Promotion of knowledge and awareness of parents in HK about infant oral health care

Aim: To promote the knowledge and awareness of infant oral health (OH) care among Hong Kong parents with children aged 0 to 2 years through an interactive workshop and to evaluate its effectiveness. Methods: Parents were recruited from government-registered childcare centers and private playgroups. Interactive workshops consisted of a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation and 20 minutes of small-group activities, which included infant oral hygiene instruction with custom-made infant dentition models, diet analysis and question-and-answer session. Self-completed questionnaires used to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of parents were distributed before and after the workshops. Scores on general OH knowledge (range=0-18), infant OH knowledge (0-10) and parent’s attitude (0-4) were computed. Scores of at least 70% were considered proficient. Results: Among the 111 participants (aged 26 to 54 years, 64% mothers), 96% had a child aged 0 to 30 months. 30% had their children’s mouth cleaned at least twice a day. Only one participant had brought his/her child to see a dentist. Weaker aspects in parents’ OH knowledge and common misconceptions were identified in the pre-survey. Only 35% identified frequent meals as an increased caries risk; only 59% and 79% identified starchy food and formula milk as cariogenic food respectively. 58% did not know water fluoridation can prevent caries, while 33% of parents pointed out calcium supplement can prevent caries. Before the workshop, 41% had proficient general OH knowledge (mean=11.9) and 16% had proficient infant OH knowledge (mean=4.8). Over half of parents showed positive attitude (mean=3.4). Significant improvements in general OH knowledge (mean=15.6, p<0.001), infant OH knowledge (mean=8.8, p<0.001) and attitude (mean=3.9, p<0.001) were observed. Parents reflected the workshops were useful (94%) and they learned new practices to improve their infants’ OH (95%). Conclusion: Several deficiencies in oral health knowledge and behaviour are identified. The interactive workshops can effectively promote the knowledge and awareness of infant oral health care among parents with children aged 0 to 2 years. Large-scale infant oral health survey is needed. Interactive workshops with longer follow-up periods are recommended. More guidelines can be provided to parents and general dentists for prevention of caries.published_or_final_versio

Attenuation of fatty liver and prevention of hypercholesterolemia by extract of Curcuma longa through regulating the expression of CYP7A1, LDL-receptor, HO-1, and HMG-CoA reductase

The extract of Curcuma longa, better known as turmeric, was orally administered to experimental rats that were fed a high-cholesterol diet to investigate whether it could regulate plasma lipids and cholesterol levels and possibly improve hepatic conditions. With turmeric supplements, rats showed a significant decrease in total plasma cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol but an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol when compared with rats that were fed a high-cholesterol diet alone. Fatty liver developed in hypercholesterolemic rats with the high-cholesterol diet treatment, and this condition was markedly improved when rats were provided with turmeric supplements at 100 mg/kg or 300 mg/kg of body mass. The turmeric treatment resulted in a significant decrease in the total amount of hepatic lipid. Histological staining of liver tissues with Sudan III and hematoxylin showed that rats fed with a high-cholesterol diet alone had more and larger granular fat bodies than rats having turmeric extract supplementation in their high-cholesterol diet. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to assess the expression levels of enzymes involved in fat metabolism and cellular homeostasis in experimental rat livers. The results showed that rats fed a high-cholesterol diet supplemented with turmeric extract had a significant increase in the expression of cholesterol 7 α-hydroxylase, hemeoxygenase 1, and low-density lipoprotein receptors but a significant decrease in 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase level when compared with rats fed a normal or high-cholesterol diet, showing that turmeric prevents hypercholesterolemia and the formation of fatty liver by the modulation of expressions of enzymes that are important to cholesterol metabolism

Effects and mechanism of turmeric vasorelaxation of the thoracic aorta in hypercholesterolemic rats

