Mouth guards are considered an essential part of equipment for athletes participating in contact sports. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of custom-made mouth guards on the ventilatory gas exchange effects of taekwondo athletes. The subjects were 22 elite athletes aged between 14 and 17 years. To determine the effect of mouth guard use during exercise, oxygen consumption (VO(2)) was measured with a portable gas analysis system while an exercise tolerance test with a shuttle run test protocol was performed. Values with and without mouth guard were compared. Wilcoxon ranks test was used for the statistical analysis. The results show that wearing mouth guards has no significant effect on maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2max)), minute ventilation (VE), tidal volume (VT) and respiratory exchange ratio (RER) while performing maximal exercise (P > 0.05). In conclusion, taekwondo athletes can use custom-made mouth guards without negative effects on their aerobic performance capacity.

Contact sports may lead to dental trauma, which often can be reduced with appropriate preventive measures. While numerous studies exist on this topic for several countries throughout the world, there is a lack of comprehensive descriptive studies in Turkey. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence and type of dental injuries associated with three different sports among Turkish elite athletes, who do not contact (volleyball), contact directly (taekwondo) or indirectly (handball) with competition rivals. Additionally, awareness and use of mouthguards were also compared. Thus, during the 2003 and 2004 Turkish National Championships in three sports, 50 taekwondo, 62 handball and 50 volleyball male athletes were interviewed by questionnaire. Results showed that taekwondo and handball athletes experienced significantly more dental trauma than volleyball athletes (P < 0.05). Twelve of the taekwondo (24%), 16 of the handball (26%) and four of the volleyball athletes (8%) experienced at least one type of dental injury. Awareness of mouthguards as a preventive measure against dental trauma was significantly higher among taekwondo and handball athletes (P < 0.05), although a very small percentage in either of these sports actually wore a mouthguard (10 and 0%, respectively). Trauma incidence between direct contact with rival competitors and indirect contact with rival competitors was not significantly different. The incidence of dental trauma in contact sports shows that the awareness and use of mouthguards must be intensified. Mouthguard use should be made compulsory, especially in those sports with high risk for dental trauma.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are emerging as novel nanomaterials for various biomedical applications. CNTs can be used to deliver a variety of therapeutic agents, including biomolecules, to the target disease sites. In addition, their unparalleled optical and electrical properties make them excellent candidates for bioimaging and other biomedical applications. However, the high cytotoxicity of CNTs limits their use in humans and many biological systems. The biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity of CNTs are attributed to size, dose, duration, testing systems, and surface functionalization. The functionalization of CNTs improves their solubility and biocompatibility and alters their cellular interaction pathways, resulting in muchreduced cytotoxic effects. Functionalized CNTs are promising novel materials for a variety of biomedical applications. These potential applications are particularly enhanced by their ability to penetrate biological membranes with relatively low cytotoxicity. This review is directed towards the overview of CNTs and their functionalization for biomedical applications with minimal cytotoxicity.

SummaryFungal spoilage during refrigerated storage is one of the main safety and quality-related problems for dairy products. The effect of wheat gluten (WG) and methyl cellulose (MC) biopolymers containing natamycin (NA) on the growth of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium roquefortii on the surface of fresh kashar cheese during storage at 10°C for 30 days was investigated. Wrapping of A. niger-inoculated cheese with MC films containing 5-20 mg NA per 10 g resulted in approximately 2-log reductions in spore count. Two mg NA per 10 g included into WG films was sufficient to eliminate A. niger on the surface of cheese. However, MC and WG films containing NA did not cause any significant decrease in P. roquefortii count on the cheese surface. Therefore, especially use WG films in dairy applications could be an effective way of controlling A. niger growth on these products.

Background: Many authors have claimed that hyperthyroidism protects against thyroid cancer and believed that the incidence of malignancy is lower in patients with toxic multinodular goiter (TMG) than in those with non-toxic multinodular goiter. But in recent studies, it was reported that the incidence of malignancy with TMG is not as low as previously thought. Aim: To compare the thyroid cancer incidence in patients with toxic and non-toxic multinodular goiter. Settings and Design: Histology reports of patients treated surgically with a preoperative diagnosis of toxic and non-toxic multinodular goiter were reviewed to identify the thyroid cancer incidence. Patients having a history of neck irradiation or radioactive iodine therapy were excluded from the study. Materials and Methods: We reviewed 294 patients operated between 2001-2005 from toxic and non-toxic multinodular goiter. One hundred and twenty-four of them were toxic and 170 were non-toxic. Hyperthyroidism was diagnosed by elevated tri-iodothyroinine / thyroxine ratios and low thyroid-stimulating hormone with clinical signs and symptoms. All patients were evaluated with ultrasonography and scintigraphy and fine needle aspiration biopsy. Statistical Analysis Used: Significance of the various parameters was calculated by using ANOVA test. Results: The incidence of malignancy was 9% in the toxic and 10.58% in the non-toxic multinodular goiter group. Any significant difference in the incidence of cancer and tumor size between the two groups could not be detected. Conclusions: The incidence of malignancy in toxic multinodular goiter is not very low as thought earlier and is nearly the same in non-toxic multinodular goiter.