Makedonien – kostbar kitsch og dyb krise

Den sidste artikel i temaet er Anne Haubeks artikel om Makedonien. Det kan diskute- res om situationen i Makedonien kan defineres som en frossen konflikt i snæver for- stand. Men sikkert er det, at den fastlåste situation i forholdet til Grækenland har sat tilnærmelsen til EU i stå – og at de stigende spændinger mellem slaviske og albanske makedonere har skabt frygt for, at ‘krudttønden’ på Balkan igen kan eksplodere

How Danish dentists and dental hygienists handle their role in child abuse and neglect matters

Objective: To identify how the dental team perceives its role in safeguarding children, to identify barriers to referral to social services, to compare data with data previously reported from Denmark, and to assess if increased focus on safeguarding children has had an effect on how the dental team handles its responsibility to refer to social services. Material and methods: The study is based on a Danish version of a questionnaire previously used in Scotland and Denmark. The questionnaire was sent to a random sample of the Danish dental team. Results: The number of returned questionnaires was 964 (67.0 %) with valid data. Of these, 40.8% had had a suspicion of child abuse or neglect and 50.0 % had referred their concern to social services. Frequently reported barriers to referral were uncertainty about observations, signs, and symptoms of abuse and neglect, and uncertainty about referral procedures. A total of 84 (8.9%) of the respondents had received both undergraduate and postgraduate training on the topic, and 64.4% of the respondents found that the dental staff could recognize signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect. Conclusion: Findings suggest a continuous need for a focus on the awareness and training of the Danish dental staff on the important topic of child abuse and neglect

Identification of the Pangenome and Its Components in 14 Distinct Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans Strains by Comparative Genomic Analysis

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is genetically heterogeneous and comprises distinct clonal lineages that may have different virulence potentials. However, limited information of the strain-to-strain genomic variations is available.The genome sequences of 11 A. actinomycetemcomitans strains (serotypes a-f) were generated de novo, annotated and combined with three previously sequenced genomes (serotypes a-c) for comparative genomic analysis. Two major groups were identified; serotypes a, d, e, and f, and serotypes b and c. A serotype e strain was found to be distinct from both groups. The size of the pangenome was 3,301 genes, which included 2,034 core genes and 1,267 flexible genes. The number of core genes is estimated to stabilize at 2,060, while the size of the pangenome is estimated to increase by 16 genes with every additional strain sequenced in the future. Within each strain 16.7-29.4% of the genome belonged to the flexible gene pool. Between any two strains 0.4-19.5% of the genomes were different. The genomic differences were occasionally greater for strains of the same serotypes than strains of different serotypes. Furthermore, 171 genomic islands were identified. Cumulatively, 777 strain-specific genes were found on these islands and represented 61% of the flexible gene pool.Substantial genomic differences were detected among A. actinomycetemcomitans strains. Genomic islands account for more than half of the flexible genes. The phenotype and virulence of A. actinomycetemcomitans may not be defined by any single strain. Moreover, the genomic variation within each clonal lineage of A. actinomycetemcomitans (as defined by serotype grouping) may be greater than between clonal lineages. The large genomic data set in this study will be useful to further examine the molecular basis of variable virulence among A. actinomycetemcomitans strains

Development of Danish version of child oral-health-related quality of life questionnaires (CPQ8–10 and CPQ11–14)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Child Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ) is a self-reported questionnaire developed to measure oral health-related quality of life in children. The CPQ aims to improve the description of children's oral health, while taking into consideration the importance of psychological aspects in the concept of health. The CPQ exists in two versions: the CPQ_8–10for children aged 8–10 years and the CPQ_11–14for those aged 11–14 years. The aim of this study was to develop a Danish version of the CPQ_8–10and the CPQ_11–14and to evaluate its validity for use among Danish-speaking children.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The instruments were translated from English into Danish in accordance with a recommended translation procedure. Afterwards, they were tested among children aged 8–10 (n = 120) and 11–14 years (n = 225). The validity was expressed by the correlation between overall CPQ scores and i) self-reported assessment of the influence of oral conditions on everyday life (not at all, very little, some, a lot, very much) and ii) the self-reported rating of oral health. Furthermore, groups of children with assumed decreased oral health-related quality of life were compared with children with healthy oral conditions. Finally, we examined the internal consistency.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The correlation between overall CPQ scores and global assessments of the influence of oral conditions on everyday life showed Spearman correlation coefficients of 0.45, <it>P < 0.001 </it>for CPQ_8–10and 0.50, <it>P < 0.001 </it>for CPQ_11–14. The correlation between overall CPQ scores and the self-reported rating of oral health showed Spearman correlation coefficients of 0.45, <it>P < 0.001 </it>for CPQ_8–10and 0.17, P = 0.010 for CPQ_11–14.</p> <p>The median overall CPQ_8–10scores were 7 for individuals with healthy oral conditions, 5 for individuals with cleft lip and palate, and 15 for individuals with rare oral diseases. The median overall CPQ_11–14scores were 9 for individuals with healthy oral conditions, 9 for individuals with cleft lip and palate, 17.0 for individuals with rare oral diseases, and 22.0 for individuals with fixed orthodontic appliances. There were statistically significant differences between the groups of children with healthy oral conditions and each of the subgroups, except for children with cleft lip and palate.</p> <p>Chronbach'α were 0.82 for CPQ_8–10and 0.87 for CPQ_11–14.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study reveal that the Danish CPQ_8–10and CPQ_11–14, seem to be valid instruments for measuring oral health-related quality of life in children although its ability to discriminate between children with cleft lip and palate and healthy children seem to be limited.</p

