The Role of Lead Toxicity on Eruption Rate of Hypofunctional Incisors in Albino Wistar Rats

OBJECTIVES This objective of this study was to evaluate the role of a heavy metal- lead acetate in the eruption rate of hypo functional incisors in albino Wistar rats. METHODOLOGY An experimental study was done in animal house of Post Graduate Medical Institute, Lahore since March 2019 to March 2020. 34 adult albino Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups (n=17 for each group) i.e., control and lead acetate group. Right mandibular incisors were selected for this study. Selected incisors were marked 1mm above the level of gingival papillae. The incisors were cut above this mark to make it hypo-functional. The readings were measured by digital Vernier caliper. This was considered as day 0. Incisors length was measured at day 0, 3, 6, 12 and 15 and eruption was calculated. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. RESULTS Eruption rate was similar throughout the study except last follow up. At the end of this study eruption of incisors in albino Wistar rats in control was 03.30±0.72mm, in lead 02.43±1.19mm. At day 15, the difference between control and lead group was statistically significant (p-value 0.033). CONCLUSION These results reveal that besides other causes of delayed tooth eruption excessive lead intoxication are also acausative factor of delayed tooth eruption

AfriMTE and AfriCOMET : Empowering COMET to Embrace Under-resourced African Languages

Despite the progress we have recorded in scaling multilingual machine translation (MT) models and evaluation data to several under-resourced African languages, it is difficult to measure accurately the progress we have made on these languages because evaluation is often performed on n-gram matching metrics like BLEU that often have worse correlation with human judgments. Embedding-based metrics such as COMET correlate better; however, lack of evaluation data with human ratings for under-resourced languages, complexity of annotation guidelines like Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM), and limited language coverage of multilingual encoders have hampered their applicability to African languages. In this paper, we address these challenges by creating high-quality human evaluation data with a simplified MQM guideline for error-span annotation and direct assessment (DA) scoring for 13 typologically diverse African languages. Furthermore, we develop AfriCOMET, a COMET evaluation metric for African languages by leveraging DA training data from high-resource languages and African-centric multilingual encoder (AfroXLM-Roberta) to create the state-of-the-art evaluation metric for African languages MT with respect to Spearman-rank correlation with human judgments (+0.406)

Comparison of Working Length Determination in Mandibular Single-Rooted Teeth

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to compare working length calculated with conventional radiographs and an electronic apex locator (IPEX II) during the root canal treatment of mandibular anterior teeth. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was done in the Department of Operative Dentistry, Sardar Begum Dental Hospital, Peshawar during February and March 2018. A consecutive sampling technique was used for sampling. Only 30 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria of our study. Detailed medical and dental history was taken. Only patient fulfilling inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: The mean age for patients was 45.33±5.16. 33% out of 30 patients (10) were male and 20 were females. The mean working length calculated from radiographs was 22.25±1.29 (min 20.09-max 24.10). The mean working length calculated by the electronic apex locator (IPEX II) was 22.17±1.28 (min 20.00-max 24.07). The mean difference between working length calculated by radiograph and electronic apex locator was -0.084mm, which means the working length determined by radiographs and by electronic apex locator has no difference in mandibular anterior teeth with single canals. CONCLUSION: Both the methods can be used effectively in endodontics for single-rooted mandibular teeth, but if both are used in combinations can lead to an improvement in the working length accuracy, which may significantly reduce the number of radiographs exposure, and increase the success and comfort for endodontic patients. KEYWORDS: Working Length, Apex Locator, Conventional Radiograp

Factors Associated with Endodontic Flare-Ups

OBJECTIVE:The objective of the current study was to determine the frequency and factors of endodontic flare-ups and to compare the post obturation pain in single visit and multi visit root canal therapy, at the department of operative dentistry Sardar Begum Dental College (SBDC), Peshawar.MATERIALS AND METHODS:It was a cross sectional study, carried out at the department of operative dentistry, Sardar Begum Dental College, Peshawar. A total sample of 200 subjects was studied. Treatment protocols were standardized and, after taking informed consent endodontic procedure was carried out. Chi-square test was used to explore the relationship between endodontic flare ups with study variables.RESULTS:Our sample consisted of 54% females and 46% males. Frequency of endodontic flare ups was experienced by 48% subjects.96.2% had used antibiotics, Endodontic flare ups was found to be significantly associated with gender, preoperative diagnosis ,preoperative pain and medication while it was not found to be associated with any other variable studied.CONCLUSION:It was concluded that prevalence of post preparation pain during root canal treatment was high and significantly affected by pre-operative pain, preoperative diagnosis and medication. However, careful selection and adherence to the basic principles of endodontic therapy may reduce the occurrence of flare ups

