Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Persian-Speaking Elementary Schoolers in Iran: A Psychometric Study of Child Perception Questionnaire.

Background and Purpose: The study aims to examine the validity and reliability of the impact of 16-item Short-Form Child Perception Questionnaire (CPQ11-14-ISF:16) in Persian-speaking elementary schoolers. Methods: From two main cities in Iran, 708 mother-child dyads were enrolled in 2018. Decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT/dmft) indexes were examined for divergent validity. Two built-in indexes of overall oral health and overall impacted well-being were used for concurrent validity. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with Geomin rotation, Cronbach's α, and Spearman's correlation were executed. Results: The total Cronbach's α was 0.71. EFA indicated CPQ11-14-ISF:11 (α = 0.66) to compose three eligible factors (α = 0.66), including oral problems (α = 0.54), emotional problems (α = 0.66), and social problems (α = 0.41). The concurrent/divergent validity of CPQ11-14-ISF:11 and the subscales was partially confirmed. Conclusions: The use of CPQ11-14-ISF:11 to multidimensionally address dental care for children requires further investigations.

Developing a Persian test battery of prereading skills for screening Preschool-aged children.

Background: The lack of screening test battery has made it difficult for early identification and intervention of Persian-speaking children with risk of reading problems prior to formal education. The purpose of this study was to develop and introduce a Persian prereading test battery based on the multidimensional reading perspective for screening preschool children. Methods: First, the predicators of reading skill and dyslexia along with the subscales of each predictor were identified through literature review and holding expert's panel. The batteries of tests were performed on 48 typically-developing children (5.6-6.6 years old) selected using the random (cluster) method. The Pearson correlation coefficient, item analysis and then reliability were measured. Results: The 5-component test battery with 8 subtests was formed. Findings indicated there were moderate and significant correlations between subtests (all r>0.4, p<0.001). Internal consistency reliability for the subscales was 0.51 to 0.89. Conclusion: The Persian test battery of prereading skills including phonological awareness, identification of first and closing phonemes, visual discrimination skill, rapid automatic naming and phonological working memory may identify children who are at risk. A longitudinal study is warranted to evaluate its detailed psychometric properties.

Protective responses of an engineered PspA recombinant antigen against Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major pathogen in human respiratory tract which causes significant morbidity and mortality across from the world. Currently available vaccines are not completely effective and cannot cover all pathogenic strains so there is an important need to develop an alternative cost-effective vaccine, based on conserved protein antigens. Pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) is one of interesting candidates for development of a serotype-independent vaccine against pneumococcal infections. PspA is grouped into two major families with five clades, and broad-reacting PspA-based vaccines should contain at least one functional fragment from each of the two families. In this study, we developed two immunogenic antigens based on recombinant PspA proteins that including the different antigenic regions of PspA from both two families. The cross-reactivity of antibodies elicited against two PspA proteins PspAB1-5 and PspA4ABC and their role in complement deposition with three strains of pneumococci were tested. The protective effects of developed anti-PspA antibodies in mice in intranasal and intraperitoneal challenges were evaluated using a strain from clade 2. Sera from immunized mice with PspAB1-5 in comparison with PspA4ABC was able to deposit more C3 complement component on surface of pneumococci bearing diverse PspA from both families 1 and 2, and immunized mice with the PspAB1-5 showed a higher protection than PspA4ABC in pneumococcal challenges. The obtained results from this study indicate that a PspA-based antigen composed of B region from all clades in addition to conserved domains, can provide a significant protection against multiple strains of S. pneumoniae and may overcome the limitation of polysaccharide vaccines.

The Effects of Size and Type of Vocal Fold Polyp on Some Acoustic Voice Parameters.

BACKGROUND: Vocal abuse and misuse would result in vocal fold polyp. Certain features define the extent of vocal folds polyp effects on voice acoustic parameters. The present study aimed to define the effects of polyp size on acoustic voice parameters, and compare these parameters in hemorrhagic and non-hemorrhagic polyps. METHODS: In the present retrospective study, 28 individuals with hemorrhagic or non-hemorrhagic polyps of the true vocal folds were recruited to investigate acoustic voice parameters of vowel/ æ/ computed by the Praat software. The data were analyzed using the SPSS software, version 17.0. According to the type and size of polyps, mean acoustic differences and correlations were analyzed by the statistical t test and Pearson correlation test, respectively; with significance level below 0.05. RESULTS: The results indicated that jitter and the harmonics-to-noise ratio had a significant positive and negative correlation with the polyp size (P=0.01), respectively. In addition, both mentioned parameters were significantly different between the two types of the investigated polyps. CONCLUSION: Both the type and size of polyps have effects on acoustic voice characteristics. In the present study, a novel method to measure polyp size was introduced. Further confirmation of this method as a tool to compare polyp sizes requires additional investigations.

