Occupational performance of children with autism spectrum disorder and quality of life of their mothers

Objectives Limited studies were found to investigate the occupational performance of autistic children and their parents’ quality of life. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate occupational performance of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and QoL of their mothers. Results In this study, 88 participants were selected from autism centers in Arak, Iran, 2020. The Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) and the parent version of Quality of Life in Autism Questionnaire (QoLA-P) were used to assess the occupational performance of ASD children and their mothers QoL. QoLA-P consists of parts A which is related to the quality of life and part-B related to the problems that these children have and are related to the parents or their caregivers. Regarding occupational performance, the first priority of mothers is self-care with frequency 64.8%. The finding suggested a significant correlation between total function score of COPM and the score of part-A (r = 0.227, p = 0.033) of QoLA-P. Also, the results revealed a significant correlation between the total satisfaction score of COPM and the score of part-A (r = 0.236, p = 0.026) and part-B of QoLA-P questionnaire (r = 0.231, p = 0.030). The mothers’ first priority is self-care and, the total satisfaction and function score of COPM showed a significant correlation with mothers’ QoL.

Understanding bias when estimating life expectancy from age at death: a simulation approach applied to Morquio syndrome A

Objective Life expectancy can be estimated accurately from a cohort of individuals born in the same year and followed from birth to death. However, due to the resource-consuming nature of following a cohort prospectively, life expectancy is often assessed based upon retrospective death record reviews. This conventional approach may lead to potentially biased estimates, in particular when estimating life expectancy of rare diseases such as Morquio syndrome A. We investigated the accuracy of life expectancy estimation using death records by simulating the survival of individuals with Morquio syndrome A under four different scenarios. Results When life expectancy was constant during the entire period, using death data did not result in a biased estimate. However, when life expectancy increased over time, as is often expected to be the case in rare diseases, using only death data led to a substantial underestimation of life expectancy. We emphasize that it is therefore crucial to understand how estimates of life expectancy are obtained, to interpret them in an appropriate context, and to assess estimation methods within a sensitivity analysis framework, similar to the simulations performed herein.

Comparison of insertion time, pull-out strength, and screw-media interface area of customized pedicle screw with different core and thread design against commercial pedicle screw: a pilot study on Indonesian Population

Objective This research aimed to developing customized pedicle screw based on Indonesian vertebral anatomy and compare the insertion time, pull-out strength, and screw-media interface area of different screw design. We have developed 3 different types of pedicle screws (v-thread cylinder-core, square-thread cylinder-core and square-thread conical-core). The thread diameter was calculated from pedicle width of Indonesian population (6 mm). We used commercially available pedicle screw as control group (6.2 mm). Result The insertion time were significantly difference between v-thread cylinder-core pedicle screw (22.94 s) with commercially available pedicle screw (15.86 s) (p < 0.05). The pull-out strength was significantly difference between commercially available pedicle screw (408.60 N) with square-thread conical pedicle screw (836.60 N) (p < 0.05). The square-thread conical-core group have the highest interface area (1486.21 mm2). The data comparison showed that the square-thread conical-core customized pedicle screw group has comparable insertion time and has better pull-out strength than commercially available pedicle screw.

Six-sigma and quality planning of TORCH tests in the Peruvian population: a single-center cross-sectional study

Objective To ensure the health of newborns, it is necessary to perform high-quality diagnostic tests. The TORCH panel is a set of tests that identifies infectious pathogens such as Toxoplasma (Toxo) and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) that are common in low-setting populations. We performed TORCH panel quality planning using six sigma in a reference laboratory at Peru. Results This was a cross-sectional study. TORCH tests include Toxo, Rubella, CMV, and Herpes. We processed all samples by fourth-generation ELISA on the GEMINI XCR200 analyzer (Diatron, Budapest, Hungary). We obtained the imprecision from the annual data of the external quality assessment plan and we used the CLSI EP12-A3 guideline. In a total of 44,788 analyses, the average imprecision was 3.69 ± 1.47%, and CMV had lower imprecision (2.3 and 2.6% for IgM and IgG, respectively). Quality planning of the TORCH panel allowed estimating the sigma value that ranged from 4 to 10 (average 7 ± 2 sigma), where rubella had the highest values (10 for IgM and 8 for IgG) while HSV2 had the lowest values (4 for IgM and 5 for IgG). Our results suggest the optimal performance of half of the markers including Toxoplasma, Rubella, and CMV in the Peruvian population.

Survey participation among general practitioners: comparison between teaching physicians and a random sample

Objective Health scientists strive for a smooth recruitment of physicians for research projects like surveys. Teaching physicians are an easy to approach population that is already affiliated with a university by teaching students in their practice. How do response rates compare between a convenient online survey among teaching physicians and an elaborate postal survey in a random sample of unknown physicians? Data from the TMI-GP study on the use of memory tests in general practice were used. Results Physicians in the random sample responded to the postal survey more often than teaching physicians to the online survey (59.5% vs. 18.9%; odds ratio 7.06; 95% confidence interval 4.81–10.37; p < 0.001). Although it is unclear whether the sample, the survey mode (online vs. postal) or both account for this effect, it is noteworthy that even in such a convenience sample of known/committed physicians, an adequate response rate could not be reached without a tailored and elaborated survey technique. Responders in the two samples were comparable regarding a content-related item (use of memory tests; Χ2 (df = 1) = 3.07; p = 0.080).

