Parent-Targeted Oral Health Text Messaging for Underserved Children Attending Pediatric Clinics: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Caries is the most common chronic childhood disease, with substantial health disparities.

Objective: To test whether parent-targeted oral health text (OHT) messages outperform child wellness text (CWT) messages on pediatric caries increment and oral health behaviors among underserved children attending pediatric well-child visits.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The parallel randomized clinical trial, Interactive Parent-Targeted Text Messaging in Pediatric Clinics to Reduce Caries Among Urban Children (iSmile), included participants who were recruited during pediatric medical clinic visits at 4 sites in Boston, Massachusetts, that serve low-income and racially and ethnically diverse (herein, underserved) populations.

Canada's First National Oral Health Research Strategy (2024-2030).

Recent years have seen significant positive changes and developments in oral health-related policy and data on oral health and oral health care in Canada. Simultaneously, on the international stage, the momentum for oral health and related research continues to build. These changes have led to an initiative to create Canada's first National Oral Health Research Strategy (NOHRS), which was recently published by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (Allison and Rock 2024).

Classification of periodontitis stage and grade using natural language processing techniques.

Periodontitis is a complex and microbiome-related inflammatory condition impacting dental supporting tissues. Emphasizing the potential of Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS), this study aims to facilitate early diagnosis of periodontitis by extracting patients' information collected as dental charts and notes. We developed a CDSS to predict the stage and grade of periodontitis using natural language processing (NLP) techniques including bidirectional encoder representation for transformers (BERT).

The QIBA Profile for Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast MRI Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers for Assessing Gliomas.

The dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI measures of relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) play a central role in monitoring therapeutic response and disease progression in patients with gliomas. Previous investigations have demonstrated promise of using rCBV in classifying tumor grade, elucidating tumor viability after therapy, and differentiating pseudoprogression and pseudoresponse. However, the quantification and reproducibility of rCBV measurements across patients, devices, and software remain a critical barrier to routine or clinical trial use of longitudinal DSC MRI in patients with gliomas.

Flavored Tobacco Product Use Among California Adolescents Before and Immediately After a Statewide Flavor Ban.

Introduction: In December 2022, a California law banned the retail sale of most flavored tobacco products (including e-cigarettes). This investigation evaluates adolescents' use of flavored tobacco before and after enactment.

Methods: The Teens Nicotine and Tobacco Project included online surveys of California adolescents (age 12-17) in 2022 (N=5127) and 2023 (N=5015) that assessed past 30-day use of various tobacco products, flavored product use, and perceived access to flavored e-cigarettes.

Lower margins are tied to companies' climate performance rather than to low-carbon assets.

Lenders are likely to face significant financial risks from the shift to a low-carbon economy, but it remains unclear whether such risks are incorporated into their lending practices. The extent of this risk depends on whether banks incorporate such risks into their lending activity and whether financial instruments' tenors are long enough to cover the period when such risks materialize. Using a case study of shipping loans, we combine quantitative data and semi-structured interviews with key shipping debt providers.

Association between clinical symptoms and MRI image findings in symptomatic temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disease: A systematic review.

To evaluate the association between clinical signs and symptoms of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and magnetic resonance image (MRI) findings in patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMD). Relevant articles on humans over 18 years of age were obtained from five databases (Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) up to August 2022. Risk of bias assessment was completed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools.

The effects of biological and chemical silver nanoparticles along with aerobic and anaerobic training protocols on tissues: Morphological and histopathological evaluation.

Nanotechnology and its byproducts are used increasingly considering its global nanotechnology market size and many applications in the health field. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of aerobic and anaerobic exercises on cellular uptake of nanoparticles in body tissues. Fusarium oxysporum was used to synthesize biological AgNPs in silver nitrate solution and UV-vis spectrophotometer; XRD and TEM were used to confirm production of nanoparticles.

Patterns in Tobacco, E-Cigarette, and Cannabis Advertising Exposure Among California Adolescents and Associations With Future Use Expectations.

Background: Exposure to tobacco, e-cigarette, or cannabis marketing is associated with adolescent use. Few studies have examined advertising exposure prevalence and patterns across these products concurrently.

Methods: This study assessed past 30-day recalled exposure to promotional messages about tobacco, e-cigarettes ("vapes" on the survey), and cannabis ("marijuana") from various sources among California adolescents (ages 12-17) in the 2022 Teens, Nicotine, and Tobacco Online Survey ( = 2530).

"I think we can do without [tobacco]": support for policies to end the tobacco epidemic among California adolescents.

Introduction: The tobacco endgame, policies aiming to end the commercial tobacco epidemic, requires sustained public support, including among youth. We assessed endgame support among California (USA) adolescents, including their reasons and associated participant and policy-specific factors.

Methods: Teens, Nicotine and Tobacco Project online surveys (n=4827) and focus groups were conducted in 2021 and 2022 among California residents aged 12-17 years.

The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms.

