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In Japan, elementary schools are committed to early discovery of child abuse and neglect. Under Japanese law, dentists are required to be involved in child welfare and early detection of child abuse. However, the extent to which dental practitioners cooperate for prevention of child abuse with schools remains limited to date. Therefore, we undertook a community-based project that aimed to develop screening indicators to identify potentially abused children based on their oral health condition and behavioural characteristics in education settings. We have already reported on the relationship between oral health condition and child abuse. The present study established an indicator that can facilitate identification and prevention of child abuse/neglect.Study design: Cross-sectional study. Questionnaires were given to teachers at an elementary school to ascertain behavioural characteristics observed in children who experienced abuse.We developed a check sheet for proper assessment, which requires as little effort as possible, and an index for screening children in need based on teaching staff's observation of students' daily behaviour in school settings. Highly selected items are advantageous as they lead to a decrease in non-response or responses, which can help in improving the accuracy of the response to each question.

The research was executed to study the effect of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) micro drilling parameter on hole accuracy. The main contribution of this research is to improve manufacturing process of hole micro size by finding the optimum parameter for excellent hole accuracy. However, to obtain the optimum parameter, the behavior of hole quality must be investigated. The parameters considered in the experiment were machine spindle speed and cutting feed rate. The experiment was carried out by drilling CFRP panel using the router machine with micro drill bit (D0.9 mm) to make holes while a measuring microscope was used to observe and analyze the holes. The quality of hole created on each panel was compared, and at the same time, the hole diameter was measured to determine hole accuracy. In term of hole diameter, as the number of drilled holes increased, the diameter of holes reduced for both entry and exit hole. Minimum diameter of entry hole at spindle speed 8,000 rpm and 10,000 rpm were 0.8986 mm and 0.8973 respectively while maximum diameter of entry holes were 0.9297 mm and 0.9234 mm each. Similar pattern occurred at the exit holes as well. The result shows a linear relationship between hole accuracy, hole quality and number of drilled holes, it was also found that the spindle speed did not have a significant impact and there is a need to test the feed rate. In this regard, determining the excellent hole accuracy of CFRP is useful for mechanical assembly process of aircraft parts.

The photoluminescence (PL) spectra from colloidal solution of coated semiconductor CdS/PbS nanoparticles, which are synthesized by a cation-exchanging colloidal method, are measured at room temperature. The PL spectra from S vacancies (V{sub s}) and Cd-S composite vacancies (V{sub Cd-S}) in CdS and CdS/PbS nanoparticles have been investigated. The PL of V{sub S} can be quenched only by the Pb caption modified in the surface of CdS. The PL of V{sub Cd-S} in CdS nanoparticles appears in about 1100 nm. The PL of V{sub Cd-S} in CdS/PbS nanoparticles shifts to longer wavelengths as the quantity of PbS increases. The shift and intensity variation of the PL peak from V{sub Cd-S} in CdS/PbS can be explained by a quantum confinement model of coated nanoparticles; the excited energy gap (HOMO-LUMO) is not only dependent on the size of the particles but also strongly dependent on the core/shell ratio of the coated nanoparticles. The PL energy gap (LUMO-V{sub Cd-S}) is also strongly dependent on the core/shell ratio. 36 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.

The DC and AC Josephson effects were observed in YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-a/ (YBCO) bridges with metal-organic chemical vapor deposited (MOCVD) thin films on

Using a YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-x/ thin film deposited by MOCVD, a DC SQUID which is operated at 77 K has been fabricated. The SQUIDs with microbridges are patterned by chemical and laser etching processes. The SQUIDs operate stably without hysteresis in quite a wide range of temperature, within several periods of Phi /sub 0/. At 4.2 K, the voltage modulation of 80 mu V and the intrinsic energy sensibility of 4.0*10/sup -31/J/Hz were obtained for the SQUID with an inductance of 70 pH. The flux noise of the SQUID operating at 77 K in FLL mode was 1.8*10/sup -4/ Phi /sub 0// square root Hz at 10 Hz.

