Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of chronic periodontitis on dental pulp: A clinical and histopathological study

Background: This human study was carried out to evaluate the possible effects of severe chronic periodontal disease on the different aspect of dental pulp structure. Materials and Methods: A total of 20 permanent teeth with a hopeless prognosis due to severe chronic periodontitis were extracted from systemically healthy adults, with a pocket probing depth of ≥8 mm and a mobility of grade 3. After extraction, the apical 2-3 mm of the roots were immediately sectioned with a fissure bur. Results: Inflammation was usual finding in the samples, however, only 15% of the teeth showed no inflammation. Pulpal necrosis (partial or complete) was seen in different sections, and it was observed that 50% sections had no necrosis. Partial necrosis was a common finding seen when compared to complete necrosis (6.7%). About 60% of samples showed edematous pulp. Only 6.7% of samples showed absence of fibrosis. Pulp with moderate fibrosis was seen commonly seen in many sections. A majority of teeth (70%) also displayed a loss of odontoblastic integrity. In only 25% of samples, pulp stones were detected. Conclusion: Our results revealed that severe chronic periodontitis can affect dental pulp. The cumulative effect of the periodontal disease, as indicated by the factors of calcifications, apposition of calcified tissue, resorption or inflammation from the root caries or from the involved lateral canals, is damaged pulp tissue, but total disintegration is a certainty only when all main apical foramina are involved by bacterial plaque. Proper evaluation and treatment of periodontal-endodontic involvement is recommended.
Quality of Data in Perinatal Population Health Databases: A Systematic Review

BackgroundAdministrative or population health datasets (PHDS) are increasingly being used for research related to maternal and infant health. However, the accuracy and completeness of the information in the PHDS is important to ensure validity of the results of this research. ObjectiveTo compile and review studies that validate the reporting of conditions and procedures related to pregnancy, childbirth, and newborns and provide a tool of reference for researchers. MethodsA systematic search was conducted of Medline and EMBASE databases to find studies that validated routinely collected datasets containing diagnoses and procedures related to pregnancy, childbirth, and newborns. To be included datasets had to be validated against a gold standard, such as review of medical records, maternal interview or survey, specialized register, or laboratory data. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and/or &kgr; statistic for each diagnosis or procedure code were calculated. ResultsForty-three validation studies were included. Under-enumeration was common, with the level of ascertainment increasing as time from diagnosis/procedure to birth decreased. Most conditions and procedures had high specificities indicating few false positives, and procedures were more accurately reported than diagnoses. Hospital discharge data were generally more accurate than birth data, however identifying cases from more than 1 dataset further increased ascertainment. ConclusionsThis comprehensive collection of validation studies summarizing the quality of perinatal population data will be an invaluable resource to all researchers working with PHDS.
Brinzolamide/timolol fixed combination for open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension

The brinzolamide/timolol fixed combination contains brinzolamide 1% and timolol maleate 0.5% in ophthalmic suspension produced for twice-daily application to reduce elevated intraocular pressure in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. This fixed combination was recently approved by the European Medicines Agency, in December 2008. The brimzolamide/timolol fixed combination provides an approximately 30–33% intraocular pressure reduction from the untreated baseline of 25–27 mmHg, thus is more potent than any of its ingredients alone and is similarly effective but better tolerated than the dorzolamide/timolol fixed combination, which consists of molecules from the same drug classes. The fixed combination of brinzolamide and timolol can be used as a separate therapy, but due to the additivity of its ingredients to drugs belonging to other classes, it may also be administered in combination with other intraocular pressure-lowering molecules, most importantly topical prostaglandin analogues.
The lizard: an unconventional psychoactive substance?

Abstract It is a well-known fact that substance users have used different innovative techniques and routes of administration for consumption of conventional psychoactive substances to get high. However, reports of using unconventional substances to get high are rare and puzzling for addiction specialists. There are hardly any scientific publications on psychoactive properties of such unconventional substances. We present a rare case of opioid-dependent syndrome, who also reported using tail of Indian wall lizard to get high.
Health Care Use and Expenditures Associated With Access to the Medical Home for Children and Youth

