Evaluation of caries risk in a young adult population

Introduction: Various caries risk prediction models have been developed in recent years. Cariogram®, a software program that evaluates an individual?s caries risk profile and illustrates it in graphic form, appears to classify patients more correctly than other risk prediction methods. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the caries risk of a population by means of the Cariogram® software and examine the relationships between the different variables used by the Cariogram® and the risk of caries determined by this program. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from a sample of 48 young individuals by clinical and radiological examination, saliva sampling and a dietary questionnaire. The caries risk of each individual was then obtained by drawing up the Cariogram®. Results: Past caries experience, Streptococcus mutans counts, Fluoridation programme and Buffer capacity of the saliva are the factors included in the Cariogram that showed significant correlation with the caries risk determined by the program. Other factors that the Cariogram® does not include directly, such as DMFT, DMFS and the plaque index, also showed high correlation with risk. Conclusions: Linear regression analysis makes it possible to draw up more simplified models from the predictive variables with the highest correlation to caries risk. The predictive variable which makes the greatest contribution to the model is Streptococcus mutans count, followed by the DMFT index and the Buffer capacity of the saliva

Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos (ABP): una experiencia educativa en el ámbito universitario

Ponència presentada en: X Congreso Internacional Multidisciplinar de Investigación Educativa, 30 junio-1 julio, 2022.El reto diario del profesorado es llevar a cabo prácticas educativas que permitan la adquisición eficaz de las competencias en el estudiantado, así como la proximidad de los conocimientos a la realidad del estudio. En este trabajo se presenta una experiencia educativa con 250 estudiantes de la Universitat Jaume I en la que se ha implementado el Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos para investigar los diferentes tipos de centros que ofrece el sistema educativo español. Se ha llevado a cabo un análisis de contenido cualitativo con la herramienta ATLAS.ti. Los resultados muestran un aumento de motivación y seguridad en el alumnado, así como de conocimientos y protagonismo durante el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje

Prognostic factors for survival with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine in metastatic pancreatic cancer in real-life practice: the ANICE-PaC study

Abstract Background Treatment with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine increases survival in patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer. However, the assessment of treatment efficacy and safety in non-selected patients in a real-life setting may provide useful information to support decision-making processes in routine practice. Methods Retrospective, multicenter study including patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, who started first-line treatment with nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine between December 2013 and June 2015 according to routine clinical practice. In addition to describing the treatment pattern, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were assessed for the total sample and the exploratory subgroups based on the treatment and patients’ clinical characteristics. Results All 210 eligible patients had a median age of 65.0 years (range 37–81). Metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma was recurrent in 46 (21.9%) patients and de novo in 164 (78.1%); 38 (18%) patients had a biliary stent. At baseline, 33 (18.1%) patients had an ECOG performance status ≥2. Patients received a median of four cycles of treatment (range 1–21), with a median duration of 3.5 months; 137 (65.2%) patients had a dose reduction of nab-paclitaxel and/or gemcitabine during treatment, and 33 (17.2%) discontinued treatment due to toxicity. Relative dose intensity (RDI) for nab-paclitaxel, gemcitabine, and the combined treatment was 66.7%. Median OS was 7.2 months (95% CI 6.0–8.5), and median PFS was 5.0 months (95% CI 4.3–5.9); 50 patients achieved either a partial or complete response (ORR 24.6%). OS was influenced by baseline ECOG PS, NLR and CA 19.9, but not by age ≥ 70 years and/or the presence of hepatobiliary stent or RDI  3 vs. ≤ 3 (p = 0.043), and baseline CA 19.9 > 37 U/mL vs. ≤37 U/mL (p = 0.004). Conclusions Nab-Paclitaxel plus gemcitabine remain effective in a real-life setting, despite the high burden of dose reductions and poorer performance of these patients. A nomogram to predict survival using baseline ECOG performance status, NLR and CA 19.9 is proposed