Women's health: a national plan for action.

Women's health is a central item on the national health agenda for the 1990s. Renewed attention to the health needs of women has led to a national plan for action with interventions in research, prevention, treatment, training, public information, and public policy. Since research and training are pivotal to the promulgation of any national health agenda, this has particular importance for dental research and dental education. The 38-goal PHS Action Plan for Women's Health, which directs resources of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) toward women's health is coordinated by the Office on Women's Health and implemented through the PHS agencies and offices including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It encompasses large scale research interventions like the NIH "Women's Health Initiative" as well as other biomedical, biobehavioral, and health services research programs.

Occurrence of multiple dentigerous cysts in a patient with the Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome (mucopolysaccharidosis, type VI).

The mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) are a group of genetic lysosomal storage diseases. These diseases result from a defect in specific lysosomal enzymes required for the degradation of specific mucopolysaccharides. These incompletely degraded saccharides accumulate in tissues and are excreted in the urine. A general characteristic of these diseases is dysostosis multiplex. Dental complications can be severe and include unerupted dentition, dentigerous cystlike follicles, malocclusions, condylar defects, and gingival hyperplasia. This report examines multiple dentigerous cysts in a patient with a deficiency in N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfatase, Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome (MPS VI). The inability to hydrolyze the sulfate group from N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfate residue of dermatan sulfate due to a deficiency in this enzyme results in the accumulation of dermatan sulfate in tissues and its excretion in the urine. Examination of dentigerous cyst fluid revealed glycosaminoglycan content of 397 microgram per milliliter. Compositional analyses revealed 60% hyaluronic acid, 30% chondroitin 4- and -6-sulfate, and only 10% dermatan sulfate. This was consistent with dentigerous cyst fluid derived from persons without mucopolysaccharide-storage disorders but distinctly different from glycosaminoglycans assayed from other body fluids of this patient.