bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Cost‐effectiveness of different caries preventive measures in a high‐risk population of Swedish adolescents
Authors: Oscarson N. , Källestål C. , Fjelddahl A. , Lindholm L. 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objectives: A total of 3373 12‐year‐olds agreed to participate in an intervention study evaluating different caries preventive measures. The study, titled ‘Evaluation of caries preventive measures’, was performed between 1995 and 1999 at 26 dental health clinics throughout Sweden. At the start of the study, the subjects were classified as individuals at high or low risk of developing caries. The high‐risk group consisted of 1165 subjects. The children in the high‐risk group were randomly assigned to one of four preventive programs. The programs represent a step‐wise increase in fluoride content, contact with dental personnel and cost. The aim of the present cost‐effectiveness analysis (CEA) study performed from a societal perspective is to compare costs and consequences of caries preventive programs in a caries high‐risk population. By ‘costs’ is meant both treatment costs and costs contributed by the patient and the patient's family. Costs contributed by patients and their families consist of out‐of‐pocket expenses, transportation costs, and time. Conclusions are that it is important to consider the perspective from which a study is carried out. Costs contributed by the patient and the patient's family have a high impact on total costs for children and younger adolescents but decrease with time as the adolescents get older. The present study shows an incremental cost‐effectiveness of 2043 SEK (8.54 SEK = US$ 1, December 1999) per averted decayed enamel and dentine missing and filled surface (DeMFS), of which treatment costs represent 1337 SEK using the unit cost for a nurse. This means a yearly cost of approximately 334 SEK.
Caries incidence in permanent first molars after discontinuation of a school‐based chlorhexidine‐thymol varnish program
Authors: Baca Pilar , Junco Pilar , Bravo Manuel , Baca Adela P. , Muñoz M. José 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objectives: To determine whether the cessation for 3 years of a 24‐month program of chlorhexidine‐thymol varnish applications would affect caries incidence in the first permanent molars of a population of schoolchildren of middle and lower‐middle socioeconomic level.Methods: Two groups of 6–7‐year‐old schoolchildren, randomized by school‐class, were followed up in a clinical trial. One group received applications of chlorhexidine‐thymol varnish every 3 months and the other group acted as controls. The program ended after 24 months and its effects were evaluated. Three years later, 55.5% of the schoolchildren were re‐examined and the caries increments were documented.Results: At the end of the 24‐month program, the treated children had significantly fewer decayed and filled surfaces in permanent molars (lower DFS index) versus the controls. At 3 years after the discontinuation of the program, this difference had disappeared; there were no differences in the incidence of decayed, missing and filled surfaces (DMFS) index in permanent molars between the treated children and the controls.Conclusion: The cessation for 3 years of a 3‐month program of chlorhexidine‐thymol varnish applications resulted in a nonsignificant increase in the prevalence of dental caries in the permanent first molar.
Fluoride intake by Brazilian children from two communities with fluoridated water
Authors: Paiva Saul M. , Lima Ynara B. O. , Cury Jaime A. 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objectives: To determine total daily fluoride intake by young children from two communities in a developing country.Methods: Fluoride intake from diet and dentifrice was determined for 71 Brazilian children, aged 19–38 months, living in two communities with fluoridated water (0.6–0.8 ppm). The children from Piracicaba attended a full‐time day care centre but those from Ibiá did not. Fluoride ingested during tooth brushing was determined, and ‘duplicate‐plate’ samples of all foods and beverages ingested during a 2‐day period were collected from which fluoride for analysis was extracted by hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDS) microdiffusion. The amount of fluoride ingested (mg F/kg body weight/day) from the diet and dentifrice and the combined fluoride intake were calculated. A limit of 0.05–0.07 mg F/kg body weight/day was considered as the safe threshold for fluoride exposure.Results: The children from Ibiá had lower amounts of fluoride in their diets than those from Piracicaba (P < 0.05); no differences in the amount of fluoride ingested from dentifrice were found between the communities. In both communities, the daily fluoride intake from dentifrice was higher than that from the diet (P < 0.05). Most of the children from both communities were exposed to a combined dose (diet + dentifrice) of fluoride above the risk threshold for dental fluorosis.Conclusion: The data suggest that fluoride intake from diet depends on living conditions, and measures should be implemented to reduce the fluoride intake of these Brazilian children.
