Quantification of the Dental Morphology of Orangutans

Orangutans are believed to have close biological affinities to humans. Teeth being the hardest tissue provide useful information on primate evolution. Furthermore, knowledge of the pulp chamber and root canal morphology is important for dental treatment. A female Bornean orangutan and a Sumatran male orangutan skull were available for this study. Both of their dentitions, comprising 50 teeth, were scanned employing the cone-beam computed tomography for both metrical and nonmetrical analyses. Measurements included tooth and crown length, root length, enamel covered crown height, root canal length (posterior teeth), length of pulpal space (anterior teeth), and root canal width. Nonmetrical parameters included number of canals per root, number of foramina in each root, and root canal morphology according to Vertucci’s classification. It was found that the enamel covered crown height was the longest in the upper central incisors although the canine was the longest amongst the anterior teeth. Both the upper premolars were three-rooted while the lower second premolar of the Sumatran orangutan was two-rooted, with two foramina. The mandibular lateral incisors of the Bornean orangutan were longer than the central incisors, a feature similar to humans. In addition, secondary dentine deposition was noticed, a feature consistent with aged humans

Evaluating major curriculum change:the effect on student confidence

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of major curriculum change within a UK dental school on final-year student self-rated confidence levels. Methods: Final-year dental students graduating in each year between 2007 and 2012 completed the same course evaluation questionnaire, which assessed their confidence in relation to a range of clinical procedures using a Likert-type scale. This period spanned the introduction of a new curriculum and allowed analysis of differences in self-rated confidence between students graduating from the old (2007 and 2008) and new (2009–2012) curricula, across thirty key procedures. Results: New curriculum students showed significantly higher self-confidence ratings in nineteen of the thirty procedures, compared with those on the old curriculum. For the remaining eleven procedures there was no significant difference between the two curricula. The proportion of students on the outcomes-based curriculum rating themselves as 'confident” was statistically significantly higher in seven out of the thirty procedures, when compared with the traditional curriculum, and unchanged or nonsignificantly increased in the remainder. Discussion and conclusions: The relationship between specific curricular innovations and student confidence is considered, as is the usefulness of self-rated confidence in curriculum evaluation. Curriculum change appeared to have a positive effect on student confidence across a range of procedures

Differentially Expressed RNA from Public Microarray Data Identifies Serum Protein Biomarkers for Cross-Organ Transplant Rejection and Other Conditions

Serum proteins are routinely used to diagnose diseases, but are hard to find due to low sensitivity in screening the serum proteome. Public repositories of microarray data, such as the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), contain RNA expression profiles for more than 16,000 biological conditions, covering more than 30% of United States mortality. We hypothesized that genes coding for serum- and urine-detectable proteins, and showing differential expression of RNA in disease-damaged tissues would make ideal diagnostic protein biomarkers for those diseases. We showed that predicted protein biomarkers are significantly enriched for known diagnostic protein biomarkers in 22 diseases, with enrichment significantly higher in diseases for which at least three datasets are available. We then used this strategy to search for new biomarkers indicating acute rejection (AR) across different types of transplanted solid organs. We integrated three biopsy-based microarray studies of AR from pediatric renal, adult renal and adult cardiac transplantation and identified 45 genes upregulated in all three. From this set, we chose 10 proteins for serum ELISA assays in 39 renal transplant patients, and discovered three that were significantly higher in AR. Interestingly, all three proteins were also significantly higher during AR in the 63 cardiac transplant recipients studied. Our best marker, serum PECAM1, identified renal AR with 89% sensitivity and 75% specificity, and also showed increased expression in AR by immunohistochemistry in renal, hepatic and cardiac transplant biopsies. Our results demonstrate that integrating gene expression microarray measurements from disease samples and even publicly-available data sets can be a powerful, fast, and cost-effective strategy for the discovery of new diagnostic serum protein biomarkers

The British Army, information management and the First World War revolution in military affairs

Information Management (IM) – the systematic ordering, processing and channelling of information within organisations – forms a critical component of modern military command and control systems. As a subject of scholarly enquiry, however, the history of military IM has been relatively poorly served. Employing new and under-utilised archival sources, this article takes the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of the First World War as its case study and assesses the extent to which its IM system contributed to the emergence of the modern battlefield in 1918. It argues that the demands of fighting a modern war resulted in a general, but not universal, improvement in the BEF’s IM techniques, which in turn laid the groundwork, albeit in embryonic form, for the IM systems of modern armies. KEY WORDS: British Army, Information Management, First World War, Revolution in Military Affairs, Adaptatio

Aripiprazole in the Maintenance Treatment of Bipolar Disorder: A Critical Review of the Evidence and Its Dissemination into the Scientific Literature

A systematic search of the literature reveals limited evidence to support use of aripiprazole, a second-generation antipsychotic medication, in maintenance therapy of bipolar disorder, despite widespread use

Kualitas Hidup Pasien Diabetes Melitus Tipe 2 di Puskesmas Se Kota Kupang

Diabetes Mellitus is well known as a chronic disease which can lead to a decrease in quality of life in all domains. The study aims to explore the diabetic type 2 patient\u27s quality of life and find out the factors affecting in type 2 diabetic mellitus patients. The cross-sectional study design is used that included 65 patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus, in 11 public health centers of Kupang City. Data were collected by using Short Form Survey (SF-36) that assessed 8-scale health profile. Independent sample t-test is used to analyze the correlation between the factors affecting and the quality of life. the study showed that the QoL of DM patients decreased in all 8- health profile including physical functioning, social functioning, mental health, general health, pain, change in the role due to physical problems and emotional problems. The Study also showed there was a relationship between gender, duration of suffering from Diabetes mellitus, and complications to the quality of life. Male perceived a better quality of life than female

Development and pilot evaluation of a home-based palliative care training and support package for young children in southern Africa

Background The leading cause of death among young children in southern Africa is complications due to HIV infection and, in South Africa, over a third of all deaths of children younger than five are associated with HIV infection. There is a great and urgent need for children’s palliative care in Africa, whether HIV-related or not. It is often not possible for sick children and their carers to attend clinics and hospitals cannot accommodate children for long periods of time. As a result children are often cared for in their own homes where caregivers require support to provide informed and sensitive care to reduce children’s suffering. Home-care places a heavy burden on families, communities and home- and community-based care workers. Methods This project involved the development and pilot evaluation of a training and support package to guide home and community-based care workers to help caregivers of seriously ill young children at home in southern Africa. A number of research methods were used, including a cross-sectional survey of content experts using the Delphi technique, participatory action research with photo elicitation and qualitative thematic analysis. Results Because the palliative care needs of these children are complex, the package focuses on delivering 9 key messages essential to improving the quality of care provided for young children. Once the key messages were developed, culturally relevant stories were constructed to enhance the understanding, retention and enactment of the messages. The various research methods used, including literature reviews, the Delphi technique and photo-elicitation ensured that the content included in the package was medically sound and culturally relevant, acceptable, feasible, and comprehensive. The end product is a home-based paediatric palliative care training and support package in English designed to help train community workers who are in a position to support families to care for very sick young children at home as well as to support families in looking after a very sick child. Conclusion A pilot study to assess the training and support package found it to be useful in delivering the key messages to caregivers. The training component was found to be feasible. It is concluded that the package offers a practical means of integrating palliative care with home-based care. Further implementation and evaluation is needed to establish its utility and impact