The Historical Roots of Visual Analog Scale in Psychology as Revealed by Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy

Background: Many researchers have been using the visual analog scale (VAS) to acquire psychometric measurements from participants. Several recent studies have consistently pointed to Hayes and Patterson (1921) as the origin of the VAS method. The primary objectives of the current study were to identify the historical root of VAS by cited reference analysis and confirm if it was Hayes and Patterson (1921).Methods: The Web of Science database was searched to identify psychology papers dealing with VAS. The full records and their cited references were extracted and imported into CRExplorer for further analysis. A “reference publication year spectroscopy” (RPYS) was plotted to identify the seminal references.Results: We analyzed 32,569 references cited by 958 articles. There were 21 RPYS peaks ranging from year 1921 to 2007. We were able to identify (Hayes and Patterson, 1921) from the first peak. Furthermore, we were able to identify a total of seven seminal references that are directly relevant to VAS. Two of them were related to “graphic rating method,” three were VAS-validation studies, one was a review on the usage of VAS, and one compared reported results using VAS and Likert scale.Conclusions: Cited reference analysis with a RPYS plot succeeded in identifying and confirming (Hayes and Patterson, 1921) as the origin of VAS. This method has overcome the limitations of conventional citation analysis, namely the issues of being not indexed, not identified by pre-defined search keywords, and not being all-time most cited

Bone regeneration at the distal aspect of the adjacent second molar after lower third molar coronectomy: a long-term analysis

Abstract. A residual bone defect at the distal aspect of the adjacent second molar may occur after total removal of the lower third molar. Lower third molar coronectomy has been proved to be a safe alternative to total removal, but the extent of bone regeneration at the adjacent tooth after coronectomy is not well reported. The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the long-term bone regeneration at the distal aspect of the adjacent second molar after lower third molar coronectomy. Preoperative and postoperative cone beam computed tomography scans were measured to assess bone regeneration at the distobuccal (DB), mid-distal (MD), and distolingual (DL) aspects of the lower second molar. Forty-eight coronectomies in 37 patients (23 female) with a mean �(standard deviation) age of 29.1 (7.2) years were assessed. The mean follow-up was 93.2 (8.7) months. The mean bone level increase at DB, MD, and DL aspects was 3.2 (1.6) mm, 3.5 (1.5) mm, and 3.2 (1.6) mm, respectively; the bone levels were significantly higher than the preoperative measurements (P < 0.001). Age and impaction patterns were not factors affecting bone regeneration. Based on this study, it appears that coronectomy of the lower third molar brings favourable bone regeneration at the distal aspect of the adjacent second molar

Adverse childhood experiences and dental anxiety among Chinese adults in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional study

IntroductionThis study aimed to investigate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and dental anxiety among Chinese adults in Hong Kong.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted at a university in Hong Kong. The recruiting period and data collection started in January 2023 and ended in June 2023. Participants completed an online questionnaire that assessed ACEs (using the Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire – ACE-IQ) and dental anxiety (using the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale – MDAS and Dental Fear Survey – DFS). The study examined the impacts of both cumulative (i.e., total number) and independent ACE components on dental anxiety. To explore the relationships between cumulative ACEs, individual ACE components and dental anxiety (MDAS and DFS score), Pearson correlations, linear regression and logistic regression were conducted.ResultsSignificant associations were observed between ACEs and dental anxiety among 171 subjects. Cumulative ACEs were positively correlated with MDAS scores (r = 0.169, p = 0.027) and DFS scores (r = 0.253, p &lt; 0.001). The odds of an individual having high dental anxiety increased by 26–43% for every additional increase in the number of ACEs. Individual types of ACEs, such as emotional and physical neglect, sexual abuse, and household substance abuse, significantly influenced the likelihood of having high dental anxiety.DiscussionThe results showed a positive association between ACEs and dental anxiety, highlighting the impact of ACEs on dental anxiety. Dental practitioners should consider inquiring about a patient’s ACE history to develop personalized treatment plans

How Does Our Brain Process Sugars and Non-Nutritive Sweeteners Differently: A Systematic Review on Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Studies

