Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:34:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:08:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / A detecção de lesões cariosas nos estágios iniciais possibilita a escolha de tratamentos baseados na preservação da estrutura dental. Dessa forma, a utilização de exames capazes de diagnosticar precocemente essas lesões, como a Tomografia por Coerência Óptica (OCT Optical Coherence Tomography) é adequada. Assim, o objetivo do trabalho foi avaliar a capacidade da OCT em quantificar os estágios de desmineralização do esmalte durante o desenvolvimento de lesões simuladas de cárie, tendo como padrão de referência o teste de microdureza seccional. Foram utilizados 53 dentes terceiros molares hígidos, os quais tiveram as coroas seccionadas para obtenção de 210 amostras. Para avaliar as possíveis alterações sofridas por cada amostra, essas foram examinadas através da técnica de OCT no início do experimento e novamente examinadas após o término do período de ciclagem estabelecido para cada grupo, utilizando os coeficientes de atenuação óptica total e o cálculo de área em gráficos de intensidade de sinal de OCT, como parâmetros de análise. Posteriormente, as amostras foram submetidas a testes de microdureza seccional. A diferença entre os coeficientes de atenuação óptica obtidos antes e depois da ciclagem de pH apresentou elevado grau de correlação com os resultados de microdureza seccional. Por meio da análise das áreas provenientes de gráficos de intensidade de sinal de OCT e microdureza Knoop, ambos em função da profundidade, foi observada relação de linearidade entre os resultados e elevada correlação entre as técnicas avaliadas (ρ = 0,99). De acordo com os resultados, a técnica de OCT foi capaz de detectar diferentes graus de desmineralização do esmalte dental humano em lesões simuladas de cárie. / Dissertação (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP / FAPESP:10/03123-8

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:49:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:09:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 09677.pdf: 2435386 bytes, checksum: fad3b9442aa6c7409060487b5f245ba6 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado Profissionalizante em Lasers em Odontologia) / IPEN/D-MPLO / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares, IPEN/CNEN-SP; Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:49:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:10:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 09676.pdf: 487919 bytes, checksum: 0745fbc8dd8d4e9f050ed47878924b0a (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado Profissionalizante em Lasers em Odontologia) / IPEN/D-MPLO / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares, IPEN/CNEN-SP; Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade de Sao Paulo

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent) / Aim: Analysis of the occurrence of taurodont molars among patients attending the Tygerberg Oral Health Centre. Methodology: A retrospective descriptive study comprising 1608 panoramic radiographs of patient records, 815 females and 793 males, ranging in ages from 18 to 68 years old. The panoramic radiographs were evaluated for presence of taurodontism. Gender predilection and location of taurodont molars were analysed using a chi-square test. Results: Taurodontism was found in 52 (3.23%) radiographs distributed according to gender (30 females and 22 males [P > 0.05]). The overall prevalence of taurodont molars was (0.73%) from a total of 17148 molars that were examined. The mandibular molar teeth were more affected than the maxillary molar teeth and the second mandibular tooth was the most affected. Conclusion: Taurodontism was not uncommon in a group of patients that attended the Tygerberg Oral Health Centre, UWC. Further larger scale studies are required to assess its distribution in the general population of South Africa to compare it with other ethnic groups and to establish any associations. However, taurodontism in mandibular teeth is a condition that should be taken into consideration, especially the second mandibular tooth, to avoid complications.

The first record of milk teeth of South American fossil procyonids comes from the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene at "Farola Monte Hermoso," Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Five extant genera of Procyonidae inhabit South America (Bassaricyon Allen, Nasuella Hollister, Potos Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Cuvier, Procyon Storr, and Nasua Storr). Of these only Procyon and Nasua are present in the fossil record (Late Pleistocene-Holocene), in several localities in Brazil, Uruguay, and Bolivia. In addition, six other fossil genera were named, but only two are considered valid: Cyonasua and Chapadmalania. Thus, Cyonasua encompasses ten formally named species and Chapadmalania two. The new specimen, MLP 09-X-5-1, is assigned to cf. Cyonasua. In addition, anatomical evidence implies a much more carnivorous diet in Late Miocene-Early Pleistocene procyonids than that of extant South American taxa. Finally, I examine and discuss the "competitive displacement" hypothesis regarding the extinction of native marsupial carnivores after the arrival of immigrant placental carnivores in South America.

