School Teachers' Knowledge and Attitudes about the Emergency Management of Traumatic Dental Injuries in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: The emergency management of traumatized teeth is critical to their long-term outcomes. In school-aged children, most traumatic dental injuries (TDI) occur at school and teachers are often required to manage dental trauma (DT) emergencies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine teachers' knowledge and attitudes about TDI. RESEARCH DESIGN: Survey in 147 randomly selected schools in 53 cities in Turkey. A questionnaire enquiring about demographic data, knowledge of DT, and knowledge of first aid related to DT was distributed to primary school teachers. RESULTS: 1,634 completed questionnaires were returned (65% response rate). 92.5% of the teachers were not satisfied with their DT knowledge, and almost all (97.8%) had never received DT training, although 28.1% had witnessed at least one case of DT. In the case of tooth avulsion, 26.4% believed that an avulsed tooth would be permanently lost, whereas 28.9% knew that a permanent tooth could be replanted. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of emergency management of TDI among schoolteachers in Turkey is inadequate, and training on their emergency management should be provided.

Evaluation of platelet indices as a useful marker in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to investigate platelets (PLT) and their indices - mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW) and plateletcrit (PCT) - in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid disorders. BACKGROUND: Platelet and platelet indices recently started to be defined as an useful clinical marker in cancer patients. Their higher reproducibility rates and low cost provide them a wide range of usage. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One-hundred and sixty patients were divided into three groups retrospectively. Group 1: papillary thyroid carcinoma patients (n = 65). Group 2: multi-nodular goiter patients (n = 65). Group 3: normal healthy subjects (n = 30). PLT, MPV, PDW and PCT measurements were compared between groups, and p < 0.05 was accepted as significant. RESULTS: PDW was found to be significantly decreased in Group 1 (p < 0.01), and PCT was observed to be significantly increased in Group 1 (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences in PLT and MPV results. CONCLUSION: Statistically significant increases in PCT and decreases in PDW were observed in papillary thyroid cancer patients when compared with other groups. Platelet indices may be used as useful clinical markers in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid disorders (Tab. 1, Fig. 2, Ref. 21).

Relationship between increased carotid artery stiffness and idiopathic subjective tinnitus.

Tinnitus is defined as perception of sound with no external stimulus, and can separate into pulsatile and non-pulsatile types. Arterial stiffness is a parameter that can predict the cardiovascular event and associated with incidence of stroke. It has been shown that increased arterial stiffness may lead to microvascular damage in brain. Our aim was to assess the arterial stiffness of the carotid system in the development and severity of idiopathic subjective tinnitus. Forty subjective tinnitus patients and 40 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled in the study. The parameters obtained from the participants included pure tone hearing (dB), serum lipid profile (mg/dl), fasting glucose (mg/dl), blood pressure (mmHg), and body mass index (BMI, kg/m2). The common carotid artery (CCA) stiffness index, Young's elastic modulus (YEM), common carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), resistive index (RI), pulsatility index (PI), vessel diameter, mean velocity (MV), and volume flow (VF) were measured in both the right and left common carotid arteries in both groups. The CCA stiffness index, YEM measurements, right CIMT, and left PI were found to be significantly higher in the patients than those in the control group (p < 0.05). With regard to the severity of the tinnitus and the patient characteristics, there was a significant positive correlation with the CCA stiffness index, YEM measurements, left CIMT, and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR). However, only the right and left CCA stiffness parameters were found to be statistically significant in the multivariate analysis as independent predictors of a moderate to high degree of tinnitus. The increased stiffness index of the common carotid arteries was significantly associated with the formation and severity of tinnitus. Therefore, an assessment of the carotideal system may be helpful in these patients.

Antifibrogenic role of valproic acid in streptozotocin induced diabetic rat penis.

We investigated the therapeutic effects of valproic acid (VPA) on erectile dysfunction and reducing penile fibrosis in streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Eighteen male rats were divided into three experimental groups (Control, STZ-DM, STZ-DM plus VPA) and diabetes was induced by transperitoneal single dose STZ. Eight weeks after, VPA and placebo treatments were given according to groups for 15 days. All rats were anesthetised for the measurement of in vivo erectile response to cavernous nerve stimulation. Afterward penes were evaluated histologically in terms of immune labelling scores of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß1). Slides were also evaluated in terms of collagen/smooth muscle ratio and penile apoptosis. After the treatment with VPA, erectile responses were found as improved when compared with STZ-DM rats but not statistically meaningful. eNOS and VEGF immune expressions diminished in penile corpora of STZ-DM rats and improved with VPA treatment. VPA led to decrease in TGF-ß1 expression and collagen content of diabetic rats' penes. Penile apoptosis was not diminished with VPA. In conclusion, VPA treatment seems to be effective for reducing penile fibrosis in diabetic rats and more prolonged treatment period may enhance erectile functions.