Corrosion characterization of the 6061 Al-Mg-Si alloy in synthetic acid rain using neutron tomography.

Neutron tomography has gained increasing importance as an imaging technique for materials characterization. In general, neutron beams are able to show microstructure features of hydrogenous materials, even enfolded with thick metal layers. In the present paper, neutron tomography and observation of cross section images were successfully applied to investigate the corrosion features of the 6061 Al-Mg-Si alloy. The results showed good agreement between neutron 3D tomography and the cross section images obtained in the high attenuation areas of the samples, whereas significant differences in depth of corrosion penetration were obtained between the results from Neutron Tomography and 3D optical profilometry.

Assessment of the efficacy of the utilisation of conventional and electric toothbrushes by the older adults.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of electric and conventional toothbrushes for a group of elderly individuals. BACKGROUND: Although the electric toothbrush has been recommended for elderly individuals, there had previously never been a study regarding its efficacy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty independent elders of both genders with different oral conditions from the Center Adult Day Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil, were randomly divided into two groups of 30 individuals. One group received the Oral B CrossAction Power electric toothbrush, whereas the other received a conventional Bitufo Class 32 soft toothbrush to perform oral hygiene. The bacterial plaque index (O'Leary Plaque Index) and DMFT index were assessed as a measure of oral hygiene and oral health. The data were analysed using the Shapiro-Wilk, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon tests. RESULTS: The results of the efficacy of the Oral B Cross Action Power electric toothbrush demonstrated that on the 7th and 15th days, the bacterial plaque indexes were 24.91 ± 12.81 and 22.11 ± 14.46, respectively, which corresponds to a 50.24% removal of bacterial plaque on the 7th and 55.83% on the 15th days. Although the electric toothbrush removed more bacterial plaque than the conventional toothbrush, the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Both the conventional and the electric toothbrushes were effective in removing bacterial plaque within the elderly group. More studies are necessary to test the efficacy of electric toothbrushes in relation to conventional toothbrushes for elderly patients.