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Background: One of the major challenges in clinical research is to incorporate materials and procedures into dentistry that can improve clinical outcomes, increasing percentages of success. Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is a surgical, biological additive prepared by manipulation of autologous blood, which stimulates and regulates inflammation during and after oral surgery. This study aims to assess the potential benefits of using PRF in modern oral and endodontic surgery to accelerate radiographic healing and reduce postoperative discomfort. Methods and Results: Electronic literature research was conducted using the biomedical search engine “National Library of Medicine,” PubMed/MEDLINE database from March 2000 to June 2023. To obtain results that involved the whole scope of dentistry and PRF, the keywords used for the search were “PRF,” “PRF in dentistry,” and “PRF on apical surgery.” The articles were selected by reviewing the titles and abstracts of the articles with the word “platelet-rich fibrin (PRF).” Articles related only to clinical applications in general dentistry and its different application fields were hand-searched in applicable, significant journals, and reference lists of included studies were broadcast with no language limitation. The inclusion criteria set for this review were as follows: all case reports, case series, original research papers, review papers, in vitro/in vivo studies, animal studies, and controlled clinical trials on PRF used in dentistry-related studies. Current studies, in vitro and in vivo, have confirmed safe and encouraging results, without opposing outcomes, related to the use of PRF alone or in a mixture with other biomaterials. Currently, the use of PRF treatment has been shown to enhance and promote natural tissue healing support.

Abstract Background Type 1 diabetes mellitus is the most common chronic disease and can be reflected in the oral cavity. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of metabolic control on saliva, dental caries, dental plaque, gingival inflammation, and cariogenic bacteria in saliva. Methods A case–control epidemiologic study was performed on children with type 1 diabetes (ages 10–15 years) separated into two groups: 34 children with good metabolic control of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c 7.5%). Oral status was assessed using the Decay, Missing, and Filled Teeth index for permanent teeth (DMFT), plaque index and gingival index. The stimulated salivary flow rate was measured, and the colonies of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus in saliva were determined. The observed children answered questions related to their frequency of brushing habits, dental visits and parents’ education. Mann–Whitney U Test, Chi-Square test and Fisher’s exact test were used in the statistical analyses. The significance level was set at p 0.05). The majority of both groups with good and poor metabolic control brushed their teeth once per day, and they visited the dentist only when necessary (61.3%). However, the parents of children in both groups had medium to low levels of education, without any significant difference between groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion The results indicate that children with diabetes have a lower level of oral hygiene and are potentially to dental caries and periodontal diseases, mainly when their metabolic disorder is uncontrolled.

Background: Residual ridge resorption is a chronic, progressive, irreversible process, and poses a clinical challenge to finding the appropriate methods and treatments for edentulous patients. The aim of this study was to assess patients with an edentulous mandible with regards to the height and width dimensions in molar, premolar, and symphyseal regions using Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT). Methods and Results: A CBCT was performed on 60 patients, edentulous for more than 5 years. The height of residual bone (RB) was measured on 7 sites of the mandible, whereas the width of RB was measured on 5 sites. The highest mean value of residual bone height (BH) was measured in the symphyseal region, while the lowest value was measured in the right side molar region. The highest mean value of residual bone width (BW) was measured in the symphyseal region, while the lowest value was measured in the right side premolar region. Male patients had significantly higher RB in the mandible. The residual BW was insignificantly higher in males than in females, excluding the symphyseal region. Conclusion: Analysis of the characteristics of BH and BW by CBCT enables a dentist to achieve a higher degree of accuracy during the implant placement and to select the appropriate implant design.

The aim of the study was to determine maximum bite force (MBF) and the percentage of bite force distribution at the position of maximum intercuspation for patients with fixed restorations. Methods and Results: This study enrolled 60 subjects [33(55%) female and 27(45%) male] divided into two groups: The control group (CG) included 30 patients with intact teeth; the experimental group (EG) included 30 patients with fixed restorations. In EG, occlusion was analyzed before and after fixed restoration insertion (FRI). We used the T-Scan III Computerized Occlusal Analysis System 7.0 (Tekscan Inc., South Boston, MA, USA) for analysis. The present study showed a significant difference in MBF between CG and EG before and after FRI (P0.05). Conclusion: Occlusal analysis with T-Scan III is the only method that enables us to estimate the force differences between the natural teeth and fixed restorations in occlusion.

