OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to develop and appraise an oral health literacy assessment tool for upper elementary school students. METHODS: Twenty-eight preliminary assessment items were developed on the basis of various types of oral health education literature for children. They contained verbal and functional sections and they were classified into 2 cognitive processes (literal and inferential). The questionnaires were analyzed using the testAn v.1.0 program for identified Cronbach's α, item discrimination, and difficulty through classical test theory. A final evaluation tool was developed and selected by conducting three surveys and 20 items. RESULTS: The final survey was completed by 132 fifth and sixth grade elementary school students in Seoul. The Cronbach's α value, item discrimination, and difficulty were .71, .38, and .75, respectively. The mean score for oral health literacy of children was 14.9 (±3.2, theoretical range: 0-20, 75% correct answers). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that this tool could be relied on to help determine the level of oral health literacy in children and in preparing appropriate oral health education programs for children.
Child ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Education ; Humans ; Literacy* ; Oral Health* ; Seoul

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the oral health behaviors and the relationships between social support, self-esteem, and oral health behaviors. METHODS: The institutions were selected based on the “2016 Elderly Welfare Facilities Status.” A total of 195 people participated in interviews conducted using a 39-item questionnaire. It included information on the following topics: a) sociodemographic and health-related characteristics (11 items), b) oral health behaviors (6), c) social support (12), and d) self-esteem (10). Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, a reliability test, a t-test, an ANOVA, a Pearson's correlation test, and a stepwise multiple regression, conducted using the SPSS 23.0 program. RESULTS: Of the 195 participants, 165 (84.6%) brushed their teeth twice a day; however only 74 (38.0%) participants used oral care products. Although many (64.6%) elderly people visited a dentist at least once a year, only a few (24.6%) visited the dentist for preventive purposes. Oral health behaviors had a positive correlation with self-esteem, significant others' support, and friends'support (.337, .270, and .254, respectively; P<.01). According to the multiple regression analysis, self-esteem, significant others' support, perceived health status, number of existing permanent teeth, friends' support, degree of exercise, gender, and average monthly expenditure had a significant effect on the participants' oral health behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that social support and self-esteem might be major predictors of oral health behaviors. These results suggest that psychosocial factors need to be taken into account in the oral health education provided for elderly people.
Aged* ; Dentists ; Education ; Health Expenditures ; Humans ; Oral Health* ; Psychology ; Tooth

Hyper-IgE syndrome (HIES) is a very rare primary immune deficiency characterized by elevated serum IgE levels, recurrent bacterial infections, chronic dermatitis, and connective tissue abnormalities. Autosomal dominant (AD) HIES involves a mutation in signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) that leads to an impaired T(H)17 response. STAT3 signaling is also involved in the function of RORγt⁺ type 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3s) and RORγt⁺T(H)17 cells. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of innate immune cells such as innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), granulocytes, and monocytes in a patient with HIES. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a patient with HIES and three age-matched healthy controls were obtained for the analysis of the innate and adaptive immune cells. The frequencies of ILCs in PBMCs were lower in the patient with HIES than in the controls. Moreover, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and IL-17A produced by ILC3s in PBMCs were lower in the patient with HIES than the controls. Compared with the controls, classical monocytes (CD14⁺CD16(low)), which have a high antimicrobial capability, were also lower in the patient with HIES, while non-classical monocytes (CD14(low)CD16⁺) as well as intermediate monocytes (CD14⁺CD16(intermediate)) were higher. Taken together, these results indicate that the impaired immune defense against pathogenic microbes in the patient with HIES might be partially explained by functional defects in ILC3s and inflammatory monocytes.
Bacterial Infections ; Connective Tissue ; Cytokines ; Dermatitis ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; Granulocytes ; Humans ; Immunity, Innate ; Immunoglobulin E ; Interleukin-17 ; Job Syndrome* ; Lymphocytes* ; Monocytes* ; STAT3 Transcription Factor

