Testing the accuracy of Foti's dental age estimation methods on a London UK sample

Background and aim: Tooth development and eruption are widely used in assessing dental age estimation, and one of the methods in using tooth development and eruption is Foti's method. However, the population used in the original study was French. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the accuracy of Foti's four dental age estimation regression models against the East London population, mainly of the Bangladeshi and Caucasian ethnicity. These count the number of erupted teeth and tooth germs using a radiograph (Foti 1), absence of a radiograph (Foti 2), maxillary erupted teeth (Foti 3) and mandibular erupted teeth (Foti 4). Methods: The test sample was archived panoramic radiographs of 754 healthy patients aged 6–20 years (380 males and 374 females). The difference between dental and chronological ages was tested using a t-test. The mean absolute difference was also calculated for all models. The most accurate method was defined as the smallest mean difference, smallest standard deviation (SD) and mean absolute difference between dental and chronological ages. Results: Foti model 2 was most accurate with a mean difference of 0.11 years (SD 1.70 years) and a mean absolute difference of 1.33 years. Models 3 (maxillary erupted teeth) and 4 (mandibular erupted teeth) were marginally less accurate, whilst model 1 (radiograph) overestimated age on average by more than 5 years. Conclusion: Our findings show that estimating age using erupting teeth was most accurate using Foti model 2 (least bias)

The timing of mandibular tooth formation in two African groups

Background: Ethnic differences in the timing of human tooth development are unclear. Aim: To describe similarities and differences in the timing of tooth formation in two groups of Sudanese children and young adults. Subjects and methods: The sample consisted of healthy individuals from Khartoum, Sudan, aged 2–23 years. The Northern group was of Arab origin (848 males, 802 females) and the Western group was of African origin (846 males, 402 females). Each mandibular left permanent tooth from first incisor to third molar was assessed from dental radiographs into one of 15 development stages. Mean ages at entry for 306 tooth stages were calculated using probit regression in males/females in each group and compared using a t-test. Results: Mean ages were not significantly different in most tooth stage comparisons between ethnic groups for both males (61/75) and females (56/76), despite a tendency of earlier mean ages in the Western group. Mean ages for most tooth stage comparisons between males and females (137/155) were not significantly different within ethnic groups suggesting low sexual dimorphism. Conclusion: The mean ages of most mandibular tooth formation stages were generally not significantly different between ethnic groups or between males and females in this study

Biological methods to assess unaccompanied asylum-seeking children’s age:Interim Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee

Report by the interim Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee (AESAC) on scientific methodologies for assessing the age of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.<br/

Biological methods to assess unaccompanied asylum-seeking children's age

Report by the interim Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee (AESAC) on scientific methodologies for assessing the age of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children

Biological methods to assess unaccompanied asylum-seeking children’s age:Interim Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee

Report by the interim Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee (AESAC) on scientific methodologies for assessing the age of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.<br/

Age estimation [editorial].

yesAssessing and interpreting dental and skeletal age-related changes in both the living and the dead is of interest to a wide range of disciplines (e.g. see Bittles and Collins 1986) including human biology, paediatrics, public health, palaeodemography, archaeology, palaeontology, human evolution, forensic anthropology and legal medicine. ... This special issue of Annals of Human Biology arises from the 55th annual symposium of the Society for the Study of Human Biology in association with the British Association for Biological Anthropological and Osteoarchaeology held in Oxford, UK, from 9–11 December 2014. Only a selection of the presentations are included here which encompass some of the major recent advances in age estimation from the dentition and skeleton

In vivo evaluation of different formulation strategies for sustained release injectables of a poorly soluble HIV protease inhibitor

At present no scientific rationale exists for selecting a particular enabling strategy to formulate a poorly water-soluble drug, although this is crucial as it will influence the in vivo performance of the resulting formulation. This study provides an insight into this complicated decision making process for a poorly soluble human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitor based upon in vivo test results. A formulation strategy based on the molecular dispersion of this active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) into a biphasic matrix consisting of water-insoluble poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and water-soluble polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was evaluated. The long-term in vivo performance of this strategy was compared to that of other solubility enhancing approaches by evaluating the exposure in male Beagle dogs. Solid dispersions, based on a PLGA/PVP matrix, were compared to solid dispersions in a pure water-insoluble PLGA matrix. Additionally these solid dispersion strategies were compared to the strategy of particle size reduction by means of an API microsuspension. The in vivo performance of the various formulations over a period of 28 days after intramuscular injection was evaluated by the observed initial burst release, plasma concentration-time profiles, time at which maximum plasma levels were reached (tmax,obs) and the estimated bioavailability. Compared to the other formulation strategies assessed, it was concluded that the addition of PVP in a PLGA matrix resulted in vivo in a more sustained release as well as a higher amount of drug released from the polymeric matrix. This was explained based on the structure of these binary PLGA/PVP matrices where the pore network originating from rapidly dissolving PVP plays a crucial role. Moreover, the results suggest that the release of this type of formulations could be delayed by increasing the amount of PLGA in the formulation

Controlled Crystallization of the Lipophilic Drug Fenofibrate During Freeze-Drying: Elucidation of the Mechanism by In-Line Raman Spectroscopy

We developed a novel process, “controlled crystallization during freeze-drying” to produce drug nanocrystals of poorly water-soluble drugs. This process involves freeze-drying at a relatively high temperature of a drug and a matrix material from a mixture of tertiary butyl alcohol and water, resulting in drug nanocrystals incorporated in a matrix. The aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms that determine the size of the drug crystals. Fenofibrate was used as a model lipophilic drug. To monitor the crystallization during freeze-drying, a Raman probe was placed just above the sample in the freeze-dryer. These in-line Raman spectroscopy measurements clearly revealed when the different components crystallized during freeze-drying. The solvents crystallized only during the freezing step, while the solutes only crystallized after the temperature was increased, but before drying started. Although the solutes crystallized only after the freezing step, both the freezing rate and the shelf temperature were critical parameters that determined the final crystal size. At a higher freezing rate, smaller interstitial spaces containing the freeze-concentrated fraction were formed, resulting in smaller drug crystals (based on dissolution data). On the other hand, when the solutes crystallized at a lower shelf temperature, the degree of supersaturation is higher, resulting in a higher nucleation rate and consequently more and therefore smaller crystals. In conclusion, for the model drug fenofibrate, a high freezing rate and a relatively low crystallization temperature resulted in the smallest crystals and therefore the highest dissolution rate