Assessment of attitudes and practices regarding oral healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic among the parents of children aged 4-7 years.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought about radical changes in our habits and lifestyles. The suspension of schools has led children to spend long hours at home, with reduced socialization, and changes in dietary patterns, oral hygiene practices and sleep routines. During a pandemic, appropriate oral health management and disease prevention are very important for the child's oral and general health. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the attitudes and practices of parents with regard to their children's oral healthcare, dietary habits and dental care during the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 381 Indian parents of children aged 4-7 years. A self-instructed questionnaire was designed in English using the Google Forms platform. The questionnaire consisted of 4 parts: sociodemographic data; dietary habits of the child; oral hygiene measures; and dental information. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics (the χ2 test). RESULTS: Among the children included in the study, 48% of those who experienced dental problems during the pandemic consumed more snacks and packaged foods between meals. Among the parents, 80% reported that their children used electronic devices at mealtimes, and 60% reported the food pouching habit in their children. A total of 71% of parents assisted their child at tooth brushing, while only 28% of the parents would take their child to the dental clinic for treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the shortfalls in attitudes and practices among parents in relation to dietary habits, oral hygiene measures and the use of dental services during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding their children. This could be attributed to a lack of awareness, the fear of exposure and the inconveniences faced by parents.

Knowledge and Attitude about Infant Oral Health: A Paradox among Pregnant Women.

AIM: To assess the knowledge and attitude of pregnant women about infant oral healthcare. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional questionnaire study. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 350 primigravida women aged between 20 and 40 years visiting the DY Patil Medical Hospital for their antenatal examination. A multiple-choice questionnaire with 12 questions in addition to demographic information and socioeconomic status was designed in three languages. RESULTS: Based on the level of education of the pregnant women, there was a statistically significant difference in knowledge and attitude toward infant oral healthcare (p = 0.001). The occupational status resounded significant differences between employed vs housewives and unemployed women (p = 0.000). Socioeconomic status also showed significant differences between the upper strata and lower strata groups (p = 0.000). STATISTICS: Data normality was tested using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Shapiro-Wilk test. Since the data were not normally distributed, we used nonparametric tests for analysis. The total scores for different domains were compared between the different subgroups based on age, occupation, education, trimester, and socioeconomic status using nonparametric one-way ANOVA (Kruskal-Wallis test). Post-hoc pairwise comparisons were done using Bonferroni's method. All testing was done using two-sided tests with alpha = 0.05 (95% confidence level). CONCLUSION: This study gives us an insight into the inadequacies existing in our society amongst expectant women in relation to oral health-promoting factors for infants. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Educating pregnant women about maintaining their own oral health and care for their offspring will potentially help to curb early childhood dental diseases in future generations.

Childhood psychiatric outcomes in the context of suspected neglect and abuse reports related and unrelated to parental substance use.

BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment is prevalent in the United States and carries long-term consequences. Parental substance use may have associations with child maltreatment. It is unclear whether co-occurring parental substance use aggravates childhood psychiatric outcomes related to suspected maltreatment. OBJECTIVE: To compare psychiatric and healthcare utilization outcomes in children with suspected abuse reports, with and without documented parental substance use. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Retrospective cohort study (n = 2831) of children with suspected abuse/neglect (SANC) reports filed in the electronic health record between January 1, 2000 and January 1, 2016. Children who had SANC reports referencing parental substance use (n = 458) were compared with those who had SANC reports that did not reference substance use (n = 2346). METHODS: Outcome data included ICD-10 coded medical and psychiatric diagnoses and healthcare utilization. RESULTS: Compared to children who had a SANC report filed without parental substance use, children with parental substance use in a SANC showed significantly lower age-adjusted odds of anxiety disorder, mood disorder and externalizing disorder, and higher odds of a substance use disorder diagnosis. They were also less likely to present to an emergency department visit for any reason in the year prior to the report. CONCLUSIONS: Children with exposure to parental substance use in a household where parental abuse or neglect was suspected had lower odds of adverse psychiatric outcomes as compared to children with suspected report of abuse or neglect unrelated to parental substance use. The present findings highlight the complex interplay of psychosocial factors associated with outcomes of childhood maltreatment.

An exploratory study of clinical and physiological correlates of problematic social media use in adolescents.

