Evaluation of Topical Therapies in the Treatment of Hyposalivation

ABSTRACT Although being a frequent condition in the oral cavity, still no adequate therapeutic possibilities for the treatment of hyposalivation exist. The aim of this review article was to summarize knowledge already published on the Pubmed evaluating the topical therapeutic possibilities with regard to the hyposalivation. The results of this review have shown that every topical treatment applied in patients with dry mouth alleviates symptoms of hyposalivation. However, it is still inconclusive which topical treatment is the best option for patients dry mouth symptoms

Neurostructural abnormalities associated with axes of emotion dysregulation in generalized anxiety

Background. Despite the high prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and its negative impact on society, its neurobiology remains obscure. This study characterizes the neurostructural abnormalities associated with key symptoms of GAD, focusing on indicators of impaired emotion regulation (excessive worry, poor concentration, low mindfulness, and physiological arousal). Methods. These domains were assessed in 19 (16 women) GAD patients and 19 healthy controls matched for age and gender, using questionnaires and a low demand behavioral task performed before and after an induction of perseverative cognition (i.e. worry and rumination). Continuous pulse oximetry was used to measure autonomic physiology (heart rate variability; HRV). Observed cognitive and physiological changes in response to the induction provided quantifiable data on emotional regulatory capacity. Participants underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging; voxel-based morphometry was used to quantify the relationship between gray matter volume and psychological and physiological measures. Results. Overall, GAD patients had lower gray matter volume than controls within supramarginal, precentral, and postcentral gyrus bilaterally. Across the GAD group, increased right amygdala volume was associated with prolonged reaction times on the tracking task (indicating increased attentional impairment following the induction) and lower scores on the ‘Act with awareness’ subscale of the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire. Moreover in GAD, medial frontal cortical gray matter volume correlated positively with the ‘Non-react mindfulness’ facet. Lastly, smaller volumes of bilateral insula, bilateral opercular cortex, right supramarginal and precentral gyri, anterior cingulate and paracingulate cortex predicted the magnitude of autonomic change following the induction (i.e. a greater decrease in HRV). Conclusions. Results distinguish neural structures associated with impaired capacity for cognitive, attentional and physiological disengagement from worry, suggesting that aberrant competition between these levels of emotional regulation is intrinsic to symptom expression in GAD

Erfolgreiches Deutschlernen durch CLIL? Zu Lexikon und Kommunikationsstrategien in mündlicher L3 schwedischer Schüler mit bilingualem Profil

This thesis investigates the spoken L3 German of Swedish CLIL learners in lower secondary school (grades 8-9) in comparison to Swedish non-CLIL controls and German native speakers; its main objective is to investigate whether the CLIL approach has a positive impact on L3 production. The study deals with vocabulary size and frequency in the spoken lexicon as well as communicative strategies and is based on data consisting of narratives elicited through the retelling of Mayer’s well-known picture story Frog, where are you? Material was also elicited in the learners’ L1 Swedish and in their L2 English. In addition to being contrastive, the study is also longitudinal, in the sense that recordings of the learners’ foreign language spoken productions were made twice, as opposed to those of their L1 Swedish or the L1 German of the native speaker control group. Albeit both learner groups dispose of a rather limited lexical production compared with the German native speakers, the analysis of vocabulary size shows that the L3 narratives of the CLIL learners are not only longer, but also more varied and thus have a greater lexical richness than those of the non-CLIL controls. There seems to be no clear correlation between the L1 and the L3 productions, neither for the CLIL group nor for the non-CLIL group, which is to say that the progress in the L3 cannot be directly linked to L1 proficiency. Similar positive results for the CLIL group were observed in the L2 English narratives, which may indicate an impact of CLIL on enhanced skills in other foreign languages. In the investigation vocabulary frequency, the analysis points to a higher level of L3 German proficiency for the CLIL group, in that they show a higher number of synsemantic words (such as e.g. pronouns and cohesive ties) and a lower number of basic, so-called nuclear verbs and adjectives. Again, the same positive tendencies could be seen in their L2 English. The analysis of the employment of communication strategies (CS) among the Swedish learners indicates that both learner groups experience communication problems in their L3 German and thus resort to CS. However, the use of L3-based, so-called positive CS is much more frequent among the CLIL learners, whereas their non-CLIL peers display a clearly predominant use of L1-based, so-called negative CS. In contrast to earlier Swedish CLIL evaluations of L2 English, this study points to a positive influence of CLIL on spoken L3 German. Even though no statistically significant results could be obtained due to the fairly small size of the test groups, clear gains are visible in all aspects examined, i.e. vocabulary size, vocabulary frequency and communication strategies. There are several pedagogical implications of this study concerning successful classroom L3 learning. Most importantly, the number of L3 CLIL projects should be enhanced in order to boost progress in L3 skills. Thus, a CLIL module (encompassing e.g. connection between input/output, lexical acquisition and communication strategy use) should be introduced in the teacher education programme for traditional FL education to benefit from. Furthermore, there were no drop-outs during the period of investigation in comparison to a drop-out rate of approx. 35 per cent among the controls, which may suggest that CLIL also fosters motivation for FL learning