The self‐assessed oral health status of individuals from White, Indian, Chinese and Black Caribbean communities in South‐east England
Authors: Newton J. T. , Corrigan M. , Gibbons D. E. , Locker D. 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objectives: To determine the level of self‐assessed oral symptoms and the impact of such symptoms among individuals from four ethnic groups resident in South‐east England and the relationship between self‐assessed oral health status, age, gender, employment status, educational level and ethnicity.Method: Cross‐sectional survey of a convenience sample of 366 individuals drawn from four ethnic groups.Measures: Subjective Oral Health Status Indicators (SOHSI).Participants: Individuals were recruited through community groups. All participants self‐classified their ethnicity. Only completed questionnaires from participants categorising themselves as White, Black Caribbean, Chinese or Indian were included in the data analysis.Findings: Univariate statistical analysis revealed significant differences between ethnic groups in all but one of the SOHSI scales. Age and ethnicity (in particular membership of the Chinese community) emerged as significant predictors of SOHSI scale scores.Conclusions: Within the limitations imposed by convenience sampling, it has been found that differences exist among four ethnic groups in the UK in their reporting of self‐assessed oral health status. Ethnicity and age, in particular, predict the reporting of self‐assessed oral symptoms and the impact of such symptoms.
Reporting on adverse reactions to dental materials – intraoral observations at a clinical follow‐up
Authors: Lygre Gunvor Bentung , Gjerdet Nils Roar , Grønningsæter Arne Geir , Björkman Lars 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objectives: A national reporting system designed to monitor adverse reactions to dental materials was established in Norway in 1993. The activities have also included clinical examination of patients with suspected reactions to dental materials. The ongoing activities are coordinated by the Dental Biomaterials Adverse Reaction Unit at the University of Bergen. The reporting procedure is based on voluntary spontaneous reporting by dentists and physicians. The reports could be based on subjective symptoms or objective findings, or both. The aim of the present study was to compare reported objective intraoral findings with those found during examination at the unit.Methods: Reported reactions were compared with clinical findings obtained following dental and medical examination at the unit. From 1993 to 1999, a total of 899 reports were received while 253 patients were referred and examined at the unit.Results: The reports on patients who were examined at the unit involved mainly reactions related to amalgam fillings (84%), metals in fixed dentures (11%), resin‐based materials and cements (4%), materials used in removable dentures (2%), and endodontic materials (2%). Edema, lichenoid reactions, ulcers/vesicles, erythema, and atrophy were found in 80 patients during the examination at the unit. For 35 of these patients, the intraoral findings at the unit were also given in the reports. For another 45 patients, objective intraoral signs of reactions were found upon examination at the unit, but these findings had not been reported.Conclusion: A spontaneous reporting system is a cost‐effective method for monitoring intraoral reactions associated with dental materials. Considering the increasing number and complexity of these materials, there appears to be a need for continuous validation of reports by a speciality unit. In order to receive more accurate information about the adverse reactions, it would be advisable that the reporting forms include more detailed guidance regarding signs of reactions that practitioners should be on the look out for and consider.
