OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the efficacy of sponge wipe sampling at recovering potential bacterial surrogates for Category A and B non-spore-forming bacterial bioterrorism agents from hard, nonporous surfaces.
METHODS: A literature survey identified seven nonpathogenic bacteria as potential surrogates for selected Category A and B non-spore-forming bacterial agents. Small (2 × 4 cm) and large (35.6 × 35.6 cm) coupons made from either stainless steel, plastic, or glass, were inoculated and utilized to assess persistence and surface sampling efficiency, respectively. Three commercially available premoistened sponge wipes (3M™, Sani-Stick®, and Solar-Cult®) were evaluated.
RESULTS: Mean recoveries from persistence testing indicated that three microorganisms (Yersinia ruckeri, Escherichia coli, and Serratia marcescens) demonstrated sufficient persistence across all tested material types. Sampling of large inoculated (≥107 CFU per sample) coupons resulted in mean recoveries ranging from 6.6 to 3.4 Log10 CFU per sample. Mean recoveries for the Solar-Cult®, 3M™ sponge wipes, and Sani-Sticks® across all test organisms and all material types were ≥5.7, ≥3.7, and ≥3.4 Log10 CFU per sample, respectively. Mean recoveries for glass, stainless steel, and ABS plastic across all test organisms and all sponge types were ≥3.8, ≥3.7, and ≥3.4 Log10 CFU per sample, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Recovery results suggest that sponge wipe sampling can effectively be used to recover non-spore-forming bacterial cells from hard, nonporous surfaces such as stainless steel, ABS plastic, and glass.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the structure of the incisive canal using dry maxillae harvested from human cadavers.
METHODS: Seven dry maxillae were harvested from adult Caucasian human cadavers. The incisive canals in all specimens were observed from an intraoral viewpoint with the naked eye and under a surgical microscope with 20× magnification.
RESULTS: All specimens had a single incisive foramen leading to different numbers of canals. Two specimens had a single canal (Type I), two were double (Type II), and three had triple canals (Type III). In both type I specimens, the canal was centered in the incisive foramen. Type II had a septum between the two canals. This septum was irregular in shape near the entrance of the canal but smooth inside the canal. The canals were positioned asymmetrically within the foramen. Type III had two septa between the three canals. Again, those located near the entrance of the canal were irregular while those inside the canal were smooth. The orientation of the lumina differed from one another in the type III canals.
CONCLUSIONS: The study identified morphological variations in the anatomy of the incisive canal, underscoring the importance of pre-surgical planning in the administration of local anesthesia, placement of dental implants, or removal of impacted teeth in the anterior maxillary region.

We present the first two cases in the literature of tabletop party confetti mimicking button batteries in two infants. Both patients presented to the Emergency Department with an incidentally noticed shiny, metallic appearing, disc-shaped foreign body impacted in the hard palate. Both objects were understandably misdiagnosed as button batteries. The first patient required foreign body retrieval by ENT under general anaesthesia, whilst the second underwent retrieval safely in the Emergency Department. Tabletop party confetti should be considered in patients presenting with a suspected button battery impaction of the hard palate, which will drastically change the approach to clinical management and potentially minimise harms.

Amyloidosis is often caused by the abnormal extracellular accumulation of amyloid in organs and tissues. This condition, affecting the head and neck region, is typically localized, and may also involve the oral cavity, particularly the tongue and buccal mucosa. As a solitary manifestation, the localized amyloidosis occurring intraosseous is highly infrequent. In addition, localized amyloidosis has a great rate of recurrence. In this paper, a 50-year-old female patient with the chief complaint of pain in the anterior of the maxilla is reported. According to clinical examination, no significant pathologic lesion was seen. The radiographic image showed a radiolucent lesion around teeth four and five. The treatment of choice for the patient was an excisional biopsy. As amyloidosis diagnosis is clinically challenging, biopsy and histologic examination of lesions are necessary in this regard. Accordingly, it is concluded that long-term follow-up is mandatory in case of localized amyloidosis because late recurrence can occur in some cases.

Variable selection in finite mixture of regression (FMR) models is frequently used in statistical modeling. The majority of applications of variable selection in FMR models use a normal distribution for regression error. Such assumptions are unsuitable for a set of data containing a group or groups of observations with asymmetric behavior. In this paper, we introduce a variable selection procedure for FMR models using the skew-normal distribution. With appropriate choice of the tuning parameters, we establish the theoretical properties of our procedure, including consistency in variable selection and the oracle property in estimation. To estimate the parameters of the model, a modified EM algorithm for numerical computations is developed. The methodology is illustrated through numerical experiments and a real data example.

