Candida parapsilosis complex infection in a cutaneous lesion from a dog: Spotlight on an opportunistic pathogen of potential increasing importance.

Fine-needle aspirates from a 1.5-cm cutaneous mass in a Cocker Spaniel were submitted for cytologic examination. Marked pyogranulomatous inflammation and fungal organisms were present, identified as Candida parapsilosis complex by MALDI-ToF following fungal culture.

A new species of (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), discovered and described on a field course to Kuala Belalong, Brunei.

Background: is a genus of very small flea beetles living in the leaf litter layer of Asian forests, easily sampled with Winkler extraction. The genus is presumably very rich in species, but their taxonomy is hampered by their small size and morphological uniformity.

New Information: On a 'taxon expedition'-style field course at Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre in Brunei Darussalam (Borneo), a new species, n.

The Home-Based Occupational Therapy Intervention in the Alzheimer's Disease Multiple Intervention Trial (ADMIT).

There is no way to prevent functional declines related to Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The use of occupational therapy (OT) has been shown to be successful in managing some aspects of AD. We added home-based OT to evidence-based best practice for AD with the aim of delaying functional decline in people with AD.

Increasing levels of cardiolipin differentially influence packing of phospholipids found in the mitochondrial inner membrane.

It is essential to understand the role of cardiolipin (CL) in mitochondrial membrane organization given that changes in CL levels contribute to mitochondrial dysfunction in type II diabetes, ischemia-reperfusion injury, heart failure, breast cancer, and aging. Specifically, there are contradictory data on how CL influences the molecular packing of membrane phospholipids. Therefore, we determined how increasing levels of heart CL impacted molecular packing in large unilamellar vesicles, modeling heterogeneous lipid mixtures found within the mitochondrial inner membrane, using merocyanine (MC540) fluorescence.

A pilot study of risk-based prevention in private practice.

Background: Risk-based prevention is a means of ensuring that patients receive preventive treatment appropriate for their risk of disease. While straightforward, its application in private practice has not been examined.

Methods: Volunteer clinicians in 15 offices participated in a six-month pilot study to test methods for a larger, risk-based prevention demonstration study operated by a dental insurer.

Survival rates of teeth adjacent to treated and untreated posterior bounded edentulous spaces.

It is widely assumed that if posterior bounded edentulous spaces, or BESs, are not treated, the adjacent teeth ultimately will be lost. The authors examined this assumption by determining the survival of teeth adjoining 569 treated and untreated BESs. In the short term, the assumption was not supported.

Career changers: dentists who choose to leave private practice.

Some dentists have voluntarily chosen to leave the dental profession despite the considerable time, effort, and financial expenditures involved in their educations. The purpose of this study was to survey the entire population of dentists who had identified themselves as being principally employed in a career outside of clinical practice in the American Dental Association's 1991 Census. A four-page survey was mailed to 654 former dentists, with a total of 237 usable responses (36%).

Dental health services research utilizing comprehensive clinical databases and information technology.

Marketplace pressures for accountability in dentistry have made clear dental delivery systems' weaknesses in information generation, management, and analysis methods. Without this type of information, dentistry is unable to quantify and document the outcomes of the dental care services it provides. The Pew Health Professions Commission and the Institute of Medicine both suggest that dental schools should be among the leaders in the development and teaching of dental information capabilities, as well as the source of fundamental dental health services research.

Variation in the use of crowns and their alternatives.

The use of crowns and their alternatives for the restoration of compromised posterior teeth is of interest to educators, purchasers, and patients. Considerable curricular time is devoted to learning these techniques, substantial amounts of money are spent on these procedures, and differences in the outcomes of these treatments may have consequences for tooth survival. To begin to understand more about the actual use of these procedures, the provision rates of these services in a sample of U.

A health plan report card for dentistry.

Employers are demanding information about the performance of the health care plans they purchase for their employees. As a result, "report cards" are now beginning to appear that provide standardized, population-based comparison data for managed medical care plans' quality of care, access and member satisfaction, utilization, and financial status. Although report cards for dental care plans have not yet been developed, it is likely that purchasers will soon expect such performance information.

General dentists' patterns of restoring endodontically treated teeth.

