Idolatry and Mystery : Karl Barth's Protestant Doctrine of Mystery as a Challenge to Apophaticism

Open Access via the Brill AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD

The Impact of Oral Health on Quality of Life in the Aging Population

Purpose: This study sought to bring awareness to the scientific community of the need for regular dental care in skilled nursing facilities (SNF) by proving access to oral care has an effect on oral health and may have an impact on the SNF residents’ daily performance and Quality of Life (QoL). Methods: This study was conducted at a private SNF in a southern metropolitan area with a sample size of 30 (N=30). The PI and two research assistants conducted interviews and oral exams using a modified 10 item Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) with two free response (QoL) questions, OHI-S, and DMFT indices to collect data. Results: Spearman’s rank coefficient analyzed correlations between OHI-S, DMFT, and OIDP indices and found a significant relationship between the OHI-S and OIDP (p=0.036) implying oral disease from plaque and calculus buildup in the mouth impact daily performance. Furthermore the strongly suggested relationship between the DMFT and OIDP (p=0.054) alludes to the fact the number and condition of the teeth has an impact on how these subjects lived their daily lives. Considering the strongly suggested relationship between the Missing (M) in DMFT scores and the OIDP (p= 0.059), the number of teeth has more potential to impact daily performance than whether the teeth are decayed or filled. Qualitative data analysis found four themes related to the social, psychological, physical, and financial well-being of the subjects and their oral health. Conclusion: Oral health has the potential to impact daily performance resulting in an effect on quality of life. The health care professions are charged with developing health care provider models and collaborative interprofessional health care teams to meet the future needs of aging adults

Karl Barth’s Theology of God as the Absolute Person : Decision and the Problem of the Counterfactuals

Open Access via the Wiley open access agreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD

The Impact of Oral Health on Quality of Life in the Aging Population

Purpose: This study sought to bring awareness to the scientific community of the need for regular dental care in skilled nursing facilities (SNF) by proving access to oral care has an effect on oral health and may have an impact on the SNF residents’ daily performance and Quality of Life (QoL). Methods: This study was conducted at a private SNF in a southern metropolitan area with a sample size of 30 (N=30). The PI and two research assistants conducted interviews and oral exams using a modified 10 item Oral Impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) with two free response (QoL) questions, OHI-S, and DMFT indices to collect data. Results: Spearman’s rank coefficient analyzed correlations between OHI-S, DMFT, and OIDP indices and found a significant relationship between the OHI-S and OIDP (p=0.036) implying oral disease from plaque and calculus buildup in the mouth impact daily performance. Furthermore the strongly suggested relationship between the DMFT and OIDP (p=0.054) alludes to the fact the number and condition of the teeth has an impact on how these subjects lived their daily lives. Considering the strongly suggested relationship between the Missing (M) in DMFT scores and the OIDP (p= 0.059), the number of teeth has more potential to impact daily performance than whether the teeth are decayed or filled. Qualitative data analysis found four themes related to the social, psychological, physical, and financial well-being of the subjects and their oral health. Conclusion: Oral health has the potential to impact daily performance resulting in an effect on quality of life. The health care professions are charged with developing health care provider models and collaborative interprofessional health care teams to meet the future needs of aging adults

Advancing Thoracic Spine Biomechanical Research

The long term objective of this research was to elucidate issues with current thoracic spine testing methods and develop more accurate ways to quantify the biomechanical impact of surgical procedures or medical devices. The ability to perform thoracic spine testing with a rib cage is limited by test machine variability and experimental design inconsistency, so surgeons are left with little reliable information on the biomechanical impacts of procedures and implants. This research sought to validate a novel spine test machine, provide biomechanical data to support the inclusion of an intact rib cage when testing the thoracic spine, and quantify the biomechanical impacts of sequential Ponte osteotomies. Specific Aim 1 validated the accuracy of the spine test machine for rigidity ranges that represent cadaveric specimen rigidities present in the spine. Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine specimens were modeled with synthetic rubber that represented the breadth of rigidities, and testing was conducted in bending and axial rotation. The maximum machine displacement error was less than 2° for lumbar and thoracic specimens, so it is suggested that researchers use an external motion-tracking system in conjunction with the test machine when high accuracy measurements are required. Specific Aim 2 quantified the biomechanical differences of testing full cadaveric thoracic spine specimens with and without an intact rib cage. While it was presumed that the rib cage provides structural stability to the thoracic spine, the extent to which the rib cage contributes to spinal motion had not been fully quantified. Testing quantified the motion and stiffness values of an intact thoracic spine specimen, and results showed that testing without a rib cage changes both motion and stiffness values. Specific Aim 3 quantified the biomechanical impact of sequential Ponte osteotomies in cadaveric thoracic spine specimens with intact rib cages. Overall and regional changes in motion due to Ponte osteotomies were analyzed, and results showed increased flexibility in the sagittal plane on both overall and regional levels. The results from this work could provide researchers and surgeons the tools they need to better understand and improve spine procedures and implants, which could ultimately improve the quality of life for patients

Stimulation of Piezo1 by mechanical signals promotes bone anabolism

Mechanical loading, such as caused by exercise, stimulates bone formation by osteoblasts and increases bone strength, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. Osteocytes reside in bone matrix, sense changes in mechanical load, and produce signals that alter bone formation by osteoblasts. We report that the ion channel Piezo1 is required for changes in gene expression induced by fluid shear stress in cultured osteocytes and stimulation of Piezo1 by a small molecule agonist is sufficient to replicate the effects of fluid flow on osteocytes. Conditional deletion o

Boost Integrated Three-Phase Solar Inverter using Current Unfolding and Active Damping Methods

© 2018 IEEJ Industry Application Society. This paper proposes a three-phase grid connected solar inverter with integrated boost function. The circuit operating principle is based on current unfolding and injection method, which is similar to that of a SWISS rectifier. This approach requires only two high frequency switches operating at only half voltage stress, thus leading to a significant reduction in switching losses. Other switches only operate at line frequency, and therefore can be optimized to reduce conduction losses. The proposed inverter therefore can deliver high efficiency. This paper discusses the basic operating principle as well as control method for the inverter. It is revealed that the output currents of the proposed inverter contains intrinsic oscillation due to current unfolding operation. In order to solve this problem, an active damping method is proposed to stabilize the operation. As a result, stable operation of the proposed method is confirmed by simulation. The feasibility of the proposed inverter is also confirmed using a mini laboratory prototype

Base out visual training and proximal convergence

Base out visual training and proximal convergenc