A corticosteroid, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and an antihistamine modulate in vivo vascular reactions before and during post-occlusive hyperaemia.

Post-occlusive reactive hyperaemia is the temporary increase of blood flow in a tissue following transient vascular obstruction, and has recently been proposed as an in vivo method for ranking topical corticosteroid potency. We investigated in vivo vascular reactions before and during post-occlusive hyperaemia using laser-Doppler flowmetry and reflectance spectroscopy (RS). RS enables resolution of in vivo erythema into deoxygenated (venous) [DOH] and oxygenated (arterial) haemoglobin (OH) components (expressed in arbitrary units, AU). Using a randomized 24-h occlusive exposure in 10 healthy volunteers the effects of a corticosteroid (betamethasone-17-valerate), a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) [indomethacin], an antihistamine (diphenhydramine), or vehicle, were studied before and during post-occlusive hyperaemia. The 24-h vehicle exposure decreased total haemoglobin (composed of a small increase in OH [P < 0.001] and a greater decrease in DOH [P < 0.005], [OH, 0.23 +/- 0.18 AU; DOH, 0.28 +/- 0.12 AU]). The blood flow increased 7.1% to 28 +/- 8 AU (P > 0.05). Betamethasone-17-valerate exposure decreased total haemoglobin further (OH, 0.10 +/- 0.09 AU [P < 0.005]; DOH, 0.18 +/- 0.08 AU [P < 0.05]), which corresponded to a 15% blood flow decrease (P < 0.05). Indomethacin reduced OH to 0.18 +/- 0.12 AU (P < 0.02) and increased DOH slightly, with a trend towards decreased blood flow (P > 0.05). Diphenhydramine caused no significant changes in RS or laser-Doppler flowmetry readings before post-occlusive hyperaemia. Post-occlusive hyperaemia increased total haemoglobin maximally at the first observation time (OH, 0.63 +/- 0.13 AU; DOH, 0.31 +/- 0.11 AU [P < 0.001]).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Longterm study of the effectiveness of different dental care programs in school children]. / Langzeitstudien zur Effektivität von unterschiedlichen Betreuungsstrategien bei Schulkindern.

The caries prevalence was examined in children from the first to the tenth grade in Rostock and Krakow between 1974 and 1988. In Krakow, a town with a preventive orientated dental care program, a significance caries reduction was found. Therefore there is an increase of health and an improvement of oral situation for the children on the way to the goals of WHO for oral health by the year 2000.