Keep My Teeth: An evaluation of multi-disciplinary training in mouth care for people with intellectual developmental disorders.

AIM: To evaluate a modular didactic training intervention called Keep My Teeth designed by special care dentists, for a range of healthcare students to provide oral homecare for people with intellectual developmental disorders (PwIDD). METHODS: To evaluate the intervention a one-group pre-test post-test pre-experimental research design was utilized. The intervention was delivered by virtual platforms or face-to-face, with a sub-sample of participants also receiving practical training. Healthcare students included Speech and Language Therapy (SLT), Registered Nurse Intellectual Disability (RNID), Dental Science (DS), Dental Nursing (DN), and Dental Hygiene (DH). RESULTS: Sixty-three of the 147 trainees completed all surveys. A significant change in perspective on barriers was seen for most groups post-training, with an increase in confidence in delivering oral care to PwIDD across disciplines; 67% of DH/DN students who took part in the practical training felt that the didactic training was just as effective without the practical training, while 42% of the DS students felt that was true. CONCLUSIONS: The training interventions provided seem to have increased the awareness of study participants in relation to barriers to care, and increased their self-efficacy towards, and intention to perform, oral homecare behaviors.

Impact of salt-contaminated freshwater on osmoregulation and tracheal gill function in nymphs of the mayfly Hexagenia rigida.

The impact of freshwater (FW) salinization on osmoregulation as well as tracheal gill morphology and function was examined in nymphs of the mayfly Hexagenia rigida following exposure to salt contaminated water (SCW, 7.25 g/l NaCl) for a 7-day period. Ionoregulatory homeostasis was perturbed in SCW exposed H. rigida nymphs as indicated by increased hemolymph Na+, K+ and Cl- levels as well as hemolymph pH and water content. Despite this, SCW did not alter gill Na+-K+-ATPase (NKA) or V-type H+-ATPase (VA) activity. In addition, NKA and VA immunolocalization in gill ionocytes did not show alterations in enzyme location or changes in ionocyte abundance. The latter observation was confirmed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine exposed tracheal gill ionocyte numbers. Ionocyte surface morphometrics also revealed that SCW did not change individual ionocyte surface area or ionocyte fractional surface area. Nevertheless, analysis of Na+ movement across the tracheal gill of mayfly nymphs using scanning ion-selective electrode technique indicated that FW nymphs acquired Na+ from surrounding water, while tracheal gills of SCW nymphs had the capacity to secrete Na+. Because Na+ secretion across the gill of SCW-exposed animals occurred in the absence of any change in (1) NKA and VA activity or (2) ionocyte numbers/surface exposure, it was reasoned that Na+ movement across the gill of SCW animals may be occurring, at least in part, through the paracellular pathway. The ultrastructure of tracheal gill septate junctions (SJs) supported this idea as they exhibited morphological alterations indicative of a leakier pathway. Data provide a first look at alterations in osmoregulatory mechanisms that allow H. rigida nymphs to tolerate sub-lethal salinization of their surroundings.

Strategies of ionoregulation in the freshwater nymph of the mayfly Hexagenia rigida.

This study investigated ionoregulatory strategies used by freshwater (FW) nymphs of the mayfly Hexagenia rigida Like other FW organisms, H. rigida nymphs maintain hemolymph ion levels (in mmol l-1: Na+ ∼102; Cl- ∼84; K+ ∼6; pH ∼7.35) far in excess of their surroundings. This appears to be accomplished by the combined actions of the alimentary canal, Malpighian tubules (MTs) and tracheal gills. The alimentary canal contributes in a region-specific manner, a view supported by: (1) spatial differences in the activity of basolateral Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) and apical V-type H+-ATPase (VA) and (2) region-specific Na+ and K+ flux rates. Both indicate a prominent role for the hindgut (rectum) in K+ reabsorption. MTs also exhibit region-specific differences in Na+ and K+ flux rates that are coupled with an organized but tortuous architecture. NKA and VA activities were highest in MTs versus all other organs examined. Tracheal gills were found to be sites of Na+ uptake, but no difference in Na+ uptake was found between gills taken from different regions of the abdomen or spatially along individual gills. This is likely because each gill exhibited a dense population of NKA and/or VA immunoreactive cells (putative ionocytes). Data provide new insight into how FW mayfly nymphs regulate salt and water balance using the alimentary canal, MTs and tracheal gills as well as the first direct evidence that tracheal gills acquire ions from FW.