Clinical and Radiographic Assessment of Reasons for Replacement of Metal- Ceramic Fixed Dental Prostheses in Patients Referring to Dental School

The expected length of service and reasons for fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) replacement are a frequent inquiry by patients while the answers were mainly based on studies reports that was conducted outside the middle east region. This clinical and radiographic survey was constructed to assess and survey clinically and radiographically the reasons of replacement of metal-ceramic fixed dental prostheses, amongst patients reporting at dental school in Taibah University. Between January and May 2016, 151 patients were recruited for this study. Interview (include questions pertained to the length of service of the prosthesis, the nature of complaint as told by patient in her own words), clinical examination, intra-oral photographs, and periapical radiographs, were done by the researchers. The parameters assessed were secondary caries, open margins, loss of retention, failure of endodontic treatment of the abutment and periodontal diseases. A total number of 249 failed fixed dental prostheses were evaluated. Of which 180 (39.7%) were single crowns, 159 (35.0%) were retainers and 117 (25.8%) were pontics in 69 fixed partial denture. The most common reason for replacement of fixed restorations was periodontal diseases affecting 92.8% of all types? restorations, followed by defective margin in 90.4% of examined restoration, poor aesthetic in 88% of restorations, while periapical involvement was found in 85.5% of fixed dental prosthesis. The survival rates of fixed prostheses were not predictable, and no association was found between number of years in service and the number of restorations. The most common reasons for replacing single unit fixed dental prostheses are periodontal diseases and periapical involvement, while defective margins and poor aesthetic mainly associated with multi-unit fixed dental prostheses

An efficient collocation method for a Caputo two-point boundary value problem

peer-reviewedA two-point boundary value problem is considered on the interval , where the leading term in the differential operator is a Caputo fractional-order derivative of order with . The problem is reformulated as a Volterra integral equation of the second kind in terms of the quantity , where is the solution of the original problem. A collocation method that uses piecewise polynomials of arbitrary order is developed and analysed for this Volterra problem; then by postprocessing an approximate solution of is computed. Error bounds in the maximum norm are proved for and . Numerical results are presented to demonstrate the sharpness of these bounds.ACCEPTEDpeer-reviewe

The Effectiveness of a Training Program Based on psychosocial support to Improve psychological empowerment Level among Refugees in Jordan

هدفت الدراسة إلى فحص مدى فاعلية برنامج مستند للدعم النفسي الاجتماعي في رفع مستوى التمكين النفسي لدى اللاجئين في الأردن. تكونت عينة الدراسة من (38) لاجئًا في محافظة إربد، تم تقسيمهم بشكل عشوائي لمجوعتين متساويتين: المجوعة التجريبية (ن= 19)، وشاركت في برنامج الدعم النفسي الاجتماعي، والمجموعة الضابطة (ن= 19)، التي لم تشارك في أي برنامج تدخل. لتحقيق أهداف الدراسة تم استخدام مقياس أوزير وشوتلاند (Ozer & Schotland) للتمكين النفسي؛ لجمع بيانات الدراسة في الاختبارات القبلية والبعدية لمجموعتي الدراسة، وفي الاختبار التتبعي مع أفراد المجموعة التجريبية فقط، بالإضافة إلى برنامج الدعم النفسي الاجتماعي. أظهرت نتائج الدراسة وجود فروق دالة إحصائيًا بين المجموعتين التجريبية والضابطة في متوسطات الدرجات على مقياس التمكين النفسي في الاختبار البعدي لصالح المجموعة التجريبية، وأظهرت النتائج عدم وجود فروق دالة إحصائيًا بين متوسطات القياسين البعدي والتتبعي، في مقياس التمكين النفسي، مما يعكس ثبات تأثير البرنامج.The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a training program based on psychosocial support to improve the level of psychological empowerment among refugees in Jordan. The study sample consisted of (38) refugees in Irbid governorate, and they were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group (n = 19) refugees (the group which received the training program) and the control group (n = 19) refugees (without any training intervention). To achieve the study objectives, the psychological empowerment Scale was adapted and used to collect the study data in the pre- and post- tests for the two study groups and to carry out the follow-up tests for the members of the experimental group only as well as to a training program based on psychosocial support. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences between the experimental and control groups and the differences are in favor of the experimental group. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the average performance of the experimental group on psychological empowerment Scale in the post-test, and their average scores on the same scale on the follow-up test, which reflects the stability of the program’s impact

Ruminant Brucellosis in the Kafr El Sheikh Governorate of the Nile Delta, Egypt: Prevalence of a Neglected Zoonosis