The Canadian contribution to the otolaryngology literature: a five year bibliometric analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the 2008-2012 Canadian contribution to the Otolaryngology literature. METHODS: All articles published from January 2008 - December 2012 in 5 Otolaryngology journals were reviewed. Nationality, number of authors, and study type were extracted. The output, number of authors, and study type of Canadian papers were compared to International papers using Mantel-Haenszel Common Odds Ratio Estimate, Pearson's Chi-Squared or Fishers exact tests. RESULTS: 4519 papers were analyzed. There was a statistically significant decrease in Canadian authored papers from 12.8% in 2008-9 to 10.2% in 2011-12 (Fishers exact, p = .01). Multi-authorship increased in Canadian papers (χ2, p = .01). The types of studies published by Canadian Otolaryngologists did not change over the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Canadian authored papers in a sample of Otolaryngology journals decreased from 2008 to 2012. The increase in multiauthorship, whilst indicating increasing collaboration, suggests reduced per capita publication productivity. These findings warrant further study.

Double-blinded, randomized, controlled trial of medicated versus nonmedicated merocel sponges for functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare differences between medicated and nonmedicated Merocel middle meatal spacers (MMSs) on sinonasal mucosal healing (histopathologic and endoscopic difference), patient discomfort, and pain on removal of the MMS following functional endoscopic sinus surgery. METHODS: Forty-eight patients with chronic rhinosinusitis undergoing bilateral functional endoscopic sinus surgery were enrolled in a prospective study. Patients were randomized and blinded to receive a medication-soaked Merocel MMS (either one of budesonide, gentamicin, or manuka honey) in one nostril and a nonmedicated Merocel MMS in the contralateral side. Patients were seen on postoperative day 7 and were asked to complete a visual analogue score to report the level of discomfort from nasal packing on each side. Under endoscopic visualization, biopsies of mucosa were taken from both middle meati and assessed by a blinded pathologist to determine the level of mucosal inflammation on a scale of 0 to 4. RESULTS: The budesonide-soaked Merocel MMS showed a trend toward reduced mucosal inflammation when compared to the control Merocel MMS, but the results were not statistically significant. There was no statistically significant difference in the degree of discomfort and pain on the removal of the packings between the medication-soaked Merocel MMS and the nonmedicated Merocel MMS, although there was a trend toward less pain for the manuka honey-soaked Merocel MMS. CONCLUSIONS: Although our study failed to show any significant benefit from the addition of medication to the Merocel MMS, further studies with different compounds are recommended to determine whether a medicated MMS could indeed be a superior alternative to the standard MMS.

Primary hepatic malignant fibrous histiocytoma: clinicopathologic characteristics and prognostic value of ezrin expression.

Primary hepatic malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is a rare entity with ill-defined clinicopathologic characteristics. We present the largest series to date (7 cases) of primary hepatic MFH, a systematic review of 27 cases published in the English literature, and an analysis of prognostic factors including ezrin expression. The 2 men and 5 women in our series were 34 to 80 years old (average 61 y) and presented with abdominal pain (6/7), systemic symptoms of low-grade fever, malaise, anorexia and weight loss (4/7), and spiking fever (1/7). One case was an incidental finding. Computed tomography and ultrasound revealed a well-demarcated solitary heterogeneous low-density mass ranging from 5.5 to 20 cm (average 12 cm) in largest dimension (5/7), or multiple small nodules up to 2 cm in diameter (1/7) or a 10 cm multiloculated cystic lesion owing to extensive necrosis (1/7). Histologically, a storiform-pleomorphic pattern with variable degrees of necrosis predominated (6/7). A myxoid pattern was seen in only 1 case and this case lacked necrosis. Lymphoplasmacytic infiltration was seen in 3/7 of the cases. Tumors were grade I (1/7), grade II (2/7), grade III (4/7), stage pT1 (4/7), pT2 (1/7), pT4 (1/7), and pT4, cM1 (1/7) at diagnosis. Three patients with tumor cell ezrin immunoreactivity score >or=1 died of tumor within 1 year. Two patients with tumor cell ezrin immunoreactivity score <1 survived >4 years after surgery. Combined analysis of our series and previously reported cases suggest that primary hepatic MFH possess certain characteristic clinicopathologic features that may help in making the diagnosis and in differentiating it from other more common neoplasms in the liver. The prognosis of hepatic MFH depends primarily on tumor size and stage at the time of diagnosis. Ezrin expression in tumor cells can provide additional prognostic information and may be a potential target for new adjuvant therapies.