Cariology education in Canadian dental schools: where are we? Where do we need to go?

The aim of this study was to document cariology education across Canadian dental schools. Ten faculty members who supervise cariology education at each of the ten Canadian dental schools were invited to participate in the study in 2016. An adapted version of the European Organization for Caries Research-Association for Dental Education in Europe cariology curriculum group questionnaire was used. Representatives of all ten dental schools completed the questionnaire, for a 100% response rate. In four schools, cariology and restorative dentistry were taught by the same department. Five schools had didactic/ laboratory courses focusing primarily on cariology as well as a specific written curriculum. Six schools provided cariologyrelated hands-on workshops/laboratories before students started working with patients. In teaching cariology, seven institutions included dental hard tissues defects. The following caries detection methods were addressed didactically in cariology education: visual (10/10 total schools), tactile (9/10), International Caries Detection and Assessment System criteria (6/10), caries activity assessment (9/10), radiographic (10/10), and other detection tools (8/10). Seven schools charted activity of carious lesions in clinic. Only one school used the concept of caries risk assessment regularly in clinic. Clinical cariology teaching was carried out mostly by private dentists hired as clinical instructors (7/10) and faculty members involved in didactic cariology education (9/10). Calibration of faculty members for caries detection criteria was reported by only one school. The main concern reported by all institutions was the difficulty of implementing didactic instruction on cariology into clinical training. This study found that contemporary cariology concepts are in the process of being implemented in didactic education across Canadian dental schools, but all schools lacked appropriate integration of cariology education into clinical training. These findings suggest a need for harmonization of evidence-based cariology education in Canada

Le recours aux services de santé buccodentaire au sein de localités autochtones du Nord du Québec

Le mode de vie des Cris de la Baie James a changé radicalement au cours des dernières années. La carie dentaire est maintenant un problème de santé publique important, et des données montrent que les Cris utilisent les services dentaires en situation d’urgence plutôt qu’en prévention. Il apparaît donc important de savoir si les Cris sont satisfaits des services dentaires publics qui sont disponibles et de mieux comprendre leurs besoins. Ce projet aborde les deux questions suivantes : Quelles sont les attentes des résidants des localités cries pour les services dentaires? Est-ce que les services existants répondent aux attentes des gens? Nous avons mené une recherche qualitative descriptive basée sur des entrevues semi- structurées (n = 13). Les entrevues ont été enregistrées et transcrites. Nous avons ensuite procédé à une analyse inductive-déductive des transcriptions. Les résultats montrent que les participants ont des attentes très variées, mais que celles-ci sont rarement satisfaites. Premièrement, ils veulent accéder rapidement aux services lorsqu’ils en ressentent le besoin, par exemple en présence de douleur dentaire. Les participants désirent aussi transiger avec des professionnels dentaires attentionnés et expérimentés, ce qui n’est pas toujours le cas, selon eux. En conclusion, nous aimerions faire trois principales recommandations : améliorer l’accès aux services dentaires, en particulier en situation d’urgence; entraîner les professionnels dentaires en approches centrées sur le patient et pour en savoir plus sur la culture crie; et dialoguer avec les Cris pour développer, mettre en place et évaluer les services de santé dentaire.The James Bay Cree have endured significant changes in their way of living. Dental caries is now a major public health concern, and data shows that Cree people tend to use dental services in emergency situations rather than in a preventive way. It is thus important to know if Cree people are satisfied with the public dental services that are provided and what their needs are. This project aims to respond to the following two questions: What are people’s expectations for dental services? Do current dental services meet people’s expectations? We conducted a qualitative descriptive research that was based on individual semi-structured interviews (n = 13). The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. We then performed an inductive-deductive thematic analysis. The results revealed that participants had a wide range of expectations, but that these expectations were rarely met. First, they wanted to be able to quickly access services when they felt a need to consult, for instance when having a toothache. Participants also wanted to deal with caring and experienced dental professionals, which was not always the case according to them. They wished that large families and the elderly could access dental hygiene counseling and support in their homes and gathering places. In conclusion, we would like to make three key recommendations: to improve access to dental services, especially in emergency situations; to train dental professionals in patient-centered approaches and to know more about the Cree culture; and to dialogue with Cree people in developing, implementing and evaluating oral health services

A biologically inspired meta-control navigation system for the Psikharpax rat robot

