BACKGROUND

The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has instigated a profound public health crisis, particularly affecting professionals like dentists who, due to their close interaction with saliva—a potential viral reservoir—and the aerosols generated during specific procedures, face elevated risks of infection. To mitigate this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) have established guidelines for averting cross-infection in dental settings

OBJECTIVE

This study, conducted in an urbanized Metro Manila City, delves into the infection control practices of dentists amid the pandemic.

METHODS

Dentists from a Metro Manila city dental chapter were invited to participate in an online survey (Google Forms) consisting of participants' demographics, patient triage, engineering, administrative controls, disinfection personal hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and waste management practices. Descriptive statistics, employing frequency distributions and percentages, summarized the dentists' adherence to infection control protocols.

RESULTS

Out of forty-nine respondents (49), the majority (92%) provided their teams' orientation on COVID-19 infection control protocols before reopening. Notably, 57% deferred elective procedures and 43% postponed aerosolgenerating procedures (AGPs). Only 39% utilized rubber dam isolation during AGPs. Most respondents reported full implementation of recommended administrative controls during the pandemic, with 92% isolating their treatment areas from other parts of the clinic. Most respondents adopted high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration units (82%) as one of their clinic’s engineering controls, and an extraoral vacuum machine, accounting for 71% of the respondents. The most common disinfection product used by the participants was alcohol, which was at 94%. Additionally, over 90% adhered to all recommended hand hygiene practices for both dental staff and patients. For the waste management protocols, only 55% of the respondents have their infectious waste collected by third-party Treatment Storage and Disposal (TSD) facilities.

CONCLUSION

The data shows that with the guidelines posted by both the PDA and CDC, the city’s dental practitioners could still provide services to the community in the safest manner at the time by being updated and following the infection control practices suggested by both organizations. Although some areas could have been improved, such as third-party waste management and the utilization of RT-PCR testing, some of these problems could have been attributed to the lack of availability in their areas.

Public Health ; Philippines ; Interprofessional Education ; World Health Organization ; Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, U.s. ; Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (u.s.)

BACKGROUND

The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has instigated a profound public health crisis, particularly affecting professionals like dentists who, due to their close interaction with saliva—a potential viral reservoir—and the aerosols generated during specific procedures, face elevated risks of infection. To mitigate this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Philippine Dental Association (PDA) have established guidelines for averting cross-infection in dental settings.

OBJECTIVE

This study, conducted in an urbanized Metro Manila City, delves into the infection control practices of dentists amid the pandemic.

METHODS

Dentists from a Metro Manila city dental chapter were invited to participate in an online survey (Google Forms) consisting of participants' demographics, patient triage, engineering, administrative controls, disinfection personal hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and waste management practices. Descriptive statistics, employing frequency distributions and percentages, summarized the dentists' adherence to infection control protocols.

RESULTS

Out of forty-nine respondents (49), the majority (92%) provided their teams' orientation on COVID-19 infection control protocols before reopening. Notably, 57% deferred elective procedures and 43% postponed aerosolgenerating procedures (AGPs). Only 39% utilized rubber dam isolation during AGPs. Most respondents reported full implementation of recommended administrative controls during the pandemic, with 92% isolating their treatment areas from other parts of the clinic. Most respondents adopted high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration units (82%) as one of their clinic’s engineering controls, and an extraoral vacuum machine, accounting for 71% of the respondents. The most common disinfection product used by the participants was alcohol, which was at 94%. Additionally, over 90% adhered to all recommended hand hygiene practices for both dental staff and patients. For the waste management protocols, only 55% of the respondents have their infectious waste collected by third-party Treatment Storage and Disposal (TSD) facilities.

CONCLUSION

The data shows that with the guidelines posted by both the PDA and CDC, the city’s dental practitioners could still provide services to the community in the safest manner at the time by being updated and following the infection control practices suggested by both organizations. Although some areas could have been improved, such as third-party waste management and the utilization of RT-PCR testing, some of these problems could have been attributed to the lack of availability in their areas.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Adult: 25-44 Yrs Old ; Middle Aged: 45-64 Yrs Old ; Aged: 65-79 Yrs Old ; World Health Organization ; Residence Characteristics ; Quarantine ; Public Health ; Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (u.s.) ; Covid-19 ; Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, U.s.

