An analysis of the decision-making process for single implant treatment in general practice

Background: There is little information on the decision-making process for single implant treatment in general practice. Aim: To study the incidence of and the factors associated with the decision to perform single implant treatment after tooth extraction by general practitioners in a private, fee-for-service setting. Methods: One hundred practitioners with a general dental practice in Ghent were randomly selected from an official list received by the Belgian Social Security Institute. Clinicians were asked to fill in a study form for every single extraction they performed during an 8-week period. The study form related to the treatment decision as discussed with the patient and a number of patient- and clinician-related factors. The association of these factors with single implant treatment was evaluated using univariate tests and logistic regression. A decision-tree was also constructed with the predictors from the regression analysis as independent variables. Results: Ninety-four general dentists (52 males, 42 females; mean age 49; range 24–68)agreed to participate and extracted 1180 single teeth in an equal number of patients (50% males, 50% females; mean age 53; range 18–90). The main reasons for tooth loss were caries (48%) and periodontal disease (28%). At the time of extraction tooth replacement was deemed necessary in half of the patients and are movable partial denture was chosen in 55% of them. Similar frequencies were found for fixed partial denture (23%) and single implant treatment (21%). Although the vast majority of patient- and clinician-related factors showed a significant association with the latter on the basis of univariate tests, logistic regression only identified seven predictors. These included location of the extracted tooth, number of missing teeth, regular supportive care, bone loss at adjacent teeth, restoration level of adjacent teeth, gender of the clinician and dentists’ experience in implant prosthetics. The decision tree identified bone loss at adjacent teeth and number of missing teeth as the most important predictors for single implant treatment. Conclusions and clinical implications: If tooth replacement was deemed necessary at the time of extraction, a single implant was the treatment of choice in only one-fifth of the patients. Mainly oral factors had an impact on the decision-making process in contrast to patients’ background and medical factors. Dentists’ experience in implant prosthetics also showed a positive association with single implant treatment as opposed to dentists’ experience in implant surgery

Associations between Physical Activity and Quality of Life: Implications for Primary Care

It is increasingly well-known that chronic diseases are placing a burden on the United States, including the healthcare system. Considering chronic disease risk and quality of life (QOL) measures, improving lifestyle behaviors such as physical activity (PA) should be further explored. In particular, using a place-based approach such as the healthcare system to improve lifestyle behaviors is a strategy to explore. Lifestyle Medicine (LM) is an approach that uses behavior as therapy to treat conditions and is suggested as an approach for primary care. The purpose of study 1 was to explore potential differences in QOL of patients who were referred to LM and are categorized into one of three groups 1) did not engaged in LM 2) engaged in up to two sessions of LM 3) engaged in three or more sessions of LM. The purpose of study 2 was to explore the relationship among provider QOL, PA level, and referral practices to LM. Participants completed demographic and lifestyle referral practices questionnaire, RAND-36 item health questionnaire, and Physical Activity Vital Sign questions. Results from study 1 include no significant differences between LM groups, QOL, and PA. Additionally, a significant difference was found for patient general health QOL score for those who met PA guidelines (M = 68.16, SD = 23.346) versus those who did not meet PA guidelines (M = 54.67, SD = 16.23); t (48) = 2.41, p = .02. Results for study 2 include no significant differences between provider PA minutes and LM referral as well as provider general health QOL and LM referral. A significant difference was found for provider general health QOL score for those who met PA guidelines (M = 85.833, SD = 10.68) versus those who did not meet PA guidelines (M = 67, SD = 9.08); t (9) = 3.109, p = .013. This dissertation will further inform the healthcare community (health system and health professionals) about the importance of PA to overall QOL for patients and providers. Moving from sick care to preventive care using LM approaches must be further explored and studied for both improved health outcomes and financial sustainability.North Dakota State University. College of Human Development and Education. Department of Health, Nutrition and Exercise Science

Advanced Metal Contamination Analysis for High Efficiency Solar Cell Manufacturing

AbstractIn view of the increasing importance of wafer surface purity for the manufacturing of high efficiency cells we present here a sensitive method for the quantitative determination of wafer surface contaminations. Our results show that the detection limits are sufficient for process control in solar cell manufacturing. Particularly, the analysis and recovery of Cu is regarded, which may – besides Fe – play an important role in the degradation of surface and interface quality of high efficiency solar cells

