Elevated leukocyte count is associated with periodontitis in Korean adults: the 2012-2014 KNHANES.

OBJECTIVE: Both an elevated leukocyte count and periodontitis share well-recognized associations with cardiometabolic diseases. This cross-sectional study aimed to identify whether the leukocyte count is associated with periodontitis in a nationally representative Korean adult population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from 9391 participants (3659 males and 5732 females) enrolled in 2012-2014 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. Leukocyte quartiles were categorized as follows: 3000 ≤ Q1 ≤ 4870, 4880 ≤ Q2 ≤5790, 5800 ≤ Q3 ≤ 6840, and 6850 ≤ Q4 ≤ 10000 cells/µl. Periodontitis was defined as scoring greater than or equal to 'code 3' in at least one site according to the WHO's Community Periodontal Index. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for periodontitis in each leukocyte count quartile were calculated using multiple logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: The prevalence of periodontitis was directly correlated with increasing leukocyte quartiles: 19%, 20.4%, 24.3%, and 30.3%. Compared with the lowest leukocyte quartile group, the OR (95% CI) for periodontitis of the highest leukocyte quartile was 1.558 (1.285-1.891) after controlling for confounding factors. CONCLUSION: An elevated leukocyte count was positively associated with the presence of periodontitis.

Robust design of finger probe in non-invasive total haemoglobin monitor.

The development of a non-invasive monitor of total haemoglobin has been reported previously. The paper presents the design and testing of a finger probe used in that optical haemoglobin monitor. When a finger is inserted into the probe, light is radiated onto the nail, and a silicon detector measures transmitted light. This finger probe can have different values or settings for design parameters such as the internal colour, detector area, the emission area of a light source and the distance between the light source and detector. Design of experiment (DOE) was introduced to select the best combination of design parameters that were robust to external conditions such as finger alignment and ambient light. An optimally designed finger probe from DOE analysis, compared with the initial design, increased the correlation coefficient from 0.696 to 0.869 and improved the standard deviation from 1.18 to 0.81 g dl(-1) in predicting total haemoglobin. This was under different conditions of finger-probe alignment. Under different ambient light conditions, the optimum design improved the correlation coefficient from 0.735 to 0.870 and reduced the standard deviation from 1.14 to 0.83 g dl(-1).