Improvement of Oral Health Status in a Group of Students with Visual Impairment in Istanbul

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the oral health status of a group of students with vision impairment and to compare the changes of oral hygiene after oral health education.Materials and Methods: Dental examination of 6-19-year-old of 136 students with vision impairment in a Primary School for Individuals with Vision Impairment in Istanbul was performed. The students were divided into 6-9-year-age group (Group I) and 10-19-year-age group (Group II) and in the first visit, they were examined and their findings were recorded according to DMFT (Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth), DMFS (Decayed, Missing, and Filled Surfaces) indices of permanent teeth, dft and dfs indices of primary teeth and in the first visit and 3rd follow up period, their Dental Plaque (PI), Calculus (CI) and Oral Hygiene (OHI) Indexes were recorded. They received one-to-one oral health education (OHE). Statistical evaluation was carried out with Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests and p<0.05 was found as statistically significant.Results: Regarding the pre and post OHE results of periodontal indexes, PI and OHI scores statistically significantly increased after OHE in Group I (p<0.05). On the other hand, CI results significantly decreased after OHE in Group II (p=0.042). Comparing post OHE results of PI and OHI, Group I showed statistically significantly higher scores than Group II (p<0.05). Comparing the difference values of PI and OHI between pre and post OHE, Group I showed statistically significantly lower scores than Group II (p<0.05).Conclusions: Students with vision impairment have a high prevalence of dental caries and poor oral hygiene. We emphasise the importance of providing proper dental education and regular dental visits to them

Evaluation of apoptotic molecular pathways for smooth muscle cells isolated from thoracic aortic aneurysms in response to oxidized sterols

WOS: 000349005800018PubMed ID: 25266234Oxysterols, oxygenated derivatives of cholesterol, are found abundantly in the plasma and atherosclerotic plaques, a common risk factor for thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs). Among the oxysterols, namely 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) and 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-OHC), lead both to induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cells and to apoptosis in smooth muscle cells (SMCs) probably due to increased oxidative stress. Since loss of SMCs through apoptosis is a major event in TAA formation, it is important to understand the molecular pathways of apoptosis in response to ROS in TAAs. Very little is known about the effect of oxysterols on TAA SMCs. Therefore, we investigated molecular pathways participating in the oxysterol induced cell death of TAAs. Our results showed that TAA SMCs died mainly as a result of apoptosis as suggested by cellular shrinkage, blebbing, DNA condensation/fragmentation in response to oxysterol treatment. There was no significant difference in oxysterol induced cell death between TAA and control SMCs. Addition of antioxidant molecules prevented cell death, hence ROS appears to be involved in the apoptosis of these cells. While oxysterol treatment increased caspase 3 activity, cell death was not rescued in its absence. Efficient silencing of other targets including apoptotic proteins (p53, Bax), and survival proteins (Akt1, Akt2) showed that apoptosis can occur through p53, and Bax independent pathways. Silencing Akt1 or Akt2 did not lead to further cell death. These results indicate that oxysterols can induce several cell death pathways in TAA SMCs.FP7 Project entitled "Fighting Aneurysmal Disease" (FAD) [200647]Istanbul University Department of Scientific Research Projects [10241]This work was supported by the FP7 Project entitled "Fighting Aneurysmal Disease" (FAD), Grant No: 200647 and Istanbul University Department of Scientific Research Projects, entitled "Investigation of Gene Expressions Related to Oxidative Stress in Human Thoracic Aort Aneurysms", Grant No: 10241