Before and after: COVID-19 impacts on dental students' well-being, clinical competency and employment opportunities

INTRODUCTION

The onset of COVID-19 challenged dental schools worldwide, impacting clinical training. In Australasia, New Zealand adopted a COVID-19 'elimination strategy', involving nationwide lockdowns that halted face-to-face education. The 'elimination strategy' adopted at the pandemic onset, which permitted return to 'normal life' in 2021, allowed the pandemic impacts and those related workforce transition to be teased out. This study aimed to evaluate perceived impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on health and well-being, clinical competency and employment opportunities of dental students.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Two surveys were distributed to final year dental students (n = 94; age range 20-35): one during their final semester and the second six months following graduation. Surveys included open and closed ended questions on participants' self-perceived impacts of COVID-19 on health and well-being, clinical competency and employment opportunities. Average percentages were calculated and descriptive statistics performed.

RESULTS

Pre-graduation, participants reported COVID-19 negatively impacted their mental and social health. Slightly lower scores on all dimensions of health post-graduation were likely due to transitioning to the workforce. Pre-graduation, less than half of participants felt prepared to provide the full scope of dental treatment; post-graduation most felt confident to do so. Most participants expected COVID-19 would negatively impact employment opportunities for their cohort, despite all participants being employed when the second survey was conducted.

CONCLUSION

Participants self-rated health and clinical competency scores were lower post-graduation when NZ returned to 'normal life', meaning lower scores were related to workforce transition. Dental schools need to be prepared to provide alternative forms of dental education and help mitigate mental health impacts of future major course disruptions.

Targeting leukemia stem cells in vivo with antagomiR-126 nanoparticles in acute myeloid leukemia

Current treatments for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are designed to target rapidly dividing blast populations with limited success in eradicating the functionally distinct leukemia stem cell (LSC) population, which is postulated to be responsible for disease resistance and relapse. We have previously reported high miR-126 expression levels to be associated with a LSC-gene expression profile. Therefore, we hypothesized that miR-126 contributes to “stemness” and is a viable target for eliminating the LSC in AML. Here we first validate the clinical relevance of miR-126 expression in AML by showing that higher expression of this microRNA (miR) is associated with worse outcome in a large cohort of older (≥60 years) cytogenetically normal AML patients treated with conventional chemotherapy. We then show that miR-126 overexpression characterizes AML LSC-enriched cell subpopulations and contributes to LSC long-term maintenance and self-renewal. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of therapeutic targeting of miR-126 in LSCs with novel targeting nanoparticles (NP) containing antagomiR-126 resulting in in vivo reduction of LSCs likely by depletion of the quiescent cell subpopulation. Our findings suggest that by targeting a single miR, i.e., miR-126, it is possible to interfere with LSC activity, thereby opening potentially novel therapeutic approaches to treat AML patients.

A double-blind controlled trial of salmon calcitonin in pain due to malignancy

Thirty-two patients with established malignancy and associated pain participated in a randomised double-blind controlled trial. They received salmon calcitonin SC 200 UI or matching placebo 6-hourly for 48 h and were assessed by using a combination of a 20-point visual analogue scale (VAS), a 4-point physician's global pain scale, and ranking of the co-administered analgesics into 20 grades of potency. Twenty-five patients (13 calcitonin, 12 placebo) were evaluated. Seven patients (4 calcitonin, 3 placebo) were excluded either because the initial pain score was less than or equal to 5 on the VAS, or because there were insufficient data (due to death occurring within the first week of the study or, in one patient, blindness preventing completion of the VAS). One week after commencing therapy there was improvement or marked improvement of pain in significantly more patients in the calcitonin group (5/13) than in the placebo group (0/12) (Fisher's exact two-tailed probability test, P = 0.0484). At the end of the second week three patients in the calcitonin group were still showing marked improvement.

Purification of mycobacterial deoxyribonucleic acid

Impurities believed to be polysaccharides have been found in mycobacterial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) preparations. Agar-gel diffusion of the DNA preparations against concanavalin A indicated the presence of three polysaccharides and was used to follow the purification procedures. The polysaccharides appeared to be the same for all strains studied. Precipitation of DNA with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide was used to separate impurities from some DNA preparations. The presence of the contaminants was found to affect markedly the determination of the guanine plus cytosine content according to a method dependent on the ratio of absorbancies at 260 and 280 nm; the impurities did not affect the determination by the method of thermal denaturation. The presence of a DNA-polysaccharide complex is suggested.