Parental influence on children's oral health-related behavior

Objective. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences between oral health-related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of children and their parents, and to identify the family-related factors associated with children's poor or good oral health-related behavior. Material and Methods. The data were gathered by means of questionnaires from 11–12-year-old schoolchildren and their parents who replied without having knowledge of the answers of the others. Differences between subgroups of children were analyzed by cross-tabulation, and the factors related to children's good or poor oral health-related behavior by logistic regression analyses. Results. Parents of children who reported good oral health-related behavior had better knowledge and more favorable behaviors than those of other parents. Predictors for a child's poor oral health-related behavior were the child's poor knowledge, male gender, the parent's frequent consumption of sweets, and the parent's infrequent use of xylitol gum. When a less strict threshold for the child's poor oral health-related behavior was used, more predictors entered the model: the parent's unfavorable use of fluoride toothpaste; among girls, the parent's lack of knowledge; and among children whose mother's occupation level was high, the parent's infrequent use of xylitol gum. The parents of children whose oral health behavior was favorable were more likely to have a high level occupation and favorable oral health-related behaviors. Conclusions. Oral health-related knowledge of children and their parents seems to be associated with children's oral health-related behavior. Parents’ behaviors, but not attitudes, were associated with children's oral health behavior.     

Preoperative and Postoperative Response to Inhaled Nitric Oxide

The preoperative dose response to inhaled nitric oxide (NO) was compared with the need for and response to NO after cardiac surgery in patients with congenital heart defect and secondary pulmonary hypertension. In a preoperative vasodilator test with inhaled NO 20, 40 and 80 ppm and oxygen, mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) was at least 40 mmHg and/or the pulmonary vascular resistance index (PVRI) 4 Wood units. Preoperatively, NO 40 ppm and Fi0₂ 0.9 reduced systolic pulmonary/systemic arterial pressure (PAPs/SAPs) from 0.89 (SD 0.10) to 0.80 (0.18) and pulmonary/systemic vascular resistance (PVR/SVR) from 0.26 (0.13) to 0.13 (0.08). Haemodynamic assessment was repeated in 11 patients postoperatively. NO treatment was started if PAPs/SAPs rose to 0.8 or the pulmonary oximetry fell below 40%. Postoperatively, eight of 11 patients, including 6 patients with Down's syndrome, needed NO. PAPs/SAPs decreased more than preoperatively: 48.5% vs 11.2, p = 0.0045. Pulmonary oximetry increased by 15.7%, p = 0.02. The degree of preoperative response to NO did not differ between the patients with postoperative pulmonary hypertension and the other children. Patients with early pulmonary hypertensive crisis (first 24 h; n = 6) had a higher PVRI (7.6 vs 4.4 Um²; p = 0.003) and PVR/SVR (0.34 VS 0.17; p = 0.02) preoperatively. Two patients died in pulmonary hypertensive crisis.     

Distally-based peroneus brevis muscle flap: A successful way of reconstructing lateral soft tissue defects of the ankle

Sixteen distally-based peroneus brevis muscle flaps were used to cover soft tissue defects in the lateral side of the ankle. The defect in 13 cases was on the lateral malleolus, in two on the lateral side of the calcaneus, and in one case in the Achilles tendon. The patients were all followed up until full recovery (mean 7.6 months, range 1.5–22 months). One flap failed to cover the defect and was replaced with a microvascular latissimus dorsi flap. In three cases minor revision and new skin grafting of the distal end of the flap was necessary. In 15 of the 16 patients the distally-based peroneus brevis muscle was successful in covering the lateral defect in the ankle. The technique of harvesting a flap is reliable, fast, and the overall success of the flap is good. The flap is particularly suitable for covering small or moderate sized defects on the lateral malleolus.     

