PURPOSE The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of low-fluence argon laser (AL) irradiation and acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) gel treatment on enamel microhardness. METHODS Twelve mandibular permanent molars were selected for this study. The teeth were sectioned generating 4 flat enamel surfaces per tooth. The flattened enamel tooth surfaces were randomly assigned ...

APF: amicrobial pustulosis of the folds IBD: inflammatory bowel disease IFN-a: interferon-a PPP: palmoplantar pustulosis TNF-a: tumor necrosis factor-a INTRODUCTION Amicrobial pustulosis of the folds (APF) and palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) are 2 rare autoinflammatory neutrophilic dermatoses. Many studies report PPP triggered by treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with tumor necrosis f...

This in situ crossover and blind study was conducted to investigate the effect of professional acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) gel application time on the subsequent inhibition of enamel demineralization. During 3 phases of 28 days each, 15 volunteers wore palatal appliances containing 4 enamel blocks, which were subjected to 3 treatment groups: not treated (control) and pre-treated with AP...

Approximately 1 million people in the United States suffer from interstitial cystitis, a chronic painful urinary bladder disorder characterized by thinning or ulceration of the bladder epithelial lining; its etiology is unknown. We have identified a glycosylated frizzled-related peptide inhibitor of cell proliferation that is secreted specifically by bladder epithelial cells from patients with ...

The energy dependence of intracellular protein breakdown has been recognized for a long time (1,2), but its biochemical mechanisms have begun to be elucidated only recently. This has been initiated by the establishment of several cell-free systems in which protein breakdown is stimulated by ATP (37 ) . We have found previously that the ATP-dependent proteolytic system from reticulocytes is comp...

A unique glycopeptide, antiproliferative factor (APF), has been suggested as a urinary biomarker and potential mediator of long-term bladder disorder Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome. There is no known cause for this disease. Several mechanistic approaches have been employed to address the underlying mechanism whereby APF regulates cellular responses in the bladder epithelium. A s...

The goal of this prospective longitudinal study was to determine the serological profile of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to test whether antikeratin antibody (AKA), antiperinuclear factor (APF), anti-RA33 antibody and antinuclear antibodies (ANA) had an additional diagnostic value when prescribed after rheumatoid factor (RF)-detecting methods. Sixty-nine patients with early polyarthriti...

It is demonstrated here that cultured fibroblasts release into their medium a nondialyzable, protease-sensitive factor(s) capable of promoting the adhesion and spreading of virus-transformed rat fibroblasts on a plastic substratum. A relatively sensitive biological assay is described for quantitation of the adhesion-promoting factor (APF) activity in serum-free, conditioned medium harvested fro...

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the shear bond strength of brackets after pre-treatment with different fluoride solutions. This study used 48 freshly extracted sound bovine incisors that were randomly assigned to 4 experimental groups (n=12). CG: (control) without treatment; NF: 4 min application of neutral fluoride; APF: application of 1.23% acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) f...