Caries has a harmful impact on oral and general health and is a major public health problem among children and adolescents. The objective of present study was to investigate into dental caries, oral hygiene, the frequency of brushing habits and dental visits among 15 year old adolescents. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on a random sample of 323 15 year old adolescents in different schools and municipalities of Kosovo. Oral clinical examination and self-administered questionnaire were used to obtain information about dental caries and oral health practices. Oral hygiene and caries status in permanent dentition was assessed through the DMFT index and Oral Hygiene Index - Simplified (OHI-S). The level of statistical significance was set at p

BACKGROUND: This article aims to perform a psychometric assessment of the scale of organizational readiness for digital innovations in a transition economy and to examine the antecedents of organizational readiness for digital innovations. METHODOLOGY: The study employed a quantitative research method to analyze data collected from a sample of 1236 health professionals. The scale secondary confirmatory factor and linear regression analysis were employed to verify organizational readiness and test the respective hypotheses about organizational readiness for digital innovation, respectively. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: The research findings show that the organizational readiness scale for digital innovations is valid and reliable in transition economies. Findings show that the relationship between variables such as adaptation of human resources (AHR), cognitive readiness (COR), planning for new telehealth and e-health (PNTH), IT readiness (ITR), resource readiness (RR), partnership readiness (PR), and cultural readiness (CUR) are correlated with the innovations implementation effectiveness (IIE), and organizational readiness for digital innovation is positive statistically significant. Findings also suggest that Integration of old technologies (IoT) and organizational readiness for digital innovation is statistically significant and have negative relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the oral health status of 12-year-old schoolchildren in Kosovo. Material and Methods: The study involved 1204 schoolchildren aged 12 years from urban and rural areas, from different cities of Kosovo. The questionnaire included demographic data, gender, residence, dental status, oral hygiene, and daily brushing habits. The feasibility of the questionnaire was verified replicating it on 10% of the sample. Daily brushing habits were reported to frequency: as once per day, twice a day and rarely. Caries status was recorded in permanent dentition as DMFT and Oral Hygiene Index - Simplified (OHI-S) was used to assess oral hygiene status. The analysis included occurrences and means. The differences among means were tested using the student t-test (p

Mass vaccination initiatives are underway worldwide, and a considerable percentage of the world’s population is now vaccinated. This study examined the association of COVID-19 deaths per 1000 cases with a fully vaccinated population. The global median deaths per 1000 cases were 15.68 (IQR 9.84, 25.87) after 6 months of vaccinations and 11.96 (IQR 6.08, 20.63) after 12 months. Across 164 countries, we found significant variations in vaccination levels of populations, booster doses, and mortality, with higher vaccine coverage and lower mortality in high-income countries. Several regression models were performed to test the association between vaccination and COVID-19 mortality. Control variables were used to account for confounding variables. A 10-percentage-point increase in vaccination was associated with an 18.1% decrease in mortality after 6 months (95%CI, 7.4–28.8%) and a 16.8% decrease after 12 months (95%CI, 6.9–26.7%). A 10-percentage-point increase in booster vaccination rates was associated with a 33.1% decrease in COVID-19 mortality (95%CI, 16.0–50.2%). This relationship is present in most analyses by country income groups with variations in the effect size. Efforts are needed to reduce vaccine hesitancy while ensuring suitable infrastructure and supply to enable all countries to increase their vaccination rates.

Background: Relationships between in-vitro fertilization (IVF), gestational hypertension, and pregnancy outcomes are demonstrated in a number of studies. However, it is still debated if IVF treatment or specific characteristics of infertile patients are responsible for worse obstetrical and neonatal outcomes. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate maternal characteristics associated with hypertensive disorders (HD) in IVF conceived pregnancies and to assess the obstetrical and neonatal outcomes. Materials and Methods: In this observational, cross-sectional study, 207 pregnant women who underwent IVF treatment were consecutively divided into two groups: a group that had no HD during pregnancy (IVF group) and a group that had HD during pregnancy (IVF+HD group). Maternal, obstetrical and neonatal data of the two groups were compared. Results: Some maternal characteristics were significantly higher in IVF+HD compared to IVF group such as: older age (p=0.0001), primiparity (p=0.038), obesity (p=0.0001), and cigarette smoking (p=0.0001). There were no significant differences between the groups in regard to obstetrical outcomes besides premature rupture of membranes time that was significantly higher in IVF+HD group compared to IVF group (p=0.036). In regard to neonatal outcomes, the only statistically significant difference was in the 5th min Apgar score, which was higher in IVF+HD group compared to IVF group without HD (p=0.002). Conclusion: With regard to significantly higher differences in maternal characteristics of IVF conceived pregnancies complicated with HD, compared to uncomplicated ones, development of a specific national prevention measure for HD of IVF conceived pregnancies in Kosovo is strongly suggested. In addition, setting up of a national registry is recommended in order to evaluate the outcomes of IVF treatments properly.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the current oral health status among schoolchildren in Kosovo aged 6-11 years. Material and methods: A study included 5679 schoolchildren aged 6 -11 years, from different towns of Kosovo. Dental health status was evaluated using the World Health Organization (WHO) caries diagnostic criteria for decayed, missing and filled teeth (dmft/DMFT index), for deciduous and permanent dentition. The observed children have answered a number of questions about their oral hygiene, eating habits, and dental visits. The analysis included frequencies and means. The differences between means were tested using the student t-test (p

