Willingness for Medical Screening in a Dental Setting-A Pilot Questionnaire Study.

An important way to manage noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is to focus on prevention, early detection, and reducing associated risk factors. Risk factors can be detected with simple general health checks, which can also be performed in dental clinics. The purpose of this study was to investigate participants' willingness to participate in general health checks at the dentist, in particular the difference in opinion between medical patients and random healthy dental attendees. A total of 100 medical patients from an outpatient internal medicine clinic and 100 dental clinic attendees were included (total of 200 participants). The participants were asked for their opinion using six closed-ended questions. Overall, 91.0% of participants were receptive to information about the risk of diabetes mellitus (DM) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The majority (80-90%) was receptive to screening for DM and CVD risk, such as weight and height measurements, blood pressure measurement, saliva testing for CVD and to measure glucose and cholesterol via finger stick. No significant differences were found in the frequencies of the responses between the different groups based on health status, age, sex, or cultural background. This study shows that most participants are willing to undergo medical screening at the dentist for early detection and/or prevention of common NCDs.

Characterization and lead(II) ions removal of modified Punica granatum L. peels.

The aim of the present study was to enhance the biosorption capacity of a waste biomass of Punica granatum L. peels (PGL) using various chemical modification agents. Among these agents, hexamethylenediamine (HMDA) indicated the best performance with regard to the improvement of lead(II) ions removal from aqueous solution. The characterization of HMDA-modified P. granatum L. peels (HMDA-PGL) was achieved by using elemental analysis, FT-IR, thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and zeta potential measurement techniques. Based on FT-IR study, the chemical modification of P. granatum L. peels take place with its carboxyl, carbonyl, hydroxyl, etc. groups and these groups are responsible for the biosorption of lead(II) ions onto modified biomass. Biosorption equilibrium and kinetic data fitted well the Langmuir isotherm and the pseudo-second-order kinetic models, respectively. The highest biosorption capacity obtained from Langmuir isotherm model was 371.36 mg g-1. Biosorption process was spontaneous and endothermic in nature according to the thermodynamic results and it quickly reached the equilibrium within 60 minutes. The validity of kinetic models used in this study can be quantitatively tested by using a normalized standard deviation Δq(%).

Comparison of supercritical fluid and Soxhlet extractions for the quantification of hydrocarbons from Euphorbia macroclada.

This study compares conventional Soxhlet extraction and analytical scale supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) for their yields in extracting of hydrocarbons from arid-land plant Euphorbia macroclada. The plant material was firstly sequentially extracted with supercritical carbon dioxide, modified with 10% methanol (v/v) in the optimum conditions that is a pressure of 400atm and a temperature of 50 degrees C and then it was sonicated in methylene chloride for an additional 4h. E. macroclada was secondly extracted by using a Soxhlet apparatus at 30 degrees C for 8h in methylene chloride. The validated SFE was then compared to the extraction yield of E. macroclada with a Soxhlet extraction by using the Student's t-test at the 95% confidence level. All of extracts were fractionated with silica-gel in a glass column to get better hydrocarbon yields. Thus, the highest hydrocarbons yield from E. macroclada was achieved with SFE (5.8%) when it compared with Soxhlet extractions (1.1%). Gas chromatography (GC) analysis was performed to determine the quantitative hydrocarbons from plant material. The greatest quantitative hydrocarbon recovery from GC was obtained by supercritical carbon dioxide extract (0.6mgg(-1)).