Concordance between Clinical Practice and Published Evidence: Findings from The National Dental Practice-Based Research Network

Documenting the gap between what is occurring in clinical practice and what published research suggests is an important step toward improving care. This study quantified concordance between clinical practice and published evidence across preventive, diagnostic and treatment procedures among a sample of dentists in the National Dental Practice-Based Research Network

Dark sectors 2016 Workshop: community report

This report, based on the Dark Sectors workshop at SLAC in April 2016, summarizes the scientific importance of searches for dark sector dark matter and forces at masses beneath the weak-scale, the status of this broad international field, the important milestones motivating future exploration, and promising experimental opportunities to reach these milestones over the next 5-10 years

Azithromycin resistance in Escherichia coli and Salmonella from food-producing animals and meat in Europe.

OBJECTIVES To characterize the genetic basis of azithromycin resistance in Escherichia coli and Salmonella collected within the EU harmonized antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance programme in 2014-18 and the Danish AMR surveillance programme in 2016-19. METHODS WGS data of 1007 E. coli [165 azithromycin resistant (MIC > 16 mg/L)] and 269 Salmonella [29 azithromycin resistant (MIC > 16 mg/L)] were screened for acquired macrolide resistance genes and mutations in rplDV, 23S rRNA and acrB genes using ResFinder v4.0, AMRFinder Plus and custom scripts. Genotype-phenotype concordance was determined for all isolates. Transferability of mef(C)-mph(G)-carrying plasmids was assessed by conjugation experiments. RESULTS mph(A), mph(B), mef(B), erm(B) and mef(C)-mph(G) were detected in E. coli and Salmonella, whereas erm(C), erm(42), ere(A) and mph(E)-msr(E) were detected in E. coli only. The presence of macrolide resistance genes, alone or in combination, was concordant with the azithromycin-resistant phenotype in 69% of isolates. Distinct mph(A) operon structures were observed in azithromycin-susceptible (n = 50) and -resistant (n = 136) isolates. mef(C)-mph(G) were detected in porcine and bovine E. coli and in porcine Salmonella enterica serovar Derby and Salmonella enterica 1,4, [5],12:i:-, flanked downstream by ISCR2 or TnAs1 and associated with IncIγ and IncFII plasmids. CONCLUSIONS Diverse azithromycin resistance genes were detected in E. coli and Salmonella from food-producing animals and meat in Europe. Azithromycin resistance genes mef(C)-mph(G) and erm(42) appear to be emerging primarily in porcine E. coli isolates. The identification of distinct mph(A) operon structures in susceptible and resistant isolates increases the predictive power of WGS-based methods for in silico detection of azithromycin resistance in Enterobacterales

Management of Class I and Class II Amalgam Restorations with Localized Defects: Five-Year Results

Replacement of dental restorations has been the traditional treatment for defective restorations. This five-year prospective clinical trial evaluated amalgam restorations with localized defects that were treated by means of repair or refurbishing. Fifty-two patients (50% female and 50% male, mean age 28.3±18.1 years, range 18–80) with 160 class I and class II defective restorations were included. The study focused on the application of two minimally invasive treatments for localized restoration defects and compared these with no treatment and total replacement as negative and positive controls, respectively. Restorations were assessed by two calibrated examiners according to modified U.S. Public Health Service criteria, including marginal adaptation, anatomic form, secondary caries, and roughness. At five years, recall was examined in 45 patients with 108 restorations (67.5%). The results suggest that repair treatment is as effective as total replacement of restorations with localized defects, reducing biological costs to the patient and providing new tools to the clinician. Refinishing restoration is a useful treatment for localized anatomic form defects

Dentists' dietary perception and practice patterns in a dental practice-based research network.

Dental caries are largely preventable, and epidemiological evidence for a relationship between diet and oral health is abundant. To date, however, dentists' perceptions about the role of diet and dentists' practice patterns regarding diet counseling have not been clarified.THE PURPOSES OF THIS STUDY WERE TO: (1) examine discordance between dentists' perception of the importance of diet in caries treatment planning and their actual provision of diet counseling to patients, and (2) identify dentists' characteristics associated with their provision of diet counseling.The study used a cross-sectional study design consisting of a questionnaire survey in Japan.The study queried dentists working in outpatient dental practices who were affiliated with the Dental Practice-Based Research Network Japan (JDPBRN), which aims to allow dentists to investigate research questions and share experiences and expertise (n = 282).Dentists were asked about their perceptions on the importance of diet and their practice patterns regarding diet counseling, as well as patient, practice, and dentist background data.The majority of participants (n = 116, 63%) recognized that diet is "more important" to oral health. However, among participants who think diet is "more important" (n = 116), only 48% (n = 56) provide diet counseling to more than 20% of their patients. Multiple logistic regression analysis suggested that several variables were associated with providing diet counseling; dentist gender, practice busyness, percentage of patients interested in caries prevention, caries risk assessment, and percentage of patients who receive blood pressure screening.Some discordance exists between dentists' perception of the importance of diet in caries treatment planning and their actual practice pattern regarding diet counseling to patients. Reducing this discordance may require additional dentist education, including nutritional and systemic disease concepts; patient education to increase perception of the importance of caries prevention; or removing barriers to practices' implementation of counseling.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01680848

Change in stated clinical practice associated with participation in the Dental Practice-Based Research Network

Clinical researchers have attempted many methods to translate scientific evidence into routine clinical practice, with varying success. Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) provide an important, practitioner-friendly venue to test these methods. Dentist practitioner-investigators from “The Dental PBRN” (DPBRN) completed a detailed questionnaire about how they diagnose and treat dental caries. Next, they received a customized report that compared their answers to answers from all other practitioner-investigators. Then, 126 attended DPBRN's first network-wide meeting of practitioner-investigators from all five of its regions. Certain questions were repeated and new ones were asked about intention to change how they diagnose or treat dental caries. Less than one-third of practitioner-investigators intended to change how they diagnose or treat caries as a result of receiving the customized report. However, as a result of the meeting, the majority of these same practitioner-investigators stated an intention to change toward a more-conservative, less surgically-invasive, approach. These findings are consistent with the notion that the highly-interactive meeting with fellow practitioner-investigators may be an effective means to translate scientific findings into clinical practice. Practitioner-investigators are open to changing how they treat patients as a result of engaging fellow practitioner-investigators in the scientific process