16 +/- 6.017 with cognitive impairments were randomly selected from hospitalized patients (Medically Assisted Residences RSA) and were assigned to Test Group. MMSE test, B-ADL and number of teeth were evaluated for each subject. The number of teeth in relation to levels Vorinostat supplier of schooling is not resulted significative. In the cognitively impaired group 26 subjects had fewer than 20 teeth (86.6%); in the cognitively normal group 9 subjects had fewer than 20 teeth (36%). The correlation between number of teeth and age
in both groups is significative (p smaller than 0.05). There is also a significative correlation between subjects with renal diseases and type II diabetes and number of teeth (p smaller than 0.05). Finally a significative correlation is present between number of teeth and sex of the patients (p smaller than 0.05) (Table 1). The results of the Wilcoxon’s
test revealed a significative correlation between MMSE in the two groups (p smaller than 0.01). There is also a significative correlation between the two groups and the educational background (p smaller than 0.01). The results of the study shows a clear correlation between tooth loss and cognitive function in elderly of L’Aquila.”
“An anisotropic mechanical behaviour of cortical bone and its intrinsic hierarchical microstructure act as protective mechanisms to prevent catastrophic failure due to natural loading conditions; however, they Combretastatin A4 in vivo increase the extent of complexity of a penetration process in the case of orthopaedic surgery. Experimental results available in literature provide only limited information about processes in the vicinity of a tool-bone interaction zone. Also, available numerical models the bone-cutting process do not account for material anisotropy or the effect of damage mechanisms. In this study, both experimental and numerical studies were conducted to address these issues Selleck PLX4032 and to elucidate the effect of anisotropic mechanical behaviour of cortical bone tissue on penetration of a sharp cutting tool. First, a set of tool-penetration experiments was performed in directions parallel and perpendicular to bone axis. Also, these
experiments included bone samples cut from four different cortices to evaluate the effect of spatial variability and material anisotropy on the penetration processes. Distinct deformation and damage mechanisms linked to different microstructure orientations were captured using a micro-lens high-speed camera. Then, a novel hybrid FE model employing a smoothed-particle-hydrodynamic domain embedded into a continuum FE one was developed based on the experimental configuration to characterise the anisotropic deformation and damage behaviour of cortical bone under a penetration process. The results of our study revealed a clear anisotropic material behaviour of the studied cortical bone tissue and the influence of the underlying microstructure.