This systematic review aimed to reveal the differential brain processing of sugars and sweeteners in humans. Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies published up to 2019 were retrieved from two databases and were included into the review if they evaluated the effects of both sugars and sweeteners on the subjects&rsquo; brain responses, during tasting and right after ingestion. Twenty studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The number of participants per study ranged from 5 to 42, with a total number of study participants at 396. Seven studies recruited both males and females, 7 were all-female and 6 were all-male. There was no consistent pattern showing that sugar or sweeteners elicited larger brain responses. Commonly involved brain regions were insula/operculum, cingulate and striatum, brainstem, hypothalamus and the ventral tegmental area. Future studies, therefore, should recruit a larger sample size, adopt a standardized fasting duration (preferably 12 h overnight, which is the most common practice and brain responses are larger in the state of hunger), and reported results with familywise-error rate (FWE)-corrected statistics. Every study should report the differential brain activation between sugar and non-nutritive sweetener conditions regardless of the complexity of their experiment design. These measures would enable a meta-analysis, pooling data across studies in a meaningful manner

Reject Rates of Radiographic Images in Dentomaxillofacial Radiology: A Literature Review

This report surveyed the image reject rates of intra-oral, extra-oral, and cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging in the academic literature. PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were queried in mid-April 2021. Manual screening of the reference lists of the identified publications was performed to identify papers missed from the database search. All publications returned by the searches were initially included. Exclusion criteria included irrelevance, no reporting of reject rate, no access to the article, and not original article. The total number of images and the number of rejects were recorded for each type of radiographic images. Factors and commonest errors associated with the rejects were recorded. Twenty-six original articles were identified and reviewed. The average reject rate was 11.25% for bitewings, 16.38% for periapicals, 4.10% for panoramics, 6.08% for lateral cephalography, and 2.77% for CBCT. Positioning error and patient movement were two common reasons for the rejects. The average reject rates computed from data pooled across studies should form the reference values for quality assurance programs to follow. Future reject analysis studies should report more radiographic parameters such as type of collimation for intra-oral radiography and patient posture for CBCT

Human brain responses to gustatory and food stimuli: A meta-evaluation of neuroimaging meta-analyses

Multiple neuroimaging meta-analyses have been published concerning gustation, food and taste. A meta-evaluation of these meta-analyses was conducted to qualitatively evaluate the presented evidence. A systematic search was done using multiple databases, in which no restriction was placed on participants and nature of interventions (stimuli vs control). Twenty-three meta-analyses were identified and analyzed. All of them have met 4-9 criteria, out of 11, from the modified checklist constructed by Müller et al. (2018), which implied moderate to high quality of evidence. One of the concerns we found was that no meta-analysis surveyed had been explicitly pre-registered. Also, only three meta-analyses (13.0%) provided clear explanation of how they accounted for sample overlap. Only six meta-analyses (26.1%) explicitly described how they double checked the data. Only two of the 20 meta-analyses (10.0%) using GingerALE software used both the debugged version (v2.3.6) as well as the recommended cluster-level inference with familywise error rate correction. Overall, meta-analyses are increasingly adopting more stringent statistical thresholds, but unfortunately not larger number of studies contained in the analyse

Lavage Volume of Arthrocentesis in the Management of Temporomandibular Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The aim of this study was to investigate the most effective lavage volume of arthrocentesis in the management of temporomandibular disorders. A comprehensive electronic search, based on the PRISMA guidelines, was performed, which included a computer search with specific keywords, a reference list search and a manual search. The inclusion criteria were the following: a randomized controlled trial, at least 20 subjects who underwent arthrocentesis, mention of the irrigation materials used for the arthrocentesis, mention of the irrigation volumes used for the arthrocentesis, MMO and pain measured as VAS or NRS, were reported as outcome figures, mention of a specific diagnosis or signs and symptoms, and inclusion of the data on the MMO or VAS/NRS at 6-month follow-up. Sixteen publications were enrolled in the meta-analysis, comparing arthrocentesis with a lavage volume &lt;150 mL and arthrocentesis with a lavage volume &ge;150 mL, in the efficacy of the improvement in the mouth opening and pain reduction. The results revealed the group with a lavage volume &lt;150 mL had a greater improvement in the mouth opening and pain reduction. However, results are to be interpreted with caution, due to the paucity of the randomized controlled literature and other confounding factors. Further high-quality studies are required to provide a better conclusion to the treatment outcomes of the different lavage volumes