The yawning gap: Waiting for cariology to germinate whilst periodontology is fruiting.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study is to investigate whether periodontology and cariology receive equal emphasis in dental education at two moments in time, thirteen years apart. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An online search was conducted in Nov 2021 of all the dental schools in ten English-language speaking countries (U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia) to identify departments/divisions in the disciplines of periodontology, cariology, and conservative/restorative/operative dentistry. The results were then compared against the findings of a similar investigation that was conducted from July to October 2008. RESULTS: Of the 126 dental schools identified in 2021, information was available for 93 dental schools. Of these 93 schools, only 10 listed departments/divisions/disciplines of cariology, whereas 83 and 86 schools had listed periodontology and conservative/restorative/operative dentistry, respectively. Despite a doubling of the number of dental schools with a department/division/discipline of cariology from 2008 to 2021, the absolute gap in the number of departments/divisions/disciplines in the other two disciplines compared to cariology had widened during the thirteen years. In 2008, there were 70 more departments/divisions/disciplines in periodontology compared to cariology departments/divisions/disciplines. In 2021, there were 73 more departments/divisions/disciplines in periodontology. Additional information on research output was available for 90 dental schools in 2021, where 30 schools self-identified as undertaking cariology research, whereas 68 and 47 schools undertook research in periodontology and conservative/restorative/operative dentistry, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Dental education does not give equal emphasis to periodontology and cariology, and the discipline of cariology is grossly neglected.

Changes in dental and medical visits before and during the COVID-19 pandemic among U.S. children aged 1-17 years.

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has tremendously impacted the U.S. healthcare system, but no study has examined the impact of the pandemic on utilization of dental care among U.S. children. Changes in past-year dental versus medical visits and perceived unmet health needs between 2019 and 2020 among U.S. children aged 1-17 years were examined. METHODS: National and state representative, cross-sectional data from the National Survey of Children's Health conducted during June 2019-January 2020 (i.e. pre-pandemic, n = 28 500) and July 2020-January 2021 (i.e. intra-pandemic, n = 41 380) were analysed. Any past-year visit and perceived unmet needs (i.e. delay or inability to receive needed care) were reported by the parent proxy. Weighted prevalence estimates were compared using two-tailed chi-squared tests at p < .05. Poisson regression analyses were used to explore the relationship between having dental and/or medical unmet needs during the pandemic and indicators of poor health and social wellbeing. RESULTS: Between 2019 and 2020, a significantly reduced prevalence of past-year medical (87.2%-81.3%) and dental visits (82.6%-78.2%) among U.S. children aged 1-17 years (all p < .05) were observed. Correspondingly, perceived unmet needs increased by half for dental care (from 2.9% in 2019 to 4.4% in 2020) and almost one-third for medical care (from 3.2% to 4.2% in 2020). Subgroups with the highest prevalence of unmet dental need included those with low socio-economic status, living with their grandparents, uninsured and living with a smoker. CONCLUSIONS: Unmet health needs increased in general but increased more for dental than for medical care among U.S. children aged 1-17 years. Enhanced and sustained efforts will be needed to deliver targeted services towards disadvantaged segments of the population to narrow existing disparities.

A Fully-Integrated Ambient RF Energy Harvesting System with 423-µW Output Power.

This paper proposes a 2.4-GHz fully-integrated single-frequency multi-channel RF energy harvesting (RFEH) system with increased harvested power density. The RFEH can produce an output power of ~423-µW in harvesting ambient RF energy. The front-end consists of an on-chip impedance matching network with a stacked rectifier concurrently matched to a 50 Ω input source. The circuit mitigates the "dead-zone" by enhancing the pumping efficiency, achieved through the increase of Vgs drivability of the proposed internal gate boosting 6-stage low-input voltage charge pump and the 5-stage shared-auxiliary-biasing ring-voltage-controlled-oscillator (VCO) integrated to improve the start-up. The RFEH system, simulated in 180-nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS), occupies an active area of 1.02 mm2. Post-layout simulations show a peak power conversion efficiency(PCE) of 21.15%, driving a 3.3-kΩ load at an input power of 0 dBm and sensitivity of -14.1 dBm corresponding to an output voltage, Vout,RFEH of 1.25 V.

