Acute dental abscess is a frequent and sometimes underestimated disease of the oral cavity. The acute dental abscess usually occurs secondary to caries, trauma, or failed endodontic treatment. After the intact pulp chamber is opened, colonization of the root canals takes place with a variable set of anaerobic bacteria, which colonize the walls of the necrotic root canals forming a specialized mixed anaerobic biofilm. Asymptomatic necrosis is common. However, abscess formation occurs when these bacteria and their toxic products breach into the periapical tissues through the apical foramen and induce acute inflammation and pus formation. The main signs and symptoms of the acute dental abscess (often referred to as a periapical abscess or infection) are pain, swelling, erythema, and suppuration usually localized to the affected tooth, even if the abscess can eventually spread causing a severe odontogenic infection which is characterized by local and systemic involvement culminating in sepsis syndrome. The vast majority of dental abscesses respond to antibiotic treatment, however, in some patients surgical management of the infection may be indicated. In the present work, a retrospective analysis of the patients with dental orofacial infections referred to the Unit of Dentistry and Maxillofacial Surgery of the University of Verona from 1991 to 2011 has been performed.

The purpose of this experimental study was to evaluate the effect of early orthodontic loading on the stability and bone-implant interface of titanium implants in a rabbit model. Twenty-four short threaded titanium fixtures were inserted in the calvarial mid-sagittal suture of 10 rabbits. Two weeks following insertion, 20 implants (test group) were subjected to continuous distalization forces of 150 g for a period of 8 weeks. The remaining four implants (control group) were left unloaded for the same follow-up interval. Clinically, all implants except for one test fixture were stable, and exhibited no mobility or displacement throughout the experimental loading period. Histologically, all stable implants were well-integrated into bone. No differences could be found between the pressure and tension surfaces of the test implants relative to bone quality and density within a range of 1000 microns from the fixture surface. Similarly, qualitative differences were not observed between the apical and coronal portions of test fixtures. Morphometrically, a mean percentage bone-to-implant contact of 76.00 +/- 18.73 per cent was found at the test pressure sides, 75.00 +/- 11.54 per cent at the test tension sides, and 68.00 +/- 15.55 per cent at the control unloaded surfaces. No statistically significant differences in the percentage of bone-to-metal contact length fraction were found between test pressure surfaces, test tension surfaces, and unloaded control surfaces. Marginal bone resorption around the implant collar or immediately beneath it was found in roughly the same percentage of analysed sites in the test and control fixtures. In contrast, slight bone apposition was demonstrated at the implant collar of the test pressure surfaces, while no apposition or resorption were observed in the test tension zones. This study suggests that short endosseous implants can be used as anchoring units for orthodontic tooth movement early in the post-insertion healing period.

The bone regeneration is one of the most important challenges for regenerative medicine. In maxillo-facial area, bone resorption of the alveolar crest occurs after tooth extraction and leads to several risks for rehabilitation treatments, including dental implants procedures. Goal of our study was to demonstrate the efficacy of an innovative clinical protocol of bone tissue engineering called Rigenera protocol, aimed to create and optimize bio-complexes constituted by collagen biomaterial and human autologous periosteum-derived micro-grafts. We assessed the capacity of these bio-complexes to prevent the bone resorption in the alveolar crest with respect to simple collagen performing histological evaluations of neo-formed osseous tissue. We demonstrated that autologous bio-complexes significantly reduced the bone resorption of both horizontal and vertical dimension of alveolar crest when compared to collagen alone. We also showed that these bio-complexes accelerate the ossification process triggering the formation of new osseous tissue after 45 days from treatment and increasing the calcified matrix after 60 days and until to 120 days with respect to collagen alone. Taken together, these data showed the efficacy of bio-complexes composed by periosteum-derived micro-grafts and collagen in the alveolar ridge preservation through a reduction of bone resorption and an enhancement of new osseous tissue formation.

Vascular disease – including coronary artery disease, carotid artery disease, and peripheral vascular disease – is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The standard of care for restoring patency or bypassing occluded vessels involves using autologous grafts, typically the saphenous veins or internal mammary arteries. Yet, many patients who need life- or limb-saving procedures have poor outcomes, and a third of patients who need vascular intervention have multivessel disease and therefore lack appropriate vasculature to harvest autologous grafts from. Given the steady increase in the prevalence of vascular disease, there is great need for grafts with the biological and mechanical properties of native vessels that can be used as vascular conduits. In this review, we present an overview of methods that have been employed to generate suitable vascular conduits, focusing on the advances in tissue engineering methods and current three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting methods. Tissue-engineered vascular grafts have been fabricated using a variety of approaches such as using preexisting scaffolds and acellular organic compounds. We also give an extensive overview of the novel use of 3D bioprinting as means of generating new vascular conduits. Different strategies have been employed in bioprinting, and the use of cell-based inks to create de novo structures offers a promising solution to bridge the gap of paucity of optimal donor grafts. Lastly, we provide a glimpse of our work to create scaffold-free, bioreactor-free, 3D bioprinted vessels from a combination of rat vascular smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts that remain patent and retain the tensile and mechanical strength of native vessels.

Prognostic assessment in patients with HCC remains an extremely difficult clinical task due to the complexity of this cancer where tumour characteristics interact with degree of liver dysfunction, patient general health status, and a large span of available treatment options. Several prognostic systems have been proposed in the last three decades, both from the Asian and European/North American countries. Prognostic scores, such as the CLIP score and the recent MESH score, have been generated on a solid statistical basis from real life population data, while staging systems, such as the BCLC scheme and the recent CNLC classification, have been created by experts according to recent HCC prognostic evidences from the literature. A third category includes combined prognostic systems that can be used both as prognostic scores and staging systems. A recent example is the ITA.LI.CA prognostic system including either a prognostic score and a simplified staging system. This review focuses first on an overview of the main prognostic systems for HCC classified according to the above three categories, and, second, on a comprehensive description of the methodology required for a correct comparison between different systems in terms of prognostic performance. In this second section the main studies in the literature comparing different prognostic systems are described in detail. Lastly, a formal comparison between the last prognostic systems proposed for each of the above three categories is performed using a large Italian database including 6882 HCC patients in order to concretely apply the comparison rules previously described.

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3D Printing has become a mainstay of industry, with several applications in the medical field. One area that could benefit from 3D printing is intestinal failure due to injury or genetic malformations. We bioprinted cylindrical tubes from rat vascular cells that were sized to form biopatches. 2 mm enterotomies were made in the small intestine of male Sprague‐Dawley rats, and sealed with biopatches. These intestinal segments were connected to an ex vivo perfusion device that provided independent extraluminal and intraluminal perfusion. The fluorescence signal of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)‐inulin in the intraluminal perfusate, a non‐absorbable fluorescent marker of intestinal integrity, was measured every 15 min over 90 min, and used to assess the integrity of the segments under both continuous perfusion and alternate‐flow perfusion. Enterotomies were made an inch away from the ileocecal junction in male Wistar rats and sealed with biopatches. The animals were monitored daily and euthanized at post‐operative days 7, 14, 21, and 30. Blinded histopathological analysis was conducted to compare the patch segments to native intestine. Biopatch‐sealed intestinal segments withstood both continuous and pulsatile flow rates without leakage of FITC‐inulin above the control baseline. 21 of 26 animals survived with normal activity, weight gain, and stool output. Histopathology of the explanted segments showed progressive villi and crypt formation over the enterotomies, with complete restoration of the epithelium by 30 days. This study presents a novel application of 3D bioprinting to develop a universal repair patch that can seal lesions in vivo, and fully integrate into the native intestine.

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