Children's Dental Sealant Use and Caries Prevalence Affected by National Health Insurance Policy Change: Evidence from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2015).

We evaluated the effect of the National Health Insurance (NHI) policy including dental sealant on changes in the prevalence of sealant and caries, and examined how NHI affected sealant utilization and untreated caries in children from diverse income groups in South Korea. We used a multivariate logistic regression analysis to explore the effects of three stages of dental sealant policy (pre-policy: 2007-2009, first post-policy: 2010-2012, and second post-policy: 2013-2015) on the prevalence of dental sealant and untreated caries. Participant data (N = 8161, aged 6-14 years) were derived from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2015). We also conducted subgroup analysis to determine the effects of the NHI policy on dental sealant and untreated caries by income level. Implementation of dental insurance coverage was associated with higher likelihood of using dental sealant (odds ratio (OR) = 1.39 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.18-1.63) for the first period and OR = 1.58 (95% CI: 1.33-1.87) for the second period) and lower odds of having untreated caries (OR = 0.79 (95% CI: 0.64-0.98) for the first period and OR = 0.65 (95% CI: 0.51-0.83) for the second period) after controlling for covariates. Results revealed that there was a greater prevalence of dental sealant and a lower prevalence of untreated caries in both middle- and low-income households compared to high-income households. The higher prevalence of dental sealant and lower untreated caries after the policy implementation. Moreover, we demonstrated children from low-or middle-income households were more associated with increasing dental sealant use and a declining prevalence of caries.

Polysaccharide isolated from Triticum aestivum stimulates insulin release from pancreatic cells via the ATP-sensitive K+ channel.

Traditional natural plants have been used throughout the world for their antidiabetic effects. The aim of the present study was to investigate the stimulating activity of a polysaccharide extract derived from T. aestivum sprout (TASP) on insulin secretion in vitro using the RIN-5F pancreatic ß-cell line and rat pancreatic islets. In these experiments, TASP (0.1 to 2 mg/ml) augmented glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in a dose-dependent manner in the presence of a stimulatory glucose concentration (16.7 mM), but not of a basal concentration (1.1 mM). Although TASP failed to enhance the high K+-induced insulin secretion, the insulinotropic effect of TASP was significantly inhibited by diazoxide, an opener of ATP-sensitive K+ channel blocking insulin release. TASP potentiated the insulin secretion induced by other secretagogues, such as IBMX and tolbutamide. Moreover, glucose-derived blood insulin levels were significantly elevated by oral administration of TASP to mice, similarly to antidiabetic drugs. We also demonstrated that TASP significantly increased glucose-induced 45Ca2+ uptake and proinsulin mRNA expression in rat islets. Overall, our results suggest that TASP has a stimulating effect on insulin secretion and production in pancreatic ß-cells via K+ channel closure and calcium influx. These results suggest that TASP may be useful as a candidate for the therapy of diabetes mellitus.