Concomitant and discriminatory validity of the Adolescents' Fear of Dental Treatment Cognitive Inventory

The revised edition of the Inventaire cognitif de la peur des traitements dentaire pour adolescent(e)s [Adolescents' Fear of Dental Treatment Cognitive Inventory] (ICPTD-A) was administered to 38 subjects chosen at random and to nine subjects chosen with an obvious dental phobia problem. Its concomitant validity was established by relating the ICPTD-A scores to those of a behavioral test. The Pearson correlation coefficients that were thus obtained were -0.66 for the general population and -0.87 for the population suffering from dental phobia. The discriminatory validity was then established with a repeated measurement variance analysis based on the scores of the dental phobics after the administration of a recognized psychological treatment program intended to reduce their phobia. The results have shown a statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups as well as a significant difference between pre- and posttreatments. The authors have therefore concluded that the ICPTD-A is a valid tool for the assessment of dental phobia in 12-15-year-old adolescents.     

Epstein-Barr virus latent and replicative gene expression in oral hairy leukoplakia

Oral hairy leukoplakia is an epithelial lesion of the tongue associated with productive infection by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). However, no data concerning the pattern of EBV latent gene expression have been reported, and it remains unresolved whether true latent infection occurs in basal cell layers of oral hairy leukoplakia. We have studied six cases of oral hairy leukoplakia using monoclonal antibody immunohistology for EBV latent--EB nuclear antigen (EBNA) 1, EBNA 2 and latent membrane protein 1 (LMP 1); immediate-early (BZLF1); and replicative (EA, VCA, MA) proteins, and for the EBV-receptor (CD21 antigen). EBV DNA was demonstrated by nucleic acid in situ hybridization. Mid- to upper-zone keratinocytes contained EBV DNA and co-expressed EBNA 1, EBNA 2 (5 of 6 cases), LMP 1, BZLF1 protein, EA, VCA and MA. No EBV genome or gene expression could be demonstrated in basal or parabasal cells. Spinous keratinocytes were labelled by anti-CD21 antibodies HB5 and B2, but did not express the EBV-receptor as defined by reactivity with OKB7. The co-expression of latent and replicative infection-associated antigens is striking, indicating possible functional roles for latent proteins during the productive cycle. Our results suggest that oral hairy leukoplakia is caused by repeated direct infection of upper epithelial cells with virus from saliva or adjacent replicatively infected cells, rather than by a latent EBV infection of basal epithelial cells with a differentiation-dependent switch to productive infection as previously proposed.     

Assessment of Women for Partner Abuse

Nearly 4 million women in the United States were physically hurt by their husbands or boyfriends in 1994. The health and well-being of these women and their children, as well as the women who are overlooked in these statistics, are jeopardized by past and current experiences with abuse within intimate relationships. Strategies for nurses in women's health care settings to screen women for current or past abuse within their intimate personal relationships, guidelines for effective responses to disclosure of abuse, and supportive interventions are described.     

Pulsed Shortwave Diathermy and Prolonged Long-Duration Stretching Increase Dorsiflexion Range of Motion More Than Identical Stretching Without Diathermy

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of 3 treatments on ankle dorsiflexion range of motion: prolonged long-duration stretching, pulsed shortwave diathermy followed by stretching, and pulsed shortwave diathermy, stretching, and ice combined. DESIGN AND SETTING: A 2 x 5 x 15 repeated-measures (on 2 factors) design guided this study. Range-of-motion change in triceps surae flexibility was the dependent variable. The 3 independent variables were treatment group, pretest and posttest measurements, and day. Treatment group had 4 levels: control, stretching (10 minutes of stretching via the weight and pulley), diathermy and stretching (20 minutes of diathermy and 10 minutes of stretching), and diathermy, stretching, and ice (20 minutes of diathermy, 10 minutes of stretching applied after 15 minutes of diathermy, and 5 minutes of ice applied during the last 5 minutes of stretching). Each subject received 14 treatments throughout 3 weeks, with a follow-up measurement taken 6 days after the last treatment. SUBJECTS: Forty-four healthy college-student volunteers not involved in any flexibility program. MEASUREMENTS: We measured ankle dorsiflexion using a digital inclinometer before and after treatment. RESULTS: After 14 days of treatment, the range-of-motion increase was greater after heat and stretching than after stretching alone. After 6 additional days of rest, the heat and stretching range-of-motion increase was greater than that for stretching alone. CONCLUSION: Pulsed shortwave diathermy application before prolonged long-duration static stretching was more effective than stretching alone in increasing flexibility throughout 3 weeks. After 14 treatments, prolonged long-duration stretching combined with pulsed shortwave diathermy followed by ice application caused greater immediate and net range-of-motion increases than prolonged long-duration stretching alone.     

Viral etiopathogenesis of Sjögren's syndrome: role of the hepatitis C virus

Patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronic infection present some extrahepatic manifestations that may mimic the clinical, immunologic and histological manifestations of primary Sj?gren's syndrome (SS). Thus, HCV patients with sicca symptomatology and positive autoantibodies could be misdiagnosed as a 'primary' SS. Nevertheless, there are several clinical and immunologic features that could help us differentiate both processes.     

Immunopathologic Role of Proteoglycan Antigens in Rheumatoid Joint Disease

Cell-mediated immunity to proteoglycan antigens was assessed by leucocyte migration inhibition and by lymphocyte stimulation tests in patients with rheumatoid arthritis or with ankylosing spondylarthritis, in patients with relapsing synovitis after a single trauma to their knee joints, and in healthy donors. Both tests revealed a sensitization in most of the patients examined with various proteoglycan antigens derived from human cartilaginous tissues, rheumatoid synovial fluid, and species-common antigen of bovine nasal cartilage. Anybodies against proteoglycan antigens of human articular cartilage were detected by solid-phase radioimmunoassay in eleven out of twenty-nine sera from patients with rheumatoid arthritis and in four out of six rheumatoid synovial fluids. The results suggest that the cartilage antigenic components released by an inflammatory process or trauma may trigger a vicious circle of chronic inflammation and joint destruction.