The teaching and assessment of local anaesthesia in UK dental schools.

Introduction: Local anaesthesia (LA) is fundamental to successful dental treatment. Graduating hygienists, therapist and dentists should be confident and proficient in delivering LA. There is one previously published article reviewing LA teaching in United Kingdom (UK) dental schools in 2016, and at this time 10 out of 14 schools allowed peer-to-peer administration.

Residential social vulnerability among healthcare personnel with and without severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in Five US states, May-December 2020.

Objective: To characterize residential social vulnerability among healthcare personnel (HCP) and evaluate its association with severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

Design: Case-control study.

Setting: This study analyzed data collected in May-December 2020 through sentinel and population-based surveillance in healthcare facilities in Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, and Oregon.

Discharge When Medically Ready.

Quality Problem: The timing and pace of patient discharges are not level-loaded throughout the day at many institutions including ours, an academic medical center and adult Level I trauma center located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Initial Assessment: Only 4% of patients were being discharged with rooms marked dirty by 11 AM at our institution.

Choise Of Solution: We put together a multidisciplinary team of approximately 30 stakeholders to develop a revised process that focused on coordination of discharge activities, plan of care awareness among team members, and communication with patients and families.

The impact of wrong-site surgery on dental undergraduate teaching: a survey of UK dental schools.

Introduction: Patient safety within dental education is paramount. Wrong-site surgery (WSS) tooth extraction is not uncommon and is a significant never event (NE) in dentistry. This study aimed to explore dental schools' undergraduate experience of NEs, safety interventions implemented and the impact on student experience.

Light-Dependent Activation of the GCN2 Kinase Under Cold and Salt Stress Is Mediated by the Photosynthetic Status of the Chloroplast.

Regulation of cytosolic mRNA translation is a key node for rapid adaptation to environmental stress conditions. In yeast and animals, phosphorylation of the α-subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF2 is the most thoroughly characterized event for regulating global translation under stress. In plants, the GCN2 kinase () is the only known kinase for eIF2α.

Improving the Validity of Nurse-Based Delirium Screening: A Head-to-Head Comparison of Nursing Delirium-Screening Scale and Short Confusion Assessment Method.

Background: As part of a multicomponent delirium prevention protocol the Confusion Assessment Method (Short-CAM) was introduced to nursing as the standard delirium screening instrument on the general medical units. Despite significant educational efforts, quality monitoring revealed poor sensitivity with the use of Short-CAM.

Objectives: To compare the validity of the Nursing Delirium Screening Scale (Nu-DESC) and Short-CAM on general medical units and to explore the impact of delirium education on the successful implementation of delirium screening tools.

Student perceptions of exodontia competency assessment in a UK dental school.

Introduction: Modern medical and dental training has migrated from assessing only the quantity of procedures performed to a combined assessment of both competency and quantity. This study explores student perceptions of competency assessment in exodontia at a UK dental school.

Materials And Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to dental students in years three, four and five at the School of Dentistry, Cardiff University (n=149).

Comparison of foam swabs and toothbrushes as oral hygiene interventions in mechanically ventilated patients: a randomised split mouth study.

Introduction: During critical illness, dental plaque may serve as a reservoir of respiratory pathogens. This study compared the effectiveness of toothbrushing with a small-headed toothbrush or a foam-headed swab in mechanically ventilated patients.

Methods: This was a randomised, assessor-blinded, split-mouth trial, performed at a single critical care unit.

A national follow-up survey of UK graduates opinion of undergraduate oral surgery teaching.

Introduction: A national follow-up survey was undertaken to determine whether dental graduates from 2009 perceived that their undergraduate oral surgery education had equipped them for general dental practice 4 years after graduating.

Materials And Methods: Graduates from the same 13 United Kingdom dental schools who had taken part in the original survey were invited to take part in this follow-up online survey. Their contact details were identified via the general dental council register, social media and alumni groups.

Alginate oligosaccharides inhibit fungal cell growth and potentiate the activity of antifungals against Candida and Aspergillus spp.

The oligosaccharide OligoG, an alginate derived from seaweed, has been shown to have anti-bacterial and anti-biofilm properties and potentiates the activity of selected antibiotics against multi-drug resistant bacteria. The ability of OligoG to perturb fungal growth and potentiate conventional antifungal agents was evaluated using a range of pathogenic fungal strains. Candida (n = 11) and Aspergillus (n = 3) spp.

A nanoscale characterization of the interaction of a novel alginate oligomer with the cell surface and motility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) biofilm-associated infections are a common cause of morbidity in chronic respiratory disease and represent a therapeutic challenge. Recently, the ability of a novel alginate oligomer (OligoG) to potentiate the effect of antibiotics against gram-negative, multi-drug-resistant bacteria and inhibit biofilm formation in vitro has been described. Interaction of OligoG with the cell surface of PA was characterized at the nanoscale using atomic force microscopy (AFM), zeta potential measurement (surface charge), and sizing measurements (dynamic light scattering).

An in vitro study of alginate oligomer therapies on oral biofilms.

Objectives: The in vitro effect of a novel, oligosaccharide nanomedicine OligoG against oral pathogen-related biofilms, both alone and in the presence of the conventional anti-bacterial agent triclosan, was evaluated.