To determine the differences in oral self-care levels between 322 Romanian dental students.The design of the study was a cross-sectional survey of dental students in Romania. The examination was based upon responses to a questionnaire entitled 'Hiroshima University--Dental Behavioural Inventory' (HU-DBI) and three additional questions.Statistically significant differences of the mean HU-DBI scores were observed between year 1 and 2 (level of basic science course) and year 5 and 6 (level of clinical course) and between genders (p0.001). Statistically significant differences were notable in 10 items out of 20 between three levels of dental education (basic, preclinical and clinical levels). The most striking results were that year 5 and 6 students were less likely to use a toothbrush with hard bristles (p0.001), and less likely to worry about the colour of their teeth (p0.01). While 20% of year 1 and 2 students reported daily flossing, almost 46% was reported in year 5 and 6 students (p0.001). A significant difference was also observed on flossing behaviour between genders (p0.001). Of 205 year 1-4 students, 176 (85.9%) were correctly predicted by the models, and 177 of 193 female students (91.7%) were correctly predicted.There were considerable differences in dental health attitudes/behaviour between the three levels of dental education and between genders.

It has been suggested that CN (calcineurin, protein phosphatase-2B) regulates signal transduction, particularly in various secretory cells. In this study, we examined whether CN plays a role in stimulus-secretion coupling of gastric parietal cells.Localization of CN in gastric epithelial cells was examined immunohistochemically. The role of CN in the acid secretion pathway of gastric parietal cells was assessed by evaluating the effect of FK506, a specific inhibitor of CN, on gastric acid secretion in pylorus-ligated rats. In addition, the effect of FK506 on secretagogue (carbachol, tetragastrin and histamine)-stimulated acid secretion was investigated in lumen-perfused rats.CN was specifically expressed in gastric parietal cells and chief cells of the gastric mucosal epithelium immunohistochemically. FK506 dose-dependently inhibited gastric acid secretion in pylorus-ligated rats. In lumen-perfused rats, FK506 completely inhibited acid secretion prestimulated by carbachol and tetragastrin, agonists known to increase cytosolic Ca2+, but did not affect acid secretion prestimulated by histamine.Our findings demonstrate that FK506 has a potent antisecretory effect in parietal cells through inhibition of only Ca2+-mediated acid secretion pathways. As FK506 is known to specifically inhibit CN, which plays an important role in signal transduction in various secretory cells, protein dephosphorylation signalling might also be crucial for gastrin and M3 muscarine receptor-mediated stimulation of proton pump.

Blood loss during treatment carries a potential risk for the transmission of blood-borne pathogens in hospital patients. To determine whether nosocomial transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) occurs in surgical wards and dental hospitals, we tested anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA in sera from these patients and analysed the hypervariable region 1 (HVR1) sequence of HCV phylogenetically in the HCV RNA-positive patients. Five of 83 patients from a surgical ward were positive for HCV RNA, and six patients from one dental hospital and nine patients from a second were found to be positive for HCV RNA during the examination period. The HVR1 sequences were amplified from these patients' serum, and after subcloning, multiple clones of the HVR1 sequence from each patient were determined. The phylogenetic analysis of these sequences showed that HVR1 species from each patient could be classified into one to three genetic clusters of HVR1 quasi-species and that these clusters were independent of each other among patients. Thus, there was no evidence of HCV transmission in our study, and unrecognized transmission of HCV may be a rare event in surgical and dental patients at university hospitals.

