Septal aperture of the humerus: Aetiology and frequency rates in two European populations.

Analysis of the septal aperture was conducted on two documented European populations. Collections from the National Museum of Natural History Lisbon, Portugal and University of Athens, Greece were used for the study. Both collections are modern and documented for sex and age. The Portuguese sample comprises 297 individuals (149 males and 148 females) between the ages of 18 and 88. A septal aperture was observed in 50 individuals resulting in a frequency of 16.83%. The Greek sample comprises 117 individuals (68 males and 49 females) between the ages of 20 and 65. Twenty-five septal apertures were observed, giving a frequency of 21.37%. Both populations had high frequencies which exceeded those observed in European countries in previous studies. Sex analysis shows that both samples confirm that septal apertures are more common in females. The Portuguese sample also supports that septal apertures are more common in the left humerus, however the Greek sample had a higher frequency of bilateral cases. Measurements of the Portuguese sample were taken to determine whether robusticity correlates with presence of septal apertures. These measurements concluded that there was no difference in robusticity with presence or absence of a septal aperture, challenging previous studies

A comparison of 3 clinical indices for measuring gingivitis.

A clinical study was conducted among 200 adult males and females to compare the intrusive gingival index (GI) for estimating gingivitis with the nonintrusive and only visually applied papillary-marginal-gingivitis index (PMGI). The GI examinations were performed by a senior examiner with long experience and a junior examiner, while the PMGI was graded by only a senior examiner with long experience. A 4th examiner was included for grading bleeding sites by gentle intrusion at the orifice of the gingival crevice. Following the baseline examination by all examiners, the subjects were randomly assigned to either a group that received an oral prophylaxis immediately or to a group that received an oral prophylaxis 6 weeks after the baseline. All subjects were regraded by all examiners 4 days after the 2nd group received a prophylaxis. This delayed prophylaxis design created a difference in the responses between treatment groups. Both the GI examiners and the PMGI examiner concluded there was significantly less gingivitis in the group receiving a prophylaxis second. There were also significantly fewer bleeding sites in the group receiving a prophylaxis second as determined by both GI examiners and the bleeding-sites examiner.link_to_subscribed_fulltex