Psychosocial and Economic Status of the Parents with Children with and without Tooth Trauma

BACKGROUND

The main goal of this research is to try and understand influence of psychological and social factors in children with tendencies to repeat tooth trauma.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Research included 147 patients, children of preschool and school age (88 boys and 59 girls). In the research patients were divided in two age groups: 5-8 and 9-12 years. In both groups there were 49 patients with no experience of dental trauma and 69 patients with experience of one dental trauma and 29 patients with repeated dental trauma. All patients that were involved in the study had previous experience with dental and medical treatment. Study included evaluation of dental anxiety and also factors that caused dental phobia previous their visit to the office in the children with no dental trauma compared to repeat dental trauma patients. On the whole study group differences considering sex, age and psychosocial status in the level of dental anxiety and dental fear were also measured.

RESULTS

Categories of children without trauma and with one or multiple trauma showed that it is a similar sex division in the categories. In the no trauma group participation of the boys is lower (46.9%) while in the group with repeated trauma their participation is significantly higher (79.3%). Based on that the risk of repeated dental trauma is characteristic of boys.

CONCLUSIONS

Results of this study show that tested psychosocial variables do not differentiate participants according to the tested groups or in other words there is no difference between tested groups in their psychosocial standing.

The use of assessment tools in a sample of Croatian professional fire-fighters

BACKGROUND

This article aims at testing of psychometric characteristics of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Defense Style Questionnaire - 40 (DSQ-40) in a sample of Croatian professional fire-fighters, so as to justify their use in Occupational Health. A pioneer effort to interrelate mental states and psychological job demands, ranked using the WAI questionnaire, was made as well.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Upon informed consent, the tools were tested on a sample of 300 members of the operative fire-fighting squad of the City of Zagreb, all men (average age 43; average years of fire-fighting service 18.5). The participation was voluntary and anonymous.

RESULTS

The average BDI score was 2.34, revealing a low representation of depression in the target population. The score indicating severe depression was seen in 0.7% of examinees only. Cronbach alpha of 0.92 showed satisfactory inner tool consistency. As for DSQ-40, mature, neurotic and immature defence mechanisms were evaluated. The highest mean score of 75.24 (±26.07) was obtained with immature defence (Cronbach alpha 0.87). Self-assessed current working capacity was revealed to be strongly dependent on total years of service (r=-0.134; p=0.021), while the representation of neurotic defence positively correlated with the respondents' age and total years of service. Immature defence strongly positively correlated with the total years of fire-fighting service.

CONCLUSIONS

The employed tools were shown to be appropriate for use in Croatian professional fire-fighting population. Nevertheless, the interrelations disclosed by this pioneer research should be investigated further.

Minor physical anomalies in children with hearing impairment and normal controls

The aim of this research was to assess differences in the frequency of individual minor physical anomalies (MPA) between healthy controls and children with hearing impairment (HI) and to find out whether some MPAs are more informative in discriminating between two groups than cumulative Waldrop's scores. The aim was also to investigate the influence of gender on MPA in children with HI and those with normal hearing (NH). The study was carried out on a sample of 424 children (121 children with hearing impairment (82 boys and 39 girls) aged from 5 to 18 and 303 healthy schoolchildren with normal hearing (152 boys and 151 girls) aged from 8 to 16). In HI children, the mean value of MPA was 2.2 times higher than in the controls. Binary Logistic Regression Model is entirely (with all 18 predictors) statistically significant, that is, it recognizes partial deafness. The comparisons between the studied groups of boys and girls HI and boys and girls NH showed a higher relative involvement of MPA in boys than in girls. MPA comparison of HI boys versus NH boys and HI girls versus NH girls according to topographic regions revealed that for HI children there were higher mean scores than for the same-sex controls from all regions, but differences are particularly pronounced in the ear and tongue region. However and that the difference is statistically significant for the majority of regions but this difference tended to be more pronounced in girls with relatively better expressed peripheral dysmorphia in the former and craniofacial dysmorphia in the latter. From the obtained results, it can be seen that in HI children, common etiological factors were probably in effect leading to physical anomalies and hearing impairments. Given the present findings of increased MPAs in HI children, further investigations are necessary to determine whether these developmental abnormalities arise from genetic factors or as a consequence of environmental influences.

Why choose Lent for a "smoke out day?" Changing smoking behavior in Croatia

AIM

To evaluate the impact on smokers' behavior of public health activity related to a religious event such as Lent in a predominantly Roman Catholic country.

METHODS

"Smoke out day" was organized on the first day of Lent, a period of self-denial for Roman Catholics, combining cultural and religious significance for Croatian people. The day was covered by a massive media campaign. Smoking behavior and attitudes to smoking were examined using a cross-sectional anonymous survey, conducted among 2,143 TV viewers and radio listeners aged 15 and older in their households.

RESULTS

More than 75% of the interviewed persons knew the exact date of the "Smoke out day." Among smokers, 27% had given up smoking on that day and 16% declared they would not smoke during Lent. Significantly more women (34%) than men (23%) abstained from smoking on the "Smoke out day" and more women (24% vs 10.8%) had decided to abstain from smoking during Lent. The majority of abstainers were in the 30-44 age group. The lowest response to antismoking campaign was from smokers with university education.

CONCLUSION

Antismoking mass media activity can influence smokers' behavior especially if it is connected to cultural and religious aspects. Some groups are much more sensitive to this kind of activities and may be, with a good media campaign and developed network of professional help and support, supported to transform their "Smoke out day" into a lifelong abstinence.