Level of Patients’ Satisfaction with the Dental Care Provided at Private Dental Hospital, Peshawar

OBJECTIVEQuality is a major concern of health care authorities all over the world. Patient satisfaction regarding the dental treatment they receive is essential for the improvement of oral health service and practice. The aim of this study is to evaluate the levels of patient satisfaction regarding quality of dental care provided at Sardar Begum Dental Hospital.METHODSA random sampling technique based over one-month period; June 5th _ July 5th 2016 was used. Comprising of interviewer-administered questionnaires with a five point Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, uncertain, disagree, strongly disagree) to assess the level of patients’ satisfaction with the dental services provided at the Sardar Begum Dental Hospital.RESULTSA total of 360 patients participated that has received and/or was still receiving treatment at Sardar Begum Dental Hospital with a response rate of 73 %.The overall estimate of factors related to satisfaction showed a mean percentage of74.8% for the 4 disciplines of satisfaction displaying a high level of satisfaction.CONCLUSIONMajority of patients receiving treatment at Sardar Begum Dental Hospital were satisfied with dentist-patient interaction, administrative efficiency, technical competency and hospital environment

AfriMTE and AfriCOMET: Enhancing COMET to Embrace Under-resourced African Languages

Despite the recent progress on scaling multilingual machine translation (MT) to several under-resourced African languages, accurately measuring this progress remains challenging, since evaluation is often performed on n-gram matching metrics such as BLEU, which typically show a weaker correlation with human judgments. Learned metrics such as COMET have higher correlation; however, the lack of evaluation data with human ratings for under-resourced languages, complexity of annotation guidelines like Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM), and limited language coverage of multilingual encoders have hampered their applicability to African languages. In this paper, we address these challenges by creating high-quality human evaluation data with simplified MQM guidelines for error detection and direct assessment (DA) scoring for 13 typologically diverse African languages. Furthermore, we develop AfriCOMET: COMET evaluation metrics for African languages by leveraging DA data from well-resourced languages and an African-centric multilingual encoder (AfroXLM-R) to create the state-of-the-art MT evaluation metrics for African languages with respect to Spearman-rank correlation with human judgments (0.441)

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licenseBackground: Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide. Methods: A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study—a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3·85 [95% CI 2·58–5·75]; p<0·0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63·0% vs 82·7%; OR 0·35 [0·23–0·53]; p<0·0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer. Interpretation: Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised. Funding: National Institute for Health and Care Research

Global variation in postoperative mortality and complications after cancer surgery: a multicentre, prospective cohort study in 82 countries

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licenseBackground: 80% of individuals with cancer will require a surgical procedure, yet little comparative data exist on early outcomes in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared postoperative outcomes in breast, colorectal, and gastric cancer surgery in hospitals worldwide, focusing on the effect of disease stage and complications on postoperative mortality. Methods: This was a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of consecutive adult patients undergoing surgery for primary breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer requiring a skin incision done under general or neuraxial anaesthesia. The primary outcome was death or major complication within 30 days of surgery. Multilevel logistic regression determined relationships within three-level nested models of patients within hospitals and countries. Hospital-level infrastructure effects were explored with three-way mediation analyses. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03471494. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and Jan 31, 2019, we enrolled 15 958 patients from 428 hospitals in 82 countries (high income 9106 patients, 31 countries; upper-middle income 2721 patients, 23 countries; or lower-middle income 4131 patients, 28 countries). Patients in LMICs presented with more advanced disease compared with patients in high-income countries. 30-day mortality was higher for gastric cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (adjusted odds ratio 3·72, 95% CI 1·70–8·16) and for colorectal cancer in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (4·59, 2·39–8·80) and upper-middle-income countries (2·06, 1·11–3·83). No difference in 30-day mortality was seen in breast cancer. The proportion of patients who died after a major complication was greatest in low-income or lower-middle-income countries (6·15, 3·26–11·59) and upper-middle-income countries (3·89, 2·08–7·29). Postoperative death after complications was partly explained by patient factors (60%) and partly by hospital or country (40%). The absence of consistently available postoperative care facilities was associated with seven to 10 more deaths per 100 major complications in LMICs. Cancer stage alone explained little of the early variation in mortality or postoperative complications. Interpretation: Higher levels of mortality after cancer surgery in LMICs was not fully explained by later presentation of disease. The capacity to rescue patients from surgical complications is a tangible opportunity for meaningful intervention. Early death after cancer surgery might be reduced by policies focusing on strengthening perioperative care systems to detect and intervene in common complications. Funding: National Institute for Health Research Global Health Research Unit