Determinants of technical efficiency among smallholder dairy farmers in Tanzania

Irish Ai

Index Evaluation of Clinical Efficacy of Immunomodulatory and Osteotropic Therapy for Chronic Generalized Periodontitis of Varying Severity: A Prospective Cohort Study

Background. The significant prevalence of chronic generalized periodontitis, the severity of its course, the increase in the number of complicated forms and short-term remissions cause a constant search for new methods and means of its treatment. When choosing the most effective methods of therapy, specialists mostly prefer a complex effect on the main pathogenetic links of the disease, while often losing sight of the body's own defenses, especially in terms of pharmacotherapeutic support and immunity strengthening. This study presents the results of a study of the clinical efficacy of the treatment of chronic generalized periodontitis by means of the developed therapy complex, including the use of immunomodulatory and osteotropic drugs.Objective — to study clinical efficacy of the developed complex immunomodulatory and osteotropic treatment for chronic generalized periodontitis.Methods. A prospective cohort study was conducted in 154 patients aged 20 to 75 with periodontitis of varying severity. Conventional examination of patients was carried out in specialized dental clinics DentoProma (Krasnodar) and Dentalife (Stavropol) based at the Dentistry Department, Stavropol State Medical University (Russia). The study period was 24 months. The patients were divided into a main group of 118 participants and a control group of 36 participants. The comprehensive treatment plan, prescribed to all patients, included proper oral hygiene education, individual and professional dental hygiene, topical anti-inflammatory agents, Vector therapy, open flap debridement, flap surgery, relevant splinting prosthetics (if necessary). The authors developed a comprehensive therapy, which included administration of the immunomodulatory agent Hepon (Immapharma Company, Russia), glucosamine hydrochloride and chondroitin sulfate sodium. All patients of the main and control groups were additionally ranked into subgroups depending on the severity of diagnosed periodontitis: slight (subgroup 1), moderate (subgroup 2) and severe (subgroup 3). The major focus of the study was to establish efficacy of the developed therapy which was defined by the degree of resolution of the inflammatory process and increase in the period of remission. Reflecting the presence and degree of inflammation, dental plaque index and oral hygiene status were considered to be the target indicators. Analysis and statistical processing of the obtained data were carried out using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft, USA).Results. The analysis of the data revealed that the immediate clinical results of the developed complex therapy both in the main group and in the control group were approximately identical. According to the follow-up data obtained one month after the treatment, additional prescription of complex osteotropic treatment to the patients with chronic generalized periodontitis contributed to rapid resolution of infection in the gingival tissues and provided stable treatment results.Conclusion. Introduction of the complex clinical and hygienic treatment promoted resolution of the inflammatory process in the gingival tissues of all patients who received immunomodulatory and osteotropic therapy

Translational Research: Palatal-derived Ecto-mesenchymal Stem Cells from Human Palate: A New Hope for Alveolar Bone and Cranio-Facial Bone Reconstruction

The management of facial defects has rapidly changed in the last decade. Functional and esthetic requirements have steadily increased along with the refinements of surgery. In the case of advanced atrophy or jaw defects, extensive horizontal and vertical bone augmentation is often unavoidable to enable patients to be fitted with implants. Loss of vertical alveolar bone height is the most common cause for a non primary stability of dental implants in adults. At present, there is no ideal therapeutic approach to cure loss of vertical alveolar bone height and achieve optimal pre-implantological bone regeneration before dental implant placement. Recently, it has been found that specific populations of stem cells and/or progenitor cells could be isolated from different dental resources, namely the dental follicle, the dental pulp and the periodontal ligament. Our research group has cultured palatal-derived stem cells (paldSCs) as dentospheres and further differentiated into various cells of the neuronal and osteogenic lineage, thereby demonstrating their stem cell state. In this publication will be shown whether paldSCs could be differentiated into the osteogenic lineage and, if so, whether these cells are able to regenerate alveolar bone tissue in vivo in an athymic rat model. Furthermore, using these data we have started a proof of principle clinical- and histological controlled study using stem cell-rich palatal tissues for improving the vertical alveolar bone augmentation in critical size defects. The initial results of the study demonstrate the feasibility of using stem cell-mediated tissue engineering to treat alveolar bone defects in humans

