Evaluating the use of HEIghten critical thinking assessment to monitor critical thinking in dental students.

Purpose/objectives: Critical thinking and evidence-based dentistry are skills that dental students are required to demonstrate, but monitoring and quantifying progress can be challenging. This study is investigating whether the HEIghten critical thinking assessment (HCTA) could be used as a potential tool, both for use prior to admitting students, and to monitor whether the students' skills improve over their time at dental school.

Methods: Freshman dental students (n = 92) were given the HCTA during their first semester of dental school.

Extended transgene expression from a nonintegrating adenoviral vector containing retroviral elements.

We studied the effects of specific retroviral elements in a first-generation serotype 5 adenoviral (Ad5) vector, AdLTR(2)EF1alpha-hEPO. This vector contains 858 base pair (bp) [251-bp envelope sequence plus 607-bp long-terminal repeat (LTR)] from Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV), upstream of the human elongation factor-1alpha (EF1alpha) promoter and human erythropoietin (hEPO) cDNA, with the LTR sequence downstream of the polyadenylation signal. We compared expression of AdLTR(2)EF1alpha-hEPO with corresponding expressions of two conventional Ad5 vectors, AdEF1alpha-hEPO and AdCMV-hEPO, in vivo in submandibular glands in rats.

DNase I and hydroxyl radical characterization of chromatin complexes.

The native chromatin complex within most eukaryotic nuclei is very difficult to study by biochemical means, so researchers have developed methods for studying smaller portions of the complex. This unit details the use of DNase I and hydroxyl radicals to characterize histone-DNA interactions within such portions of the complex. DNase I digestion can be used to determine what regions of a DNA segment are intimately associated with the core histone proteins and what regions are more like naked DNA (i.

Kinetics of tempol for prevention of xerostomia following head and neck irradiation in a mouse model.

Purpose: Radiotherapy is commonly used to treat the majority of patients with head and neck cancers. Salivary glands in the radiation field are dramatically affected by this procedure. The purpose of this study was to examine pharmacokinetic characteristics of the stable nitroxide 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl (tempol) with respect to radioprotection of the salivary glands.

The stable nitroxide tempol facilitates salivary gland protection during head and neck irradiation in a mouse model.

Purpose: Radiotherapy is commonly used to treat a majority of patients with head and neck cancers. The long-term radiation-induced reduction of saliva output significantly contributes to the posttreatment morbidity experienced by these patients. The purpose of this study was to test the ability of the stable-free radical Tempol (4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl), an established radioprotector, to prevent radiation-induced salivary hypofunction in mice.