Objective:To explore the relationship between cardiac discomfort symptoms, fear of disease progress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI) after discharge, and to clarify main intervention direction of PTSD in patients with AMI.Methods:Patients with AMI who were discharged from Tangshan Gongren Hospital between 1 month and 1 year were selected from November 2019 to November 2020.The cardiac discomfort symptoms scale, fear of progress questionnaire(FoP-Q-SF) and post-traumatic stress disorder self-rating scale(PTSD-SS) were used to investigate cardiac discomfort symptoms, fear of disease progress level and post-traumatic stress disorder status.Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between cardiac discomfort symptoms, fear of disease progress and post-traumatic stress disorder by SPSS 24.0 software. The mediating effect of fear of disease progress was analyzed by AMOS 24.0 software.Results:The PTSD score was (32.78±12.38) of patients with AMI discharged from hospital for 1 month to 1 year and the incidence of PTSD was 12.3%.Spearman correlation test showed cardiac discomfort symptoms and fear of disease progress were positively correlated with PTSD( r=0.530, 0.723, both P<0.01) and cardiac discomfort symptoms was positively correlated with fear of disease progress( r=0.518, P<0.01). Mediating effect test showed that fear of disease progress was a complete mediator between cardiac discomfort symptoms and PTSD. Conclusion:Cardiac discomfort symptoms can affect PTSD through a complete mediator of fear of disease progress.

Objective To observe the efficacy of bacterial lysate(bronchovaxom) in the acute phase of respiratory tract infection and to prevent recurrent respiratory tract infections.Methods From April 2014 to A-pril 2015,in pediatric respiratory ward of Shengjing hospital of China Medical University,80 children with recur-rent respiratory tract infection were randomly divided into treatment group and control group,with 40 cases in each group.The control group patients were received routine anti-infection and symptomatic treatment,the treat-ment group patients were received oral bacterial lysis products for 3 months on basis of the conventional anti-in-fection and symptomatic treatment.To observe the duration of clinical symptoms of two groups of children with respiratory tract infection in the acute phase,antibiotic use and hospital stay changes;observed the number of re-spiratory infections occurred again within 1 year;measured the levels of serum immunoglobulin before and 6 months after treatment. Results Compared with the control group,the duration of symptoms such as fever, cough and other symptoms of respiratory tract infection,the duration of pulmonary rales,the use of antibiotics and the length of hospital stay were significantly shortened in the treatment group,and the number of respiratory infections was significantly reduced,the difference significant(P<0.05).After treatment,the levels of IgG and IgA in the treatment group were significantly higher than those before treatment,and the immunoglobulin IgG and IgA in the treatment group were significantly higher than those in the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion Oral bacterial lysis products to prevent respiratory infections,not only can reduce the duration of various clini-cal symptoms of respiratory tract infection,shorten the use of antibiotics and hospital stay,and can improve chil-dren's immunity,reduce the number of respiratory infections again.

PURPOSE: The aims of this pilot study were to introduce implant loading devices designed for animal study and to evaluate the validity of the load transmission ability of the loading devices. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Implant loading devices were specially designed and fabricated with two implant abutments and cast metal bars, and orthodontic expansion screw. In six Beagles, all premolars were extracted and two implants were placed in each side of the mandibles. The loading device was inserted two weeks after the implant placement. According to the loading protocol, the load was applied to the implants with different time and method,simulating early, progressive, and delayed loading. The implants were clinically evaluated and the loading devices were removed and replaced to the master cast, followed by stress-strain analysis. Descriptive statistics of remained strain (microepsilon) was evaluated after repeating three cycles of the loading device activation. Statistic analysis was performed using nonparametric, independent t-test with 5% significance level and Friedman's test was also used for verification. RESULTS: The loading devices were in good action. However, four implants in three Beagles showed loss of osseointegration. In stress-strain analysis, loading devices showed similar amount of increase in the remained strain after applying 1-unit load for three times. CONCLUSION: Specialized design of the implant loading device was introduced. The loading device applied similar amount of loads near the implant after each 1-unit loading. However, the direction of the loads was not parallel to the long axis of the implants as predicted before the study.
Animal Experimentation ; Animals ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Bicuspid ; Dental Implants ; Dental Stress Analysis ; Immediate Dental Implant Loading ; Mandible ; Osseointegration ; Pilot Projects ; Sprains and Strains