An extract of Curcuma longa was tested in hypercholesterolemic rats to investigate its potential therapeutic effect on vascular conditions. Four experimental groups were used: normal diet (ND) control group, high cholesterol diet (HCD) group, and HCD subgroups supplemented with turmeric extract at 100 or 300 mg/kg of body weight (HCD100Tur and HCD300Tur groups, respectively). Turmeric extract was fed orally to animals, and dietary treatments lasted for 28 days. Hypercholesterolemia developed in the HCD, HCD100Tur, and HCD300Tur rats. Segments of the thoracic aorta were isolated, and an organ bath experiment was used to assess the vasorelaxation capability among all rats. Rats fed only HCD showed a marked decrease in acetylcholine-induced vasorelaxation compared with ND control rats. The HCD100Tur and HCD300Tur rats showed significant improvement in vasorelaxation compared with HCD rats. When vasorelaxation was induced by high concentrations of sodium nitroprusside, no differences in vasorelaxation were observed among the four groups of rats. A mechanistic study showed that HCD100Tur and HCD300Tur rats had significantly higher levels of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase than HCD rats. The transcript levels of heat shock protein 70 (hsp70), bcl2, bax-α, caspase (casp3), and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase in aortic tissues indicated that hypercholesterolemia significantly increased the expression of bax-α and casp3 but down-regulated bcl2 expression compared with the control group. Turmeric increased the expression of hsp70 and bcl2 but greatly reduced casp3 expression, indicating that turmeric improves vasorelaxation of the aorta in hypercholesterolemic rats by increasing antioxidant enzyme activities and likely suppressing apoptosis

Optimizing the frequency of physician encounters in follow - up care for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review

Abstract Background Decisions on the frequency of physician encounters for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have significant impacts on both patients’ health outcomes and burden on health systems, whereas definitive intervals for physician encounters are still lacking in most clinical guidelines. This study systematically reviewed the existing evidence evaluating different frequencies of physician encounters among T2DM patients. Methods Systematic search of studies evaluating different visit frequencies for follow - up care in T2DM patients was performed in MEDLINE Ovid, Embase Ovid, and Cochrane library from database inception to 25 March 2022. Studies on the follow - up encounters driven by non - physicians and those on the episodic visits in the acute care settings were excluded in the screening. Citation searching was conducted via Google Scholar on the identified papers after screening. The risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane RoB2 tool for randomized controlled trials and Newcastle - Ottawa Scale for cohort studies. Findings were summarized narratively. Results Among 6363 records from the database search and 231 references from the citation search, 12 articles were eligible for in - depth review. The results showed that for patients who had not achieved cardiometabolic control, intensifying encounter frequency could enhance medication adherence, shorten the time to achieve the treatment target, and improve the patients’ quality of life. However, for the patients who had already achieved the treatment targets, less frequent encounters were equivalent to intensive encounters in maintaining their cardiometabolic control, and could save considerable healthcare costs without substantially lowering the quality of care and patients’ satisfaction. Conclusion Existing evidence suggested that the optimal frequency of physician encounters for patients with T2DM should be individualized, which can be stratified by patients’ risk levels based on the cardiometabolic control to guide the differential scheduling of physician encounters in the follow - up. More research is needed to determine how to optimize the frequency of physician encounters for this large and heterogeneous population

Identification of disulfide isomerase ERp57 as a target for small molecule cardioprotective agent

We previously reported a novel danshensu analogue known as ADTM, which exhibited strong protective effects against oxidative stress-induced cellular injury and acute ischemic myocardial infarct in rat; however, the exact protein target of ADTM has not been fully characterized. In the present study, a biotin-conjugated ADTM analogue (BAA) was employed as molecular probe to identify its protein targets. BAA exhibited similar protective effect against oxidative stress-induced cell injury in H9c2 cardiomyoblast. A chemical proteomic approach identified ERp57 as the specific target for BAA. Further evaluation with Western blot and immunofluorescence staining assays confirmed the direct interactions between BAA and ERp57. Moreover, BAA displayed potent inhibitory effect on the catalytic activity of ERp57 in the insulin reduction assay. Molecular docking showed that BAA bound at the active site of ERp57. These data suggested that ERp57 is a potential target of cardioprotective danshensu analogues, and provided the basis for the further optimization of the cardioprotective compounds