Prevalence and significance of minor anomalies in children with impaired development

AIM

To compare the prevalence of Waldrop's minor physical anomalies in children with developmental disorders (mental retardation, hearing and visual impairment) and healthy schoolchildren.

METHODS

The study was carried out on a sample of 469 children (223 children with developmental disorders and 246 healthy schoolchildren).

RESULTS

Significant differences were found between the children with developmental disorders and the healthy children with regard to the number of minor anomalies and their weighted scores according to Waldrop. Multivariate discriminant analysis with two discriminative functions explained as much as 96.51% of the total variability and significantly distinguished the healthy children from the children with developmental disorders. However, no clear distinction was found between the mentally retarded children and those with visual impairment. Interrelation of the number and sum of the weighted scores of minor anomalies showed similar minor anomalies in the mentally retarded children (mean per person 3.65 and 3.82, respectively), the children with visual impairment (3.24 and 3.50), the children with hearing impairment (3.84 and 3.67) and the control group (1.70 and 1.46), although at different levels.

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of multiple minor anomalies in children with developmental disorders suggests that during early development, factors which cause the specific developmental disorder and the occurrence of a minor anomaly have a joint effect.

Dental and minor physical anomalies in children with developmental disorders--a discriminant analysis

A discriminant analysis was performed in a sample of 303 children with developmental disorders (DD) and 303 healthy controls (C) in order to test whether some oro-dental and physical minor anomalies could discriminate these groups of children. DD sample comprised 176 mentally retarded (MR) children. 70 children with impaired hearing (IH) and 57 children with impaired vision (IV). The control group included 303 healthy subjects, matched for sex and age. The analysis comprised seven common oral and dental anomalies: median diastema, hypodontia, impacted teeth, microdontia, dens invaginatus, upper lip frenulum and frenulum of the tongue. Minor physical anomalies were assessed by the method proposed by Waldrop et al., as the average number of minor anomalies per individual (W1) and as the weighted score of minor anomalies (W2). Three discriminant functions were obtained by analysis of nine initial variables. Distinct discrimination and considerable distances were found between the centroids of the controls and all groups of DD children. The first two discriminant functions were significant for discrimination between the groups and they explained 98.6% of the total variance. The first function contained 90.2% of information and was defined by the number and weighted scores of minor anomalies. The second variable explained 8.4% of the total variability and was defined by three dental anomalies. The results obtained by the discriminant analysis show that application of dental and minor physical anomalies enables discrimination between the group of healthy children and the groups of children with different developmental disorders.

[Minor physical anomalies in children with hearing impairment]

The prevalence of minor physical anomalies was studied on a sample of 116 children with idiopathic hearing impairment (66 boys and 50 girls). The control group consisted of 246 children with normal hearing (123 boys and 123 girls) aged from 8 to 12 years. The number of minor anomalies found per child (W1) was compared and the sum of the weighted scores according to Waldrop (W2) in children with normal hearing (CNH) and children with impaired hearing (CIH). A higher minor physical anomalies score was determined per child in the CIH group. In the CNH group there were 4 or more (33.6%) with multiple anomalies, while in the CNH group there were only 7.7% with four or more anomalies. A high score (W2) of five or more anomalies was determined in 18.9% of children in the CIH group and not one subject in the control group. Differences between the CIH and CNH groups for the mean score W1 and W2 were highly significant. The mean score W1 for CIH was 2.90 and for CNH 1.70. The mean score W2 for CIH was 2.93 and for CNH 1.46. According to the obtained results etiological factors probably had a parallel effect in CIH during early development, which lead to physical and hearing impairment. The high incidence found of multiple minor anomalies in CIH suggests a significant role of genetic factors in the aetiology of the basic disorder in the group of analysed children.

The prevalence of minor physical anomalies in mentally retarded children

The prevalence of minor physical anomalies was examined in a sample of 109 children with idiopathic mental retardation (65 boys and 44 girls). Control group consisted of 246 healthy schoolchildren (123 boys and 123 girls) aged 8 to 12 years. A comparison was made between number of found minor anomalies per child (W1) and their Waldrop weight scores (W2) in healthy and mentally retarded (MR) children. The MR children were found to have a higher number of minor anomalies per child. In their group predominated those with four or more anomalies (56.9%), whereas among healthy children only 7.7% had four anomalies or more. In contrast to the high weighted score value (W2) of five or greater in 36.7% of MR children, it was absent in all control group subjects. There were highly significant differences between the MR and healthy children in the average value of the number of minor anomalies per child (W1) and in the average weighted score (W2). The average number of minor anomalies per child (W1) in MR and well children was 3.65 and 1.7, respectively. In MR children the average weighted score (W2) was 3.82, being 1.46 in healthy children. Our results suggest that common etiological factors, which had led to a physical and mental disorder, were active early in the development of MR children. The finding of high incidence of multiple minor anomalies in MR children indicates that genetic factors may play an important role in the etiology of the underlying disorder in the child group studied.

Effects of hypoglycemia on rat brain polyribosome sedimentation pattern

Insulin-induced hypoglycemia provokes polyribosome disaggregation and accumulation of monomeric ribosomes in the brain of rats with hypoglycemic paresis and coma. The extent of brain polyribosome disaggregation depends on the decrease of blood glucose concentration, and in comatose animals on the duration of hypoglycemia. Cycloheximide prevents the disaggregation of brain polyribosomes induced by hypoglycemia, indicating that hypoglycemia affects brain protein synthesis, decreasing the rate of initiation relative to the rate of elongation of polypeptide chain synthesis.