A dataset for dental anxiety and psychological distress in 1550 patients visiting dental clinics

Objectives Information was collected to identify anxiety in dental patients visiting a dental clinic using the Dental Anxiety Scale, their level of psychological distress using the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 and identifying a correlation between these groups as well as the gender and age. Data description This data contains a set of 1550 patients’ answers to questionnaires taken before dental treatment in a dental clinic. It is divided into male and female patients as well as according to their age. The level of Dental Anxiety can be interpreted by answers chosen in the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) and the level of psychological distress by answers chosen in the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18). This dataset should help to encourage more research in the field of dental anxiety and we hope to see more comparisons with our data in the future or in different regions of the world.

Using parallel pre-trained types of DCNN model to predict breast cancer with color normalization

Objective Breast cancer is the most common among women, and it causes many deaths every year. Early diagnosis increases the chance of cure through treatment. The traditional manual diagnosis requires effort and time from pathological experts, as it needs a joint experience of a number of pathologists. Diagnostic mistakes can lead to catastrophic results and endanger the lives of patients. The presence of an expert system that is able to specify whether the examined tissue is healthy or not, thus improves the quality of diagnosis and saves the time of experts. In this paper, a model capable of classifying breast cancer anatomy by making use of a pre-trained DCNN has been proposed. To build this model, first of all the image should be color stained by using Vahadane algorithm, then the model which combines three pre-trained DCNN (Xception, NASNet and Inceptoin_Resnet_V2) should be built in parallel, then the three branches should be aggregated to take advantage of each other. The suggested model was tested under different values of threshold ratios and also compared with other models. Results The proposed model on the BreaKHis dataset achieved 98% accuracy, which is better than the accuracy of other models used in this field.

Identification of the role of oral health educators in elementary schools during COVID-19 pandemic: a competency framework

Objective Oral health educators should have the required knowledge, skills and attitude in order to meet the increased needs of the Ministry of Education in Syria as well as to perform their duties in promoting oral health in children appropriately during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study was undertaken to identify core competencies required for oral health educators in elementary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative exploratory study was undertaken. A focus group which consisted of 5 Medical Education postgraduates and 3 oral health educators’ training team members were invited to formulate a preliminary list of basic competencies. Delphi technique was also adopted through inviting 12 experts in oral health education to evaluate and formulate a final list of elementary schools’ oral health educators’ competencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results A competency framework was developed. Fifty-five competencies were identified including 35 in cognitive domain, 12 skills and 8 attitude competencies. A list of essential competencies has been identified. These competencies should be addressed in training programs targeting oral health educators, which can consequently produce competent educators who can successfully promote and provide health care to all schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attitude and communication skills of German medical students

Objective While the development of communication competencies in medical schools plays a pivotal role in the curriculum, studies show that students’ communication skills and patient-centred attitudes may vary based on gender and ethnicity. The goal of this study was to investigate the socio-demographic factors that influence medical students’ communication abilities and, more specifically, to what extent their attitude toward communication skills learning and patient orientation associate with communication abilities. Our population included medical students admitted in 2017. Used tools included a communication score, the patient-provider orientation and communication skills attitudes scales. Results Three hundred and sixty-five students participated in the study (56.4% female, 85.2% German native speakers, mean age 24.2 ± 3.5 years). Female and German native speaking students had a better communication skills OSCE performance, were more patient-oriented and had more positive attitudes toward communication skills learning than male and non-native speaking students. There was a significant association between gender, native tongue, attitudes towards communication skills learning and communication skills OSCE performance. In conclusion, to support medical students to improve their communication proficiency and attitudes towards the importance of clear communication and patient-oriented care, medical educators should consider teaching and assessment strategies that address socio-cultural aspects of communication.

Expression of angiogenic markers in jawbones and femur in a rat model treated with zoledronic acid

Objectives This study aimed to investigate the gene expression of angiogenic marker in surgically treated jawbones and femur on a rat model administrated with zoledronic acid. Results No soft tissue fenestration or bone exposure was found in femur. Delayed soft tissue healing was found in both ZA group (3 in mandible, 4 in maxilla) and control group (1 in mandible, 2 in maxilla), while exposed bone was found only in the ZA group (1 in maxilla, 2 in mandible). RT-PCR analysis demonstrated no significant difference in gene expression of angiogenetic markers between ZA-treated and control groups in femur and mandible. In the maxilla, the expression of VEGFA and VEGFR-2 in medium-term ZA group was significantly down-regulated compared with that in the control. The ZA treatment does not change significantly the expression of the angiogenic factors in femur and mandible, but significantly downregulates the expression in maxilla in this rat model. The angiogenesis inhibition may contribute to the development of MRONJ but does not play a key role.