Additional file 1 of Optimizing the frequency of physician encounters in follow - up care for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review

Additional file 1: Supplementary Figure 1. Summary of risk of bias assessment for the included studies Randomized controlled trials (assessed by the Cochrane RoB2 tool). Supplementary Figure 2. Histogram plot for the findings in the sensitivity analysis after excluding the studies without specifying the type of diabetes1

Birth ball for pregnant women in labour research protocol: a multi-centre randomised controlled trial

Abstract Background Birth ball is one of the non-pharmacologic pain relief methods to help mothers cope with the labouring process. A randomised controlled trial (RCT) is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness, safety and harm of birth ball use by pregnant women in labour compared to treatment as usual group. Methods A prospective multi-centre randomised controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted in Obstetrics and Gynaecological units of five public hospitals in Hong Kong, China. Data will be collected from March 2016 onward for 2 years. The target population is Chinese women with an uncomplicated singleton pregnancy at gestational age of 37 to 42 weeks. Participants are randomised based on parity (nulliparous and multiparous) and type of labour onset (spontaneous and induced). Women in the intervention group are actively offered and taught how to use a birth ball; those in the control group receive the usual midwifery care. The target sample size is 512. The primary outcome measures are maternal pain intensity, satisfaction with pain relief, sense of control in labour, assisted delivery and satisfaction with childbirth experience. Labour pain relief is measured by visual analogue scale (VAS). Other outcomes will be measured through four different validated questionnaires. To control for potential cluster effects, a linear mixed model will be used. An intention-to-treat analysis is adopted and performed by researchers unknown to subjects’ group allocation. Discussion Results will provide rigorous scientific evidence for policy development and practice. We are using stratified randomisation according to potential confounders of parity and type of labour onset to give four possible combinations. If the results are favourable, it will facilitate systematic implementation to promote birth ball use for women in labour. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Register (ChiCTR), Registration number: ChiCTR-IIC-16008275, Date of registration 12 April 2016 (retrospectively registered), Date of enrolment of the first participant to the trial 1 March 2016

Role(s) of [Ca²⁺]_o and [Ca²⁺]_i in mediating the effects of simvastatin on AMPK and PP2A activities.

<p>(A) Effects of simvastatin (10 μM), with and without ryanodine (100 μM) pre-treatment, on [Ca²⁺]_i changes (F₁/F₀) of porcine coronary artery myocytes, estimated using Fluo-4/AM with confocal laser scanning microscope. (B) Summary of [Ca²⁺]_i changes in response to simvastatin (10 μM) before and after ryanodine (100 μM) challenges. Results are expressed (Area Under Curve, AUC) as mean ± SEM of 13–15 cells (***<i>P</i><0.001). (C) Summary of the effects of ryanodine (100 μM) on simvastatin (10 μM)- or AICAR (1 mM)-induced protein expression of p-AMPK/total AMPK in porcine coronary artery. *<i>P</i><0.05 and **<i>P</i><0.01 compared to controls (i.e. time 0). (D) Summary of the effects of caffeine (1 mM) on the protein expression of p-AMPK/total AMPK in porcine coronary artery, with and without ryanodine (100 μM). *<i>P</i><0.05 and **<i>P</i><0.01 compared to controls (i.e. time 0). (E) Effect of ryanodine (100 μM) on simvastatin (10 μM)-induced protein expression of p-PP2A/total PP2A in porcine coronary artery. *<i>P</i><0.05 and **<i>P</i><0.01 compared to controls (i.e. time 0). (F) Summary of the effect of simvastatin (10 μM), AICAR (1 mM) and caffeine (1 mM) on the protein expression of p-PP2A/total PP2A, with and without KN93 (10 μM) in porcine coronary artery. *<i>P</i><0.05 and **<i>P</i><0.01 compared to controls (i.e. time 0).</p