One of the important problems in experimentally induced small intestinal lesions is that there is no reproducible model of diffuse and stable mucosal lesion. In this paper, we studied in detail the effects of continuous perfusion of various concentrations of acetic acid on the rat small intestinal mucosa. In order to evaluate its applicability for screening of the preventive effect of drugs on gut damage, we also evaluated the efficacy of corticosteroid pretreatment in preventing acetic acid-induced mucosal lesion. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fasted for 12 hr, and the small intestinal lumen was perfused with 1%, 1.5%, 2.5%, 3%, 3.75% (pH 2.4-2.6) acetic acid or saline (control) at 1 ml/min for 15 min. In separate experiments, the effect of preadministration of budesonide (0.5 or 0.75 mg/kg/day) and prednisone (0.75 mg/kg/day) on 1.5% acetic acid-induced mucosal damage was investigated. Macroscopic and microscopic lesions occurred diffusely in a concentration-dependent fashion. Histological findings revealed signs of transmural inflammation characterized by mucosal-submucosal edema, ulceration, and neutrophil infiltration. Mucosal-submucosal height had an inverse relation with the acetic acid concentrations perfused. Myeloperoxidase activity levels increased several-fold in the acetic acid-perfused groups. Corticosteroid pretreatment prevented microscopic damage and was associated with reduction of MPO activity levels in 1.5% acetic acid-perfused rats. We conclude that this simple and reproducible model could be applied for the screening of new drugs in the gastrointestinal tract in which large numbers of animals are taken into account.

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in oral self-care levels between Japanese dental hygiene students and general nursing students in 1999, and compare them with a similar study in 1990.The examination was mainly based upon responses to a questionnaire titled "Hiroshima University--Dental Behavioural Inventory (HU-DBI)". Higher scores of the HU-DBI indicate better oral health attitudes/behaviour.The mean HU-DBI score of the 2nd-year dental hygiene students was significantly greater than that of the 2nd-year nursing students (9.56 and 6.65, respectively; p0.001), and much higher than those of the 1st-year students at each course (dental hygiene course; 6.30, nursing course; 5.88). Except for the 2nd-year dental hygiene class, there were no significant differences in the HU-DBI score between the 1990 and 1999 subgroups of each class. About 1/3 of the 2nd-year nursing students reported a belief that they may eventually require false teeth, while 6% of the 2nd-year dental hygiene students held this belief. More than 60% of this study sample stated that they put off going to the dentist until they had toothache. The 2nd-year dental hygiene students were more likely to have this attitude than their 1990 peers. Flossing was not popular among the nursing students in either 1990 or 1999.Although the difference in the HU-DBI score across time was not major, the variation in HU-DBI and the favourable attitudes/behaviour toward oral health appeared to reflect the differences in schooling between student hygienists and student nurses.

In responders to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for locally-advanced esophageal cancer, there was no significant difference in the long-term outcome between patients who underwent esophagectomy and those who did not. Esophagectomy might be unnecessary for patients who achieve a complete response with chemoradiotherapy for an esophageal cancer, in cases when salvage surgery is considered in order to treat any future recurrence.

In order to study the cytoprotective function of colonic heat shock proteins (HSPs) in vivo, the effect of specific preinduction of HSP60 by thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) administration on the development of acetic acid-induced colonic mucosal lesion was investigated. Expression of 60-kDa, 72-kDa, and 90-kDa heat shock proteins (HSP60, HSP72, and HSP90, respectively) in rat colonic mucosa was investigated by western blot and immunohistochemical analyses before and after TRH administration. Following pretreatment with or without TRH administration, the rats received intrarectal infusion of 5% acetic acid. The colonic mucosal damage was macroscopically evaluated 24 hr after the intrarectal infusion of acetic acid. Expression of HSP60 was significantly increased by TRH administration in the colonic mucosa, whereas HSP72 and HSP90 did not increase. Immunohistochemical study also showed a significant increase in HSP60 in colonic mucosal cells, especially at the surface of the colonic mucosa after TRH administration. No histopathologic alteration was observed in the colonic mucosa after TRH administration. The colonic mucosal damage caused by intrarectal infusion of 5% acetic acid was not prevented by preinduction of HSP60. We demonstrated that specific preinduction of HSP60 by TRH administration did not show cytoprotective function in the colonic mucosa, although this protein plays a crucial role for cytoprotection in the pancreatic acinar cells. Our results indicate that the role of HSP60 may be different in each organ with respect to cytoprotection.

