Bilateral choanal atresia in a 7-year-old boy: a case study

Choanal atresia is a developmental failure of the nasal cavity to communicate with nasopharynx. It can be membranous or bony; unilateral or bilateral; complete or incomplete. Bilateral choanal atresia is less common and usually present in neonatal period with severe respiratory distress. Imaging provides definitive diagnosis by choanography. This report shows the value of computed tomography in the diagnosis of choanal atresia in a patient that presented with bilateral choanal atresia, undiagnosed until about seven years.

Use of interactive teaching techniques to introduce mental health training to medical schools in a resource poor setting

OBJECTIVE

There are currently no practising psychiatrists in Somaliland. In 2007 the first medical students graduated from universities in Somaliland without mental health training. We aimed to pilot an intensive but flexible package of mental health training to all senior medical students and interns using interactive training techniques and to evaluate its effectiveness by assessing knowledge, skills and attitudes.

METHODS

Teaching techniques included didactic lectures, case based discussion groups and role playing. Informal feedback informed a flexible teaching package. Assessment tools designed specifically for this course included a pre and post course MCQ exam and an OSCE. Changes in students' attitudes were evaluated using a questionnaire administered before and after the course. In addition, a questionnaire administered following the course evaluated the changes students perceived in their knowledge and attitudes to mental health.

RESULTS

The MCQ improved from 50.7% pre course to 64.4% post course (p = 9.73 E-08). Students achieved an average overall OSCE mark of 71%. The pre and post attitudes questionnaire was most significantly different for statements relevant to aetiology, stigma and the overlap between mental and physical health. The statement most strongly agreed with after the course was 'I now understand more about the overlap between mental and physical health'.

CONCLUSION

Interactive teaching provided a learning experience for both students and trainers. On site and distance learning based on the teaching described here has widened the scope of the training possible in psychiatry and allowed the provision of regular teaching, supervision and peer support in Somaliland. However, the current lack of local expertise means that important issues of sustainability need to be considered in future work.

Prosthetic metal implants and airport metal detectors

INTRODUCTION

Metal detectors have been present in airports and points of departure for some time. With the introduction of heightened security measures in response to fears of an increased threat of terrorism, they may become more prevalent in other public locations. The aim of this study was to ascertain which prosthetic devices activated metal detector devices used for security purposes.

METHODS

A range of prosthetic devices used commonly in orthopaedic and plastic surgery procedures were passed through an arch metal detector at Birmingham Airport in the UK. Additionally, each item was passed under a wand detector. Items tested included expandable breast prostheses, plates used in wrist and hand surgery, screws, K-wires, Autosuture™ ligation clips and staples.

RESULTS

No prostheses were detected by the arch detector. The expandable implants and wrist plates were the only devices detected by passing the wand directly over them. No device was detected by the wand when it was under cover of the axillary soft tissue. Screws, K-wires, Autosuture™ clips and staples were not detected under any of the study conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Although unlikely to trigger a detector, it is possible that an expandable breast prosthesis or larger plate may do so. It is therefore best to warn patients of this so they can anticipate detection and further examination.

Electrophoretic interactions between nitrocellulose membranes and proteins: Biointerface analysis and protein adhesion properties

Protein adsorption onto membrane surfaces is important in fields related to separation science and biomedical research. This study explored the molecular interactions between protein, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and nitrocellulose films (NC) using electrokinetic phenomena and the effects of these interactions on the streaming potential measurements for different membrane pore morphologies and pH conditions. The data were used to calculate the streaming ratios of membranes-to-proteins and to compare these values to the electrostatic or hydrophobic attachment of the protein molecules onto the NC membranes. The results showed that different pH and membrane pore morphologies contributes to different protein adsorption mechanisms. The protein adsorption was significantly reduced under conditions where the membrane and protein have like-charges due to electrostatic repulsion. At the isoelectric point (IEP) of the protein, the repulsion between the BSA and the NC membrane was at the lowest; thus, the BSA could be easily attached onto the membrane/solution interface. In this case, the protein was considered to be in a compact layer without intermolecular protein repulsions.