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains the most common cause of death while cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is the third most common in the Philippines. IHD and CVD represent complications resulting from prevalent non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and risk factors which present important opportunities for primary and secondary prevention.

This study aimed to pilot a sustainable multisectoral approach for community-based screening and management of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and determine the effects of a multisectoral collaboration approach on the rate of screening, prevalence and control rates for selected risk factors.

This is a quality improvement project that determines the baseline prevalence and control rates of CV risk factors followed by intense screening efforts with support from private partnerships. The project's core components are: (a) capacity building (b) information dissemination; (c) service provision; and (d) health monitoring. Rates of screening, prevalence and control were monitored over a two-year period.

A total of 94,125 patients were screened through the ONE Cavite Project over two years (January 2021 to December 2022). A total of 61,271 were newly identified as having hypertension (65.1%), 24,069 diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 2 (25.6%), 29,257 diagnosed to have dyslipidemia (31.1%) and 13,204 smokers (14.0%) were identified.

Intensification of screening was successful in improving identification of individuals with NCDs. The impact of continued educational support for both providers and patients in this study reaffirmed its role as a central component of NCD diagnosis, management and prevention.

Hypertension ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Dyslipidemias ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Primary Prevention

Ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains the most common cause of death while cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is the third most common in the Philippines. IHD and CVD represent complications resulting from prevalent non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and risk factors which present important opportunities for primary and secondary prevention.

This study aimed to pilot a sustainable multisectoral approach for community-based screening and management of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and determine the effects of a multisectoral collaboration approach on the rate of screening, prevalence and control rates for selected risk factors.

This is a quality improvement project that determines the baseline prevalence and control rates of CV risk factors followed by intense screening efforts with support from private partnerships. The project's core components are: (a) capacity building (b) information dissemination; (c) service provision; and (d) health monitoring. Rates of screening, prevalence and control were monitored over a two-year period.

A total of 94,125 patients were screened through the ONE Cavite Project over two years (January 2021 to December 2022). A total of 61,271 were newly identified as having hypertension (65.1%), 24,069 diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type 2 (25.6%), 29,257 diagnosed to have dyslipidemia (31.1%) and 13,204 smokers (14.0%) were identified.

Intensification of screening was successful in improving identification of individuals with NCDs. The impact of continued educational support for both providers and patients in this study reaffirmed its role as a central component of NCD diagnosis, management and prevention.

Hypertension ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Dyslipidemias ; Myocardial Ischemia ; Primary Prevention

In order to explore effective ways to reduce non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among female adolescents, a total of 45 female adolescent patients with NSSI in West China Hospital of Sichuan University and Guizhou Second Provincial People's Hospital from June 2021 to June 2024 were selected randomly that divided into groups A, B and C, with 15 cases in each group. Group A was treated with repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and bipolar depression triple therapy, and group B was treated with bipolar depression triple therapy to compare the effectiveness and safety. Group C received bipolar depression triple therapy combined with sham stimulation which only produced stimulating sounds but no stimulating magnetic field as a control in the study. After treatment, the Hamilton Anxiety Score (HAMA), Hamilton Depression Score (HAMD) and Nurses' Global Assessment of Suicide Risk (NGASR) in group A were significantly lower than those in group B and C ( P < 0.01). rTMS combined with bipolar depression triple therapy has a definite effect on reducing NSSI in female adolescents, which can reduce the incidence rate of short-term NSSI behavior in patients.
Humans ; Female ; Adolescent ; Self-Injurious Behavior/prevention & control* ; Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation/methods* ; Bipolar Disorder/therapy* ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Treatment Outcome

Fatigue driving is one of the leading causes of traffic accidents, posing a significant threat to drivers and road safety. Most existing methods focus on studying whole-brain multi-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) signals, which involve a large number of channels, complex data processing, and cumbersome wearable devices. To address this issue, this paper proposes a fatigue detection method based on frontal EEG signals and constructs a fatigue driving detection model using an asymptotic hierarchical fusion network. The model employed a hierarchical fusion strategy, integrating an attention mechanism module into the multi-level convolutional module. By utilizing both cross-attention and self-attention mechanisms, it effectively fused the hierarchical semantic features of power spectral density (PSD) and differential entropy (DE), enhancing the learning of feature dependencies and interactions. Experimental validation was conducted on the public SEED-VIG dataset. The proposed model achieved an accuracy of 89.80% using only four frontal EEG channels. Comparative experiments with existing methods demonstrate that the proposed model achieves high accuracy and superior practicality, providing valuable technical support for fatigue driving monitoring and prevention.
Humans ; Electroencephalography/methods* ; Automobile Driving ; Fatigue/diagnosis* ; Accidents, Traffic/prevention & control* ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Algorithms ; Prefrontal Cortex/physiology*