The development of an anthropometric craniofacial database is a necessary multidisciplinary proposal. Aim: The aim of this study was to establish facial anthropometric norms and to investigate into sexual dimorphism in facial variables among Kosovo Albanian adults. Materials and Methods: The sample included 204 students of Dental School, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pristina. Using direct anthropometry, a series of 8 standard facial measurements was taken on each subject with digital caliper with an accuracy of 0.01 mm (Boss, Hamburg-Germany). The normative data and percentile rankings were calculated. Gender differences in facial variables were analyzed using t- test for independent samples (p0.05).The highest index of sexual dimorphism (ISD) was found for the lower facial height 1.120, for which the highest percentage of sexual dimorphism, 12.01%., was also found. The lowest ISD was found for intercanthal width, 1.022, accompanied with the lowest percentage of sexual dimorphism, 2.23%. Conclusion: The obtained results have established the facial anthropometric norms among Kosovo Albanian adults. Sexual dimorphism has been confirmed for each facial measurement.

Mass vaccination initiatives are underway worldwide, and a considerable percentage of the world's population is now vaccinated. This study examined the association of COVID-19 deaths per 1000 cases with a fully vaccinated population. The global median deaths per 1000 cases were 15.68 (IQR 9.84, 25.87) after 6 months of vaccinations and 11.96 (IQR 6.08, 20.63) after 12 months. Across 164 countries, we found significant variations in vaccination levels of populations, booster doses, and mortality, with higher vaccine coverage and lower mortality in high-income countries. Several regression models were performed to test the association between vaccination and COVID-19 mortality. Control variables were used to account for confounding variables. A 10-percentage-point increase in vaccination was associated with an 18.1% decrease in mortality after 6 months (95%CI, 7.4–28.8%) and a 16.8% decrease after 12 months (95%CI, 6.9–26.7%). A 10-percentage-point increase in booster vaccination rates was associated with a 33.1% decrease in COVID-19 mortality (95%CI, 16.0–50.2%). This relationship is present in most analyses by country income groups with variations in the effect size. Efforts are needed to reduce vaccine hesitancy while ensuring suitable infrastructure and supply to enable all countries to increase their vaccination rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Relatively little is known about current practice during the third stage of labour in low and middle income countries. We conducted a survey of attitudes and an audit of practice in a large maternity hospital in Albania. Methods Survey of 35 obstetricians and audit of practice during the third stage was conducted in July 2008 at a tertiary referral hospital in Tirana. The survey questionnaire was self completed. Responses were anonymous. For the audit, information collected included time of administration of the uterotonic drug, gestation at birth, position of the baby before cord clamping, cord traction, and need for resuscitation. Results 77% (27/35) of obstetricians completed the questionnaire, of whom 78% (21/27) reported always or usually using active management, and 22% (6/27) always or usually using physiological care. When using active management: 56% (15/27) gave the uterotonic after cord clamping; intravenous oxytocin was almost always the drug used; and 71% (19/27) clamped the cord within one minute. For physiological care: 42% (8/19) clamped the cord within 20 seconds, and 96% (18/19) within one minute. 93% would randomise women to a trial of early versus late cord clamping. Practice was observed for 156 consecutive births, of which 26% (42/156) were by caesarean section. A prophylactic uterotonic was used for 87% (137/156): this was given after cord clamping for 55% (75/137), although timing of administration was not recorded for 21% (29/137). For 85% of births (132/156) cord clamping was within 20 seconds, and for all babies it was within 50 seconds. Controlled cord traction was used for 49% (76/156) of births. Conclusions Most obstetricians reported always or usually using active management for the third stage of labour. For timing and choice of the uterotonic drug, reported practice was similar to actual practice. Although some obstetricians reported they waited longer than one minute before clamping the cord, this was not observed in practice. Controlled cord traction was used for half the births.