Effect of the sound of dental equipment on dental anxiety and noise control techniques

The dental office environment subjects both patients and dental professionals to the noises associated with dental equipment. The sound of the dental drill, for example, usually causes some discomfort and anxiety. Fear and anxiety due to these noises are among the major reasons why patients avoid dental visits. It is important that these fears are addressed and patients are encouraged to seek the oral healthcare treatment they need. Long-term exposure to these noises also puts dental professionals themselves at high risk of hearing loss. It is unclear about the psychological influence of the sound of dental equipment on dental anxiety. This paper presents a questionnaire survey previously conducted by the authors to study the effects of the sound of dental equipment on people’s perceptions and dental anxiety levels and discusses solutions to the problem by means of passive and active noise control technologies or a combination of both of them.published_or_final_versio

Ambulatory stapled haemorrhoidectomy: A safe and feasible surgical technique

Objective. To compare outcomes following stapled haemorrhoidectomy as an in-patient versus day-surgery procedure. Design. Prospective non-randomised study. Setting. University affiliated hospitals, Hong Kong. Subjects and methods. Forty-eight consecutive patients who underwent stapled haemorrhoidectomy were included in the study. Twenty-four patients had the procedure in an ambulatory setting and the other 24 were treated as in-patients. The symptoms, operative details, postoperative complications, length of hospital stay, pain scores, analgesic requirements, and patient satisfaction scores were collected. Comparison was made between those patients undergoing ambulatory surgery and those treated as in-patients. Results. There were 25 women and 23 men in the study. The mean age was 46.6 years (standard deviation, 12.1 years). The mean operating time was 29.3 minutes (standard deviation, 9.9 minutes). An incomplete 'doughnut' after stapling was found in one patient. There were no other adverse intra-operative events or complications. Postoperative morbidities occurred in eight patients but none required further surgery. One patient in the day-surgery group could not be discharged because of urinary retention and three required re-admission to hospital because of secondary haemorrhage (n=1) or fever (n=2). There were no differences in the postoperative complications, pain scores, analgesic requirements, and patient satisfaction scores between the two groups. The total mean hospital stay was significantly shorter for those undergoing day-surgery stapled haemorrhoidectomy (0.46 versus 1.9 days, P<0.01). The mean follow-up period was 4.6 months (standard deviation, 4.0 months). All patients reported symptomatic improvement during this time and there was no incidence of faecal incontinence. One patient had a soft stricture, one had a fissure, and two had residual skin tags. All of these problems were conservatively managed, without the need for further surgical procedures. Conclusions. Stapled haemorrhoidectomy is a safe and effective operation for haemorrhoids. It is a feasible procedure to perform as day-surgery. The hospital stay can be significantly shortened, thus reducing the costs associated with in-patient care.published_or_final_versio

Oral Health Status of Chinese Paediatric and Adolescent Oncology Patients with Chemotherapy in Hong Kong: a Pilot Study

Aim: To study the oral health status of Chinese children and adolescents undergoing chemotherapy in Hong Kong. Method: All Chinese children and adolescent oncology patients aged 18 or below attending the Children's Centre for Cancer and Blood Disease at a hospital for chemotherapy were invited and parental consent was sought before they were accepted into the study. The study comprised of 1) a parental questionnaire, 2) the collection of medical history and 3) a clinical examination for tooth decay (caries) and mucosal status. Results: A total of 69 patients were invited, and they all participated in this study. Their mean age was 9.2±5.0 and 44 (64%) were males. Twenty-six patients (38%) had no caries experience (DMFT and/or dmft = 0). Higher caries experience was detected in participants that were not born in Hong Kong, had completed active chemotherapy, participated in school dental care service and whose parents had low educational levels. There were 41 patients with active chemotherapy, 24 of whom were diagnosed with acute leukaemia, 5 with haematological malignancies other than leukaemia and 11 with solid tumours. Antimetabolites, cytotoxic antibiotics, alkylating agents and plant alkaloids were administered in 49%, 32%, 24% and 22% of them, respectively. Twenty-six (63%) patients showed no mucosal complications. The most common oral complication was oral mucositis (24%) followed by petechiae (10%). Conclusion: About two-thirds of paediatric and adolescent cancer patients had caries experience, which was more common among those who had completed chemotherapy. Oral mucositis followed by petechiae were the two most common complications of receiving chemotherapy.published_or_final_versio

