The Challenges Faced By Dental Students in Studying Oral Pathology Online During Covid-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES The way of practising and teaching dentistry has changed significantly worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the impact on dental education should not be neglected. Therefore, sharing experiences about online teaching from in-person education is essential to a better learning process during this period. This study aimed to assess the challenges faced by dental students in studying oral pathology online during covid-19: a cross-sectional study. METHODOLOGY It was a descriptive cross-sectional study in the Department of oral pathology at Altamash Institute of dental medicine to assess the challenges students faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 110 participants were approached, and among them, 105 participants responded. Of 105 participants, 78% were females, and 22% were males. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23.RESULTSAlmost 93.3% of the students felt in-person lectures are more effective than online lectures. Fourth-year students showed higher satisfaction with the number of online tutorial / practical classes taken to provide an in-depth view of the subject than 3rd year students (8.8% vs 91.2%, p=0.045). Fourth-year students showed significantly higher satisfaction with several online theory classes to provide an in-depth view of the subject than 3rd year students (p=0.045). CONCLUSION The present study concluded that most students prefer in person classes over virtual learning and face a lack of online interaction with the faculty.

The Energy-Growth Nexus in Thailand: Does Trade Openness Boost up Energy Consumption?

The nexus between trade openness and energy demand is hot topic of discussion among academicians and researchers, and numerous studies are available in existing literature while investigating the nexus between trade openness and energy demand. This paper explores the relationship between energy consumption, trade openness and economic growth in case of Thailand. In doing so, we have applied Bayer and Hanck cointegration approach to test whether the long run relationship exists between the variables. Our results confirm the presence of cointegration between the variables. Energy consumption stimulates economic growth. Trade openness adds in economic growth. The causality analysis reveals that energy consumption Granger causes economic growth and in resulting, economic growth Granger causes energy consumption. Trade openness and energy consumption are interdependent i.e. trade openness Granger causes energy consumption and in return, energy consumption Granger causes trade openness. This paper openness up new directions for policy making authorities in Thailand to design a comprehensive energy and trade policies to sustain economic growth for long run

Minor Oral Surgery with Out Stopping the Daily Low Dose of Aspirin Therapy

OBJECTIVES Patients with the low-dose long-term aspirin regime have a severe risk of excessive bleeding during surgery, placing them at risk of "adverse thrombotic events". This study aims to evaluate the bleeding in patients undergoing minor oral surgery procedures without stopping daily low-dose aspirin therapy. METHODOLOGY A descriptive cross-sectional hospital-based investigation involved the patient with minor oral surgery at "Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, Karachi, Pakistan" from mid-April 2021 to mid-June 2021, who were between the age group 30 to 75 with a low-dose aspirin regime. The data was collected via a questionnaire to record the variables, i.e. duration of aspirin, postoperative medications, platelets count, clotting time, normal bleeding time, and intraoperative bleeding time.  RESULTS 51 patients, of which 32 were males while 19, were females. The normal bleeding time was comparatively analyzed with the intraoperative bleeding time using SPSS statistical software version 22. The results revealed that the mean bleeding time for the patients with a low-dose aspirin regime during minor oral surgery was 5.49 ± 1.07, while for the patients with a stopped aspirin dose was 4.57 ± 1.07. The comparative analysis using a t-test doesn't reveal significant statistical differences of p<0.05 between both groups. CONCLUSION We concluded that minor oral surgical procedures could safely be done without altering or stopping the low-dose, long-term aspirin regime.

Decision-Making of Patients Towards Treatment Modalities of Failed Root Canal Therapy

OBJECTIVES To determine the awareness and perception of patients towards treatment modalities of failed root canal therapy. METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study was conducted at the department of Operative Dentistry and Endodontics, Altamash Institute of Dental Medicine, Karachi, from 15 August’2021 to 14 October’2021. A total of 292 participants, 155(63%) female and 104(37%) males, were selected for the study. All the participants included had at least one root canal-treated tooth. A well-constructed and validated performa was used to evaluate the patient’s decision for different treatment modalities against a tooth with failed root canal treatment.  RESULTS Among the subjects, most patients opted for endodontic re-treatment (60%) in case of root canal treatment failure, whereas the remaining opted for extraction (40%). Out of this, 40% (8%) choose removal of partial denture, (12%) bridge, and implant (20%).   CONCLUSION Re-treatment is the first-line treatment option for the previously failed root canal. Our study concluded that most patients would opt for an endodontic re-treatment. The patient's education and awareness level affected the treatment options

Prevalence of Oral Manifestations of Systemic Diseases in Patients Visiting the Dental Outpatient Department of Sindh, Pakistan

OBJECTIVES The purpose of the study was to evaluate the awareness of oral health workers in identifying the prevalence of oral manifestations of systemic diseases in patients visiting the Dental Out-Patient Department of Sindh, Pakistan. METHODOLOGY A descriptive, cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted in Karachi, Pakistan, from October to December 2021. The study was conducted in various institutes from all over Sindh, Pakistan. An online, well-structured questionnaire was designed using Google Forms and distributed to the participants through social media platforms in the dental community. Using the Open-Epi software regarding a parent article, the sample size of this study was calculated. Keeping the confidence interval at 95% and the desired percentile at 50, the total sample size was calculated to be 100. Around 175 questionnaires were given out to the candidates. RESULTSThe results showed that  81% male and 19% female participated, including 45% postgraduate trainees, 30% house officers, and 25% general dentists. 80% detected 2-3 systemic diseases in a patient, with 75% observing oral manifestations preceding systemic illness diagnosis. The majority favoured treating underlying ailments (75%), and prevalent conditions included hypertension (90%), diabetes (80%), anaemia (75%), and lichen planus (40.7%). CONCLUSION Oral health workers play a vital role in the initial and early identification and multidisciplinary medical management of various systemic diseases. A coordinated approach between physicians and dentists in diagnosing and managing these conditions is necessary to achieve optimal clinical outcomes