Unlabelled: The Countdown is an international research collaboration that independently monitors the evolving impacts of climate change on health, and the emerging health opportunities of climate action. In its eighth iteration, this 2023 report draws on the expertise of 114 scientists and health practitioners from 52 research institutions and UN agencies worldwide to provide its most comprehensive assessment yet. In 2022, the Countdown warned that people’s health is at the mercy of fossil fuels and stressed the transformative opportunity of jointly tackling the concurrent climate change, energy, cost-of-living, and health crises for human health and wellbeing.

An Introduction to Complex Networks in Climate Finance.

In this perspective, we introduce recent research into the structure and function of complex investor networks supporting sustainability efforts. Using the case of solar, wind and hydro energy technologies, this perspective explores the complexity in low-carbon finance markets, defined as markets that direct capital flows towards low-carbon technologies, using network approaches to study their structure and dynamics. Investors are modeled as nodes which form a network or higher-order network connected by edges representing projects in which joint funding or security-related insurance was provided or other investment-related interaction occurred.

The momentum of the solar energy transition.

Decarbonisation plans across the globe require zero-carbon energy sources to be widely deployed by 2050 or 2060. Solar energy is the most widely available energy resource on Earth, and its economic attractiveness is improving fast in a cycle of increasing investments. Here we use data-driven conditional technology and economic forecasting modelling to establish which zero carbon power sources could become dominant worldwide.

A cross-sectional study to test equivalence of low- versus intermediate-flip angle dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI measures of relative cerebral blood volume in patients with high-grade gliomas at 1.5 Tesla field strength.

Introduction: 1.5 Tesla (1.5T) remain a significant field strength for brain imaging worldwide.

Asian Americans' and Pacific Islanders' preferences in recruitment strategies and messaging for participation in the CARE registry: A discrete choice experiment.

Introduction: This discrete choice experiment (DCE) identified Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) adults' preferences for recruitment strategies/messaging to enroll in the Collaborative Approach for AAPI Research and Education (CARE) registry for dementia-related research.

Methods: DCE recruitment strategy/messaging options were developed in English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese. AAPI participants 50 years and older selected (1) who, (2) what, and (3) how they would prefer hearing about CARE.

Flavors increase adolescents' willingness to try nicotine and cannabis vape products.

Background: Certain product characteristics, such as flavor, may increase adolescents' willingness to try vaped nicotine and cannabis (marijuana) products.

Methods: A discrete choice experiment embedded within the 2021-2022 California Teens Nicotine and Tobacco Project Online Survey was administered to a non-probability sample of N = 2342 adolescents ages 12-17. Participants were sequentially presented four randomly-generated pairs of hypothetical vape products that varied in device type (disposable, refillable), content (nicotine, marijuana, "just vapor"), and flavor (seven options) and asked which of these (or neither) they would be more willing to try if a best friend offered.

Evaluating Medication Day-Supply for Improving Adherence and Clinical Biomarkers of Hemoglobin A1c, Blood Pressure, and Low-Density Lipoprotein.

To compare a 90-day-supply and a less than 90-day-supply of medication on adherence to refilling prescriptions and clinical biomarkers for hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood pressure (BP), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). A retrospective chart review was completed for a cohort of patients prescribed an oral hypoglycemic agent (OHA), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), and/or a statin. Data were categorized into 90-day-supply and less than 90-day-supply and on the minimum value for control determined by the CMS Star Ratings system.

Comparison of the effects of target-controlled infusion-remifentanil/midazolam and manual fentanyl/midazolam administration on patient parameters in dental procedures.

Background: Moderate sedation is an integral part of dental care delivery. Target-controlled infusion (TCI) has the potential to improve patient safety and outcome. We compared the effects of using TCI to administer remifentanil/manual bolus midazolam with manual bolus fentanyl/midazolam administration on patient safety parameters, drug administration times, and patient recovery times.

Development of an electronic learning progression dashboard to monitor student clinical experiences.

Introduction: Clinical experience tracking mechanisms for students at dental schools provide patient assignment, student experience, and learning progression feedback. The purpose of this study was to evaluate dental students' clinical experiences following the implementation of a learning progression dashboard (LPD).

Methods: After developing and deploying an electronic LPD using PHP, secondary data analysis on dental students' clinical experiences from 2017-2019 was conducted.

Higher cost of finance exacerbates a climate investment trap in developing economies.

Finance is vital for the green energy transition, but access to low cost finance is uneven as the cost of capital differs substantially between regions. This study shows how modelled decarbonisation pathways for developing economies are disproportionately impacted by different weighted average cost of capital (WACC) assumptions. For example, representing regionally-specific WACC values indicates 35% lower green electricity production in Africa for a cost-optimal 2 °C pathway than when regional considerations are ignored.

Comparison of the effects of toothpastes containing nanohydroxyapatite and fluoride on white spot lesions in orthodontic patients: A randomized clinical trial.

Background: Studies show that fluoride (F) and nano-hydroxyapatite (nano-HA) would result in remineralization of white spot lesions (WSLs), which are among the most prevalent consequences of fixed orthodontic treatment. The present study evaluates and compares the clinical effects of an Iranian toothpaste containing nano-HA with F-containing one on early enamel lesions.

Materials And Methods: In this randomized clinical trial study, 50 patients who had received fixed orthodontic treatment were recruited immediately after debonding.