The manner in which endodontically treated teeth are restored influences tooth longevity and the cost of treatment. This article describes a study of how surveyed general dentists restored endodontically treated teeth and whether their methods were consistent with those suggested in the literature. Some patterns of restoration did reflect the literature's recommendations, but overall the findings call into question some of the ways in which post-endodontic restorative care is carried out.

Recognition, assessment, and treatment of anxiety in the critical care patient.

A multidisciplinary group of experts involved in the treatment of critically ill patients participated in a workshop conference designed to develop practice recommendations for the recognition, assessment, and treatment of anxiety in the critical care environment. Anxiety was identified as a ubiquitous problem in critical care that may interfere with healing and recovery. The faculty agreed that clinicians should be familiar with the signs and symptoms of anxiety and should be able to determine when interventions are necessary.

History of treatment received by patients with TMD: a preliminary investigation.

A retrospective investigation of 257 patient records from a university-based facial pain center for patients with temporomandibular disorders examined the "natural history" of patients with temporomandibular disorders for consultation and treatment of their complaints. Data were obtained on a variety of demographic variables, referral patterns, types of providers seen for consultation, and the types of diagnostic tests ordered by these providers. Results showed that patients with temporomandibular disorders see more than three providers prior to their referral to a tertiary care center, that a considerable proportion of those providers are physicians, that patients reported undergoing a variety of diagnostic tests, and that patients reported receiving a variety of diagnoses for their condition.

Life and near-death in the intensive care unit. A personal experience.

Being seriously ill, even once, is an experience from which one learns a great deal. To feel the loss of control, the pain, and the worry about unfulfilled responsibilities at home and at work forever provides one with the motivation to deal with these issues when confronted with sick people. To understand that each illness has unique effects on a patient and that these patients almost always trust us, gives us the confidence to use our training and experience to do what we know is right for them.

Haemophilus influenzae type B impairment of pial vessel autoregulation in rats.

To examine the mechanisms of autoregulatory impairment in meningitis, we studied the effects of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) on pial vessels during hemorrhagic hypotension in rats, using a cranial window technique. We prepared cranial windows in barbiturate-anesthetized, mechanically ventilated rats. Artificial cerebrospinal fluid or 10(5) Hib in cerebrospinal fluid (n = 7 each group) was suffused over the pial surface.

Verifying the reliability of interchanging casts with semiadjustable articulators.

Interchangeability of a semiadjustable articulator could be of significant convenience and economic benefit to the restorative dentist. The manufacturer of the Whip-Mix Model 2240 articulator claims such interchangeability. This study evaluated the accuracy of the cross-mounting capability of eight such articulators, then compared the measured results with those obtained from eight semiadjustable instruments for which the manufacturer makes no such promise of interchangeability.

Relationships among and demographic predictors of dentists' self-reported adherence to national guidelines.

How dentists learn about and integrate new procedures and techniques into dental practice are major concerns in innovation research in dentistry. The purposes of this study were to: (1) develop reliable measures of self-reported adherence to different national guidelines; (2) to examine the relationships among the different measures; and (3) to determine if predictors of these adherence behaviours exist. One thousand U.

Developing population profiles from dental claims data for conceptualizing effectiveness of care.

The purpose of this study was to explore longitudinal observational analysis of insurance claims data with goal of graphically demonstrating that effective dental care leads to the diminished use of services in subsequent time intervals. Using the Rand HIE claims data, definitions of the best patients for whom claims data would be profiled and the best parameters to use in rate calculations for the time series graphs were empirically derived. Profiles using these definitions were found to be very similar to a conceptual model of such profiles.

Phosphonoformate and phosphonoacetate derivatives of 5-substituted 2'-deoxyuridines: synthesis and antiviral activity.

The synthesis of potential "combined prodrugs" wherein phosphonoformate or phosphonoacetate was attached to the 5'-position of 2'-deoxyuridine, 2'-deoxythymidine, 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine (IDU), 5-(2-chloroethyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (CEDU), or 5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (BVDU) or to the 3'-position of CEDU is described. The antiviral activities of these derivatives and of reference compounds were compared in Vero, HEp-2, and primary rabbit kidney cells against herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and -2). The CEDU and BVDU analogues were also evaluated against systemic and intracutaneous HSV-1 infection in mice.