Novel pain assessment tool specific for pulp symptoms to aid diagnosis.

Aim: Although many pain assessment tools exist, none are specific to the relatively unique presentation of pulpal pain. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a novel pain assessment tool based on pulp symptoms.

Methodology: A preliminary list of items best-describing pulpitis was developed based on deductive and inductive approaches and the preliminary tool was piloted (n = 80).

Prenatal stress alters mouse offspring dorsal striatal development and placental function in sex-specific ways.

Prenatal stress is a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, how early stress modification of brain development contributes to this pathophysiology is poorly understood. Ventral forebrain regions such as dorsal striatum are of particular interest: dorsal striatum modulates movement and cognition, is altered in NDDs, and has a primarily GABAergic population.

The 1831 CE mystery eruption identified as Zavaritskii caldera, Simushir Island (Kurils).

Polar ice cores and historical records evidence a large-magnitude volcanic eruption in 1831 CE. This event was estimated to have injected ~13 Tg of sulfur (S) into the stratosphere which produced various atmospheric optical phenomena and led to Northern Hemisphere climate cooling of ~1 °C. The source of this volcanic event remains enigmatic, though one hypothesis has linked it to a modest phreatomagmatic eruption of Ferdinandea in the Strait of Sicily, which may have emitted additional S through magma-crust interactions with evaporite rocks.

A multi-national survey-based evaluation of undergraduate/predoctoral endodontic education.

Aim: To evaluate the current status of endodontic education and assessment at an undergraduate/predoctoral level in dental schools worldwide.

Methodology: The current survey comprised a 50-item online questionnaire related to undergraduate endodontic education. The project leaders emailed the survey's details to faculty members responsible for endodontic teaching at one dental school in every country to seek their willingness to participate in the survey.