Brucellosis is a zoonosis of mammals caused by bacteria of the genus Brucella. It is responsible for a vast global burden imposed on human health through disability and on animal productivity. In humans brucellosis causes a range of flu-like symptoms and chronic debilitating illness. In livestock brucellosis causes economic losses as a result of abortion, infertility and decreased milk production. The main routes for human infection are consumption of contaminated dairy products and contact with infected ruminants. The control of brucellosis in humans depends on its control in ruminants, for which accurate estimates of the frequency of infection are very useful, especially in areas with no previous frequency estimates. We studied the seroprevalence of brucellosis and its geographic distribution among domestic ruminants in one governorate of the Nile Delta region, Egypt. In the study area, the seroprevalence of ruminant brucellosis is very high and has probably increased considerably since the early 1990s. The disease is widespread but more concentrated around major animal markets. These findings question the efficacy of the control strategy in place and highlight the high infection risk for the animal and human populations of the area and the urgent need for an improved control strategy

Exploring the acute cardiovascular effects of Floatation-REST

The central nervous system (CNS) exerts a strong regulatory influence over the cardiovascular system in response to environmental demands. Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) is an intervention that minimizes stimulation from the environment, yet little is known about the autonomic consequences of reducing external sensory input to the CNS. We recently found that Floatation-REST induces a strong anxiolytic effect in anxious patients while paradoxically enhancing their interoceptive awareness for cardiorespiratory sensations. To further investigate the physiologic nature of this anxiolytic effect, the present study measured acute cardiovascular changes during Floatation-REST using wireless and waterproof equipment that allowed for concurrent measurement of heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), breathing rate, and blood pressure. Using a within-subjects crossover design, 37 clinically anxious participants with high levels of anxiety sensitivity and 20 non-anxious comparison participants were randomly assigned to undergo a 90-min session of either Floatation-REST or an exteroceptive comparison condition that entailed watching a relaxing nature film. Measures of state anxiety and serenity were collected before and after each session, while indices of autonomic activity were measured throughout each session. HRV was calculated using both time-series and frequency domain analyses. Linear mixed-effects modeling revealed a significant main effect of condition such that relative to the film condition, Floatation-REST elicited significant decreases (p < 0.001) in diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, breathing rate, and certain metrics of HRV including the standard deviation of the interbeat interval (SDNN), low-frequency HRV, and very low-frequency HRV. Heart rate showed a non-significant trend (p = 0.073) toward being lower in the float condition, especially toward the beginning of the session. The only metric that showed a significant increase during Floatation-REST was normalized high-frequency HRV (p < 0.001). The observed physiological changes were consistent across both anxious and non-anxious participants, and there were no significant group by condition interactions. Blood pressure was the only cardiac metric significantly associated with float-related reductions in state anxiety and increases in serenity. These findings suggest that Floatation-REST lowers sympathetic arousal and alters the balance of the autonomic nervous system toward a more parasympathetic state.Clinical trial registration[https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT03051074], identifier [NCT03051074]

EEG Microstates Temporal Dynamics Differentiate Individuals with Mood and Anxiety Disorders From Healthy Subjects

Electroencephalography (EEG) measures the brain’s electrophysiological spatio-temporal activities with high temporal resolution. Multichannel and broadband analysis of EEG signals is referred to as EEG microstates (EEG-ms) and can characterize such dynamic neuronal activity. EEG-ms have gained much attention due to the increasing evidence of their association with mental activities and large-scale brain networks identified by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Spatially independent EEG-ms are quasi-stationary topographies (e.g., stable, lasting a few dozen milliseconds) typically classified into four canonical classes (microstates A through D). They can be identified by clustering EEG signals around EEG global field power (GFP) maxima points. We examined the EEG-ms properties and the dynamics of cohorts of mood and anxiety (MA) disorders subjects (n = 61) and healthy controls (HCs; n = 52). In both groups, we found four distinct classes of EEG-ms (A through D), which did not differ among cohorts. This suggests a lack of significant structural cortical abnormalities among cohorts, which would otherwise affect the EEG-ms topographies. However, both cohorts’ brain network dynamics significantly varied, as reflected in EEG-ms properties. Compared to HC, the MA cohort features a lower transition probability between EEG-ms B and D and higher transition probability from A to D and from B to C, with a trend towards significance in the average duration of microstate C. Furthermore, we harnessed a recently introduced theoretical approach to analyze the temporal dependencies in EEG-ms. The results revealed that the transition matrices of MA group exhibit higher symmetrical and stationarity properties as compared to HC ones. In addition, we found an elevation in the temporal dependencies among microstates, especially in microstate B for the MA group. The determined alteration in EEG-ms temporal dependencies among the cohorts suggests that brain abnormalities in mood and anxiety disorders reflect aberrant neural dynamics and a temporal dwelling among ceratin brain states (i.e., mood and anxiety disorders subjects have a less dynamicity in switching between different brain states)