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We set out to carry out a case-control evaluation of psychological distress and emotional pain among adult attendees of a Nigerian dental clinic. A total of 201 subjects, made up of 101 dental patients (test group) matched with age and sex with 100 normal subjects (controls), was recruited into the study. All participants completed a designed socio-demographic questionnaire. General Health Question naire and Psyche ache Assessment Schedule were also administered to assess psychological distress based on cut-off scores ?3 and emotional pain based on cut-off scores ?28 respectively. The mean ages of study and control group were 33 (±12) and 36 (±13) years respectively, and both study and control groups were not significantly different in all the assessed socio-demographic parameters. Overall, 21.8% (n=22) of the subjects had psychological distress, while only 7% of the control group had psychological distress. This difference was statistically significant (P=0.003). Similarly, there was significant difference in the experience of psyche ache (unbearable psychological pain) as over a third of the dental patients (37.6%, n=38) had emotional pain, while only 13% of the controls experienced psych ache (P<0.001). In this study, the burden of psychological distress and emotional pain was many-fold in dental patients when compared with the controls.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an important health problem throughout the world. Association between DM and oral diseases has been reported and dental clinic is indicated to be one of the suitable venues for the screening of DM. The purpose of this paper is to determine patients’ attitude toward DM screening in dental clinics.

The anonymous, self-administered questionnaires of five-point response scale questions were distributed to convenience samples of adult patients (⩾25 years) attending one of the dental settings. These dental settings were divided into the university/hospital-based dental clinics (encompassing two university-based and five hospital-based dental clinics) or the private dental clinics (encompassing two private, and one special (after office hour) clinic of a faculty of dentistry). The questions could be categorized into three groups regarding importance, willingness, and agreement of DM screening in dental settings. Results are presented as percentage by respondents based upon the number of responses for each question. The favorable outcomes which were defined as responses of either scale of 4 or 5 were also summarized according to dental settings. The χ² test for comparison was used to compare the favorable outcomes between the two settings.

A total of 601 completed questionnaires were collected; 394 from university/hospital-based dental clinics and 207 from two private clinics and a special (after office hour) clinic of a faculty of dentistry. Overall, the majority of respondents in both university/hospital-based and private practice settings felt that it is important to have a dentist conduct a screening (84.8 vs 79.5 percent). The majority of patients in both groups were willing to receive blood pressure examination (95.0 vs 92.0 percent), weight and height measurements (94.7 vs 94.0 percent), saliva/oral fluid investigation (86.4 and 86.9 percent) and finger-stick blood test (83.8 vs 83.9 percent). More than 75 percent of all respondents agreed with diabetes screening in dental clinics.

The majority of respondents supported the screening of DM in dental settings and they were willing to have a screening test by the dentist. Patient acceptance is an important key to be successful in the screening of DM in dental settings.

To construct a risk score using both clinical and intra-oral variables and to determine a risk score to screen individuals according to their risk of hyperglycemia.

A cross-sectional study was carried out among 690 Thai dental patients who visited the Special Clinic, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University and a mobile dental unit of His Majesty the King of Thailandss Dental Service Unit. Participants aged ≥25 years without a previous history of type 2 diabetes mellitus were included in the study. Participants diagnosed with severe anemia and polycythemia were excluded. Questionnaires were used to collect demographic data. Point-of-care HbA1c, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure and periodontal status were analyzed.

A total of 690 participants were included in the study. A risk scoring system including five variables was developed. It exhibited fair discrimination (area under the curve = 0.72, 95%CI 0.68–0.71). The risk score value of 9 was used as the cut-off point for increased risk of abnormal HbA1c. Subjects that had a total risk score of 9 or more had a high probability of having abnormal HbA1c and were identified for referral to physicians for further investigation and diagnosis.

A risk score to predict hyperglycemia using a dental parameter was developed for convenient evaluation in dental clinics.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the levels of awareness and knowledge about oral cancer, its causes and or risk factors among Ugandan patients seeking oral healthcare.