Ocular Biometrics of Myopic Eyes With Narrow Angles.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the ocular biometrics between myopic patients with and without narrow angles. METHODS: Patients with a stable myopic refraction (myopia worse than -1.00 D spherical equivalent) were prospectively recruited. Angle status was assessed using gonioscopy and biometric measurements were performed using an anterior segment optical coherence tomography and an IOLMaster. RESULTS: A total of 29 patients (58 eyes) were enrolled with 13 patients (26 eyes) classified as having narrow angles and 16 patients (32 eyes) classified as having open angles. Baseline demographics of age, sex, and ethnicity did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. The patients with narrow angles were on average older than those with open angles but the difference did not reach statistical significance (P=0.12). The central anterior chamber depth was significantly less in the eyes with narrow angles (P=0.05). However, the average lens thickness, although greater in the eyes with narrow angles, did not reach statistical significance (P=0.10). Refractive error, axial lengths, and iris thicknesses did not differ significantly between the 2 groups (P=0.32, 0.47, 0.15). CONCLUSIONS: Narrow angles can occur in myopic eyes. Routine gonioscopy is therefore recommended for all patients regardless of refractive error.

Glaucoma versus red disease: imaging and glaucoma diagnosis.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The use of ophthalmic imaging for documentation and diagnosis of ocular disease is rising dramatically. Optical coherence tomography (OCT), confocal scanning laser tomography (CSLT), scanning laser polarimetry (SLP) and photographic imaging of the optic nerve head (ONH) are currently used to document baseline characteristics of the ONH and for diagnosing glaucoma and glaucoma progression secondary to loss of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL). Imaging modalities typically provide information on ONH and RNFL characteristics which are outside of the normal (relative to normative databases) in red lettering or boxes, whereas ONH and RNFL characteristics within the normal range are presented in green. RECENT FINDINGS: As imaging modalities have become more sophisticated and are validated in research studies, clinicians have come to rely upon data from these imaging devices to aid in differentiating between normal and glaucomatous states of the ONH and RNFL - typically by examining if the data are green or red suggesting normal or abnormal. However, normative databases can sometimes be flawed relative to atypical ONH or RNFL morphologies and imaging can provide artifacts which do not represent true ocular disease but secondary to limitations of imaging technology. SUMMARY: Ophthalmic imaging is an important adjunct to clinical diagnosis but the results from imaging devices need to be assessed critically relative to artifacts of imaging and the limitations of the technology and its normative databases.

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's 1825 treatise on the mouth and ingestion.

This article quotes and discusses Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin's musings on the mouth and ingestion as described in his book The Physiology of Taste. The book was first published in France in December 1825, and is still widely read as a key work in Gastronomy today. The mouth is intimately related to the acts of chewing, swallowing and eating and it would be interesting to report an early 19th century epicurean's views on the mouth. Passages from Brillat-Savarin's book describing the functions of the teeth and tongue and the acts of tasting, chewing, and swallowing are quoted in full. Anecdotes also include one on the horrifying punishment of having one's tongue removed and another illustrating the poor oral health found among Europeans of that era. His work offers a unique glimpse into how a 19th century gastronome viewed the oral cavity and its gastronomical functions. While some of his writings may appear archaic and antediluvian to the modern reader; others relating to, for example chewing and swallowing, are surprisingly accurate by contemporary standards. Nonetheless, the gastronomic savant seemed to know a lot right about modern stomatology!

Grand Theft Auto IV comes to Singapore: effects of repeated exposure to violent video games on aggression.

Given the increasingly dominant role of video games in the mainstream entertainment industry, it is no surprise that the scholarly debate about their impact has been lively and well attended. Although >100 studies have been conducted to examine the impact of violent video games on aggression, no clear consensus has been reached, particularly in terms of their long-term impact on violent behavior and aggressive cognitions. This study employs a first-ever longitudinal laboratory-based experiment to examine longer-term effects of playing a violent video game. One hundred thirty-five participants were assigned either to the treatment condition where they played a violent video game in a controlled laboratory setting for a total of 12 hours or to the control group where they did not play a game. Participants in the treatment group played Grand Theft Auto IV over a period of 3 weeks and were compared with a control group on the posttest measures of trait aggression, attitudes toward violence, and empathy. The findings do not support the assertion that playing a violent video game for a period of 3 weeks increases aggression or reduces empathy, but they suggest a small increase in proviolence attitudes. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Screening for caries in targeted schools in the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury districts, New South Wales, Australia: an evaluation of the School Assessment Program.