Mapping the epithelial-cell-binding domain of the Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans autotransporter adhesin Aae

The Gram-negative periodontopathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa) binds selectively to buccal epithelial cells (BECs) of human and Old World primates by means of the outer-membrane autotransporter protein Aae. We speculated that the exposed N-terminal portion of the passenger domain of Aae would mediate binding to BECs. By using a series of plasmids that express full-length or truncated Aae proteins in Escherichia coli, we found that the BEC-binding domain of Aae was located in the N-terminal surface-exposed region of the protein, specifically in the region spanning amino acids 201–284 just upstream of the repeat region within the passenger domain. Peptides corresponding to amino acids 201–221, 222–238 and 201–240 were synthesized and tested for their ability to reduce Aae-mediated binding to BECs based on results obtained with truncated Aae proteins expressed in E. coli. BEC-binding of E. coli expressing Aae was reduced by as much as 50 % by pre-treatment of BECs with a 40-mer peptide (201–240; P40). Aae was also shown to mediate binding to cultured human epithelial keratinocytes (TW2.6), OBA9 and TERT, and endothelial (HUVEC) cells. Pre-treatment of epithelial cells with P40 resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in binding and reduced the binding of both full-length and truncated Aae proteins expressed in E. coli, as well as Aae expressed in Aa. Fluorescently labelled P40 peptides reacted in a dose-dependent manner with BEC receptors. We propose that these proof-of-principle experiments demonstrate that peptides can be designed to interfere with Aa binding mediated by host-cell receptors specific for Aae adhesins

Cerebellar and frontal hypometabolism in alcoholic cerebellar degeneration studied with positron emission tomography

Local cerebral metabolic rate for glucose was studied utilizing 18 F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose and positron emission tomography (PET) in 14 chronically alcohol-dependent patients and 8 normal control subjects of similar age and sex. Nine of the 14 patients (Group A) had clinical signs of alcoholic cerebellar degeneration, and the remaining 5 (Group B) did not have signs of alcoholic cerebellar degeneration. PET studies of Group A revealed significantly decreased local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose in the superior cerebellar vermis in comparison with the normal control subjects. Group B did not show decreased rates in the cerebellum. Both Groups A and B showed decreased local cerebral metabolic rates for glucose bilaterally in the medial frontal area of the cerebral cortex in comparison with the normal control subjects. The severity of the clinical neurological impairment was significantly correlated with the degree of hypometabolism in both the superior cerebellar vermis and the medial frontal region of the cerebral cortex. The degree of atrophy detected in computed tomography scans was significantly correlated with local cerebral metabolic rates in the medial frontal area of the cerebral cortex, but not in the cerebellum. The data indicate that hypometabolism in the superior cerebellar vermis closely follows clinical symptomatology in patients with alcoholic cerebellar degeneration, and does not occur in alcohol-dependent patients without clinical evidence of cerebellar dysfunction. Hypometabolism in the medial frontal region of the cerebral cortex is a prominent finding in alcohol-dependent patients with or without alcoholic cerebellar degeneration.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50340/1/410280608_ftp.pd

Principles of Periodontology

Periodontal diseases are among the most common diseases affecting humans. Dental biofilm is a contributor to the etiology of most periodontal diseases. It is also widely accepted that immunological and inflammatory responses to biofilm components are manifested by signs and symptoms of periodontal disease. The outcome of such interaction is modulated by risk factors (modifiers), either inherent (genetic) or acquired (environmental), significantly affecting the initiation and progression of different periodontal disease phenotypes. While definitive genetic determinants responsible for either susceptibility or resistance to periodontal disease have yet to be identified, many factors affecting the pathogenesis have been described, including smoking, diabetes, obesity, medications, and nutrition. Currently, periodontal diseases are classified based upon clinical disease traits using radiographs and clinical examination. Advances in genomics, molecular biology, and personalized medicine may result in new guidelines for unambiguous disease definition and diagnosis in the future. Recent studies have implied relationships between periodontal diseases and systemic conditions. Answering critical questions regarding host‐parasite interactions in periodontal diseases may provide new insight in the pathogenesis of other biomedical disorders. Therapeutic efforts have focused on the microbial nature of the infection, as active treatment centers on biofilm disruption by non‐surgical mechanical debridement with antimicrobial and sometimes anti‐inflammatory adjuncts. The surgical treatment aims at gaining access to periodontal lesions and correcting unfavorable gingival/osseous contours to achieve a periodontal architecture that will provide for more effective oral hygiene and periodontal maintenance. In addition, advances in tissue engineering have provided innovative means to regenerate/repair periodontal defects, based upon principles of guided tissue regeneration and utilization of growth factors/biologic mediators. To maintain periodontal stability, these treatments need to be supplemented with long‐term maintenance (supportive periodontal therapy) programs