A Knowledge Base Technique for Detecting Multiple High-Speed Serial Interface Synchronization Errors in Multiprocessor-Based Real-Time Embedded Systems

The heterogeneity of the multiple processing elements (PEs) is a feature of real-time embedded systems. General-purpose processors and several embedded processors, as well as dedicated high-speed interfaces, are among these elements. Communication between the processors is among the most significant characteristics of developing such complex systems. Furthermore, synchronization is a common issue during interprocessor communication in embedded systems. Debugging and testing such systems is time-consuming, difficult, and laborious, with the majority of the complexities centered on debugging real-time interprocessor communication, such as synchronization in terms of timing and accuracy. While the hardware design features of heterogeneous multiprocessor real-time embedded systems have received a lot of attention, the design and development of software-based solutions still have the potential to be addressed. In particular, software-based testing becomes challenging due to interprocessor communication and the synchronization of real-time applications. A knowledge-based technique that aids in testing high-speed serial interfaces in multiprocessor-based real-time embedded systems is proposed that needs debugging in real time while an application is running. It is becoming much more important to test and validate these interfaces in real time as the demand for high data transmission rates increases. The presented work uses a technique to simulate, create and enhance the knowledge base used as correlation-based error detection that reduces the development time. The proposed technique helps in detecting synchronization-related errors that occur during communication among multiple high-speed serial interfaces. The presented work also lists a series of experiments to validate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. The results show that the presented techniques are effective for error identification in real-time embedded systems

A Novel Framework for Testing High-Speed Serial Interfaces in Multiprocessor Based Real-Time Embedded System

Recent years has seen a tremendous increase in processing requirements of present-day embedded system applications. Embedded systems consist of multiple processing elements (PEs) connected to each other using different types of interfaces. Many complicated tasks are accomplished by embedded systems in varied settings, which may introduce errors during inter-processor communication. Testing such systems is tremendously difficult and challenging from testing non-real time systems. A major part of testing real time embedded systems involves ensuring accuracy and timing in synchronous inter-process communication More specifically, the synchronization and inter-processor communication of real-time applications makes testing a challenging task and due to the demand for higher data rate increases, day-by-day, making testing of such systems even more complex. This paper presents a novel frame work that uses multiple instances of simulators with physical high-speed serial interfaces to emulate any real time embedded system communication. The framework presents a testing technique that detects all faults related to synchronization of high-speed synchronous serial interfaces in a systematic manner. The novelty of our approach is to simulate communication across multiple processors in a simulation environment for detecting and localizing bugs. We verify this framework using a case study consisting of an embedded software defined radio (SDR) system. The test results show the applicability of our approach in fixing bugs that relates to synchronization issues that otherwise are very hard to find and fix in very complicated systems, such as SDR

Evaluation of a quality improvement intervention to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy (EAGLE): pragmatic, batched stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized trial in 64 countries

Background Anastomotic leak affects 8 per cent of patients after right colectomy with a 10-fold increased risk of postoperative death. The EAGLE study aimed to develop and test whether an international, standardized quality improvement intervention could reduce anastomotic leaks. Methods The internationally intended protocol, iteratively co-developed by a multistage Delphi process, comprised an online educational module introducing risk stratification, an intraoperative checklist, and harmonized surgical techniques. Clusters (hospital teams) were randomized to one of three arms with varied sequences of intervention/data collection by a derived stepped-wedge batch design (at least 18 hospital teams per batch). Patients were blinded to the study allocation. Low- and middle-income country enrolment was encouraged. The primary outcome (assessed by intention to treat) was anastomotic leak rate, and subgroup analyses by module completion (at least 80 per cent of surgeons, high engagement; less than 50 per cent, low engagement) were preplanned. Results A total 355 hospital teams registered, with 332 from 64 countries (39.2 per cent low and middle income) included in the final analysis. The online modules were completed by half of the surgeons (2143 of 4411). The primary analysis included 3039 of the 3268 patients recruited (206 patients had no anastomosis and 23 were lost to follow-up), with anastomotic leaks arising before and after the intervention in 10.1 and 9.6 per cent respectively (adjusted OR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.59 to 1.30; P = 0.498). The proportion of surgeons completing the educational modules was an influence: the leak rate decreased from 12.2 per cent (61 of 500) before intervention to 5.1 per cent (24 of 473) after intervention in high-engagement centres (adjusted OR 0.36, 0.20 to 0.64; P < 0.001), but this was not observed in low-engagement hospitals (8.3 per cent (59 of 714) and 13.8 per cent (61 of 443) respectively; adjusted OR 2.09, 1.31 to 3.31). Conclusion Completion of globally available digital training by engaged teams can alter anastomotic leak rates. Registration number: NCT04270721 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)