Non-surgical periodontal therapy improves oral health-related quality of life

AIM: The influence of non-surgical periodontal therapy on oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL) was investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-five Chinese adults (25 men, mean 47.4 years) with moderate-to-advanced chronic periodontitis were recruited. All received oral hygiene instructions (OHI) and non-surgical periodontal treatment in a quadrant-wise approach, followed by recalls at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post treatment, when OHI and prophylaxis were repeated. Clinical parameters were recorded, and oral health impact profile short-form (OHIP-14S) was administered at all time points. RESULTS: Moderate-to-deep sites (>/=4 mm) decreased from 31.0% to 3.0% at 12 months post treatment (p < 0.005) which corresponded well with reductions in plaque, 72.8% to 25.4% (p < 0.005) and bleeding on probing, 86.3% to 32.0% (p < 0.005). Median OHIP-14S scores gradually reduced from 17 at baseline to 14 over the first 6 months and remained plateaued at 12-month post treatment (p < 0.005). Improvements in subdomains of physical pain, psychological discomfort and psychological disability accounted for the changes. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that OHQoL, in particular, pain and psychological subdomains, improvement was associated with non-surgical periodontal therapy responses. Clinicians could capitalize upon the positive psychological OHQoL impacts of mechanical periodontal treatment for subsequent patient-centred motivation during maintenance therapy.postprin

Effects of smoking on healing response to non-surgical periodontal therapy: A multilevel modelling analysis

Wan CP, Leung WK, Wong MCM, Wong RMS, Wan P, Lo ECM, Corbet EF. Effects of smoking on healing response to non-surgical periodontal therapy: a multilevel modelling analysis. J Clin Periodontol 2009; 36: 229-239. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-051X.2008.01371.x. Abstract Aim: To investigate the factors predicting non-surgical periodontal treatment responses using multilevel multiple regression. Material and Methods: Forty men (mean 45.6 years) were recruited; 20 were smokers. A 12-month reduction in probing pocket depth (PPD) and gain in probing attachment level (PAL) of 5814 sites were analysed, with 594 being initially diseased sites (initial PPD≥5 mm). Results: Variance Component models showed that site-level variations contributed about 70-90% of the total variance. About a 10% reduction of the total variations of PPD reduction in initially diseased sites was achieved with the inclusion of the 10 predictors in the multilevel multiple regression. Multilevel multiple regression showed that three predictors, subject level: non-smokers; tooth-level: anterior teeth; and site level: sites without plaque at baseline, were significantly associated with a greater reduction in PPD in initially diseased sites over the 12-month study period (p<0.05). No consistent predictor was found for PAL gain. Conclusion: Multilevel analysis was applied on periodontal treatment response data. Smokers showed less favourable PPD reduction at deep sites after non-surgical periodontal therapy. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S.postprin

Oral health-related quality of life changes upon non-surgical periodontal therapy

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Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Gravitational Waves and Gamma-Rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A

On 2017 August 17, the gravitational-wave event GW170817 was observed by the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors, and the gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB 170817A was observed independently by the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, and the Anti-Coincidence Shield for the Spectrometer for the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory. The probability of the near-simultaneous temporal and spatial observation of GRB 170817A and GW170817 occurring by chance is $5.0\times {10}^{-8}$. We therefore confirm binary neutron star mergers as a progenitor of short GRBs. The association of GW170817 and GRB 170817A provides new insight into fundamental physics and the origin of short GRBs. We use the observed time delay of $(+1.74\pm 0.05)\,{\rm{s}}$ between GRB 170817A and GW170817 to: (i) constrain the difference between the speed of gravity and the speed of light to be between $-3\times {10}^{-15}$ and $+7\times {10}^{-16}$ times the speed of light, (ii) place new bounds on the violation of Lorentz invariance, (iii) present a new test of the equivalence principle by constraining the Shapiro delay between gravitational and electromagnetic radiation. We also use the time delay to constrain the size and bulk Lorentz factor of the region emitting the gamma-rays. GRB 170817A is the closest short GRB with a known distance, but is between 2 and 6 orders of magnitude less energetic than other bursts with measured redshift. A new generation of gamma-ray detectors, and subthreshold searches in existing detectors, will be essential to detect similar short bursts at greater distances. Finally, we predict a joint detection rate for the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor and the Advanced LIGO and Virgo detectors of 0.1-1.4 per year during the 2018-2019 observing run and 0.3-1.7 per year at design sensitivity

Search for gravitational waves associated with gamma-ray bursts detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO–Virgo run O3b

We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC–2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: a generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for subthreshold gravitational-wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each GRB. Finally, we constrain the population of low-luminosity short GRBs using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate

Modern periodontal therapy - What could be achieved and how relevant is it to our patients?

Meeting Theme: The Past, Present and Future of Periodontolog

Atypical Presentation of Congenital Tuberculosis in a Preterm Infant

Hong Kong is endemic for tuberculosis but congenital or perinatal tuberculosis is a rare entity. We describe a case of congenital tuberculosis in a premature infant with atypical presentation both in the mother and the baby.link_to_OA_fulltex

Changes in epidemioloyg of extremely low birth weight infants (ELBW): implications for resource use

The 13th Asian Pacific Congress of Pediatrics (APCP) and the 3rd Asian Pacific Congress of Pediatric Nursing, Shanghai, China, 14-18 October 2009