Adaptive radiations, or evolutionary diversifications, are the evolutionary divergence of a single lineage into many different adaptive forms. They play a critical role in the history of life as groups of organisms speciate and fill new ecological roles over geologically rapid time intervals. There is currently no agreed upon operational unit, timeframe, or amount of divergence for organisms to be considered to have undergone an adaptive radiation. Additionally, the paucity of both comparative and fossil studies has limited the utility of the adaptive radiation in framing macroevolutionary questions, such as, is ecological and morphological diversification simultaneous? An ideal fossil clade to test this question is the Archosauriformes (crocodylians, birds, and their closest relatives). Archosauriforms radiated following the end-Permian mass extinction and their lineage diversification through the Early to Late Triassic is well documented in the literature. Prior to the end-Permian mass extinction, these reptiles were both species poor and ecologically limited, but by the Late Triassic they dominated terrestrial ecosystems in both species abundance and ecological breadth. However, continued environmental instability following the end-Permian extinction has led to the hypothesis that ecological expansion of archosauriforms lagged behind the diversification of lineages. The first chapter of my dissertation uses a Middle Triassic archosauriform tooth assemblage from Tanzania to reconstruct dietary specialization, estimated by morphological disparity of teeth. In addition to comparing tooth disparity of isolated and in situ teeth, this also provides a lens for comparing the timing of dietary specialization and species diversification. I found the archosauriforms to be faunivorous with little morphological disparity amongst the teeth. The second chapter uses an Early Triassic reptile tooth assemblage from South Africa to reconstruct the dietary specialization of archosauriforms early in their radiation to compare the amount of morphological disparity and lineage diversity. I use methods from Chapter 1 and integrate 3D morphometrics to better capture shape. I described several tooth morphotypes including six new to the locality. The morphological and dietary differences were minimal, indicating a greater species diversity than ecological diversity. The third chapter is a description of a new pseudosuchian archosaur taxon from the Middle Triassic of Tanzania. As species descriptions form the basic data unit of macroevolutionary analyses, this assists future studies of the archosauriform radiation. I recover this new taxon as the oldest known aetosaur. This species provides insights into the evolution of an armored carapace in crocodylian-line archosaurs and shows morphology related to armor evolved prior to the evolution of an herbivorous diet. / Doctor of Philosophy / There is an incredible diversity of life on Earth, but this is a small fraction of the life that once existed on our planet. The fossil record provides us a window into the past to reconstruct the history of life on our planet. Two of the patterns we see in the fossil record are rapid drops in biodiversity called mass extinctions, and rapid increases in biodiversity called biological radiations. Both of these events are often related and mass extinctions are followed by biological radiations throughout earth history. A particularly interesting case is the end-Permian mass extinction, not only because it is the largest extinction event, but also because the subsequent radiation was delayed by continuing environmental instability. An ideal group of animals to study in this time period are the archosaurs, the group of reptiles including crocodylians, birds, and their extinct relatives. Archosaur reptiles went from very few species before the extinction, to dominate ecosystems for the next 200 million years. However, we do not know if the radiation of many archosaur species occurred at the same time as they filled new roles in their communities. The first two chapters of my dissertation focus on using fossil teeth to reconstruct the diets of archosaurs at a single location. My first chapter describes teeth from the Middle Triassic (247-237 million years ago) of Tanzania. I measured the shapes of these teeth and used that to help assign them to diets. Doing this I found there were more species than types of diets indicating the radiation of species may have occurred before specialization of life habits. In the second chapter where I describe a reptile tooth assemblage from the Early Triassic (252-247 million years ago) of South Africa. I added additional methods for measuring tooth shape, found several different types of teeth (likely different species) but mostly similar diets, indicating again a delay in life habit specialization. In my third chapter I name a new species of archosaur reptile from the Middle Triassic of Tanzania. This new species helps us to understand how heavily armored plant eaters evolved in early crocodylian relatives during the archosaur radiation.

Thesis (M.F.A)--Boston University

published_or_final_version / Dentistry / Master / Master of Dental Surgery

published_or_final_version / Dentistry / Master / Master of Dental Surgery

Estudou-se a largura dos dentes anteriores superiores de 121 jovens universitários brasileiros para determinar quais modelos e qual marca de dentes artificiais seriam os mais adequados para este grupo. As arcadas dentais completas foram moldadas com alginato e vazadas em gesso especial na parte oclusal e gesso pedra na base. Os dentes não apresentavam nenhum sinal de abrasões anormais, restaurações ou deformidades. A saúde periodontal era boa com mínima ou nenhuma retração gengival, inflamação ou hipertrofia. Os dentes dos modelos em gesso e os artificiais tiveram sua dimensão mesio-distal (largura) mensurada com um paquímetro digital. Não foi observada diferença significativa entre os sexos e entre as hemi-arcadas direita e esquerda com relação à largura dos dentes anteriores superiores. Das marcas analisadas nenhuma foi considerada apropriada para o grupo em questão devido ao fato de possuírem poucas opções de modelos e estes serem fabricados em tamanhos predominantemente pequenos enquanto que os dentes naturais mostraram-se predominantemente maiores (mais largos), o que nos apontou à necessidade de se adaptar ou criar modelos que sejam mais adequados à realidade brasileira. / It was studied the width of upper anterior teeth in 121 Brazilian college students intending to determine which models and brands would be more adequate to such group. The whole dental arch was molded with alginate and stone type four was poured in the oclusal surface of teeth while stone type two was poured in the left parts. Those teeth did not present abnormal abrasions, fillings or deformities. Periodont was healthy presenting little or none gengival retraction, inflamation or hipertrophy. Both stone models and artificial teeth had their mesio-distal distance (width) measured by a digital caliper rule. It was not observed significant difference between genders or right and left hemi-arches when comparing to the upper anterior teeth’s width. Considering the analyzed brands none was considered appropriate to such group because there were little options besides sizes being considered too small when compared to natural teeth, which pointed to the necessity to adapt or to create models more adequate to the Brazilian reality.