The ocean carbon sink – impacts, vulnerabilities and challenges

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is, next to water vapour, considered to be the most important natural greenhouse gas on Earth. Rapidly rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations caused by human actions such as fossil fuel burning, land-use change or cement production over the past 250 years have given cause for concern that changes in Earth’s climate system may progress at a much faster pace and larger extent than during the past 20 000 years. Investigating global carbon cycle pathways and finding suitable adaptation and mitigation strategies has, therefore, become of major concern in many research fields. The oceans have a key role in regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations and currently take up about 25% of annual anthropogenic carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Questions that yet need to be answered are what the carbon uptake kinetics of the oceans will be in the future and how the increase in oceanic carbon inventory will affect its ecosystems and their services. This requires comprehensive investigations, including high-quality ocean carbon measurements on different spatial and temporal scales, the management of data in sophisticated databases, the application of Earth system models to provide future projections for given emission scenarios as well as a global synthesis and outreach to policy makers. In this paper, the current understanding of the ocean as an important carbon sink is reviewed with respect to these topics. Emphasis is placed on the complex interplay of different physical, chemical and biological processes that yield both positive and negative air–sea flux values for natural and anthropogenic CO2 as well as on increased CO2 (uptake) as the regulating force of the radiative warming of the atmosphere and the gradual acidification of the oceans. Major future ocean carbon challenges in the fields of ocean observations, modelling and process research as well as the relevance of other biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gases are discussed

Plasticity of an atomically layered crystal: A combined nanomechanical and ab initio study on Mo2BC

Plasticity in atomically layered crystals, such as X2BC or MAX phases, is not yet fully understood. Particularly plasticity on non-basal planes is rarely considered. The reason for this lies both in the prevalence of basal deformation observed (MAX) or predicted (X2BC) and the difficulties in performing single crystal experiments on anisotropic and brittle materials challenging to produce in bulk form. We therefore employed a combined approach using microcompression, TEM including conventional and LACBED dislocation analysis and ab initio calculations to elucidate the active deformation mechanisms in Mo2BC. We show that appreciable ductility in Mo2BC is indeed achieved due to the activation of previously unexpected non-basal slip. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Embodied Digital Technologies: First Insights in the Social and Legal Perception of Robots and Users of Prostheses

New bionic technologies and robots are becoming increasingly common in workspaces and private spheres. It is thus crucial to understand concerns regarding their use in social and legal terms and the qualities they should possess to be accepted as 'co-workers'. Previous research in these areas used the Stereotype Content Model to investigate, for example, attributions of Warmth and Competence towards people who use bionic prostheses, cyborgs, and robots. In the present study, we propose to differentiate the Warmth dimension into the dimensions of Sociability and Morality to gain deeper insight into how people with or without bionic prostheses are perceived. In addition, we extend our research to the perception of robots. Since legal aspects need to be considered if robots are expected to be 'co-workers', for the first time, we also evaluated current perceptions of robots in terms of legal aspects. We conducted two studies: In Study 1, participants rated visual stimuli of individuals with or without disabilities and low- or high-tech prostheses, and robots of different levels of Anthropomorphism in terms of perceived Competence, Sociability, and Morality. In Study 2, participants rated robots of different levels of Anthropomorphism in terms of perceived Competence, Sociability, and Morality, and additionally, Legal Personality, and Decision-Making Authority. We also controlled for participants' personality. Results showed that attributions of Competence and Morality varied as a function of the technical sophistication of the prostheses. For robots, Competence attributions were negatively related to Anthropomorphism. Perception of Sociability, Morality, Legal Personality, and Decision-Making Authority varied as functions of Anthropomorphism. Overall, this study contributes to technological design, which aims to ensure high acceptance and minimal undesirable side effects, both with regard to the application of bionic instruments and robotics. Additionally, first insights into whether more anthropomorphized robots will need to be considered differently in terms of legal practice are given

Отвод и постановка на кадастровый учет частей земельного участка под кустовую площадку №1 Даненберговского нефтяного месторождения