Methods: The effect of OligoG±triclosan was assessed against established Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas gingivalis biofilms by bacterial counts and image analysis using LIVE/DEAD(®) staining and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The effect of triclosan and OligoG surface pre-treatments on bacterial attachment to titanium and polymethylmethacrylate was also studied.

Overcoming drug resistance with alginate oligosaccharides able to potentiate the action of selected antibiotics.

The uncontrolled, often inappropriate use of antibiotics has resulted in the increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, with major cost implications for both United States and European health care systems. We describe the utilization of a low-molecular-weight oligosaccharide nanomedicine (OligoG), based on the biopolymer alginate, which is able to perturb multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria by modulating biofilm formation and persistence and reducing resistance to antibiotic treatment, as evident using conventional and robotic MIC screening and microscopic analyses of biofilm structure. OligoG increased (up to 512-fold) the efficacy of conventional antibiotics against important MDR pathogens, including Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Burkholderia spp.

Microbiology of the skin and the role of biofilms in infection.

The integrity of human skin is central to the prevention of infection. Acute and chronic wounds can develop when the integrity of skin as a barrier to infection is disrupted. As a multi-functional organ, skin possesses important biochemical and physical properties that influence its microbiology.

A pilot study of the use and perceived utility of a scale to assess clinical dental teaching within a UK dental school restorative department.

Introduction: Feedback on individual teaching performance gives an important contribution and support to the reflective practices of educators. Unfortunately, feedback is an infrequent exercise provided to dental teachers about their teaching practices. The Effective Clinical Dental Teaching (ECDT) scale has been used previously to assess clinical teachers, but has not been used within the UK.

The barley plastome mutant CL2 affects expression of nuclear and chloroplast housekeeping genes in a cell-age dependent manner.

The barley plastome mutant CL2 (cytoplasmic line 2) carries a point mutation in the infA gene, a homologue of the bacterial gene for the conserved translation initiator factor 1 (IF1). The function of infA in plastids is not known. The mutation in CL2 leads to a temporal chlorophyll deficiency in the primary leaf blade that is normalised in the basal and middle parts during further development.

Impaired function of the phage-type RNA polymerase RpoTp in transcription of chloroplast genes is compensated by a second phage-type RNA polymerase.

Although chloroplast genomes are small, the transcriptional machinery is very complex in plastids of higher plants. Plastidial genes of higher plants are transcribed by plastid-encoded (PEP) and nuclear-encoded RNA polymerases (NEP). The nuclear genome of Arabidopsis contains two candidate genes for NEP, RpoTp and RpoTmp, both coding for phage-type RNA polymerases.

Successful treatment of oral linear IgA disease using mycophenolate.

Linear IgA disease (LAD) is a rare acquired autoimmune bullous disorder, characterized by linear deposition of IgA along the dermoepidermal basement membrane zone. The clinical presentation of LAD consists of vesiculobullous lesions affecting the skin and mucosal surfaces. The present case report presents a rare presentation of this vesiculobullous disorder.

Development- and tissue-specific expression of the RpoT gene family of Arabidopsis encoding mitochondrial and plastid RNA polymerases.

Arabidopsis thaliana possesses three RpoT genes which encode three different phage-type RNA polymerases with yet unknown function in organelle transcription: RpoTm and RpoTp, imported into mitochondria and plastids, respectively, and RpoTmp, co-targeted into both organelles. Expression of the RpoT genes was analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR, histochemical beta-glucuronidase (GUS) assays and in situ hybridization. Transcripts of all three RpoT genes accumulated to very low amounts in all organs.

Chloroplast development affects expression of phage-type RNA polymerases in barley leaves.

We have identified the barley gene and cDNA encoding the plastid phage-type RNA polymerase (RNAP), nuclear-encoded plastid RNAP (RpoTp), and the nearly full-length cDNA of the mitochondrial RNAP, nuclear-encoded mitochondrial RNAP (RpoTm). RpoTp spans more than 9000 nt, consists of 19 exons and 18 introns, gives rise to a 3632-nt mRNA and is localized to the long arm of chromosome 1 (7H). The length of the deduced polypeptide is 948 residues.

Diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage complicating thrombolytic therapy for acute myocardial infarction.

Diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage has rarely been reported as a complication of thrombolytic therapy. Recently, two patients who developed this complication were observed at our institution. This diagnosis should be considered in any post-thrombolytic patient with respiratory distress, diffuse pulmonary infiltrates, and an otherwise unexplained fall in hemoglobin.

Estrogen replacement therapy in older women. Comparisons between Alzheimer's disease cases and nondemented control subjects.

Objectives: We hypothesized that oral estrogen replacement therapy would be less common among elderly women meeting criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) than among nondemented elderly women. For women with AD, we hypothesized that estrogen users would perform better on a cognitive task than would nonusers.

Design: A case-control study of estrogen replacement therapy, in which hierarchical procedures were used to control for potentially confounding effects of age and education.

Laser applications in orthopedics.

The use of lasers has made a significant impact on surgery. Various types of lasers are available for use in orthopedics. A successful laser program identifies perioperative considerations, applications/modalities, and reimbursement issues.