Risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes in women with periodontal disease and the effectiveness of interventions in decreasing this risk: Protocol for systematic overview of systematic reviews

Background: Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease of the tissues supporting the teeth. Women who have periodontal disease while pregnant may be at risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Although the association between periodontal disease and adverse pregnancy outcomes has been addressed in a considerable number of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, there are important differences in the conclusions of these reviews. Systematic reviews assessing the effectivity of various therapeutic interventions to treat periodontal disease during pregnancy to try and reduce adverse pregnancy outcomes have also arrived at different conclusions. We aim to provide a systematic overview of systematic reviews comparing the frequency of adverse pregnancy outcomes between women with and without periodontal disease and/or evaluating the effect of preventive and therapeutic interventions for periodontal disease before or during pregnancy on adverse pregnancy outcomes. Methods: We will include systematic reviews reporting on studies comparing adverse pregnancy outcomes: (i) between women with or without periodontal disease before (<6 months) or during pregnancy and/or (ii) according to preventive or therapeutic interventions for periodontal disease. Eligible interventions include (combinations of) the following: oral hygiene education, use of antibiotics, subgingival scaling, and root planing. For preventive and/or therapeutic reviews, the following comparisons will be considered: no intervention, a placebo intervention, or an alternative intervent

Worldsid small female side impact dummy specifications and prototype evaluation

The WorldSID program was set up to develop a new, worldwide acceptable, advanced technology, side impact crash test dummy for improved assessment of injury risk to car occupants in lateral collisions. Following the release of the mid-sized male WorldSID, the development of the small female WorldSID dummy was initiated by the EC 6th Framework collaborative research project ‘APROSYS’ in 2004. The main specifications and requirements of the new dummy have been defined in terms of anthropometry, biomechanical response and instrumentation capabilities in general and per body segment. An overview of the specification is given in this paper. Two prototype dummies have been evaluated against a first set of test conditions. Test results are presented here, including pendulum impactor, linearly guided impactor, drop and sled tests. For a prioritised matrix of biomechanical test conditions, the dummy responses were compared against the biomechanical human response requirements. Furthermore, the dummy’s repeatability in well-controlled test conditions and its sensitivity to temperature were studied and its compliance to anthropometric requirements is reported. Following the assessment of the dummy’s current biofidelity and maturity, recommendations for further dummy improvements are given in the conclusions

Automated auditory brainstem response in preterm newborns with histological chorioamnionitis

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether histological chorioamnionitis is associated with an adverse neonatal hearing outcome. METHODS: Two cohorts of very preterm newborns (n = 548, gestational age </= 32.0 weeks) were linked to placental histology and automated auditory brainstem response (AABR) outcome. RESULTS: In multivariable analyses, an abnormal AABR was not predicted by the presence of histological chorioamnionitis, either with or without fetal involvement (OR 1.4, 95% CI 0.5 - 3.8, p = 0.54 and OR 1.1, 95% CI 0.4-3.0, p = 0.79, respectively). Significant predictors of abnormal AABR included, e.g. birth weight (per kg increase: OR 0.2, 95% CI 0.0-0.6, p = 0.006), umbilical cord artery pH (per 0.1 increase: OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5-0.9, p = 0.005) and mechanical ventilation (OR 3.7, 95% CI 1.2-11.6, p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Histological chorioamnionitis was not associated with an adverse neonatal hearing outcome in two cohorts of very preterm newborns. Indicators of a complicated neonatal clinical course were the most important predictors of an abnormal hearing screening