OBJECTIVE: To prepare decellularized nerve grafts from alpha-1, 3-galactosyltransferase (GGTA1) gene-edited pigs and explore their biocompatibility for xenotransplantation. METHODS: The sciatic nerves from wild-type pigs and GGTA1 gene-edited pigs were obtained and underwent decellularization. The alpha-galactosidase (α-gal) content in the sciatic nerves of GGTA1 gene-edited pigs was detected by using IB4 fluorescence staining and ELISA method to verify the knockout status of the GGTA1 gene, and using human sciatic nerve as a control. HE staining and scanning electron microscopy observation were used to observe the structure of the nerve samples. Immunofluorescence staining and DNA content determination were used to evaluate the degree of decellularization of the nerve samples. Fourteen nude mice were taken, and subcutaneous capsules were prepared on both sides of the spine. Decellularized nerve samples of wild-type pigs ( n=7) and GGTA1 gene-edited pigs ( n=7) were randomly implanted in the subcutaneous capsules. Blood was drawn at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days after implantation to detect neutrophil counting. RESULTS: IB4 fluorescence staining and ELISA detection showed that GGTA1 gene was successfully knocked out in the nerves of GGTA1 gene-edited pigs. HE staining showed that the structure of the decellularized nerve from GGTA1 gene-edited pigs was well preserved; the nerve basement membrane tube structure was visible under scanning electron microscopy; no cell nuclei was observed, and the extracellular matrix components was retained in the nerve grafts by immunofluorescence staining; and the DNA content was significantly reduced when compared with the normal nerves ( P<0.05). In vivo experiments showed that the number of neutrophils in the two groups were similar at 1, 3, and 7 days after implantation, with no significant difference ( P>0.05); only at 5 days, the number of neutrophils was significantly lower in the GGTA1 gene-edited pigs than in the wild-type pigs ( P<0.05). CONCLUSION The decellularized nerve grafts from GGTA1 gene-edited pigs have well-preserved nerve structure, complete decellularization, retain the natural nerve basement membrane tube structure and components, and low immune response after xenotransplantation through in vitro experiments.
Animals ; Transplantation, Heterologous ; Galactosyltransferases/genetics* ; Sciatic Nerve/immunology* ; Swine ; Tissue Engineering/methods* ; Humans ; Graft Rejection/prevention & control* ; Gene Editing ; Mice ; Mice, Nude ; Heterografts/immunology* ; Animals, Genetically Modified ; Tissue Scaffolds ; Decellularized Extracellular Matrix

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the analgesic effect of locally injecting a "cocktail" analgesia containing a high-dose compound betamethasone during revision hip arthroplasty, and also to study the usage of opioid drugs. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 180 patients who underwent revision hip arthroplasty due to aseptic loosening of the hip prosthesis between January 2015 and December 2021. Among them, 95 patients received intraoperative injection of "cocktail" analgesia containing high-dose compound betamethasone (group A), and 85 patients received intraoperative injection of traditional "cocktail" analgesia (group B). There was no significant difference in baseline data such as gender, age, body mass index, presence or absence of diabetes mellitus between the two groups ( P>0.05). The hospital stay, use of opioid drugs within 72 hours, and the incidence of adverse reactions within 72 hours after operation [including nausea and vomiting, insomnia, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), infection, etc.] were recorded and compared between the two groups. The pain relief of patients was evaluated using the static and dynamic visual analogue scale (VAS) scores at 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after operation. The incidence of complications (including prosthesis re-loosening, hip joint dislocation, hip joint stiffness, limping, chronic pain, etc.) at 2 years after operation was recorded, and the Harris Hip Score (HHS) was used to evaluate the function at 2 years after operation. RESULTS: In group A, the utilization rate of opioid drugs within 72 hours after operation was significantly lower than that in group B ( P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of hospital stay, as well as the incidence of adverse reactions such as nausea and vomiting, insomnia, DVT, and infection within 72 hours after operation ( P>0.05). The VAS scores of both groups decreased with time, and the differences between different time points were significant ( P<0.05). The static and dynamic VAS scores of group A were significantly lower than those of group B at 12, 24, and 48 hours after operation ( P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in static and dynamic VAS scores between the two groups at 72 hours after operation ( P>0.05). All patients in both groups were followed up 2-8 years, with an average of 5.73 years. At 2 years after operation, no significant difference was found between the two groups in the incidence of complications and HHS score ( P>0.05). CONCLUSION "Cocktail" analgesia containing a high-dose compound betamethasone for early analgesia after revision hip arthroplasty can effectively reduce postoperative pain and the use of opioid drugs, but will not increase the incidence of infection and DVT after operation.
Humans ; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip/adverse effects* ; Betamethasone/therapeutic use* ; Retrospective Studies ; Male ; Female ; Analgesics, Opioid/administration & dosage* ; Pain, Postoperative/prevention & control* ; Middle Aged ; Reoperation ; Aged ; Analgesia/methods* ; Adult ; Pain Measurement ; Pain Management/methods* ; Prosthesis Failure ; Hip Prosthesis