Multi-wavelength generation by self-seeded four-wave mixing

A cost effective method of generating multi-wavelength based on the cascaded four wave mixing effect is experimentally demonstrated. The proposed scheme is free from external tunable laser sources and pump modulators, resulting from the use of a broadened linewidth tunable dual wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser as intracavity pump. In this configuration, the number of four wave mixing cascades becomes larger in tandem with the increment of erbium-doped fiber amplifier output power. When its output power is set at 20.57 dBm, six waves having optical signal to noise ratio larger than 10 dB are generated. The six waves are stable with peak power fluctuations less than 1 dB within 30 minutes period and tunable with wavelength spacing ranging from 1.03 nm to 11.31 nm.

Summary of the IADR Cariology Research Group Symposium, Barcelona, Spain, July 2010: new directions in cariology research

Caries remains the most prevalent noncontagious biofilm-mediated disease in humans. It is clear that the current approaches to decrease the prevalence of caries in human populations, including water fluoridation and school-based programs, are not enough to protect everyone. The scientific community has suggested the need for innovative work in a number of areas in cariology, encompassing disease etiology, epidemiology, definition, prevention, and treatment. In this symposium, two of these areas, dealing specifically with etiological aspects of caries were discussed: (1) systematic research on caries risk assessment using population-based cohort techniques, and (2) genetic studies to identify genes and genetic markers of diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic value. This paper summarizes these presentations.

Notes on the occurrence of the tropical eel Anguilla bicolor bicolor in Peninsular Malaysia, Malaysia

Previous studies indicated that a tropical freshwater eel Anguilla bicolor bicolor occurs in Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and Australia, but an intensive survey has indicated an extended distribution range for the species into Peninsular Malaysia. Thus, A. b. bicolor is a native subspecies of Malaysia.

Caries risk assessment, diagnosis and synthesis in the context of a European Core Curriculum in Cariology

This paper is part of a series outlining a European Core Curriculum in Cariology for undergraduate dental students. The European Core Curriculum in Cariology is the outcome of a process starting in 2006 and culminating in a joint workshop of the European Organization for Caries Research (ORCA) together with the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE), held in Berlin from 27 to 30 June 2010. For the areas of risk assessment, diagnosis, detection, activity, monitoring and synthesis Cariology, the present paper outlines the key competencies required and the related areas in which knowledge of and familiarity with are needed for dentists graduating at the beginning of 21st century. Three major competencies were identified: Risk Assessment- competent at identifying and estimating the probability for a patient of developing new caries lesions or progression of existing lesions during a specified period of time; Diagnosis- competent through collecting, analysing and integrating data on signs and symptoms of dental caries and assess activity status of a lesion on a tooth surface to arrive at an identification of past or present occurrence of the disease caries; and Synthesis- competent at synthesising all relevant information by combining and interpreting findings from: risk assessment and diagnostic processes; from patients' needs, preferences and best interests; and from monitoring, review and re-assessment findings, when available. Similar competencies were identified for erosion and non-erosive wear. Issues that were felt by the working group panel to be important in this field are discussed, as are approaches to aid curriculum implementation.

Genetic variability in the body weight of Sudan desert goats

Abstract. Data on 586 kids from 30 bucks and 120 does of Sudan desert goats was used in the present study. The study aimed at investigating the genetic variations of body weight at various ages. Range of heritability estimates for body weight from birth to 6th month was 0.04–0.54. The estimates from dam component ranged 0.28–0.68 which was higher than that from sire component estimates. The genetic correlations for body weight at various ages were substantially high, ranged from 0.51–0.99 as sire, dam and dam nested in sire components. Phenotypic correlations of body weight at various ages ranged from 0.43–0.99 with differences being significant (P<0.01). Low to high environmental correlations (0.10–0.33) were encountered as dam component. However, the random effect of sire was found to be significantly (P<0.01) positively correlated.