Pregnant women’s use and attitude toward herbal,vitamin, and mineral supplements in an academic tertiary care center,Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background

Herbal medicine has been widely utilized by pregnant women despite the limited available evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of that practice. The current available studies, from different countries, estimated that the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy range from 7% up to 96%. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence, attitude, source of information, and reasoning behind the use of herbal medicine among pregnant women in Saudia Arabia.

Development of a Device for Removing a Partial Denture in a Patient with Scleroderma

Scleroderma is a chronic disease that has been associated with immune dysfunction. One of the oral manifestations is microsomia, a result of collagen deposition in the perioral tissues. The complexity of treating these patients includes limited mouth opening ability, and difficulty inserting and removing dentures due to finger deformity. This article will describe an appliance specially designed especially for scleroderma patients, which facilitates treatment of the patient with removable partial dentures (RPD).     

Management of the metabolic syndrome-nicotinic acid.

Nicotinic acid effectively treats each of the common lipid abnormalities found in the metabolic syndrome, and much progress has recently been made in understanding its mechanisms of action.Early concern that nicotinic acid can precipitate or worsen diabetes has been eased with recent trials, which demonstrated its safety and effectiveness in insulin-resistant states. Furthermore, nicotinic acid prevents cardiovascular disease and death in persons with a high prevalence of risk factors for the metabolic syndrome. When used by an experienced physician and taken by a motivated patient, nicotinic acid can be safe and effective in treating the dyslipidemia of the metabolic syndrome.     

A novel host-protein assay outperforms routine parameters for distinguishing between bacterial and viral lower respiratory tract infections

Bacterial and viral lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are often clinically indistinguishable, leading to antibiotic overuse. We compared the diagnostic accuracy of a new assay that combines 3 host-biomarkers (TRAIL, IP-10, CRP) with parameters in routine use to distinguish bacterial from viral LRTIs. Study cohort included 184 potentially eligible pediatric and adult patients. Reference standard diagnosis was based on adjudication by an expert panel following comprehensive clinical and laboratory investigation (including respiratory PCRs). Experts were blinded to assay results and assay performers were blinded to reference standard outcomes. Evaluated cohort included 88 bacterial and 36 viral patients (23 did not fulfill inclusion criteria; 37 had indeterminate reference standard outcome). Assay distinguished bacterial from viral LRTI patients with sensitivity of 0.93 ± 0.06 and specificity of 0.91 ± 0.09, outperforming routine parameters, including WBC, CRP and chest x-ray signs. These findings support the assay's potential to help clinicians avoid missing bacterial LRTIs or overusing antibiotics.     

Salivary bacteria and oral health status in medicated and non-medicated children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Objectives

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a childhood neurological disorder. Studies have shown that children with ADHD are more prone to caries than those without. The study investigated children diagnosed with ADHD, both with and without pharmacological intervention, and the following: DMFT\dmft, plaque index (PI), mutans streptococci (MS) levels, lactobacilli (LB) levels, salivary flow, salivary buffer capacity, oral hygiene, and diet.

Study design

DMFT/dmft index, PI, MS and LB levels, salivary flow, and salivary buffer capacity were examined in three groups of children: ADHD1—diagnosed with ADHD with no pharmacological intervention (N?=?31), ADHD2—treated with medications for ADHD (N?=?30), and a healthy control group (N?=?30). Diet and oral health habits were assessed through questionnaires completed by parents.

Results

There were no differences in the DMFT/dmft index, MS and LB counts, salivary buffer capacity, and parent reported diet and oral health behavior between the three groups. Children with ADHD demonstrated a higher plaque index.

Conclusions

Although children with ADHD did not report different diet and oral health behavior from children without ADHD, this group had significantly higher levels of plaque than the control group, which combined with hyposalivation may be a risk factor for caries at an older age.

Clinical relevance

Medicated and non-medicated ADHD children were similar to control children in their caries rate, MS and LB counts, salivary buffer capacity, and diet and oral health behavior. They differed in the amount of plaque found on their teeth. As a group, ADHD children demonstrated hyposalivation compared with the control.     

Social Media,E‐Health,and Medical Ethics

Given the profound influence of social media and emerging evidence of its effects on human behavior and health, bioethicists have an important role to play in the development of professional standards of conduct for health professionals using social media and in the design of online systems themselves. In short, social media is a bioethics issue that has serious implications for medical practice, research, and public health. Here, we inventory several ethical issues across four areas at the intersection of social media and health: the impact of social networking sites on the doctor‐patient relationship, the development of e‐health platforms to deliver care, the use of online data and algorithms to inform health research, and the broader public health consequences of widespread social media use. In doing so, we review discussions of these topics and emphasize the need for bioethics to focus more deeply on the ways online technology platforms are designed and implemented. We argue that bioethicists should turn their attention to the ways in which consumer engagement, bias, and profit maximization shape online content and, consequently, human behavior and health. We also offer a set of recommendations and suggest future directions for addressing ethical challenges in these domains.