BACKGROUND Studies have shown that mini-αA can protect retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells from apoptosis. However, no in vivo study concerning the anti-apoptotic function of mini-αA has been conducted yet. METHODS MTT assay, HE staining and TUNEL assay were used to assess levels of cells, and an animal model was established to examine the protective effects of mini-αA against NaIO3-induce...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the accuracy of using routine 2-dimensional (2D) radiographs (panoramic and periapical) when evaluating the position of orthodontic temporary anchorage devices (mini-implants) in the maxilla, and to compare the results to 3-dimensional cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdulaziz University, Faculty of Dentistr...

Aminoacyl tRNA synthetases--enzymes that catalyze the first step of protein synthesis--in mammalian cells are now known to have expanded functions, including activities in signal transduction pathways, such as those for angiogenesis and inflammation. The native synthetases themselves are procytokines, having no signal transduction activities. After alternative splicing or natural proteolysis, s...

Conflict of interest: none. ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and agreement of the Dementia Rating Scale with clinical diagnosis of cognitive impairment and to compare its psychometric measures with those from Mini Mental State Examination. Methods: Eighty-six elders from a long-term care institution were invited to participate in a study, and fifty-eight ...

BACKGROUND Optimal positioning of orthodontic mini-implants is essential for a successful treatment with skeletal anchorage. This study aims to compare the accuracy of two-dimensional radiographs with a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) for mini-implant placement. METHODS An ideal site for mini-implant placement at the buccal interradicular space between the second premolar and the first m...

In the paper, we study the mini-batch stochastic ADMMs (alternating direction method of multipliers) for the nonconvex nonsmooth optimization. We prove that, given an appropriate mini-batch size, the mini-batch stochastic ADMM without variance reduction (VR) technique is convergent and reaches the convergence rate of O(1/T ) to obtain a stationary point of the nonconvex optimization, where T de...

BACKGROUND Mini C-arm devices have gained popularity in extremity surgery. There is little evidence of the benefits of this technique in the clinical setting of foot and ankle surgery. We used dose area product (DAP) to compare radiation usage between mini C-arm and standard fluoroscopy. METHODS We prospectively reviewed 127 cases requiring intra-operative screening during elective foot and a...

OBJECTIVE Clinical diagnosis has been shown to be unreliable compared to structured diagnostic schedules. However, clinicians rarely use structured diagnostic schedules due to concerns about the feasibility in clinical practice and about patient acceptance. Mini International Neuropsychiatric Schedule is a short diagnostic instrument validated against SCID and CIDI but its feasibility and patie...

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to assess the primary stability of different orthodontic mini-implants inserted into different maxillary and mandibular regions of swine. MATERIAL AND METHODS One hundred eighty orthodontic mini-implants produced by 5 different manufacturers, all presenting several shapes, were divided into 5 groups: Mondeal (M), Neodent (N), SIN (S), INP, and Titaniu...

OBJECTIVES Mini-HTA (health technology assessment) is increasingly being applied in Denmark as an input for decisions on the use of health technologies. Mini-HTA is a form or check list with questions concerning the prerequisites for and consequences of health technologies. At the national level, the National Board of Health uses mini-HTA when hospitals apply for permission to introduce new tre...