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Abstract
This study evaluated the activation of different cortical areas during nondeliberate chewing of soft and hard boluses in five right-handed and five left-handed subjects with normal occlusion, to determine different hemispheric prevalences. The study was conducted with a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (1.5 T Magnetom Vision - Siemens Medical, Germany) using a head coil. The results showed that the most frequently activated areas were Brodmann’s areas four and six in the primary motor and premotor cortex, the insula and Broca’s area and, overall, showed greater activity of the cortical mastication area (CMA) in the right hemisphere for right-handed and in the left hemisphere for left-handed subjects.
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Notes on contributors
Pietro Bracco
Dr. Pietro Bracco graduated with an M.D. in 1967, specialized in prosthetic dentistry in 1969 at the University of Turin and in orthodontics in 1979 at the University of Milano. During the period from 1992 through 1997, he was director of the Dental School. Currently, Dr. Bracco is chairman of the Chair of Orthodontics and Gnathology-Masticatory function and director of the Orthodontic School at the level II of Master in Orthodontics and at the Ph.D. level at the University of Turin. He is chief of the hospital orthodontic department. He is also vice president of the Orthodontics Union, member of the International College of Dentists, member of the Turin Medicine Academy, and a Master of the International College of Cranio-mandibular Orthopedics. Dr. Bracco has authored and coauthored more than 250 scientific articles, published both nationally and internationally.
Giuseppe Anastasi
Dr. Giuseppe Anastasi is a professor of human anatomy and has been on the medical faculty of Messina University for three years. He is the President of the Odontology and Dental Prosthesis program. Dr. Anastasi is a member of the Italian Society of Anatomy, Italian Society of Histochemistry, and is the treasurer of the Group for International Scientific Research of Stomatognathology and Odontology.
Maria Grazia Piancino
Dr. Maria Grazia Piancino graduated with an M.D. in 1984 and specialized in prosthetic dentistry in 1988 at the University of Turin, Italy. In 1998 she received a Ph.D. degree in gnathology and masticatory function at the same university. From 1991 through 1998, she was an assistant professor in the Orthodontic Department there and currently, she is a researcher and a professor at the School of Orthodontics and at the Dental School at the University of Turin, teaching physiology and mastication.
Gianluigi Frongia
Dr. Gianluigi Frongia received his D.D.S. degree in 2005 from the University of Turin, Italy. He is currently in his third year of graduate study at the School of Orthodontics, University of Turin. His primary research interest is the evaluation of the stomatognathic function and structure of patients, before and after orthognathic surgery.
Demetrio Milardi
Dr. Demetrio Milardi is an M.D. in the Department of Biomorphology and Biotechnologies of the University of Messina. The school has acquired the most sophisticated techniques of immunohistochemistry and microscopy confocal laser (CLSM). His interest is in 3-D reconstruction and volume rendering of the human body using MRI, fMRI and TC.
Angelo Favaloro
Dr. Angelo Favaloro is a researcher in human anatomy at the University of Messina, Italy. He specializes in sports medicine and the science of motor activity and is the assistant medical director for the Task Group of Sport Medicine at the University General Hospital “G. Martino.” In 2005-2006, he took summer classes relating to the brain stem at the University of Messina, and in the summer of 2006-2007, he studied the brain stem and cerebellum at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.
Placido Bramanti
Dr. Placido Bramanti is an associate professor of neurophysiopathology at the University of Messina, Italy. He is the director for the Center for Study of the Chronically Ill of Neurolesi Lungodegenti, established in 1992 by agreement between the University of Messina and the “Bonino-Pulejo” Foundation. He is also the scientific director of the IRCCS Neurolesi Center “Bonino-Pulejo” of Messina since 2006. Dr. Bramanti is widely published, both nationally and internationally and is the principal investigator in 10 ongoing clinical trials.