Undergraduate dental students' perceptions of head and neck anatomy teaching in Australia.

INTRODUCTION: Most Australian universities have abbreviated the anatomy curriculum and modified its mode of delivery. This study examines dental student perceptions of different methods of head and neck anatomy teaching with respect to the adequacy of allocated time and the relative meaningfulness of the teaching methods. METHODS: All second-year students in the School of Dentistry and Health Sciences at Charles Sturt University (CSU) were invited to complete a matrix-grid questionnaire. Participants were asked to score four methods of teaching (lectures, study of prosected materials, tutorials and quizzes) using a 5-point Likert scale. The questionnaire included questions about the time adequacy for anatomy lectures, tutorials and laboratory study, and the potential value of learning anatomy through the study of prosected materials. SPSS (Version 21.0) was used to analyse the data, and statistical significance was set at 0.05. RESULTS: Seventy-two students (79.5%) responded to the survey. Overall, learning anatomy through the study of prosected materials was the single highest scored method, followed by lectures, tutorials and quizzes. Graduate entrants felt that not enough time was devoted to learning anatomy through the study of prosected materials, compared with school leavers (89.4% and 10.6%, respectively), having one extra session of learning in the anatomy laboratory (71.4% and 28.6%, respectively) and adding dissection (75.0% and 25.0%, respectively) would be helpful. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that dental students perceive the study of prosected materials in the wet laboratory as the most valuable method of learning anatomy, but an extended anatomy curriculum would be even more effective and appreciated.

Interaction of homocysteine, glutathione and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine in metabolic syndrome progression.

PURPOSE: The role of homocysteine (Hcy) and associated oxidative stress processes in the metabolic syndrome (MetS) continuum has not been explored extensively. Changes in Hcy and associated oxidative stress in relation to the number of metabolic syndrome factors present are explored in this study. METHOD: Participants (n=266) attending a rural diabetes screening clinic had their medical history recorded as well as body mass index, Hcy, glucose, cholesterol, glutathione (GSH), and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) measured. RESULT: A significant elevation in Hcy (9.5µmol/L ±2 vs. 10.6µmol/L ±3, p=0.03) and 8-OHdG (307pg/mL ±516 vs. 1130pg/mL ±1155, p=0.0001) was observed between the noMetS and MetS groups. Hcy increased with the addition of MetS factors paralleled by 8-OHdG and GSH. A dramatic increase was seen in 8-OHdG, nearly doubling between 2 MetS and 3 MetS factors present (p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: Homocysteine may be a useful marker together with 8-OHdG in assessing the extent of metabolic syndrome in a rural population.

Inflammation, coagulation, endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress in prediabetes--Biomarkers as a possible tool for early disease detection for rural screening.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to increase understanding of the connection between oxidative stress and inflammation in diabetes disease progression to provide a basis for investigating improved diagnostic possibilities, treatment and prevention of prediabetes. DESIGN AND METHODS: Differences in the level of biochemical markers of oxidative stress (erythrocyte GSH/GSSG and urinary 8-isoprostane), inflammation (CRP, IL-6), endothelial dysfunction (plasma homocysteine, urinary 8-hydroxy-2-deoxy-guanosine) and coagulation/fibrinolysis (C5a, D-Dimer) were determined in prediabetes and control subjects. RESULTS: While no difference was found in the 8-isoprostane levels between the two groups, the erythrocyte GSH/GSSG ratio was significantly reduced in the prediabetes group compared to control, indicating increased oxidative stress in the prediabetic state. Both urinary 8-OHdG and surprisingly also plasma homocysteine were significantly elevated in the prediabetes group, indicating endothelial dysfunction. The inflammation markers were slightly elevated in the prediabetic subjects and the same trend was found for the coagulation/fibrinolysis markers C5a and D-Dimer. These results were however not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The small elevation of blood glucose levels in the prediabetic state may have a detectable influence on endothelial function as indicated by changes to 8-OHdG, indicating an increased DNA-damage and homocysteine release from endothelial cells. Increased oxidative stress as indicated by the reduced GSH/GSSG ratio is likely to be the link between the moderate hyperglycaemia in prediabetes and pathological changes in endothelial function, which in the long-term may promote atherogenesis and result in the development of cardiovascular disease. Early detection of prediabetes is essential to avoid diabetes development and the associated complications like cardiovascular disease. The GSH/GSSG ratio and biomarkers like urinary 8-OHdG and plasma homocysteine offer a possible tool for the assessment of prediabetes in prevention screenings.