Flerspråkighet – tillgång eller begränsning? - en intervjustudie med ämneslärare i samhällskunskap

Studien syftar till att undersöka hur verksamma ämneslärare i samhällskunskap, examinerade från det nya lärarprogrammet som infördes 2011, talar om flerspråkighet och hur de arbetar språkutvecklande. Studien har en jämförande ansats då intervjuer har genomförts med lärare som läst lärarutbildningarna vid två olika lärosäten, varav ett har ett uttalat flerspråkighetsperspektiv. Undersökningen utgår från ett socialkonstruktionistiskt perspektiv och bygger på en kvalitativ intervjustudie som analyserats med ett diskursanalytiskt angreppssätt. Resultatet visar att lärarna i studien ger uttryck för en osäkerhet när det gäller hur flerspråkighet används och kan användas av elever med andra modersmål än svenska. Den positiva synen på flerspråkighet som framhålls av de intervjuade lärarna kan uppfattas som villkorad till att eleverna utöver sitt modersmål också behärskar svenskan. Det tycks diskursivt finnas en återkommande monolingvistisk norm hos de intervjuade. Resultatet visar också att de intervjuade lärarna positionerar sig mot att vara språklärare, samt att de främst relaterar begreppsutveckling till hur de arbetar språkutvecklande i samhällskunskap

Designing Learning for Sustainable Development: Digital Practices as Boundary Crossers and Predictors of Sustainable Lifestyles

Sustainable development (SD) is a multidimensional issue. However, research findings report a divide between students’ awareness and behavior. It is identified that study programs are designed more for awareness outcomes, and not so much for behavioral outcomes. For higher-order learning outcomes manifested in a sustainable development behavior, the authors argue for a model based on an understanding of learning as boundary crossing. Based on this model, learning for sustainable development occurs in relating social practices, lifestyles, academic practices, professional practices, and students’ digital practices. To inform teachers’ approaches to teaching as an important driver of institutional change, we conducted a survey among students of urban and spatial planning in Slovenia. Examined factors included personal, academic, and digital predictors for sustainable development awareness, lifestyle, and behavioral intention. We hypothesized that a significant predictor for sustainable development behavior, which was measured as sustainable lifestyle and sustainable development behavioral intention, would be learning in social practices, and that learning in social practices would predict preferred teaching methods. The findings of hierarchical regression analysis indicated personal factors as the most important predictors of SD behavioral intention, and academic predictors as the most important factors for SD awareness. Digital practices were found to be the most important predictors of a sustainable lifestyle. Social practices of sustainable lifestyle, digital practices, and perceived teaching methods predicted students’ preferred teaching methods. We discuss the future directions of sustainable development education, considering digital social media practices as essential boundary crossers

Epidemiology of oral mucosal lesions in Slovenia

Among the diseases of oral mucosa, malignant tumors are the most dangerous, but not the most common lesions that might appear in the oral cavity. Since most of the studies are focused on the detection of cancer in the oral cavity, we were interested in detecting the frequency of benign changes of the oral mucosa in Slovene population. Oral mucosal lesions are important pointer of oral health and quality of life, especially in elderly. The prevalence of oral mucosal lesions, together with information on the risk habits associated with oral health, such as tobacco and alcohol use, can help in planning future oral health studies and screening programs

Lower body negative pressure reduces optic nerve sheath diameter during head-down tilt

The microgravity ocular syndrome (MOS) results in significant structural and functional ophthalmic changes during 6-mo spaceflight missions consistent with an increase in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure compared with the preflight upright position. A ground-based study was performed to assess two of the major hypothesized contributors to MOS, headward fluid shifting and increased ambient CO2, on intracranial and periorbital CSF. In addition, lower body negative pressure (LBNP) was assessed as a countermeasure to headward fluid shifting. Nine healthy male subjects participated in a crossover design study with five head-down tilt (HDT) conditions: -6, -12, and -18° HDT, -12° HDT with -20 mmHg LBNP, and -12° HDT with a 1% CO2 environment, each for 5 h total. A three-dimensional volumetric scan of the cranium and transverse slices of the orbita were collected with MRI, and intracranial CSF volume and optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) were measured after 4.5 h HDT. ONSD increased during -6° (P < 0.001), -12° (P < 0.001), and -18° HDT (P < 0.001) and intracranial CSF increased during -12° HDT (P = 0.01) compared with supine baseline. Notably, LBNP was able to reduce the increases in ONSD and intracranial CSF during HDT. The addition of 1% CO2 during HDT, however, had no further effect on ONSD, but rather ONSD increased from baseline in a similar magnitude to -12° HDT with ambient air (P = 0.001). These findings demonstrate the ability of LBNP, a technique that targets fluid distribution in the lower limbs, to directly influence CSF and may be a promising countermeasure to help reduce increases in CSF.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to demonstrate the ability of lower body negative pressure to directly influence cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the optic nerve, indicating potential use as a countermeasure for increased cerebrospinal fluid on Earth or in space

Increased hypothalamus and mammillary bodies volumes in chronic schizophrenia

Increased hypothalamus and mammillary bodies volumes in chronic schizophreni