OBJECTIVE: To summarize the research progress of suture augmentation (SA) in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. METHODS: A comprehensive review of recent literature about SA in ACL reconstruction at home and abroad was conducted. The efficacy of SA in ACL reconstruction was evaluated by examining the definition, biomechanics, and histological studies of SA, along with its clinical application status in ACL reconstruction. RESULTS: SA demonstrates significant advantages in enhancing the biomechanical stability of ACL grafts, reducing the risk of re-rupture, and accelerating postoperative recovery. Specifically, SA improves graft stiffness, ultimate failure strength, and cyclic stability, thereby diminishing the risk of early postoperative failure and joint instability. Histologically, it fosters remodeling and tendon-bone integration through early load-sharing mechanisms; however, stress shielding may interfere with natural remodeling processes, warranting further attention. Clinically, SA reduces graft failure rates and the need for revision surgeries, markedly improving knee joint stability and functional recovery in young patients. Nevertheless, its impact on graft maturation and potential complications remains controversial. CONCLUSION Despite the many advantages of SA in ACL reconstruction, future endeavors should focus on optimizing tensioning techniques, developing bioactive materials, and conducting large-scale randomized controlled trials to further elucidate its clinical value and scope of applicability, providing a more reliable solution for ACL reconstruction.
Humans ; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction/methods* ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Anterior Cruciate Ligament/surgery* ; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries/surgery* ; Suture Techniques ; Sutures ; Tendons/transplantation* ; Joint Instability/prevention & control* ; Knee Joint/surgery*

OBJECTIVE: To explore the application progress and clinical value of digital technologies in the surgical treatment of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). METHODS: By systematically reviewing domestic and international literature, the study summarized the specific application scenarios, operational procedures, and technical advantages of digital technologies [including preoperative three-dimensional (3D) planning, intraoperative real-time navigation, robot-assisted surgery, and 3D printing] in AS surgery, and analyzed their impact on surgical accuracy, complication rates, and clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Digital technologies significantly improve the precision and safety of AS surgery. Preoperative 3D planning enables personalized surgical protocols; intraoperative navigation systems dynamically adjusts surgical trajectories, reducing the risk of iatrogenic injury; robot-assisted surgery can minimize human errors and enhance implant positioning accuracy; 3D-printed anatomical models and guides optimize the correction of complex spinal deformities. Furthermore, the combined applications of these technologies shorten operative time, reduce intraoperative blood loss, decrease postoperative complications (e.g., infection, nerve injury), and accelerate functional recovery. CONCLUSION Through multidimensional integration and innovation, digital technologies provide a precise and minimally invasive solution for AS surgical treatment. Future research should focus on their synergy with biomaterials and intelligent algorithms to further refine surgical strategies and improve long-term prognosis.
Humans ; Spondylitis, Ankylosing/diagnostic imaging* ; Printing, Three-Dimensional ; Surgery, Computer-Assisted/methods* ; Robotic Surgical Procedures/methods* ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; Postoperative Complications/prevention & control* ; Digital Technology ; Models, Anatomic