Background:The pediatric medical home is an approach to the delivery of family-centered health care. Policy-makers and payers are interested in potential changes to health care utilization and expenditures under this model. Objective:To test associations between having a medical home and health service use and expenditures among US children and youth. Research Design:Observational cross-sectional study. Subjects:A total of 26,221 children aged 0 to 17 years surveyed in the 2005 to 2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys. Measures:Parent report of a child’s access to a medical home was developed from multiple survey items in the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys. Negative binomial regression examined the association between the medical home and parent-reported counts of annual outpatient, inpatient, emergency department, and dental visits. Two-part models examined associations between the medical home and parent-reported annual total, outpatient, inpatient, emergency department, and other health care expenditures. Models accounted for potential self-selection into a medical home using propensity scores. Results:Children with a medical home had a greater incidence of preventive visits [incidence rate ratio (IRR)=1.11; (95% confidence intervals (CI), 1.03–1.20)] and dental visits [IRR=1.09 (95% CI, 1.02–1.17)] and a lower incidence of emergency department visits [IRR=0.87 (95% CI, 0.79–0.97)] compared with children without a medical home. Children with a medical home also had greater odds of incurring total, outpatient, prescription medication, and dental expenditures, OR’s ranging from 1.09 to 1.38. Despite greater odds of incurring certain expenditures, expenditures were no different for children with and without a medical home. Conclusions:The medical home is associated with several domains of health service use, yet there is no evidence for its association with health care expenditures for children and youth.
The Effectiveness of Peer HIV Education For Male Inmates Entering State Prison

Abstract Prisons and jails present an opportunity for HIV education because at-risk individuals who are underserved with HIV education and prevention services in the community are concentrated there. To be effective in changing risk behavior, however, HIV education within prisons must be appropriate and accessible to inmates, the majority of whom are members of ethnic minority groups. The purpose of this study was to describe the HIV-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of inmates entering a large state prison, and to evaluate the effectiveness of an HIV prevention intervention conducted by an HIV+ inmate peer educator compared to an intervention conducted by a professional HIV educator. The intervention was designed to educate inmates entering the prison about how the virus is transmitted and how infection can be prevented. Overall 2,295 male inmates participated in the evaluation. The two intervention groups had similar outcomes, both outperforming the no intervention group in intention to use con.
Relationships between exposure and dose in aquatic toxicity tests for organic chemicals

There is continuing debate about the merits of exposure‐based toxicity metrics such as median lethal concentration (LC50) versus organism‐based metrics such as critical body residue (CBR) as indicators of chemical toxicity to aquatic organisms. To demonstrate relationships and differences between these 2 metrics, the authors applied a simple one‐compartment toxicokinetic mass‐balance model for water‐exposed fish for a series of hypothetical organic chemicals exhibiting baseline narcotic toxicity. The authors also considered the influence of several toxicity‐modifying factors. The results showed that the results of standard toxicity tests, such as the LC50, are strongly influenced by several modifying factors, including chemical and organism characteristics such as hydrophobicity, body size, lipid content, metabolic biotransformation, and exposure durations. Consequently, reported LC50s may not represent consistent dose surrogates and may be inappropriate for comparing the relative toxicity of chemicals. For comparisons of toxicity between chemicals, it is preferable to employ a delivered dose metric, such as the CBR. Reproducible toxicity data for a specific combination of chemical, exposure conditions, and organism can be obtained only if the extent of approach to steady state is known. Suggestions are made for revisions in test protocols, including the use of models in advance of empirical testing, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of tests and reduce the confounding influences of toxicity‐modifying factors, especially exposure duration and metabolic biotransformation. This will assist in linking empirical measurements of LC50s and CBRs, 2 different but related indicators of aquatic toxicity, and thereby improve understanding of the large existing database of aquatic toxicity test results. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014; 33:2038–2046. © 2014 SETAC
Time to re-examine old definitions of nicotine dependence.

To the Editor: Researchers and practitioners have long relied on the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994) and ICD-10 (World Health Organization, 1992) to define nicotine dependence. These definitions were developed primarily for adults during a period when smoking was more socially acceptable, cigarettes were cheap, and heavy smoking was the norm. As cigarettes prices rise and the social acceptability of smoking declines, we are seeing light and intermittent smokers who have failed attempts at cessation (Wellman, DiFranza & Wood, 2006). Nicotine dependence with occasional smoking is not compatible with some traditional theories of nicotine dependence (Benowitz & Henningfield, 1994), but is compatible with the sensitizationhomeostasis theory which posits that the loss of autonomy that occurs during infrequent smoking is the critical event driving the subsequent trajectory of smoking (DiFranza & Wellman, 2005). Support for this theory is growing. In the first Development and Assessment of Nicotine Dependence in Youth (DANDY) study, among 125 subjects who lost autonomy over tobacco, 52% had done so by the time they smoked an average of two cigarettes per week (DiFranza et al., 2002). The second DANDY study replicated this result exactly; a loss of autonomy among 127 subjects occurred at a mean consumption of 2 cigarettes per week (DiFranza et al., 2007). Consistent with the sensitization-homeostasis theory, the loss of autonomy predicted progression to daily smoking with an odds ratio of 196, with a positive predictive value of . 71 and a negative predictive value of . 99 (DiFranza, et al., 2007). Riggs and colleagues (2007), writing in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, described a prospective study of smoking trajectories from ages 12 to 24 years, based on data from the Midwestern Prevention Project, a community-based trial for prevention of adolescent tobacco, alcohol, and drug use (Riggs, Chou, Li, & Pentz, 2007). A trajectory of ‘‘early stable users’’ was identifiable by age 12, at which point their mean cigarette consumption was two cigarettes per week. A second trajectory group of ‘‘late heavy users’’ was identifiable by age 15, at which point this group was also smoking a mean of two cigarettes per week. These two groups accounted for 86% of adult heavy smokers. Smoking an average of two cigarettes per week at age 12 increased the risk of proceeding to adult heavy smoking with an odds ratio of 174. The mean level of smoking (two cigarettes/week) associated with a loss of autonomy in both DANDY studies is exactly the same as the threshold to the trajectories leading to adult heavy smoking. All of these data are consistent with the sensitization-homeostasis theory and incompatible with the competing hypothesis that dependence does not begin until intake reaches five cigarettes daily (Benowitz & Henningfield, 1994). Two cigarettes per week is not the threshold for symptom development, it is the mean. Longitudinal studies by Gervais and collegues (2006), and Kandel and collegues (2007), verified that
Vasopeptidase Inhibitors: A New Class of Drugs

