The Efficacy of a New AMCOP® Elastodontic Protocol for Orthodontic Interceptive Treatment: A Case Series and Literature Overview

Background: Elastodontics is a specific interceptive orthodontic treatment that uses removable elastomeric appliances. They are functional appliances that produce neuromuscular, orthopedic and dental effects. Thus, these devices are useful in the developmental age, when skeletal structures are characterized by important plasticity and adaptation capacity, allowing to remove factors responsible for malocclusions. Elastomeric devices are generally well tolerated by patients requiring simple collaboration and management. This work can be useful to update all orthodontists already adopting these appliances or for those who want to approach them for the first time. This study aimed to describe four cases treated with new elastomeric devices called AMCOP Bio-Activators and to provide an overview of elastodontics, its evolution, indications and limits. Methods: A total of four clinical cases were presented after a treatment period of 16–20 months to evaluate the clinical and radiological effects of the elastodontic therapy. Results: The effectiveness of Bio-Activators on clinical cases was evidenced with a significant improvement in skeletal and dentoalveolar relationship, and malocclusion correction in a limited treatment period (16–20 months). Conclusions: The Bio-Activators showed clinical effectiveness to achieve therapeutic targets according to a low impact on the patient’s compliance.

Outdoor Radon as a Tool to Estimate Radon Priority Areas—A Literature Overview

Doses from the exposure to outdoor radon are typically an order of magnitude smaller than those from indoor radon, causing a greater interest on investigation of the latter for radiation protection issues. As a consequence, assessment of radon priority areas (RPA) is mainly based on indoor radon measurements. Outdoor radon measurements might be needed to guarantee a complete estimation of radiological risk and may help to improve the estimation of RPA. Therefore, authors have analysed the available literature on outdoor radon to give an overview of outdoor radon surveys and potential correlation with indoor radon and estimation of RPA. The review has shown that outdoor radon surveys were performed at much smaller scale compared to indoor radon. Only a few outdoor radon maps were produced, with a much smaller density, covering a larger area, and therefore putting doubt on the representativeness of this data. Due to a large variety of techniques used for outdoor radon measurements and requirement to have detectors with a high sensitivity and resistance to harsh environmental conditions, a standardised measurement protocol should be derived. This is no simple endeavour since there are more applications in different scientific disciplines for outdoor radon measurements compared to indoor radon.

Technological Solutions for Helping Adaptive Responding of Children with Severe to Profound Developmental Disabilities

This article provides the reader with a literature overview of the newest empirical evidences available on the use of assistive technology-based programs for teaching and improving adaptive responding of children with severe to profound developmental disabilities. Four main categories of studies were selected, regarding (a) the technology for promoting independent access to positive stimulation, (b) the combination between microswitch and VOCA aimed at asking for social contact with a caregiver, (c) the cluster technology for increasing an adaptive response, and simultaneously reducing a challenging behavior, (d) the technology for requesting and choosing desired item or the access to the literacy. Overall, 26 studies were reviewed, and 75 participants were involved. The outcomes were largely positive, although few failures occurred. Psychological and Rehabilitative implications of the findings for both research and clinical practices were critically discussed

Applying Salutogenesis in Schools

The chapter addresses the health of children and young people in the school setting with a special focus on experiences from Health Promoting Schools (HPS) and selected health promotion projects in schools. On the basis of brief definitions of the salutogenic orientation and the health promoting school model, comparisons will be conducted with regard to key concepts and principles of the two approaches to children’s health. A brief literature overview on the use of salutogenic concepts in relation to schools and health-promoting schools also is presented and discussed.

Challenges for Improving Agricultural Resilience in the Context of Sustainability and Rural Development

Research on economic resilience in agriculture is quite complicated due to the interdisciplinary nature of the notion. In agricultural, climate change, sustainability and food security research it appears as an endogenous phenomenon rather as the main one. This study aims to contribute to conceptualization of economic resilience in agriculture, revealing current and identifying future research directions. Bibliometric analysis supplemented with a literature overview serve this purpose. Results confirm the ambiguity and immaturity of economic resilience concept and its secondary position within overall agricultural resilience research framework.

Improving Gander Reproductive Efficacy in the Context of Globally Sustainable Goose Production

The goose is a popular poultry species, and in the past two decades the goose industry has become highly profitable across the globe. Ganders low reproductive performance remains a barrier to achieving high fertility and hatchability in subsequent flocks. To address the global demand for cheaper animal protein, various methodologies for improving avian (re)production should be explored. A large amount of literature is available on reproduction traits and techniques for commercial chicken breeder flocks, while research on improved reproduction in ganders has been carried out to a lesser extent. The present review aims to provide a comprehensive literature overview focusing on recent advancements/techniques used in improving gander reproductive efficacy in the context of ensuring a globally sustainable goose industry.

Candida keratitis and endopthalmitis after corneal transplantation; two case reports, a novel regimen and literature overview of therapeutic options

Purpose To evaluate treatment options for candida keratitis and endopthalmitis after corneal transplantation. Methods Case reports and literature review. Results Two patients with keratitis due to Candida glabrata/ parapsilosis after corneal transplantation were successfully treated with a combination of topical voriconazole, intracameral voriconazole and amphotericin B, and systemic treatment with flucytosine. Conclusions Natamycine and voriconazole topically are preferred therapeutic options for the treatment of fungal keratitis. Systemic flucytosine is a useful alternative additive, particularly for countries where natamycine is not registered as a pharmaceutical agent.