Efficacy Evaluation of Combination Therapy in Patients with Generalized Periodontitis According to the Index Estimation of Periodontal Status: Experimental Randomized Single-Arm Study

Background. Treatment and prevention of inflammatory periodontal diseases represent a serious general medical and social problem, which remains relevant due to the significant prevalence of periodontitis among the population, as well as the associated loss of teeth and the negative impact of periodontal foci of infection on the body as a whole. Chronic generalized periodontitis is difficult to treat: it is only possible to achieve periods of remission. Therefore, it is of great theoretical and practical importance to develop further ways to improve methods for treating inflammatory-dystrophic damage of periodontal tissues in chronic generalized periodontitis.Objective. To perform an index estimation of treatment efficacy in patients with moderately severe chronic generalized periodontitis.Methods. An experimental randomized single-arm study was conducted examining 204 patients diagnosed with moderately severe chronic generalized periodontitis. Patient examination and data analysis were carried out at the Dentistry Department of the Stavropol State Medical University and the Department for General Practice Dentistry of the Kuban State Medical University in 2021–2022. The study included patients aged 35 to 65 years diagnosed with moderately severe chronic generalized periodontitis. Patients with somatic diseases in the decompensation stage were not eligible for the study. The patients were randomly divided into three groups (closed-envelope method). Group 1 was treated using conventional methods. As well as conventional therapy, Group 2 was prescribed vitamin D (Aquadetrim® at a dose of 5000 IU once per day while monitoring vitamin D blood level). The third group of patients was prescribed conventional therapy along with the developed pharmacotherapy, which included vitamin D (Aquadetrim® at a dose of 5000 IU once per day), vitamin A (3.44% oil solution of retinol acetate at a dose of 50 000 IU, 15 min after a morning meal), and 2-ethyl-6-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine (Mexidol® at a dose of 125 mg twice a day). In each patient, the treatment efficacy was analyzed in adjacent oral cavity segments (split-mouth design) according to clinical pocket depth, attachment loss, and bleeding on probing. Also, the authors used the X-ray index to assess the condition of osseous structures and the simplified oral hygiene index. The specified indices were estimated prior to treatment and at one and 12 months following treatment. The statistical analysis of study results was performed using Excel Microsoft Office 2016 (Microsoft, USA).Results. The obtained data indicate that the immediate clinical outcomes (after one month) of combination therapy in patients from all three groups were approximately the same. However, the efficacy of treatment measures in the long-term period (12 months) was different, as evidenced by the dynamics of index values. Only in Group 3 patients, the full implementation of pharmacotherapeutic measures as part of the combination therapy of periodontitis ensured a stable therapeutic effect throughout the entire period of observation.Conclusion. The data obtained 12 months following treatment indicate that the additional prescription of the developed pharmacotherapy contributed to prompt inflammation relief in periodontal tissues, providing a stable treatment outcome and long-term remission

Ancient DNA and deep population structure in sub-Saharan African foragers

Multiple lines of genetic and archaeological evidence suggest that there were major demographic changes in the terminal Late Pleistocene epoch and early Holocene epoch of sub-Saharan Africa(1-4). Inferences about this period are challenging to make because demographic shifts in the past 5,000 years have obscured the structures of more ancient populations(3,5). Here we present genome-wide ancient DNA data for six individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years (doubling the time depth of sub-Saharan African ancient DNA), increase the data quality for 15 previously published ancient individuals and analyse these alongside data from 13 other published ancient individuals. The ancestry of the individuals in our study area can be modelled as a geographically structured mixture of three highly divergent source populations, probably reflecting Pleistocene interactions around 80-20 thousand years ago, including deeply diverged eastern and southern African lineages, plus a previously unappreciated ubiquitous distribution of ancestry that occurs in highest proportion today in central African rainforest hunter-gatherers. Once established, this structure remained highly stable, with limited long-range gene flow. These results provide a new line of genetic evidence in support of hypotheses that have emerged from archaeological analyses but remain contested, suggesting increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. DNA analysis of 6 individuals from eastern and south-central Africa spanning the past approximately 18,000 years, and of 28 previously published ancient individuals, provides genetic evidence supporting hypotheses of increasing regionalization at the end of the Pleistocene.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 BC, from Natufian hunter–gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a ‘Basal Eurasian’ lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter–gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter–gatherers of Europe to greatly reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those of Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia