A comparison in pediatric dental website design from a guardian and pediatric dentists’ perspective.

Purpose: This project aims to determine which aspects of pediatric dental practice websites are preferable to the guardians of pediatric dental patients and which of these aspects are currently available to guardians on the websites of pediatric dental practices across the United States. The comparison will reveal if practice websites are meeting the needs of the guardians of pediatric dental patients. Our hope is to provide meaningful guidance to pediatric dentists designing new practice websites and to provide the guardians of pediatric dental patients with an appealing online experience during their use of the aforementioned websites. Methods: A survey with questions regarding design features of pediatric dental practices was administered to the guardians of pediatric dental patients in 3 private practices within an hour drive of Richmond, Virginia. Guardians responded to 16 website characteristics using a numeric scale to indicate desirability. In parallel, a website audit was performed on a representative sample of US pediatric dental practice websites to determine the presence of the same 16 features to allow for comparisons. In addition, guardians also rated sample web pages and answered questions regarding website use and demographics. Results: A total of 51 guardians completed the survey across 3 practices. The majority of respondents were female (36, 71%) and had private insurance (n=43, 84%). Guardians were predominantly between the ages of 25 and 54 (49, 98%) and the majority of the children they represented were between the ages of 5 and 13 (69%). The guardians rated the homepage image showing diverse children (p\u3c0.0001), the “About the Doctor” section in structured list format (p\u3c0.0001) and the location of the contact information banner at top and right side (p\u3c0.0020, p\u3c0.0148 respectively) significantly higher than the other options. The guardians also ranked the homepage information banner location at the top of the page higher than at the bottom but this was not significant (p=0.0528). The guardians also rated 6 features of pediatric dental websites at a level of importance above 50 percent while these features were present on less than 30 percent of the websites audited. These features are online payments, a search function, before and after pictures of treatments, a chat box for communication with the office, video testimonials from guardians and patients and ways the dental practice gives back to the community. Half of the guardians (n=26, 51%) agreed or strongly agreed the website was a factor in the decision to become a patient of a particular dental practice (p=0.0001) and this group visited an average of 2.5 websites before deciding to become a patient at a specific dental practice. Conclusion: Regarding available features, guardians’ preferences seem to differ from what is currently available on pediatric dental websites. Pediatric dentists need to consider adding certain convenience features to their websites to allow a more aesthetic and useful experience for the guardians of their patients. Guardians prefer photos of children with diverse ethnic backgrounds on the homepage of pediatric dental websites. Guardians who use websites to choose a practice reported visiting an average of 2.5 pediatric dental practices’ websites before choosing which pediatric dentist to visit

Self-Perceived Health and Outlook Among the Rural Elderly

Differences in life outlook and self-perceived health often attributed to age differences among the elderly were found to be more accurately explained by education. The young-old (62-74 years) and the old-old (75 years and older) were compared among 495 elderly in two rural counties in western Arkansas. The old-old were more likely than the young-old to perceive their health as better than that of others their age. But when six variables including age were entered into a predictive model for self-perceived health, differences were explained by education. That is, those with better educations rated their health more positively. There was no difference between the two age groups in sick days, although the old-old reported more days hospitalized and trips to the doctor. However, no predictive model for health status measured was statistically significant. On measures of life satisfaction, the old-old were slightly more pessimistic than the young-old. But the age difference in life outlook was explained by education when the data were controlled for other variables. The customary division of the elderly into young-old and old-old is questioned, and policy implications of the findings are discussed

Effects of non-universal large scales on conditional structure functions in turbulence

We report measurements of conditional Eulerian and Lagrangian structure functions in order to assess the effects of non-universal properties of the large scales on the small scales in turbulence. We study a 1m $\times$ 1m $\times$ 1.5m flow between oscillating grids which produces $R_\lambda=285$ while containing regions of nearly homogeneous and highly inhomogeneous turbulence. Large data sets of three-dimensional tracer particle velocities have been collected using stereoscopic high speed cameras with real-time image compression technology. Eulerian and Lagrangian structure functions are measured in both homogeneous and inhomogeneous regions of the flow. We condition the structure functions on the instantaneous large scale velocity or on the grid phase. At all scales, the structure functions depend strongly on the large scale velocity, but are independent of the grid phase. We see clear signatures of inhomogeneity near the oscillating grids, but even in the homogeneous region in the center we see a surprisingly strong dependence on the large scale velocity that remains at all scales. Previous work has shown that similar correlations extend to very high Reynolds numbers. Comprehensive measurements of these effects in a laboratory flow provide a powerful tool for assessing the effects of shear, inhomogeneity and intermittency of the large scales on the small scales in turbulence

Coarse-Grained Simulations of Membranes under Tension

We investigate the properties of membranes under tension by Monte-Carlo simulations of a generic coarse-grained model for lipid bilayers. We give a comprising overview of the behavior of several membrane characteristics, such as the area per lipid, the monolayer overlap, the nematic order, and pressure profiles. Both the low-temperature regime, where the membranes are in a gel phase, and the high-temperature regime, where they are in the fluid phase, are considered. In the gel state, the membrane is hardly influenced by tension. In the fluid state, high tensions lead to structural changes in the membrane, which result in different compressibility regimes. The ripple state, which is found at tension zero in the transition regime between the fluid and the gel phase, disappears under tension and gives way to an interdigitated phase. We also study the membrane fluctuations in the fluid phase. In the low tension regime the data can be fitted nicely to a suitably extended elastic theory. At higher tensions the elastic fit consistently underestimates the strength of long-wavelength fluctuations. Finally, we investigate the influence of tension on the effective interaction between simple transmembrane inclusions and show that tension can be used to tune the hydrophobic mismatch interaction between membrane proteins.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in The Journal of Chemical Physic

Ordered Clusters and Dynamical States of Particles in a Vibrated Fluid

Reports the discovery and explanation of ordered arrangements of particles that are immersed in a fluid. When they move with respect to the fluid, dynamical forces arise that are mediated by the fluid. These forces lead to self-assembly of structures. --author-supplied descriptio

Impulsive Behaviors in Patients With Pathological Buying

Aim To investigate impulsive behaviors in pathological buying (PB). Methods The study included three groups matched for age and gender: treatment seeking outpatients with PB (PB+), treatment seeking psychiatric inpatients without PB (PB−), and a healthy control group (HC). PB was assessed by means of the Compulsive Buying Scale and by the impulse control disorder (ICD) module of the research version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-ICD). All participants answered questionnaires concerning symptoms of borderline personality disorder, self-harming behaviors, binge eating and symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In addition, comorbid ICDs were assessed using the SCID-ICD. Results The PB+ and PB− groups did not differ with regard to borderline personality disorder or ADHD symptoms, but both groups reported significantly more symptoms than the HC group. Frequencies of self-harming behaviors did not differ between the three groups. Patients with PB were more often diagnosed with any current ICD (excluding PB) compared to those without PB and the HC group (38.7% vs. 12.9% vs. 12.9%, respectively, p=.017). Discussion Our findings confirm prior research suggesting more impulsive behaviors in patients with and without PB compared to healthy controls. The results of the questionnaire-based assessment indicate that outpatients with PB perceive themselves equally impulsive and self-harm as frequently as inpatients without PB; but they seem to suffer more often from an ICD as assessed by means of an interview

Host Kinase Activity is Required for Coxiella burnetii Parasitophorous Vacuole Formation

Coxiella burnetii is the etiologic agent of human Q fever and targets alveolar phagocytic cells in vivo wherein the pathogen generates a phagolysosome-like parasitophorous vacuole (PV) for replication. C. burnetii displays a prolonged growth cycle, making PV maintenance critical for bacterial survival. Previous studies showed that C. burnetii mediates activation of eukaryotic kinases to inhibit cell death, indicating the importance of host signaling during infection. In the current study, we examined the role of eukaryotic kinase signaling in PV establishment. A panel of 113 inhibitors was analyzed for their impact on C. burnetii infection of human THP-1 macrophage-like cells and HeLa cells. Inhibition of 11 kinases or two phosphatases altered PV formation and prevented pathogen growth, with most inhibitor-treated cells harboring organisms in tight-fitting phagosomes, indicating kinase/phosphatase activation is required for PV maturation. Five inhibitors targeted protein kinase C (PKC), suggesting a critical role for this protein during intracellular growth. The PKC-specific substrate MARCKS was phosphorylated at 24 h post-infection and remained phosphorylated through 5 days post-infection, indicating prolonged regulation of the PKC pathway by C. burnetii. Infection also altered the activation status of p38, myosin light chain kinase, and cAMP-dependent protein kinase, suggesting C. burnetii subverts numerous phosphorylation cascades. These results underscore the importance of intracellular host signaling for C. burnetii PV biogenesis