To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of Community Health Survey (CHS), we analyzed data from 11,217 participants aged > or = 19 yr, in 13 cities and counties in 2008. Three healthcare utilization indices (admission, outpatient visits, dental visits) as comparative variables and the insurance benefit claim data of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service as the gold-standard were used. The sensitivities of admission, outpatient visits, and dental visits in CHS were 54.8%, 52.1%, and 61.0%, respectively. The specificities were 96.4%, 85.6%, and 82.7%, respectively. This is the first study to evaluate the validity of nationwide health statistics resulting from questionnaire surveys and shows that CHS needs a lot of efforts to reflect the true health status, health behavior, and healthcare utilization of the population.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Community Health Centers/*utilization ; Female ; *Health Care Surveys ; Humans ; Insurance, Health ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Questionnaires ; Reproducibility of Results ; Republic of Korea ; Self Report ; Sensitivity and Specificity

Current in vitro assays for the activity of HIV-RT (reverse transcriptase) require radio-labeled or chemically modified nucleotides to detect reaction products. However, these assays are inherently end-point measurements and labor intensive. Here we describe a novel non-radioactive assay based on the principle of pyrosequencing coupled-enzyme system to monitor the activity of HIV-RT by indirectly measuring the release of pyrophosphate (PP(i)), which is generated during nascent strand synthesis. The results show that our assay could monitor HIV-RT activity with high sensitivity and is suitable for rapid high-throughput drug screening targeting anti-HIV therapies due to its high speed and convenience. Moreover, this assay can be used to measure primase activity in an easy and sensitive manner, which suggests that this novel approach could be wildly used to analyze the activity of PP(i)-generated and ATP-free enzyme reactions.
Anti-HIV Agents ; pharmacology ; Colorimetry ; Diphosphates ; analysis ; metabolism ; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical ; HIV ; drug effects ; enzymology ; HIV Reverse Transcriptase ; analysis ; antagonists & inhibitors ; metabolism ; Humans ; In Vitro Techniques ; Nevirapine ; pharmacology ; Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Thymine Nucleotides ; metabolism

Nanobodies derived from camelids and sharks offer unique advantages in therapeutic applications due to their ability to bind to epitopes that were previously inaccessible. Traditional methods of nanobody development face challenges such as ethical concerns and antigen toxicity. Our study presents a synthetic, phagedisplayed nanobody library using trinucleotide-directed mutagenesis technology, which allows precise amino acid composition in complementarity-determining regions (CDRs), with a focus on CDR3 diversity. This approach avoids common problems such as frameshift mutations and stop codon insertions associated with other synthetic antibody library construction methods. By analyzing FDA-approved nanobodies and Protein Data Bank sequences, we designed sub-libraries with different CDR3 lengths and introduced amino acid substitutions to improve solubility. The validation of our library through the successful isolation of nanobodies against targets such as PD-1, ATXN1 and STAT3 demonstrates a versatile and ethical platform for the development of high specificity and affinity nanobodies and represents a significant advance in biotechnology.

Nanobodies derived from camelids and sharks offer unique advantages in therapeutic applications due to their ability to bind to epitopes that were previously inaccessible. Traditional methods of nanobody development face challenges such as ethical concerns and antigen toxicity. Our study presents a synthetic, phagedisplayed nanobody library using trinucleotide-directed mutagenesis technology, which allows precise amino acid composition in complementarity-determining regions (CDRs), with a focus on CDR3 diversity. This approach avoids common problems such as frameshift mutations and stop codon insertions associated with other synthetic antibody library construction methods. By analyzing FDA-approved nanobodies and Protein Data Bank sequences, we designed sub-libraries with different CDR3 lengths and introduced amino acid substitutions to improve solubility. The validation of our library through the successful isolation of nanobodies against targets such as PD-1, ATXN1 and STAT3 demonstrates a versatile and ethical platform for the development of high specificity and affinity nanobodies and represents a significant advance in biotechnology.