Accuracy at radiography and probing for the diagnosis of proximal caries

In 63 teenagers the proximal surfaces of premolars to be extracted for orthodontic reasons and the adjacent surfaces of neighboring teeth, 598 surfaces in all, were examined radiographically and by probing. Direct inspection after extraction revealed that 51% of the surfaces had incipient carious lesions and 5% lesions with cavities. Of the surfaces with cavities 82.1% were correctly diagnosed radiographically if any radiolucency, regardless of its extent, was used as a diagnostic criterion. However, this yielded a false positive rate of 19.6%. If only radioluccncies extending at least into the inner third of the enamel were called positive the true positive rate was 36.7% and the associated false positive rate 1.6%. At a 5% cavity frequency the predictive positive values were 17% and 53%, respectively. Probing yielded a true positive rate of about 29% and a false positive rate of 1.1% with a predictive positive value of 50-57%. All radiolucencies extending into the dentin were associated with cavities. When the most liberal radiographic criterion was used 37.5% of all carious lesions, whether associated with a cavity or not, were detected and 3.8% of sound surfaces were falsely called carious. The corresponding predictive positive value at the actual rate of incipient lesions and lesions with cavities was 92.6%.     

Determinants of response to a parent questionnaire about development and behaviour in 3 year olds: European multicentre study of congenital toxoplasmosis

Background  

We aimed to determine how response to a parent-completed postal questionnaire measuring development, behaviour, impairment, and parental concerns and anxiety, varies in different European centres.     

10-year follow-up of patients with and without mediastinitis

Mediastinitis is a dreaded complication of CABG surgery. Short-term outcomes have been described, but there have been only a few long-term studies. We examined the survival of patients undergoing isolated CABG surgery between 1992 and 2001. Mediastinitis was identified during the index admission. Proportional hazards regression was used to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI 95%). Among 36,078 consecutive patients, there were 5749 deaths during 148,319 person years of follow-up. There were 418 cases of mediastinitis (1.16%). The incidence of death was 11.15 per 100 person/years with mediastinitis and 3.81 deaths/100 person years without. (P < 0.001). We also examined the mortality rates of patients who survived at least 6 months after their CABG surgery. Patients with mediastinitis had an incidence rate of 5.70 deaths per 100 person/years while those without had a rate of 2.66 deaths per 100 person/years (P < 0.001). After adjustment for baseline differences in patient and disease characteristics, the hazard ratio was 2.12 (CI95% = 1.86,2.58; P < 0.001). The adjusted hazard ratios for patients who survived 6 months postsurgery was 1.70 (CI95% = 1.36,2.13; P < 0.001). Mediastinitis is associated with a marked increase in both acute and long-term mortality rates.     

The impact of managed care on substance abuse treatment services

OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of managed care on the number and types of services offered by substance abuse treatment (SAT) facilities. Both the number and types of services offered are important factors to analyze, as research shows that a broad range of services increases treatment effectiveness. DATA SOURCES: The 2000 National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (NSSATS), which is designed to collect data on service offerings and other characteristics of SAT facilities in the United States. These data are merged with data from the 2002 Area Resource File (ARF), a county-specific database containing information on population and managed care activity. We use data on 10,513 facilities, virtually a census of all SAT facilities. STUDY DESIGN: We estimate the impact of managed care (MC) on the number and types of services offered by SAT facilities using instrumental variables (IV) techniques that account for possible endogeneity between facilities' involvement in MC and service offerings. Due to limitations of the NSSATS data, MC and specific services are modeled as binary variables. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We find that managed care causes SAT facilities to offer, on average, approximately two fewer services. This effect is concentrated primarily in medical testing services (i.e., tests for TB, HIV/AIDs, and STDs). We also find that MC increases the likelihood of offering substance abuse assessment and relapse prevention groups, but decreases the likelihood of offering outcome follow-up. CONCLUSION: Our findings raise policy concerns that managed care may reduce treatment effectiveness by limiting the range of services offered to meet patient needs. Further, reduced onsite medical testing may contribute to the spread of infectious diseases that pose important public health concerns.     

Outcome correlates of parent-child bedsharing: an eighteen-year longitudinal study

We report results of the first longitudinal study of outcome correlates of parent-child bedsharing. Two hundred five families in nonconventional and conventional family lifestyles have been followed since 1975. A target child in each family was followed from the third trimester of mother's pregnancy through age 18 years. Bedsharing in early childhood was found to be significantly associated with increased cognitive competence measured at age 6 years, but the effect size was small. At age 6 years, bedsharing in infancy and early childhood was not associated with sleep problems, sexual pathology, or any other problematic consequences. At age 18 years, bedsharing in infancy and childhood was unrelated to pathology or problematic consequences, nor was it related to beneficial consequences. We discuss these results in light of widespread fears of harm caused by parent-child bedsharing. We suggest that such fears are without warrant if bedsharing is practiced safely as part of a complex of valued and related family practices.     

唐古特大黄提取物不同成分泻下作用的比较研究

目的：研究唐古特大黄提取物不同成分的泻下作用。方法：采用炭末推进方法、酚红排空方法进行肠推进实验,观察大黄提取物各成分(15 g·kg^-1)对小鼠小肠推进和肠水分吸收、大鼠大肠运动的影响。结果：唐古特大黄提取物不同成分与对照组相比,对小鼠小肠推进和肠水分吸收、大肠推进作用均有显著性差异(P<0.01)；与大黄水煎液、醇提液相比,泻下活性存在一些差异。结论：唐古特大黄提取物不同成分均有显著的泻下作用,但与大黄水煎液和醇提液相比有一些差异。