A comparison of dental health care attitudes in the Netherlands in 1985, 1995, and 2001
Authors: Bos Annemieke , Hoogstraten Johan , Prahl‐Andersen Birte 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objectives: The aim of the present study was to re‐establish and update empirical data obtained in 1985 and 1995 using the dental attitudes questionnaire (DAQ). In 1984, this instrument for assessing oral health care attitudes was presented by Stockwell and Banting. The DAQ has six content scales: cynicism, health concern, motivation, oral function, social aesthetic and susceptibility, and two validity scales, halo and infrequency.Methods: The DAQ was completed in a similar setting using similar subjects in 1985, 1995, and 2001. Subjects were first‐year psychology students who participated for course credit.Results: A high level of agreement among respondents was found in their ranking of attitudinal factors. The mean scores on most subscales were lower in 1995 and 2001 than in 1985. In 2001, respondents scored higher on the subscale ‘motivation’, and lower on the subscales ‘cynicism’ and ‘social aesthetic’ than subjects in 1995.Conclusion: Some changes have occurred in dental health care attitudes as measured by the DAQ during the intervals between the three studies. Subjects in 2001 showed less suspicion regarding the motives of dental health care professionals and downplayed more need for regular dental checkups and oral hygiene than subjects in former years. The psychometric qualities of the DAQ were considered to be satisfactory.
Caries and micronutrient intake among urban South African children: a cohort study
Authors: MacKeown Jennifer Margaret , Cleaton‐Jones Peter Eiddon , Fatti Paul 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objective: To report on associations between caries and micronutrient intake among a ‘true cohort’ group of 5‐year‐old urban black South African children.Methods: The study sample was a true cohort that had nutrition as well as dental information for 1991 and 1995 (n = 259). Micronutrient intake and dental caries associations were examined with SAS using the linear logistic analysis and a critical level of statistical significance of P < 0.05.Results: Of the 21 micronutrients investigated, vitamin B12, riboflavin, magnesium and biotin were individually significantly associated with caries incidence, but taken together only magnesium was significant.Conclusions: The association of micronutrient intake with caries was weak, isolated and not clinically relevant. Micronutrient intake was not an indicator of the presence or absence of caries among the children studied.
Fluoride intake from foods, beverages and dentifrice by children in Mexico
Authors: Martínez‐Mier E. Angeles , Soto‐Rojas Armando E. , Ureña‐Cirett José L. , Stookey George K. , Dunipace Ann J. 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objectives: This investigation monitored fluoride ingestion in Mexican children who were susceptible to developing dental fluorosis.Methods: Total fluoride intake, from dietary and toothpaste samples, was determined in 15–36‐month‐old children from Mexico City and Veracruz, Mexico. A duplicate plate technique was used. Plasma fluoride levels were also determined in this group of children.Results: The children ingested a mean (±SD) of 0.20 ± 0.08 and 0.18 ± 0.07 mg fluoride/kg/day, in Mexico City and Veracruz, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the fluoride ingested by children in the two cities (P > 0.9). Plasma from children in Mexico City and Veracruz contained a mean of 1.30 ± 0.81 and 0.87 ± 0.72 µmol fluoride/l, respectively, and these values were not significantly different.Conclusions: Our results lead to the conclusion that mean fluoride ingested from the combination of foods and beverages was within the proposed safe threshold for fluoride intake of 0.05–0.07 mg F/kg/day. Most of the fluoride intake by these children was derived from the ingestion of fluoridated toothpaste. When all sources of ingested fluoride were added and total fluoride intake was calculated, the children, both in Mexico City and Veracruz, were ingesting amounts of fluoride well above the upper limits of the proposed safe threshold for fluoride intake.
Classification of dental caries patterns in the primary dentition: a multidimensional scaling analysis
Authors: Psoter Walter J. , Zhang Heping , Pendrys David G. , Morse Douglas E. , Mayne Susan T. 