AIM: To determine if the school dental screening program in New South Wales, the School Assessment Program, achieved its aim of being the key entry point for high-risk children to receive care. METHODS: A secondary analysis was conducted on epidemiological data gathered in 16 primary schools in New South Wales (10 for the School Assessment Program and six for the non-School Assessment Program) in 2003. The validity of the School Assessment Program targeting criteria in identifying high-risk schools was determined. Post-screening treatment outcomes were evaluated from the assessment of treatment ratios. RESULTS: There were negligible differences in the caries experience and proportions of high-risk children, irrespective of their School Assessment Program status. Sensitivity and specificity values were approximately 60% and 40%, respectively, using various case definitions of high risk applied to both children and schools. Deciduous dentition treatment ratios for School Assessment Program and non-School Assessment Program children with decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) ≥1 ranged from 0.48 to 0.79 and from 0.47 to 0.73, respectively. Respective permanent dentition treatment ratios for School Assessment Program and non-School Assessment Program children with Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth (DMFT) ≥1 were 0.49-0.82 and 0.64-1.08. CONCLUSION: The School Assessment Program failed to identify schools with high caries-risk children or confer post-screening caries treatment benefits.

A review of the uses of fluoride and outcomes of dental caries control in singapore.

In 1958, Singapore was the first country in Asia to implement a community water fluoridation program covering 100% of its population. There were no reports of anti-fluoridation activities or calls for referenda then; and at present, there is only mild opposition to water fluoridation. The water was initially fluoridated at 0.7 ppm but was gradually adjusted downwards to 0.6 ppm in January 1992, with a further reduction to 0.5 ppm in January 2008 where it has since remained unchanged. Fluoride varnishes and gels are also available for use by the professional for judicious application in individuals who are at high-risk of dental caries. In addition, fluoridated dentifrices and mouth rinses are also readily available over the counter for home use. In addition to the use of fluorides, the following factors also contribute to the high level of oral health in Singapore: (i) a highly educated populace; (ii) public health education to increase awareness and literacy is routinely carried out by the Health Promotion Board; (iii) the School Dental Service provides 'free' dental care to school children up to 18 years of age; and (iv) primary dental care is also readily accessible by the general public by an extensive network of private and public sector dental clinics.

Stereotactic radiosurgery in the treatment of a dural carotid-cavernous fistula.

Because of the success of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in the treatment of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), SRS is being applied to the treatment of carotid-cavernous dural arteriovenous fistulas (CCDAVFs) when these lesions are not accessible endovascularly. We report a patient with a CCDAVF that could not be accessed endovascularly on 2 attempts, whose fistula was successfully closed with SRS, a less invasive modality than endovascular embolization. Further experience with SRS in this role will be necessary to determine its utility.

Successful fluoride plebiscite in the township of Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia.

OBJECTIVES: This article describes the strategies adopted to influence the outcome of a plebiscite held in March 2004 in favor of water fluoridation in Deniliquin, a rural town in New South Wales, Australia. METHODS: The health promotion strategies undertaken included the following: a) the skillful use of media to educate the community on the benefits of water fluoridation; b) disseminating contemporary local data to demonstrate oral health disparities with neighboring fluoridated townships; and c) a well-established lobbying machine to mobilize the community. RESULTS: Out of a total population of 5,280 on the electoral roll, 4,539 residents voted, giving a response rate of 86 percent. The wording of the plebiscite was "Do you support the addition of fluoride to Deniliquin town water supply?" There were 2,533 "yes" votes (55.8 percent), 1,879 "no" votes (41.4 percent), and 127 spoiled votes (2.8 percent). CONCLUSIONS: The council resolved to implement water fluoridation and the residents received fluoridated water in January 2005.

Simultaneous bilateral angle closure glaucoma in a patient with giant cell arteritis.

