Urinary tract effects of HPSE2 mutations

Urofacial syndrome (UFS) is an autosomal recessive congenital disease featuring grimacing and incomplete bladder emptying. Mutations of HPSE2, encoding heparanase 2, a heparanase 1 inhibitor, occur in UFS, but knowledge about the HPSE2 mutation spectrum is limited. Here, seven UFS kindreds with HPSE2 mutations are presented, including one with deleted asparagine 254, suggesting a role for this amino acid, which is conserved in vertebrate orthologs. HPSE2 mutations were absent in 23 non-neurogenic neurogenic bladder probands and, of 439 families with nonsyndromic vesicoureteric reflux, only one carried a putative pathogenic HPSE2 variant. Homozygous Hpse2 mutant mouse bladders contained urine more often than did wild-type organs, phenocopying human UFS. Pelvic ganglia neural cell bodies contained heparanase 1, heparanase 2, and leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains-2 (LRIG2), which is mutated in certain UFS families. In conclusion, heparanase 2 is an autonomic neural protein implicated in bladder emptying, but HPSE2 variants are uncommon in urinary diseases resembling UFS.

Surface roughness of acrylic resins submitted to mechanical and chemical polishing

Surface roughness is extremely important as it influences micro-organism accumulation and consequently oral health. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of mechanical polishing (MP) and chemical polishing (CP) on surface roughness of four heat-cured denture base acrylic resins. Twenty sample discs were prepared for each of the following acrylic resins: Classico (CL), QC 20 (QC), Acron MC (AC) and Onda Cryl (ON). The first two are boiling cured resins and the latter two are microwave cured. After curing and deflasking, samples were ground and subdivided into two groups: MP, which received pumice slurry, chalk powder, soft brush and felt cone, at a bench vice; and CP, which received fluid specifically for chemical polisher. Surface roughness was measured using a Surf Corder SE 1700 rugosimeter. Data collected were statistically analysed by analysis of variance followed by Tukey's test. Surface roughness means in mum were: CL-MP: 0.0350; CL-CP: 0.2298; QC-MP: 0.0307; QC-CP: 0.1792; AC-MP: 0.0312; AC-CP: 0.2700; ON-MP: 0.0321; ON-CP: 0.2949. It can be concluded that MP produced significantly smoother surfaces than CP and that surface roughness because of MP was not influenced by acrylic resin type, whereas this was not true of CP.