Statistical regularities can be observed in many natural and social phenomena. From empirical data on the authorship of scientific papers, Lotka deduced an inverse-square law: the number of authors publishing n papers is 1/n2 of those publishing one paper. The general type for the relation (1/n(c)) has a wide range of applicability to a variety of phenomena. This study examined, by means of bibliometric tools, whether Lotka's law could be applied to the literature of dental science. Data came from 20 leading dental science journals, as reported in Journal Citation Reports. The search was performed with a programme developed using Visual Basic for Applications, which counted the number of authors and analysed their contributions to the literature. Authorship for all contributions, as reported in Medline, was compiled for each of these 20 journals for the last 25 years, 1971 through 1995. The total number of authors was 43,796, responsible for 124,556 authorships. The journals published in countries other than the USA exhibited higher degrees of author concentration. The dental science literature conformed very well to Lotka's model with c = 1.95.

Bowel dysfunction such as irritable bowel syndrome caused by stress is well described. Previous reports suggest that stress is known to cause the release of endogenous substances such as catecholamine, beta-endorphine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, corticotropin-releasing factor, and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH). However, the role played by these neurohormonal mediators in bowel dysfunction under stress conditions is not well known. We investigated the influence of water-immersion stress or TRH administration on the expression of 60-kDa, 72-kDa, and 90-kDa heat-shock proteins (HSP60, HSP72, and HSP90, respectively) in rat small intestinal mucosa by Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses. The cytoprotective function of preinduced HSPs on experimentally induced mucosal damage also was studied. In order to investigate the influence of preinduction of HSP60 on small intestinal damage, the small intestinal lumen was perfused with 1.5% acetic acid 1 ml/min for 15 min with or without pretreatment with water-immersion stress or TRH administration. Expression of HSP60 was significantly increased by water-immersion stress or TRH administration in the small intestinal mucosa, whereas HSP72 and HSP90 did not increase. Interestingly, expression of this protein showed the biphasic peak pattern after water-immersion stress or TRH administration. Each peak was observed 3-6 hr and 21-24 hr after the initiation of water-immersion stress or TRH administration. Immunohistochemical study also showed a significant increment of HSP60 in both the cytoplasm and nuclei of the small intestinal mucosal cells. No histopathologic alteration was observed in rat small intestinal mucosa after each treatment. Small intestinal damage caused by 1.5% acetic acid perfusion was not influenced by preinduction of HSP60. We demonstrated that water-immersion stress or TRH administration specifically induced HSP60, although preinduction of this protein did not show a cytoprotective function in the small intestinal mucosa.

We previously reported that water-immersion stress specifically induced the synthesis of a 60-kDa heat-shock protein (HSP60, chaperonin homolog) in pancreatic cells and preinduction of HSP60 completely prevented development of cerulein-induced pancreatitis in the rat in an HSP60 quantitatively dependent manner. In order to study the cytoprotective function of a 72-kDa heat-shock protein (HSP72, stress-inducible hsp70), the effect of specific preinduction of HSP72 by hyperthermia on cerulein-induced pancreatitis was investigated and compared with the effect of preinduction of HSP60 in this study. Expression of HSP60 and HSP72 in the pancreas was investigated by immunoblot before and after water immersion or hyperthermia. Following pretreatment with water-immersion stress or hyperthermia, the rats were injected with cerulein (40 micrograms/kg, intraperitoneally). The pancreas wet weight and serum amylase concentration were measured before and after cerulein injection. Hyperthermia (42.5 degrees C, 20 min) specifically induced HSP72 in the pancreas. The synthesis of HSP60 was specifically induced by water-immersion stress in the pancreas. Cerulein-induced pancreatitis was clearly prevented by specific preinduction of HSP60 by water-immersion stress. However, preinduction of HSP72 by hyperthermia had no preventive effect on cerulein-induced pancreatitis. Our findings suggest that HSP60 and HSP72 have distinct functions in the pancreas, and their induction mechanisms are also different in vivo. These results could be important for understanding the mechanism of "adaptive cytoprotection" in the pancreas mediated by heat-shock proteins.