Мероприятия по разработке и эксплуатации месторождений невозможны без взаимодействия с землей. Земля невоспроизводимый ресурс и на его восстановление нужны десятки лет. В целях рационального и эффективного использования земли необходим отвод земель, который подготавливает правила землепользования и застройки и обосновывает количество площади, необходимой для отвода земель под объект. Одним из регуляторов государственного земельного контроля является государственный кадастровый учет земельных участков. Именно учет земельных участков позволяет определить земельный участок в качестве индивидуально-определенной вещи в общем кадастре недвижимости. Основная задача для нефтегазодобывающих компаний – это четкое понимание нормативно-правовой базы в сфереземельных отношений.Measures to develop and operate deposits are impossible without interaction with the land. The land is an irreplaceable resource and it takes decades to restore it. In order to rationally and effectively use the land, it is necessary to allocate land, which prepares land use and development rules and justifies the amount of land needed to allocate land for the object. One of the regulators of state land control is the state cadastral registration of land plots. It is the registration of land plots that makes it possible to determine a land plot as an individual-specific thing in the general real estate cadastre. The main task for oil and gas companies is a clear understanding of the legal framework in the sphere of land relations

Insulin gene polymorphisms in type I diabetes, Addison's disease and the polyglandular autoimmune syndrome type II

Background: Polymorphisms within the insulin gene can influence insulin expression in the pancreas and especially in the thymus, where self-antigens are processed, shaping the T cell repertoire into selftolerance, a process that protects from ß-cell autoimmunity. Methods: We investigated the role of the -2221Msp(C/T) and -23HphI(A/T) polymorphisms within the insulin gene in patients with a monoglandular autoimmune endocrine disease [patients with isolated type 1 diabetes (T1D, n = 317), Addison´s disease (AD, n = 107) or Hashimoto´s thyroiditis (HT, n = 61)], those with a polyglandular autoimmune syndrome type II (combination of T1D and/or AD with HT or GD, n = 62) as well as in healthy controls (HC, n = 275). Results: T1D patients carried significantly more often the homozygous genotype "CC" -2221Msp(C/T) and "AA" -23HphI(A/T) polymorphisms than the HC (78.5% vs. 66.2%, p = 0.0027 and 75.4% vs. 52.4%, p = 3.7 × 10-8, respectively). The distribution of insulin gene polymorphisms did not show significant differences between patients with AD, HT, or APS-II and HC. Conclusion: We demonstrate that the allele "C" of the -2221Msp(C/T) and "A" -23HphI(A/T) insulin gene polymorphisms confer susceptibility to T1D but not to isolated AD, HT or as a part of the APS-II

Turnover of grassland roots in mountain ecosystems revealed by their radiocarbon signature: role of temperature and management

Root turnover is an important carbon flux component in grassland ecosystems because it replenishes substantial parts of carbon lost from soil via heterotrophic respiration and leaching. Among the various methods to estimate root turnover, the root’s radiocarbon signature has rarely been applied to grassland soils previously, although the value of this approach is known from studies in forest soils. In this paper, we utilize the root’s radiocarbon signatures, at 25 plots, in mountain grasslands of the montane to alpine zone of Europe.We place the results in context of a global data base on root turnover and discuss driving factors. Root turnover rates were similar to those of a subsample of the global data, comprising a similar temperature range, but measured with different approaches, indicating that the radiocarbon method gives reliable, plausible and comparable results. Root turnover rates (0.06–1.0 y-1) scaled significantly and exponentially with mean annual temperatures. Root turnover rates indicated no trend with soil depth. The temperature sensitivity was significantly higher in mountain grassland, compared to the global data set, suggesting additional factors influencing root turnover. Information on management intensity from the 25 plots reveals that root turnover may be accelerated under intensive and moderate management compared to low intensity or semi-natural conditions. Because management intensity, in the studied ecosystems, co-varied with temperature, estimates on root turnover, based on mean annual temperature alone, may be biased. A greater recognition of management as a driver for root dynamics is warranted when effects of climatic change on belowground carbon dynamics are studied in mountain grasslands.KB received support from the Swiss National Science Foundation, project 200021-115891 (www.snf.ch). SM received support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research, project C07.0031 (www.sbfi.admin.ch). MTS received support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, (project CAPAS, CGL2010-22378-C03- 01) (www.idi.mineco.gob.es)