Published: May 2003

Abstract –Objective: Clinical patterns of early childhood caries (ECC) encompassing specific teeth or surfaces have been previously proposed on an a priori basis and have been used as case definitions. The underlying assumption is that the patterns result from different host response and environmental conditions. Identifying caries patterns has utility in refining case definitions of ECC. Well‐defined caries patterns should enhance the ability of an analysis to identify meaningful associations between suspected risk factors and ECC. The purpose of this project was to identify patterns of caries in the dentition of preschool children using multidimensional scaling without a priori pattern delineation.Methods: Between February 1994 and September 1995, five examiners visually examined 5171 Arizona preschool children aged 5–59 months old. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used as a classification/taxonomy technique to identify any underlying structure of the caries data. MDS provided a classification scheme for individual tooth surfaces based on the dissimilarity measures of squared Euclidean distance and of variance using an alscal analysis. Both two‐ and three‐dimensional solutions were pursued; s‐stress, stress, R‐square and residual patterns were assessed in determining the best dimensional model, with the resulting quadrant positions of the tooth surfaces suggesting potential caries patterns.Results:  All models demonstrated excellent fit. Two‐ and three‐dimensional solutions suggested four caries patterns: (i) any maxillary incisor surfaces, (ii) first molar occlusal surfaces, (iii) second molar pit and fissure surfaces, and (iv) any smooth surfaces, excluding the maxillary incisor surfaces.Conclusions: This is the first delineation of primary dentition caries patterns produced by a classification analysis without a priori pattern definitions. The identified caries patterns may arise from specific risk factors and/or be a function of the timing of various risk factor exposures. Use of these patterns as case definitions should enhance the ability to identify associations between suspected risk factors and ECC.
Brainstem involvement by mycosis fungoides in a patient with large‐cell transformation: a case report and review of literature
Authors: Li Ning , Kim Jung H. , Glusac Earl J. 
Published: May 2003

Background:  Central nervous system (CNS) involvement by mycosis fungoides (MF) is rare. As compared to meningeal involvement, intraparenchymal spread is especially rare. It is usually seen in advanced disease in conjunction with lymph node or visceral involvement. However, CNS involvement in the absence of progressive skin lesions or other extracutaneous involvement has been reported rarely in patients with transformed MF.Method:  Case report and review of literature.Results:  A 71‐year‐old female with long‐standing MF developed lymphomatous CNS involvement 10 years after the diagnosis of tumor stage MF. At this time, the patient presented with a transient episode of garbled speech followed by generalized weakness. Computerized tomography scan (CT scan) and magnetic resonance imaging scan (MRI scan) of the head revealed a subcortical lesion in the left temporo‐frontal lobe. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination showed atypical T cells, and brain biopsy confirmed parenchymal involvement by T‐cell lymphoma. Meanwhile, a biopsy of a skin lesion showed large‐cell transformation. No lymph node or other systemic involvement was noted at this time, and the patient was treated with chemotherapy. Twelve months later, the patient developed recurrent CNS lymphoma with multiple organ involvement and expired soon thereafter.Conclusions:  This case illustrates the importance of awareness of the possibility of CNS involvement by MF, especially in transformed MF. CNS involvement may be the only site of extracutaneous involvement in patients with transformed MF, and mental status changes warrant CNS surveillance for this disease.
Is the relation between nutrient supply and biodiversity co‐determined by the type of nutrient limitation?
Authors: Aerts R. , De Caluwe H. , Beltman B. 