Prior validation studies of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) demonstrate its utility for identifying problematic social media use in adolescents. There are knowledge gaps regarding the potential clinical and physiological underpinnings of problematic social media use in adolescents. This cross-sectional, single-visit study examined a sample of depressed (n = 30) and healthy (n = 30) adolescents who underwent clinical assessments of depressive symptom severity, bullying, cyberbullying, self-esteem, salivary measures of stress (cortisol and α-amylase) to identify correlates with adolescent and parental reports of the BSMAS. LASSO-penalized multiple linear regression models were implemented. With respect to the adolescent BSMAS scores in all subjects, the risk of problematic social media increased as depressive symptom severity increased. Depressed female adolescents appeared to have a greater risk. Based on parental BSMAS scores, depression status, depressive symptom severity, cyberbullying score, and salivary cortisol significantly predicted problematic social media use. For the depressed sample, the risk of problematic social media use increased as salivary cortisol increased. No significant predictors of problematic social media usage emerged in the healthy control sample. These preliminary results provide novel insights into clinical and physiological characteristics of problematic social media use in adolescents.

The Negative Impact of Maternal Perinatal Opioid Use on Neonatal Outcomes.

Objective: To compare outcomes among newborns of opioid-using and nonopioid drug-using mothers with those of control mothers who did not report substance use.Methods: Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project, newborns diagnosed with drug withdrawal syndrome (per ICD-9 or ICD-10 codes) from January 2010 through June 2017 were identified. For mothers, data collected included age, race, drug use, number of prenatal visits, and results of the urinary drug abuse survey, meconium test, and self-report survey. Demographic and perinatal data collected for newborns included birth date; sex; Apgar scores at 1, 5, and 10 minutes; neonatal intensive care stay; and vital status. Controls (n = 771) were similarly selected in regard to sex, birth date, and county.Results: Of 328 infants identified, 168 were born with opioid neonatal abstinence syndrome and 160 with a nonopioid withdrawal syndrome. Control mothers had more prenatal visits than mothers in the nonopioid and opioid groups. Newborns of control mothers had higher Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes than both substance-using groups. Opioid-using mothers were almost twice as likely to have newborns requiring intensive care and 3 times as likely to use benzodiazepines compared to the other substance-using mothers. Substance-using mothers had more premature babies than controls.Conclusions: Prenatal opioid use is a substantial risk factor for prematurity. Newborns diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome are at risk of perinatal complications. Mothers using opioids during pregnancy also tend to use other substances. Longitudinal research should clarify how prenatal substance use interacts with other risk factors during a child's first years.

Altered markers of stress in depressed adolescents after acute social media use.

Social media use (SMU) is an inherent element in the daily life and neurodevelopment of adolescents, but broad concerns exist regarding the untoward effects of social media on adolescents. We conducted a prospective, cross-sectional study that sought to examine the acute effects of SMU on clinical measures and biomarkers of stress in healthy and depressed adolescents. After at least 24 h of abstinence from social media, depressed adolescents (n = 30) and healthy control adolescents (n = 30) underwent baseline clinical assessment of their prior SMU, depressive symptom severity, self-esteem, and exposure to bullying. Participants provided salivary samples that were analyzed for α-amylase and cortisol levels. After 20 min of unsupervised SMU, saliva analyses and clinical assessments were repeated. After 20 min of SMU, salivary cortisol and α-amylase levels were significantly higher in adolescents with depression but not in healthy control adolescents. Furthermore, small but statistically significant changes in depressive symptom severity occurred in all participants. These changes in depressive symptoms were not clinically meaningful. SMU did not significantly change self-esteem measures among participants. Adolescents with depression appeared to have more physiological reactivity after SMU compared with healthy adolescents. Further research should characterize SMU as a clinical dimension and risk factor among adolescents with depression and other psychiatric disorders.

Analysis of preference for carbon source utilization among three strains of aromatic compounds degrading Pseudomonas.

Soil isolates Pseudomonas putida CSV86, Pseudomonas aeruginosa PP4 and Pseudomonas sp. C5pp degrade naphthalene, phthalate isomers and carbaryl, respectively. Strain CSV86 displayed a diauxic growth pattern on phenylpropanoid compounds (veratraldehyde, ferulic acid, vanillin or vanillic acid) plus glucose with a distinct second lag-phase. The glucose concentration in the medium remained constant with higher cell respiration rates on aromatics and maximum protocatechuate 3,4-dioxygenase activity in the first log-phase, which gradually decreased in the second log-phase with concomitant depletion of the glucose. In strains PP4 and C5pp, growth profile and metabolic studies suggest that glucose is utilized in the first log-phase with the repression of utilization of aromatics (phthalate or carbaryl). All three strains utilize benzoate via the catechol 'ortho' ring-cleavage pathway. On benzoate plus glucose, strain CSV86 showed preference for benzoate over glucose in contrast to strains PP4 and C5pp. Additionally, organic acids like succinate were preferred over aromatics in strains PP4 and C5pp, whereas strain CSV86 co-metabolizes them. Preferential utilization of aromatics over glucose and co-metabolism of organic acids and aromatics are found to be unique properties of P. putida CSV86 as compared with strains PP4 and C5pp and this property of strain CSV86 can be exploited for effective bioremediation.