Left-to-right distribution of periodontal disease.

AIM: Symmetry is a property established in many human biological systems and it is reasonable to expect that it may also exist in the mouth. The objective of this study was to examine whether there is a similar left-to-right distribution in periodontal disease. METHOD: Records of 197 patients from the Periodontics department of The Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne were analysed. The clinical parameters recorded were pocket probing depth, recession, bleeding on probing, mobility and furcation involvement. RESULTS: The average age of our sample group was 47.5 years old, with 34.5% men and 65.5% women. The results demonstrated significant left-to-right distribution with all the periodontal indices recorded. CONCLUSION: The findings support previous studies that show that a similar left-to-right distribution exists in the population studied.

Noninvasive tracking of coronary atherosclerosis by electron beam computed tomography: rationale and design of the Felodipine Atherosclerosis Prevention Study (FAPS).

The Felodipine Atherosclerosis Prevention Study is designed to evaluate the efficacy of the calcium antagonist felodipine ER and combined felodipine/simvastatin therapy on retarding the progression of atherosclerosis, estimated by serial changes in coronary calcium evaluated by noninvasive electron beam computed tomography. Subjects include 180 men and women aged 40 to 69 and 50 to 69 years, respectively, with moderate type IIa dyslipidemia, with either cardiovascular disease or risk factors. All subjects receive simvastatin lipid-lowering therapy, and are randomized either to felodipine or placebo for a treatment period of 2 years. Monitoring of blood chemistry, measures of lipids and apolipoproteins, blood pressure, evaluation of symptoms, and interim clinical event monitoring are done at routine follow-up visits. Baseline and 2-year follow-up electron beam computed tomography, measuring changes in total calcium score, area, and mass, evaluate the effects of intervention on the progression of calcified atherosclerosis. The results from the Felodipine Atherosclerosis Prevention Study will provide valuable information about the effect of felodipine alone and in combination with simvastatin on progression of calcified atherosclerosis evaluated noninvasively.

The effect of sodium nitroprusside on the uptake and efflux of 45Ca from rabbit and rat vessels.

In this study we investigated if sodium nitroprusside (NaNP), a vasodilator with direct action on smooth muscle, would have any effect on calcium kinetics in blood vessels. The effect of NaNP, in 0.1-10 micrometer concentration, was studied in vitro on the uptake of 45Ca with the lanthanum method and on the efflux of 45Ca. The drug failed to alter the uptake of 'La-resistant' 45Ca in rabbit mesenteric artery and vein. This was true even if Ca2+ uptake was increased in the vessels by 60 mM KCl. The efflux of 45Ca on the other hand was enhanced from rabbit mesenteric vein and from rat aorta exposed to NaNP, in a dose-related way. The present study, like our previous one on other vasodilators, indicates that NaNP has en effect on vascular calcium kinetics but this is the first time that a relationship could be established between the dose of the drug and the effect on 45Ca efflux.

Calcium kinetics in the aorta of spontaneously hypertensive rats.

In the search for abnormalities in hypertensive vessels Ca kinetics was studied in the aorta of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The uptake of 45Ca was significantly less in hypertensive animals but the uptake of 'Lanthanum resistant' 45Ca was not. The efflux of 45Ca from aorta of SHR was different (P less than 0.01) from that of control rats because of faster initial efflux. The half-life of the first 2 components of efflux curves was significantly shorter in SHR. Results are interpreted as consequences of decreased Ca binding by smooth muscle membrane in hypertensive vessels.