A biologically inspired navigation system for the mobile rat-like robot named Psikharpax is presented, allowing for self-localization and autonomous navigation in an initially unknown environment. The ability of parts of the model (e. g. the strategy selection mechanism) to reproduce rat behavioral data in various maze tasks has been validated before in simulations. But the capacity of the model to work on a real robot platform had not been tested. This paper presents our work on the implementation on the Psikharpax robot of two independent navigation strategies (a place-based planning strategy and a cue-guided taxon strategy) and a strategy selection meta-controller. We show how our robot can memorize which was the optimal strategy in each situation, by means of a reinforcement learning algorithm. Moreover, a context detector enables the controller to quickly adapt to changes in the environment-recognized as new contexts-and to restore previously acquired strategy preferences when a previously experienced context is recognized. This produces adaptivity closer to rat behavioral performance and constitutes a computational proposition of the role of the rat prefrontal cortex in strategy shifting. Moreover, such a brain-inspired meta-controller may provide an advancement for learning architectures in robotics

A barley cysteine-protease inhibitor reduces teh performance of two aphid species in artificial diets and transgenic arabidopsis plants

Cystatins from plants have been implicated in plant defense towards insects, based on their role as inhibitors of heterologous cysteine-proteinases. We have previously characterized thirteen genes encoding cystatins (HvCPI-1 to HvCPI-13) from barley (Hordeum vulgare), but only HvCPI-1 C68 → G, a variant generated by direct-mutagenesis, has been tested against insects. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of the whole gene family members of barley cystatins against two aphids, Myzus persicae and Acyrthosiphon pisum. All the cystatins, except HvCPI-7, HvCPI-10 and HvCPI-12, inhibited in vitro the activity of cathepsin L- and/or B-like proteinases, with HvCPI-6 being the most effective inhibitor for both aphid species. When administered in artificial diets, HvCPI-6 was toxic to A. pisum nymphs (LC50 = 150 μg/ml), whereas no significant mortality was observed on M. persicae nymphs up to 1000 μg/ml. The effects of HvCPI-6 ingestion on A. pisum were correlated with a decrease of cathepsin B- and L-like proteinase activities. In the case of M. persicae, there was an increase of these proteolytic activities, but also of the aminopeptidase-like activity, suggesting that this species is regulating both target and insensitive enzymes to overcome the effects of the cystatin. To further analyze the potential of barley cystatins as insecticidal proteins against aphids, Arabidopsis plants expressing HvCPI-6 were tested against M. persicae. For A. pisum, which does not feed on Arabidopsis, a combined diet-Vicia faba plant bioassay was performed. A significant delay in the development time to reach the adult stage was observed in both species. The present study demonstrates the potential of barley cystatins to interfere with the performance of two aphid specie

Les machines architecturales de Shin Takamatsu

Guattari Félix, Girard Christian. Les machines architecturales de Shin Takamatsu. In: Chimères. Revue des schizoanalyses, N°21, hiver 1994. Félix Guattari — vol 1. pp. 127-141

Optical porosimetry of weakly absorbing porous materials

International audienceThe physical porosity Φ of a porous material determines most of its properties. Although the optical porosity Φ opt can be measured, relating this quantity to Φ remains a challenge. Here we derive relationships between the optical porosity, the effective refractive index n eff and the physical porosity of weakly absorbing porous media. It introduces the absorption enhancement parameter B, which quantifies the asymmetry of photon path lengths between the solid material and the pores and can be derived from the absorption coefficient µ a of the material. Hence Φ can be derived from combined measurements of n eff and µ a. The theory is validated against laboratory measurements and numerical experiments, thus solving a long-standing issue in optical porosimetry. This suggests that optical measurements can be used to estimate physical porosity with an accuracy better than 10%

Optical porosimetry of weakly absorbing porous materials

International audienceThe physical porosity Φ of a porous material determines most of its properties. Although the optical porosity Φ opt can be measured, relating this quantity to Φ remains a challenge. Here we derive relationships between the optical porosity, the effective refractive index n eff and the physical porosity of weakly absorbing porous media. It introduces the absorption enhancement parameter B, which quantifies the asymmetry of photon path lengths between the solid material and the pores and can be derived from the absorption coefficient µ a of the material. Hence Φ can be derived from combined measurements of n eff and µ a. The theory is validated against laboratory measurements and numerical experiments, thus solving a long-standing issue in optical porosimetry. This suggests that optical measurements can be used to estimate physical porosity with an accuracy better than 10%

Forgivingness and Satisfaction with Life

forgiveness, resentment, satisfaction with life.,