Paediatric Over-the-Counter (OTC) Oral Liquids Can Soften and Erode Enamel

published_or_final_versio

A novel bio-degradable polymer membrane to control the degradation of Mg-based metallic biomaterial for orthopaedic implantation

Oral Paper Session - Research: Biomaterials VI: abstract no. 31794Biodegradable metallic materials such as magnesium-based alloys are the potential candidates of replacing the currently used non-degradable metallic implants. However, the fast degradation rate and hydrogen gas release may hinder its use. To remedy these complications, our group has developed a controllable biodegradable polymer coating, polycaprolactone (PCL), onto magnesium alloy surface. This study aims to investigate the surface mechanics, in-vitro and in-vivo properties of the modified magnesium …postprin

Engineered magnesium-based resorbable porous scaffold for bone tissue engineering

INTRODUCTION: Bone tissue engineering offers an alternative solution to the traditional methods of bone replacement including allografts and autografts [1]. Although these biological materials possess good osteoinductive and osteoconductive properties, both of them have limitations in terms of the availability, donor site morbidity and the risk of disease transmission with the use of allografts [2]. Therefore, the use of synthetic scaffold is the most common technique and good approach to regenerate diseased or damaged bone tissue. An ideal bone substitute should possess certain properties including ...postprin

Low modulus novel bone substitutes for osteoporotic vertebral fracture management

Oral presentationpublished_or_final_versioneCM XIII - Bone Fixation, Repair & Regeneration, Davos Platz, Switzerland, 24-26 June 2012. In European Cells & Materials, 2012, v. 24 n. Suppl. 1, p. 1

Magnesium plasma modified bone allograft for Large Bone Defect Treatment

Invited TalkBone allograft is the most widely accepted approach in treating patients suffering from large segmental bone defect regardless of the advancement of synthetic bone substitutes[ I, 2]. However, the long-term complications of allograft application in term of delayed union or even nonunion were reported due to the stringent sterilization process prior to clinical implantation[3, 4]. Our previous studies demonstrated that the incorporation of magnesium ions (Mg2+) into biomaterials could …postprin

Low-temperature microstructural studies on superconducting CaFe2As2.

Undoped CaFe2As2 (Ca122) can be stabilized in two slightly different non-superconducting tetragonal phases, PI and PII, through thermal treatments. Upon proper annealing, superconductivity with a Tc up to 25 K emerges in the samples with an admixture of PI and PII phases. Systematic low-temperature X-ray diffraction studies were conducted on undoped Ca122 samples annealed at 350 °C over different time periods. In addition to the diffraction peaks associated with the single-phase aggregation of PI and PII, a broad intermediate peak that shifts with annealing time was observed in the superconducting samples only. Our simulation of phase distribution suggests that the extra peak is associated with the admixture of PI and PII on the nanometer scale. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy confirms the existence of these nano-scale phase admixtures in the superconducting samples. These experimental results and simulation analyses lend further support for our conclusion that interfacial inducement is the most reasonable explanation for the emergence of superconductivity in undoped Ca122 single crystals

Omacetaxine may have a role in chronic myeloid leukaemia eradication through downregulation of Mcl-1 and induction of apoptosis in stem/progenitor cells

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is maintained by a rare population of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-insensitive malignant stem cells. Our long-term aim is to find a BcrAbl-independent drug that can be combined with a TKI to improve overall disease response in chronic-phase CML. Omacetaxine mepesuccinate, a first in class cetaxine, has been evaluated by clinical trials in TKI-insensitive/resistant CML. Omacetaxine inhibits synthesis of anti-apoptotic proteins of the Bcl-2 family, including (myeloid cell leukaemia) Mcl-1, leading to cell death. Omacetaxine effectively induced apoptosis in primary CML stem cells (CD34&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt;38&lt;sup&gt;lo&lt;/sup&gt;) by downregulation of Mcl-1 protein. In contrast to our previous findings with TKIs, omacetaxine did not accumulate undivided cells &lt;i&gt;in vitro&lt;/i&gt;. Furthermore, the functionality of surviving stem cells following omacetaxine exposure was significantly reduced in a dose-dependant manner, as determined by colony forming cell and the more stringent long-term culture initiating cell colony assays. This stem cell-directed activity was not limited to CML stem cells as both normal and non-CML CD34&lt;sup&gt;+&lt;/sup&gt; cells were sensitive to inhibition. Thus, although omacetaxine is not leukaemia stem cell specific, its ability to induce apoptosis of leukaemic stem cells distinguishes it from TKIs and creates the potential for a curative strategy for persistent disease