The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes point-of-use water treatment (PoUWT) technologies as effective means to improve water quality. This paper investigates long-term performance and social acceptance of a novel PoUWT technology, a silver-infused ceramic tablet, in Limpopo Province, South Africa. When placed in a water storage container, the silver-embedded ceramic tablet releases silv...

In a randomised study, 28 patients with a mean age of 62.2 years (32 to 81) with osteoarthritis or avascular necrosis of the hip received either a ceramic-on-ceramic or a metal-on-metal total hip replacement. Apart from the liners the acetabular and femoral components were made of Ti-Al-Nb alloy. The serum aluminium and cobalt levels were measured before, and at one year after surgery. The 15 p...

This study investigated the influence of ceramic compositions on Knoop Hardness Number (KHN) immediately and 24 h after polymerization and the effect of activation modes on the KHN of a resin cement. Ten Panavia F 2.0 resin cement discs were activated either directly using curing light, or chemically without light, or through 1.2-thick ceramic discs. The following ceramics were evaluated: Ducer...

PURPOSE Ceramics have a long history in fixed prosthodontics for achieving optimal esthetics and various materials have been used to improve ceramic core strength. However, there is a lack of information on how color is affected by fabrication procedure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of various dentin ceramic thicknesses and repeated firings on the color of zirconium oxi...

We investigated factors that were thought to be associated with an increased incidence of squeaking of ceramic-on-ceramic total hip replacements. Between June 1997 and December 2008 the three senior authors implanted 2406 primary total hip replacements with a ceramic-on-ceramic bearing surface. The mean follow-up was 10.6 years. The diagnosis was primary osteoarthritis in each case, and no pati...

OBJECTIVE This study investigated the effect of different ferrule heights on endodontically treated premolars. MATERIAL AND METHODS Fifty sound mandibular first premolars were endodontically treated and then restored with 7-mm fiber post (FRC Postec Plus #1 Ivoclar-Vivadent) luted with self-polymerized resin cement (Multilink, Ivoclar Vivadent) while the coronal section was restored with hybr...

INTRODUCTION Esthetic post and core systems were recently introduced. There are few reports regarding their behavior under cyclic loading. OBJECTIVES This study compared the effect of cyclic loading on survival rate, residual strength and mode of fracture of endodontically treated teeth restored with esthetic and direct metallic post systems subjected to mechanical cyclic loading. MATERIALS...