The human cardiovascular system is regulated by hemodynamic, neurohumoral and structural mechanisms. The endothelium and the neurohumoral system play a key role in modulating both vascular tone and structure by producing vasoactive substances as well as influencing the modulation of blood cell adhesion. Although the neurohormonal systems are essential in the vascular homeostasis, they become maladaptive in conditions such as hypertension, coronary disease and heart failure. The clinical success of blocking the renin-angiotensin system by angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and the sympathetic nervous system by β-blockers demonstrates the importance of neurohumoral blockades. The inadequate effect of ACE or neutral endopeptidase (NEP) inhibitor monotherapy seen in some patients treated for hypertension or congestive heart failure (CHF) and the promising effect seen after their combination led to the development of drugs that simultaneously inhibit both enzyme systems. NEP, like ACE, is an endothelial cell surface zinc metallopeptidase with a similar structure and catalytic site to ACE. NEP is the major enzymatic pathway for the degradation of natriuretic peptides. Natriuretic peptides can be viewed as endogenous inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system. The dual metalloprotease inhibitors of ACE and NEP, called vasopeptidase inhibitors, represent a new class of drugs and an attractive therapeutic strategy for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and CHF.
Comparing the effects of tetrabromobisphenol‐A, bisphenol A, and their potential replacement alternatives, TBBPA‐bis(2,3‐dibromopropyl ether) and bisphenol S, on cell viability and messenger ribonucleic acid expression in chicken embryonic hepatocytes

A market for alternative brominated flame retardants (BFRs) has emerged recently due to the phase out of persistent and inherently toxic BFRs. Several of these replacement compounds have been detected in environmental matrices, including wild birds. A chicken embryonic hepatocyte (CEH) assay was utilized to assess the effects of the BFR, tetrabromobisphenol‐A (TBBPA), and its replacement alternative, tetrabromobisphenol A bis(2,3‐dibromopropyl ether [TBBPA‐DBPE]) on cell viability and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression. Bisphenol A (BPA) and 1 of its replacement alternatives, bisphenol S (BPS), were also screened for effects. Both TBBPA and BPA decreased CEH viability with calculated median lethal concentration (LC50) values of 40.6 μM and 61.7 μM, respectively. However, the replacement alternatives, TBBPA‐DBPE and BPS, did not affect cell viability (up to 300 μM). Effects on mRNA expression were determined using an Avian ToxChip polymerse chain reaction (PCR) array and a real‐time (RT)‐PCR assay for the estrogen‐responsive genes, apolipoproteinII (ApoII) and vitellogenin (Vtg). A luciferase reporter gene assay was used to assess dioxin‐like effects. Tetrabromobisphenol‐A altered mRNA levels of 4 genes from multiple toxicity pathways and increased luciferase activity in the luciferase reporter gene assay, whereas its alternative, TBBPA‐DBPE, only altered 1 gene on the array, Cyp1a4, and increased luciferase activity. At 300 μM, a concentration that decreased cell viability for TBBPA and BPA, the BPA replacement, BPS, altered the greatest number of transcripts, including both ApoII and Vtg. Bisphenol A exposure did not alter any genes on the array but did up‐regulate Vtg at 10 μM. Characterization of the potential toxicological and molecular‐level effects of these compounds will ideally be useful to chemical regulators tasked with assessing the risk of new and existing chemicals. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;9999:1–11. © 2014 SETAC
Application of species sensitivity distribution in aquatic probabilistic ecological risk assessment of cypermethrin: A case study in an urban stream in South China

