ratio isoabsorptive point-ratio difference method (RIRD). Linear correlations were obtained in range of 4-44µg/mL for both Rabeprazole sodium and Domperidone. The mean percentage recoveries of RB were 99.69±0.504 for method A, 99.83±0.483 for (B) and 100.31±0.499 for (C), respectively, and that of DP were 99.52±0.474 for method A, 100.12±0.505 for (B) and 100.16±0.498 for (C), respectively. Specificity was investigated by analysis of laboratory prepared mixtures containing the cited drugs and their combined tablet dosage form. The obtained results were statistically compared with those obtained by the reported methods, showing no significant difference with respect to accuracy and precision. The three methods were validated as per ICH guidelines and can be applied for routine analysis in quality control laboratories.