Undergraduate dentistry students’ perception of difficulties regarding endodontic treatment

The present study aimed to identify students’ perceptions of endodontic treatment at a Brazilian university through a survey, which analysed student profiles and their difficulties in 2016. One hundred and two students who had experienced endodontic, laboratory or clinical procedures answered a survey based on their experiences, regarding their perceptions, experience and self‐confidence levels. Results demonstrated that there was no significant difficulty among students regarding anaesthesia, rubber dam use, chamber access, working length determination, instrumentation, root filling and temporary restoration procedures during endodontic treatment. However, problems were observed regarding radiographic examination (mainly in separating root canals) and the choice of intracanal medication. The present study also raised a question regarding dental education: how can endodontic education be improved by addressing students' perceived difficulties? Evaluating the major student difficulties during root canal therapy can help the improvement of teaching strategies during preclinical and clinical teaching.     

The association among food addiction,binge eating severity and psychopathology in obese and overweight patients attending low-energy-diet therapy

Several studies have shown that food addiction (FA) is strongly related with psychopathology. However, this relationship may be partly mediated by the presence and severity of binge eating. The aim of the current study was to assess the strength of the association between FA and psychopathology, and whether this relationship was mediated by the presence and severity of binge eating. Participants were 112 patients seeking weight loss interventions. All the participants were administered the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), The Symptom Check list-90-R (SCL-90), and the Binge Eating Scale (BES). Thirty-eight (33.9%) individuals were diagnosed as having FA. FA severity was strongly associated with binge eating, whereas both FA and binge eating were positively and moderately associated with psychopathology. A mediational model analyzing direct and indirect (through the mediating role of binge eating) effects of FA on psychopathology indicated that the relation between FA and psychopathology was fully mediated by the severity of binge eating. This finding suggests that FA may contribute to the development of psychopathology through its effect on binge eating.     

Functional capacity of Brazilian patients with Parkinson's disease (PD): relationship between clinical characteristics and disease severity

The present study had three objectives: (a) to characterize the functional capacity of patients with PD, (b) to assess the relationship between the physical fitness components of functional capacity with clinical characteristics and disease severity, and (c) to compare the physical fitness components of functional capacity with clinical characteristics according to disease severity. The study included 54 patients with idiopathic PD who were distributed into two groups according to PD severity: unilateral group (n=35); and bilateral group (n=19). All patients underwent psychiatric assessment by means of the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) staging of PD, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A and HADS-D, respectively), and The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The physical fitness components of functional capacity were evaluated over a 2-day period, using recommendations by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, and the Berg Balance Scale (BBS). Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regressions were calculated to test the correlation between functional capacity and clinical characteristics, and to predict clinical scores from physical performance, respectively. Clinical variables and physical component data were compared between groups using analysis of variance to determine the effects of disease severity. Patients with advanced disease showed low levels of functional capacity. Interestingly, patients with good functional capacity in one of the physical fitness components also showed good capacities in the other components. Disease severity is a major factor affecting functional capacity and clinical characteristics. Medical providers should take disease severity into consideration when prescribing physical activity for PD patients, since the relationship between functional capacity and clinical characteristics is dependent on disease severity.     

The FA pathway counteracts oxidative stress through selective protection of antioxidant defense gene promoters

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of many human diseases including Fanconi anemia (FA), a genetic disorder associated with BM failure and cancer. Here we show that major antioxidant defense genes are down-regulated in FA patients, and that gene down-regulation is selectively associated with increased oxidative DNA damage in the promoters of the antioxidant defense genes. Assessment of promoter activity and DNA damage repair kinetics shows that increased initial damage, rather than a reduced repair rate, contributes to the augmented oxidative DNA damage. Mechanistically, FA proteins act in concert with the chromatin-remodeling factor BRG1 to protect the promoters of antioxidant defense genes from oxidative damage. Specifically, BRG1 binds to the promoters of the antioxidant defense genes at steady state. On challenge with oxidative stress, FA proteins are recruited to promoter DNA, which correlates with significant increase in the binding of BRG1 within promoter regions. In addition, oxidative stress-induced FANCD2 ubiquitination is required for the formation of a FA-BRG1-promoter complex. Taken together, these data identify a role for the FA pathway in cellular antioxidant defense.