1-20. (canceled)
21. A wire attachment appliance, comprising:
a shell formed of a particular material having a plurality of cavities formed therein;
at least two wire attachment members located within at least two of the plurality of cavities;
at least one attachment material reservoir formed with the shell and located on an interior surface of at least one other of the plurality of cavities, the reservoir positioned to receive attachment material to attach a wire to a tooth adjacent to the at least one attachment material reservoir; and
the wire, having portions positioned in the at least two wire attachment members and having other portions positioned within the at least one attachment material reservoir.
22. The appliance of claim 21, wherein at least one of the plurality of cavities is formed including at least one side surface and wherein the at least one side surface includes a portion that is shaped to abut an exterior surface of a tooth.
23. The appliance of claim 21, wherein wire is a metallic wire.
24. The appliance of claim 21, wherein at least one of the at least one attachment material reservoir includes an aperture for the placement of a material dispenser therein.
25. The appliance of claim 24, wherein the aperture is sized for the placement of a material dispenser needle tip therein.
26. The appliance of claim 21, wherein at least one of the at least one attachment material reservoir includes an aperture for the venting of air therethrough.
27. The appliance of claim 21, wherein the particular material is a transparent material.
28. The appliance of claim 21, wherein at least one of the plurality of cavities covers a top and portions of each of a number of side surfaces of a tooth.
29. The appliance of claim 21, wherein the shell and the at least two wire attachment members are provided as a unitary body.
30. The appliance of claim 21, wherein the shell and the at least one attachment material reservoirs are provided as a unitary body.
31. The appliance of claim 21, wherein the shell, the at least two wire attachment members, and the at least one attachment material reservoir are provided as a unitary body.
32. The appliance of claim 21, wherein the shell includes a number of tabs to aid in lifting the appliance off of a number of teeth.
33. A method of forming a wire attachment appliance, the method comprising:
forming a shell having a plurality of cavities, the shell having at least one attachment material reservoir within at least one of the plurality of cavities, wherein the at least one attachment material reservoir is positioned such that an attachment material provided thereto while the appliance was positioned on teeth would contact a surface of a particular tooth adjacent to the particular reservoir to attach a wire to the tooth adjacent to the particular reservoir; and
including at least two wire attachment members on an interior surface of at least two other of the plurality of cavities.
34. The method of claim 33, wherein the method includes forming a virtual model of one or more of the number of teeth.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein the method includes creating a physical model based upon the virtual model.
36. The method of claim 35, wherein the method includes attaching the at least two wire attachment members to the physical model.
37. The method of claim 36, wherein the method includes applying shell formation material over at least a portion of the physical model and the at least two wire attachment members to form the shell having the at least two wire attachment members included on the shell.
38. A method of attaching a wire, the method comprising:
placing a number of portions of a wire into a corresponding number of wire attachment members located within a shell having a plurality of cavities and having at least one attachment material reservoir formed with the shell, and wherein portions of the wire are positioned within the attachment material reservoir.
39. The method of claim 38, wherein the method includes placing the plurality of cavities onto one or more teeth.
40. The method of claim 38, wherein the method includes providing attachment material to at least one of the at least one attachment material reservoir while the plurality of cavities are placed onto the one or more teeth to attach the wire to a tooth adjacent to the at least one reservoir to which attachment material has been provided.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A pharmaceutical composition for increasing bone mineral density comprising a cocaine and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART)-derived peptide that has the biological activity of human CART and a suitable excipient in a slow release formulation.
2. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, wherein the CART-derived peptide comprises one or more of human CART42-89, human CART48-89 and human CART49-89.
3. A method for increasing bone mineral density in a subject in need thereof, comprising continuously providing elevated serum levels of a cocaine and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART)-derived peptide that has the biological activity of human CART to the subject.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein bone mineral density is increased for the treatment or prevention of bone-mass diseases and for fracture repair.
5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the elevated serum levels of the CART-derived peptide are continuously provided through slow release of the CART-derived peptide over an extended period of time from a slow release formulation.
6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the slow release formulation is in the form of an implant.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the implant is a subcutaneous implant.
8. The method according to claim 5, wherein the slow release formulation is in the form of a vaginal ring.
9. The method according to claim 5, wherein the slow release formulation is in the form of a biodegradable polymeric matrix.
10. The method according to claim 3, wherein the elevated serum levels of the CART-derived peptide are continuously provided by avoiding or inhibiting clearance of the CART-derived peptide.
11. The method according to claim 3, wherein the CART-derived peptide is selected from the group consisting of full-length CART, rat CART55-102, rat CART61-102, rat CART62-102, human CART42-89, human CART48-89 and human CART49-89.
12. The method according to claim 3, wherein increasing the bone mineral density is for the treatment or prevention of a diseasecondition selected from the group consisting of osteoporosis, drug-induced bone loss, disuse- or immobilization-induced bone loss, periodontitis-induced bone loss, bone fractures, back pain in postmenopausal women and osteogenesis imperfecta.
13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the diseasecondition is osteoporosis.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the osteoporosis is selected from the group consisting of postmenopausal osteoporosis, idiopathic and primary hypogonodal osteoporosis and glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.
15. The method according to claim 5, wherein the extended period of time is 1-3 months.
16. The method according to claim 5, wherein the extended period of time is 3-6 months.
17. The method according to claim 5, wherein the extended period of time is 6-12 months.
18. The method according to claim 5, wherein the extended period of time is 12-24 months.
19. The method according to claim 3, wherein the elevated serum levels of the CART-derived peptide are increased at least 1.3-fold as compared to the endogenous serum level of CART.
20. The method according to claim 3, wherein the elevated serum levels of the CART-derived peptide are increased at least 3-fold as compared to the endogenous serum level of CART.
21. The method according to claim 3, wherein the elevated serum levels of the CART-derived peptide are increased at least 5-fold as compared to the endogenous serum level of CART.
22. The method according to claim 3, wherein the elevated serum levels of the CART-derived peptide are between 30 and 650 pgml serum.
23. The method according to claim 3, wherein the increase in bone mineral density is determined by Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) as compared to placebo treated subjects.