To develop a simple predictive indicator for 1.5-year-old infants' oral health as an aid for maternal preventive efforts.The development of an indicator was based on the relationship between life style factors of the 1.5-year-old infants and the caries incidence of the same children at three years of age. Data gained at examination of the 3-year-old subjects were subjected to analysis with the caries-free information on the same subjects at 1.5 years.A community health centre in Hiroshima Japan.1575 children received an oral check-up at 3 years of age at a community health centre.The category scores of the six items which were extracted retrospectively from life style factors at 1.5 years affecting caries prevalence at 3 years of age were quantified and transformed into integral numbers so as to make up a total of 100. The sum of the six transformed scores was named an Infants Dental Index (IDI).The IDI score was associated significantly with the dmft score at 3 years of age (r = -0.18 P0.001). When the subjects were classified into four groups with respect to the IDI score these four groups were significantly related to the caries onset between 1.5 and 3 years of age (chi 2 = 36.74, P0.001The IDI developed in this study appeared to be valid so that it could be applied in the field of the community dental health to identity higher risk infants and direct more effective health education to mothers.

In order to study the cytoprotective function of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in vivo, the effect of preinduction of HSPs by hyperthermia on acetic acid-induced colitis was investigated. Expression of 60-kDa, 72-kDa, and 90-kDa heat shock proteins (HSP60, HSP72, and HSP90, respectively) in rat colonic mucosa was investigated by Western blot analysis and immunohistochemical study before and after hyperthermia. Following pretreatment with or without hyperthermia, the rats received intrarectal infusion of various doses of acetic acid. The colonic mucosal damage was evaluated by macroscopic and microscopic assessments 24 hr after the intrarectal infusion of acetic acid. Expression of HSPs was significantly increased by hyperthermia in rat colonic mucosa. Immunohistochemical study also showed the increments of HSPs in the colonic mucosal cells after hyperthermia. Acetic acid-induced colitis was dramatically prevented by pretreatment with hyperthermia when HSP72 and HSP90 were preinduced. On the other hand, induction of HSP60 did not correlate with mucosal protection. Our findings suggest that HSP72 and HSP90 may have cytoprotective function against acetic acid-induced mucosal damage. These results may be important for understanding the mechanism of "adaptive cytoprotection" mediated by HSPs.

The effects of caffeine intake in early life on bone structure later in life were studied in rats. At day 9 of gestation, dams were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 (control) received a 20% protein diet; group 2 received the 20% protein diet supplemented with caffeine (2 mg/100 g body weight). After birth pups were continuously fed their respective diets until day 93, when the diet of group 2 was replaced with a noncaffeine 20% protein diet. On day 388 animals from both groups were weighed, killed, and femora and mandibles were removed. Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, hydroxyproline, and hexosamine concentrations were measured. Radiographs of some femora were taken and paraffin cross sections were made at the midshaft of others. Femora in the caffeine group were wider, periosteal bone area/total bone area was greater, the cross sectional area of femoral bone was smaller, and there were fewer osteocytes/bone area than in controls. Calcium, phosphorus, zinc, and hydroxyproline concentrations in the caffeine group were less in both bones of the caffeine group. These results indicate that if animals are exposed to caffeine during the rapidly growing period, changes occur in femoral bone which are similar to those that occur with aging.

We previously reported the synthesis and some properties of heterostructure nanoparticles, i.e. CdS coated with PbS (CdS/PbS). We report further characterization and investigation of the infrared photoluminescence (PL) of the CdS and coated CdS/PbS nanoparticles. This allows us to provide a more stringent test of the quantum confinement model. We consider the energy shift of the PL peak and the variation of the PL intensity correlated with the predictions of the quantum confinement model. The experimental results can be explained by this model of coated semiconductor nanoparticles.