A tiered ecological risk assessment was applied to quantitatively refine the overall probabilistic risk of cypermethrin, a pyrethroid insecticide, to aquatic organisms. These results were then validated through the bioassays using field water from an urban stream, Chebei Creek in Guangzhou, South China. Seventeen water samples were collected along Chebei Creek for evaluation. In total, 71% of the field waters were acutely toxic to Hyallela azteca and 24% of the waters caused 100% mortality. Toxic unit evaluation suggested that cypermethrin was one of the main contributors to toxicity. The tiered ecological risk assessment approach (deterministic quotient method and probabilistic methods, including joint probability curve and Monte Carlo Simulation) suggested that cypermethrin posed significant threats to aquatic ecology in this stream. The overall probabilistic risk of cypermethrin to aquatic species in Chebei Creek reached 66% when acute‐to‐chronic ratios were set at 125. An exceedance probability of cypermethrin in Chebei Creek that affected H. azteca as modeled using the joint probability curve method was 88%, suggesting that most sites were at risk due to cypermethrin exposure. This value was similar to the results obtained from acute toxicity tests (71% of field water samples were acutely toxic to H. azteca), indicating the effectiveness of the tiered approach to assess risk of cypermethrin in urban waterways. To the authors' knowledge, the present study is the first to provide a focused probabilistic evaluation of ecological risk for cypermethrin in a complex urban waterway environment. Despite uncertainties existing in the ecological risk assessment procedure, this approach provides a comprehensive assessment of ecological risk of cypermethrin, and subsequently, a foundation for further risk diagnosis and management in urban waterways. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:640–648. © 2014 SETAC
Designing digital knowledge management tools with Aboriginal Australians

Abstract The paper describes an approach to digital design grounded in processes of Indigenous collective memory making. We claim the research should be understood as performative knowledge making, and accounting it should also be performative. Accordingly we present four texts generated in the course of our research as an exhibit. They attest design processes for a file management system TAMI. We briefly theorise our approach as exemplifying Suchman’s ‘located accountability’.
Defining an exposure–response relationship for suspended kaolin clay particulates and aquatic organisms: Work toward defining a water quality guideline for suspended solids

Water quality guidelines for suspended solids generally rely on the percentage departure from reference condition, an approach that has been criticized. Attempts to develop a biological effects‐base guideline have, however, been confounded by low data availability. Furthermore, the high biological response variability to suspended solids exposure suggests that organisms are responding not only to exposure concentration and duration but also to other mechanisms of effect associated with suspended particles (e.g., size, shape, and geochemical composition). An alternative option is to develop more situation and site specific guidelines by generating biological effects data to suspended particles of a particular geochemistry and restricted size range. With this in mind, aquatic organism responses to kaolin clay particle exposure were collated from the literature and incorporated into 2 exposure–response relationship approaches. The species sensitivity distribution approach produced a hazardous concentration affecting 5% of species estimate of 58 mg/L for mortality responses, and 36 mg/L for sublethal data. The severity‐of‐ill‐effect approach produced similar estimates for lethal and sublethal data. These results suggest that aquatic organisms are slightly more tolerant of kaolin clay particles than particles from barite or bentonite clays, based on results from previous studies on these clay types. This type of information can enable better estimates of the risk faced by aquatic organisms exposed to suspended solids. For example, when the sediments of a particular water body are dominated by a particular type of clay particle, then the most appropriate exposure–response relationship can be applied. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:907–912. © 2015 SETAC
A broad cocktail of environmental pollutants found in eggs of three seabird species from remote colonies in Norway

Eggs of 3 seabird species, common eider (Somateria mollisima), European shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis aristotelis), and European herring gull (Larus argentatus), were surveyed for a broad range of legacy and emerging pollutants to assess chemical mixture exposure profiles of seabirds from the Norwegian marine environment. In total, 201 chemical substances were targeted for analysis ranging from metals, organotin compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and associated metabolites, chlorinated paraffins, chlorinated and nonchlorinated organic pesticides, per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), dechlorane plus, octachlorostyrene, brominated flame retardants (BFRs), organophosphorous compounds, brominated and alkyl phenols, cyclic siloxanes, and phthalates. Of the chemicals targeted, 149 substances were found above the detection limits, with metals dominating the contaminant profile and comprising 60% of the total contaminant load. Polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, organophosphorous compounds, and PFAS were the dominant contaminant classes of organic pollutants found within the seabird species, with the highest loads occurring in herring gulls, followed by shag, and common eider. New generation pollutants (e.g., PFAS, organophosphorous compounds, and alkylphenols) were detected at similar or higher concentrations than the legacy persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Time trends of reported concentrations of legacy POPs appear to have decreased in recent decades from the Norwegian coastal environment. Concentrations of detected pollutants do not appear to have a negative effect on seabird population development within the sampling area. Additional stress caused by pollutants, however, may affect seabird health more at the individual level. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:1296–1308. © 2015 SETAC