Yeasts constitute an important part of cheeses, and especially the artisanal ones. The current study reviews the occurrence of yeasts in different cheese varieties and the role of yeasts in cheesemaking process. The use of molecular methods for identification and strain typing has extended the knowledge for yeast diversity in cheeses. For the study of the occurrence of yeasts in different cheese types, seven categories are used, that is: 1) hard, 2) semi-hard, 3) soft, which includes soft pasta-filata and whey cheeses, 4) white brined cheeses, 5) mould surface ripened, 6) bacterial surface ripened cheeses, and 7) blue cheeses. For some cheese types, yeasts are the main microbial group, at least for some part of their ripening process, while for some other types, yeasts are absent. Differences between industrially manufactured cheeses and artisanal cheeses have specified. Artisanal cheeses possess a diverse assortment of yeast species, mainly belonging to the genera Candida, Clavisporalus, Cryptococcus, Debaryomyces, Geotrichum, Issatchenkia, Kazachstania, Kluyveromyces, Kodemaea, Pichia, Rhodotorula, Saccharomyces, Saturnispora, Torulaspora, Trichosporon, Yarrowia and ZygoSaccharomyces. The role of the yeasts for selected cheeses from the seven cheese categories is discussed.

It is unknown what the impact of sole hardness is on young children\'s gait. Yet, this feature is commonly marketed as having differing benefits for young children\'s walking and development.
What are the differences in spatiotemporal measures of gait during walking and running in three common types of young children\'s footwear with a soft sole, compared to a hard sole?
The study used a quasi-experimental design, with the condition order randomised using a Latin square sequence. Forty-seven children were recruited (aged 2-4 years). Participants walked or ran the length of a GAITRite mat in a randomized order in a soft (Shore 48-53) or hard soled (Shore 60-65) sneaker, boot and sandal condition. Linear regression analyses were used to investigate the difference between footwear for the different gait parameters including velocity, cadence, step time, swing percentage, stance percentage, double support time and the toe in/out angle.
Children walked with a shorter stride length in the hard-soled sandals compared to the soft- soled sandals (p < 0.05). There were no other differences in spatiotemporal variables in the soft versus hard soled sandals during walking or running (p > 0.05). There were no differences in any spatiotemporal gait variables during walking or running in soft versus hard- soled runners and no differences in walking or running in soft versus hard-soled boots (p > 0.05).
There were few differences in spatiotemporal parameters between soft and hard-soled footwear in both walking and running in three different types of footwear. This may be a positive finding for footwear designers and manufacturers, as a harder sole appeared to have limited impact on spatiotemporal gait parameters.

BACKGROUND: We report the case of a patient with syphilitic testicular gumma and vasculitis with adrenal failure due to chronic steroid use.
METHODS: A 63-year-old male presented with hard right eye swelling and very firm bilateral testes on palpation, which he had for 2 years. Testicular tumor markers were negative; syphilis test was positive. Radiological examination suggested aortitis and bilateral testicular malignancy. The patient received ampicillin for the infection and prednisolone for vasculitis. Left orchidectomy was performed to confirm the presence of testicular tumor; histological examinations revealed granulomatous orchitis. The prednisolone doses were adjusted because of relapses and adverse effects of steroid use. Unfortunately, the patient died in the intensive care unit because of uncontrolled blood pressure and pneumonia.
CONCLUSIONS: This is a rare case of syphilis with testicular involvement and vasculitis. This report shows the importance of broadening the differential diagnoses of testicular firmness.

The effect of photoperiod durations (16 h light:8 h dark vs 22 h light:2 h dark) and different doses (0.5x and 1x) of Murashige and Skoog medium on the yield and antioxidant characteristics of wheatgrass from hard, medium-hard and soft wheat varieties were analyzed. The average wheatgrass height and wheatgrass yield increased in MS media both under normal photoperiod as well as in water under prolonged photoperiod. An increase in total phenolic content (TPC) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) of wheatgrass in different strengths of MS media under normal photoperiod was observed. Whereas, increase in protein content, chlorophyll (Chl) a, Chl b, total Chl, average TPC, DPPH inhibition and FRAP values were observed for wheatgrass of different varieties grown in water under prolonged photoperiod. The accumulation of polypeptides (PPs) of 92 kDa, 33 kDa, 23 kDa, 14 kDa, 12 kDa, and 10 kDa for wheatgrass shoot powder of different varieties was affected by strength of MS media and duration of photoperiod. On the contrary, wheatgrass juice powder showed major changes in the accumulation of PPs 33 kDa and 23 kDa PPs under varied strength of MS media and prolonged photoperiod.

This retrospective cohort study aimed to identify the best anatomical reference for predicting the posterior superior alveolar artery (PSAA) location. Computed tomographic images of 90 maxillary sinuses were evaluated. We studied five references, including the alveolar crest, maxillary sinus floor, zygomatoalveolar crest, hard palate and soft palate, and measured the distances between them and the PSAA. Variations in the distance were evaluated by the standard deviation and coefficient of variation (CV). The zygomatoalveolar crest was an unstable reference, owing to its high standard deviation and CV. The smallest CV was for the distance between the alveolar crest and PSAA, although the distance was smaller in edentulous jaws than dentulous jaws. The distance between the sinus floor and PSAA was larger in male and edentulous patients. The PSAA was detected in 40.0%, 44.4%, 54.4% and 56.7% of the sinus walls at the first and second premolar and the first and second molar positions, respectively. At these tooth positions, the respective heights above the hard palate were 11.2 ± 4.9, 8.2 ± 4.9, 6.2 ± 2.8 and 8.1 ± 2.9 mm. The hard palate was the most stable reference for predicting the location of the PSAA, irrespective of sex, age and dentition.