Published: May 2003

Correlative studies have shown a ‘hump‐backed’ relation between the vegetation N:P ratio and plant species diversity with the highest diversity at balanced N:P ratios (between 10 and 14). We tested the hypothesis that adding growth‐limiting nutrients to mesotrophic grasslands that were in shortage of either N (N:P ratio<10) or P (N:P ratio>14) would lead to an increase of plant diversity. Thereto, we studied the effects of long‐term (11 yr) experimentally increased N and/or P supply on soil nutrient pools, vegetation nutrient dynamics and biodiversity in a riverine grassland in the Netherlands with a low soil N:P ratio (N shortage) and a peat grassland with a high soil N:P ratio (P shortage), respectively. Eleven years of nutrient addition hardly had any effects on the total stocks of C, N and P in the soils of both sites, due to the large size of the soil nutrient pools already present and to the management at both sites (annual hay‐making and ‐removal). However, in the riverine grassland the treatments increased the cycling of the small pool of labile N and P compounds resulting in large increases in annual fluxes of especially N. In the unfertilised controls, species establishments balanced more or less species losses during an 11 year period, thus leading to a dynamic equilibrium of the species pool. However, contrary to our hypothesis, addition of the growth‐limiting nutrient led at both sites to a reduction of species diversity even when total biomass remained below critical levels. Species diversity and species evenness were strongly determined by N mineralisation and to a lesser extent by total soil N and extractable P, respectively. Total aboveground biomass of the vegetation was determined by total soil N.Our study shows that patterns found in correlative studies of the relation between plant diversity and soil and vegetation N:P ratio can not be translated into successful experimental manipulations to enhance biodiversity. The most likely explanation is that colonization limitation occurred in the fertilized plots and that not sufficient diaspores of potentially new species could reach and/or colonize the plots to compensate for the species extinctions as a result of increased nutrient supply.
A particular case and a general pattern: hyperaggressive behaviour by one species may mediate avifaunal decreases in fragmented Australian forests
Authors: Piper Scott D. , Catterall Carla P. 
Published: May 2003

We quantitatively assessed edge effects associated with elevated abundance of a hyper aggressive bird species, the noisy miner Manorina melanocephala, in fragmented eucalypt forest adjoining developed land. Long‐term data from Toohey Forest, subtropical Australia, show that noisy miner colonies intensively occupy a zone of 20 m from the forest edge, with frequent use occurring up to 100 m from the edge, but little beyond 200 m. Within noisy miner colonies, the abundance and species richness of other birds were both about half those recorded at nearby transects which were outside the colonies' main activity area. Bird species smaller than noisy miners, which are also those with similar diets, were collectively 20–25 times more abundant, and their species richness tenfold greater, outside miner colonies than within them, whereas larger species, which have less dietary overlap, did not differ. Exclusion of small insectivorous birds has been hypothesised to cause elevated insect herbivore density, but we found no difference between tree crown defoliation or dieback rates within versus outside miner colonies.Aggression by noisy miners can be viewed as a mechanism of interspecific competition, since miners have a relatively large body size for their diet and are hence able to exclude virtually all potential competitors at relatively little cost. We examine evidence indicating that reduced bird diversity in eucalypt forest fragments of eastern Australia is often simply the effect of noisy miner occupancy of edges, acting directly on the densities of other species through their aggressive behaviour. With an edge effect 200 m deep, a remnant 10 ha in size is likely to become entirely occupied by noisy miners, and this is a size threshold that has been commonly reported in association with area‐standardised avian diversity reductions. Convergent patterns of species loss from small forest fragments in different continents are the result of different underlying ecological processes.
Screening for novel pancreatic genes from in vitro‐induced pancreas in Xenopus
Authors: Sogame Asako , Hayata Tadayoshi , Asashima Makoto 
Published: May 2003

The processes of development and differentiation of the pancreas, an endoderm‐derived vital organ that consists of both endocrine and exocrine cells, are highly conserved across most vertebrates. Recently, an in vitro system has been reported to induce embryonic pancreas using multipotent Xenopus ectodermal cells treated with activin and retinoic acid. In this study, this system was first modified to eliminate the mesoderm‐derived pronephros. It was found that pronephros, which appeared with the use of low concentrations of activin, was eliminated at higher concentrations (400 ng/mL), while pancreas developed at a high frequency. Using this modified system, subtractive hybridization screening for novel pancreatic genes was done to better understand the molecular mechanisms of pancreas formation. Four novel genes were identified and characterized that were also found to be specifically expressed in the developing pancreas: carboxyl ester lipase, pancreatic elastase2, placental protein11 and protein disulfide isomerase A2 precursor. This in vitro pancreas‐induction system may provide a useful model for analysis of the molecular mechanisms that function during pancreas development.