Role-play in Endodontic Teaching: a Case Study.

Objective: To investigate the role of the application of role-play in endodontic study in improving the communication skills of Chinese dental undergraduates prior to their direct interactions with patients at the Fourth Military Medical University's School of Stomatology, China. Methods: Students were recruited from the 5-year bachelor's programme (n = 36) and randomly divided into six groups, and from the 8-year DDS programme (n = 10) and randomly divided into two groups to participate in the role-play training. Cases selected randomly from the case pool were distributed to the groups. The teacher gave an outline of the roles in the simulation. Each member of each group randomly selected their own role for the role-play. Four types of surveys were distributed to students and faculty members at different points after the role-plays had taken place, to evaluate their attitude towards the use of role-plays in endodontic study. Frequency analysis and a one sample t test were used to describe and analyse students' acceptance of role-play as a teaching technique. The level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: Students' performance and satisfaction as well as the supporting faculty responses were very favourable towards role-playing. In total, 93.5% of students responded favourably to the role-play, answering 'strongly agree' or 'agree' to the positive statements about their role-play performance. A total of 95.1% of students stated that they had benefited psychologically and technically from the role-play ('strongly agree' or 'agree') after their 1-year rotating internship. Conclusion: The application of role-play in endodontic study is an effective way of educating Chinese dental undergraduates and can be beneficial for their transition from students to dentists.

[Study of cbfalpha1 on the expression of extracellular matrix proteins in dental papilla cells induced by BMP-2 in vitro].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the function of cbfalpha1 on BMP-2 signaling to extracellular matrix proteins in dental papilla cells in vitro. METHODS: RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to detect the expression of ALP, OC, ON, OPN, BSP, DMP-1 and DSPP in cultured dental papilla cells induced by 200ng/mL BMP-2 and/or down-regulated by cbfalpha1 antisense technology, the results were analysed with SPSS 11.0 software package. RESULTS: We found that the amount of ALP and OC and the expression of OPN, BSP and ON were upregulated significantly after the cells were treated with BMP-2. After transfected with antisense cbfalpha1, the cells downregulated the expression of ALP, OC, OPN and BSP significantly(P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: As a kind of transcription factor, cbfalpha1 could be an important tache in the BMP-2 signal networks controlling cells differentiation and mineralization.

[Generation of transgenic mouse of dentin sialoprotein and transgene expression analysis].

PURPOSE: To generate the transgenic mouse model of DSP and perform transgene expression analysis by RT-PCR. METHODS: Plasmid pcDNA3.1-CX was constructed by substituting promoter cbeta-actin for CMV promoter of pcDNA3.1, and the ultimate transgenic vector, pcDNA3.1-CX-dsp, was constructed by cloning DSP coding sequence into pcDNA3.1-CX. The pcDNA3.1-CX-dsp plasmid was linearized and microinjected into the male pronucleus of the zygotes. The tail DNA of pups was tested by PCR and Southern blot. A member of F1 generation of one positive mouse was used to perform transgene expression analysis by RT-PCR. RESULTS: 717 embryos were implanted to 29 recipient pseudopregnant mice, 4 of the 67 pups carrying the transgene. Expression of DSP was detected in a member of F1 generation of one positive mouse by RT-PCR. CONCLUSION: Founders of the DSP transgenic mouse were obtained successfully, and the expression of DSP was primarily confirmed.

[Generation of dspp-LacZ transgenic mouse founders].

PURPOSE: To establish a transgenic mouse founders in which the expression of LacZ was directed by a dentin sialophosphoprotein-specific promoter. METHODS: The DSPP-specific promoter was obtained by PCR and confirmed by sequencing, and the transgenic plasmid, pTN-DPM-LacZ, was constructed by subcloning the DSPP-specific promoter and LacZ-encoding sequence into one vector. The linearized transgenic plasmid was microinjected into the male pronucleus of the zygotes, and the microinjected zygotes were implanted to recipient pseudopregnant mice. The tail DNA of 4 week-pups was tested by PCR. RESULTS: 503 embryos were implanted to 20 recipient pseudopregnant mice, 12 of the 89 pups carrying the transgene. The establishment of the dspp-LacZ transgenic mouse line is under progress. CONCLUSION: 12 founders of the dspp-LacZ transgenic mice, in which the expression profile of LacZ should be the same as that of DSPP, were obtained by microinjection successfully, and the mouse line which is being established could be used as a good tool to investigate the exact expression profile of DSPP in the future.