PURPOSE: To report a case of bilateral angle closure in a patient with giant cell arteritis. DESIGN: Observational case report. METHODS: Review of clinical, photographic, and biopsy data of a 53-year-old patient who presented with bilateral angle closure glaucoma and was found to have giant cell arteritis. RESULTS: A temporal artery biopsy revealed near transmural focal scarring of the media with disruption of the internal elastic lamina consistent with giant cell arteritis in a patient with bilateral angle closure glaucoma. CONCLUSIONS: Acute angle closure glaucoma is a relatively uncommon form of glaucoma and its relationship, if any, with giant cell arteritis is unknown. This is the first reported case of giant cell arteritis presenting with bilateral acute angle closure glaucoma.

Abnormal foveal morphology in ocular albinism imaged with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the spectrum of foveal architecture in pediatric albinism and to assess the utility of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) in ocular imaging of children with nystagmus. METHODS: Spectral-domain OCT imaging was performed on study subjects in 3 groups: subjects with ocular albinism (OA) or suspected OA with foveal hypoplasia, with nystagmus, and with or without iris transillumination; a subject with oculocutaneous albinism and Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome; and control subjects. Dense volumetric scans of each fovea were captured using standard and handheld spectral-domain OCT devices. Images were postprocessed and scored for the presence and configuration of each retinal layer across the fovea. RESULTS: High-quality spectral-domain OCT images obtained from each subject revealed a range of abnormalities in subjects with OA or suspected OA and the subject with oculocutaneous albinism and Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome: persistence of an abnormal, highly reflective band across the fovea, multiple inner retinal layers normally absent at the center of the fovea, and loss of the normally thickened photoreceptor nuclear layer at the fovea when compared with that in control subjects. The optic nerve was elevated in multiple eyes of subjects with OA or suspected OA and the subject with oculocutaneous albinism and Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: A spectrum of foveal morphological abnormalities is seen in subjects with OA or suspected OA, which in some cases contrasted with previous studies using time-domain OCT. These OCT findings clarify the morphology of foveal hypoplasia seen clinically. This imaging modality may be useful in evaluating children.

The effect of anti-VEGF therapy on immature myeloid cell and dendritic cells in cancer patients.

Impairment of dendritic cells (DC), the most effective activators of anticancer immune responses, is one mechanism for defective antitumor immunity, but the causes of DC impairment are incompletely understood. We evaluated the association of impaired DC differentiation with angiogenesis-associated molecules D-dimer, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) in peripheral blood from 41 patients with lung, breast, and colorectal carcinoma. Subsequently, we studied the effect of administration of the anti-VEGF antibody (bevacizumab) on DC maturation and function in vivo. Compared with healthy volunteers, cancer patients had a bias toward the immunoregulatory DC2, had deficits in DC maturation after overnight in vitro culture, and had a significant increase in immature myeloid cell progenitors of DC (0.50 +/- 0.31% vs. 0.32 +/- 0.16% of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, respectively, P = 0.011). A positive correlation was found between the percentage of DC2 and PAI-1 (R = 0.50) and between immature myeloid cells and VEGF (R = 0.52). Bevacizumab administration to cancer patients was associated with a decrease in the accumulation of immature progenitor cells (0.39 +/- 0.30% vs. 0.27 +/- 0.24%, P = 0.012) and induced a modest increase in the DC population in peripheral blood (0.47 +/- 0.23% vs. 0.53 +/- 0.30%). Moreover, anti-VEGF antibody treatment enhanced allo-stimulatory capacity of DC and T cell proliferation against recall antigens. These data suggest that DC differentiation is negatively associated with VEGF levels and may be one explanation for impaired anticancer immunity, especially in patients with advanced malignancies.

Combining cancer vaccines with chemotherapy.

Clinical experience is now demonstrating the efficacy of combining chemotherapy and targeted therapies. Although the combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy would at first seem to be counterproductive, supportive preclinical and clinical data have revealed that cyclophosphamide, gemcitabine and doxorubicin enhance the efficacy of vaccines when used as a form of 'pretreatment'. Possible mechanisms of action include inhibition of regulatory T cells, enhancement of antigen presentation by tumours, or some yet unknown method. As such, more preclinical and clinical trials are needed to explore the synergistic effects of chemotherapy combined with immunotherapy, particularly the proper dose and timing of chemotherapy.