Serum cholesterol during 27 years: assessment of systematic error and affecting factors and their role in interpreting population trends

BACKGROUND: The aim was to assess which factors cause a systematic error in serum total cholesterol measurements and how bias can influence the interpretation of serum cholesterol changes of the Finnish population. METHODS: Data on precision and accuracy during 27 years for serum total cholesterol were documented from participation in 438 rounds of five different external quality assessment (EQA) programs. RESULTS: The mean annual accuracy (bias) of the cholesterol assay using the results from all EQAs during 1978-2004 was -0.74% (95%CI -0.88 to -0.60). An exceptionally large deviation in bias coincided with the introduction of a new serum calibrator lot. New methods or instrumentation had only a minor impact on serum cholesterol bias. The mean serum cholesterol bias during the latest five population studies in 1982-2002 was -0.10% (95%CI -0.60 to 0.40) but comparison of the bias between the last study (CDC EQA in 2002) and the four previous ones (WHO EQA) showed a net difference of 3.32% (p<0.001). Correcting the mean serum cholesterol of men with respect to WHO and CDC EQA bias changed the interpretation for the last two survey years from an increase of 1.8% to no change. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to participate in EQA programs, which include target values measured by the CDC cholesterol reference method and then to perform bias corrections on the mean cholesterol values of the populations.     

Fecal calprotectin, MMP-9, and human beta-defensin-2 levels in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

Purpose

Fecal MMP-9 and human beta-defensin-2 (HBD-2) levels, potential markers of intestinal inflammation, are insufficiently explored in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim was to study fecal MMP-9 and HBD-2 in pediatric IBD to compare their performance to calprotectin and to study whether they would provide additional value in categorizing patients according to their disease subtype.

Methods

Fecal calprotectin, MMP-9, and HBD-2 levels were measured with ELISA in 110 pediatric patients with IBD (Crohn’s disease, n?=?68; ulcerative colitis (UC), n?=?27; unclassified, n?=?15; median age, 14). To compare the performance of the fecal markers, the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (±95 % CI) was used. In addition, the best cut-off values of each measure to differentiate IBD patients and controls (n?=?27 presenting with diarrhea, abdominal pain, and/or anemia) were derived by maximizing sensitivity and specificity.

Results

Of the fecal markers studied, calprotectin performed best for separation of IBD and non-IBD patients with the area under curve (AUC) of 0.944 (95 % CI, 0.907 to 0.981). For MMP-9, AUC was 0.837 (95 % CI, 0.766 to 0.909), the levels being significantly higher in active IBD and in UC compared with Crohn’s disease (p?=?0.0013), but categorization of these patient groups did not take place. HBD-2 did not categorize any of the studied groups.

Conclusions

Calprotectin was the best fecal marker in pediatric IBD, but MMP-9 showed almost comparable performance in UC, suggesting applicability as a surrogate marker of inflammation. Fecal HBD-2 did not bring information to the disease characteristics of pediatric IBD patients.     

Schizophrenia and pregnancy: a national register-based follow-up study among Finnish women born between 1965 and 1980

Archives of Women's Mental Health - To assess psychosocial and somatic risk factors related to pregnancy, and pregnancy-related complications or disorders in women with schizophrenia compared...     

Dental esthetics and quality of life in adults with severe malocclusion before and after treatment

Objective:To investigate the association between satisfaction with dental esthetics and quality of life, and esthetics satisfaction in relation to esthetic evaluations of three panel groups.Materials and Methods:Fifty-two patients (36 women, 16 men; age 18–61 years) with severe malocclusion were treated in Oulu University Hospital. Of these, 38 and 14 patients underwent orthodontic/surgical treatment and orthodontic treatment, respectively. A questionnaire and dental photographs were collected before and after treatment. The 14-item Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) was used to measure oral health-related quality of life. Satisfaction with dental esthetics was evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale. Dental photographs were presented to three panel groups: 30 laypersons, 30 dental students, and 10 orthodontists, who rated the photographs using the Aesthetic Component of the Index of Orthodontic Treatment Need.Results:Oral health–related quality of life (OHIP-14 severity score) and esthetic satisfaction (according to the Visual Analogue Scale) improved after the treatment (P < .001). The most unsatisfied patients reported oral effects more often both before and after treatment. Changes in oral health–related quality of life components of severity, psychological discomfort, and psychological disability correlated positively with the changes in esthetic satisfaction. Orthodontists graded the situation before treatment as worse and the outcome as better than the laypersons; the level of grading by dental students fell between these two groups.Conclusion:Improvement in esthetic satisfaction due to the treatment of severe malocclusion improves oral health–related quality of life, particularly by decreasing psychological discomfort and psychological disability.