This was a cross-sectional study on adult patients who attended a free dental camp. An assistant-administered questionnaire either in English or Luganda was provided to every even-numbered registered adult who consented to participate in the study. Information on demographics and known risk factors for oral cancer were captured. The two knowledge questions on oral cancers were scored by adding up all the correctly identified causes, non-causes and risk factors then scored out of the total. Data analysis was done by calculating proportions, Student’s’ t-tests and χ² tests with significant p-value set at 0.05.

The results showed a low level of awareness/knowledge about oral cancer in studied population. In total, 60 percent and less than 50 percent of respondents identified smoking and alcohol use as risk factors for oral cancer, respectively. Majority of respondents (88.8 percent) would seek help from medical personnel if diagnosed with oral cancer. Screening for cancer was low despite awareness and knowledge that it improves the chances of successful treatment.

Emphasis on risk factors including alcohol use in public health messages, use of mass media, religious and community leaders to disseminate messages to the communities and further research were recommended.

We need to emphasize the role of alcohol in oral cancer causation just as we do for tobacco consumption.

No study has been conducted in Uganda on the level of awareness yet the incidence of the disease and use of high-risk products are rising.

The purpose of this investigation is to gain insight into parents' perceptions of benefits vs burdens (value) of educational and healthcare service received for their child with ASD. Parents are the main integrators of long-term educational and healthcare service for their child with ASD.

Design/methodology/approach included (1) a sentiment analysis of discussion forum posts from an autism message board using a rule-based sentiment analysis tool that is specifically attuned to sentiments expressed in social media and (2) a qualitative content analysis of one-on-one interviews with parents of children diagnosed with ASD, complemented with interviews with experienced educators and clinicians.

Findings reveal the link between customized service integration and long-term benefits. Both parents and service providers emphasize the need to integrate healthcare and educational service to create holistic long-term care for a child with ASD. Parents highlight the benefits of varied services, but availability or cost are burdens if the service is not publicly provided, or covered by insurance. Service providers' lack of experience with ASD and people's ignorance of the challenges of ASD are burdens.

Ensuring health outcomes for a child with ASD requires an integrated service system and long-term, customer-centric service process because the scope of service covers the child's entire childhood. Customized educational and healthcare service must be allocated and budgeted early in order to reach the goal of a satisfactory service output for each child.

This is the first service research to focus on parents' challenges with obtaining services for their child with ASD. This paper provides service researchers and managers insight into parents' perceptions of educational and healthcare service value (i.e. benefits vs. burdens) received for their child with ASD. These insights into customer-centric perceptions of value may be useful to research and may help service providers to innovate and provide integrated service directly to parents, or indirectly to service providers, who serve children with ASD.

This study examines the osteoconductive and healing capabilities of locally implanted synthetic hydroxyapatite (sHAp) derived from eggshells in the central incisor sockets of rats.

Toxicity experiments were conducted in vitro and in vivo, to testify the safety dosage of sHAp. Around 24 mature male Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats had their upper central incisors extracted. The rats were placed into three groups of eight rats each: Group 1: the sockets of extracted central incisors were left unfilled (control), Group 2: filled up with commercially available hydroxyapatite (HAp) and Group 3: implanted with sHAp locally retrieved from eggshells. After extraction, four rats from each group were sacrificed at 2nd and 4th weeks. Maxillary tissue sections were obtained and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson’s trichome (MT) staining. Anti-osteocalcin (OCN) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) were used primary antibodies for immunohistochemistry (IHC) special labeling.

The results showed that the locally implanted sHAp was non-toxic and safe in cell lines (human osteoblast and fibroblast) and animals. Histological analysis of H&E, MT and IHC showed that the sockets treated with locally implanted sHAp from eggshells were filled with new bone tissue of comparable thickness to other groups.

This unique technique uses locally implanted eggshell-derived sHAp with osteoconductive characteristics. In an in vivo model, sHAps increased OCN and PCNA expression to improve bone repair.

This paper explores the effect of perceived service quality, trust, perceived value and perceived cost on patient satisfaction and loyalty as well as exploring the moderating role of the sociodemographic factors.

The data were gathered from 462 patients via a structured questionnaire, while structural equation modeling was utilized for the analysis.

Results indicated that trust, perceived value and patient satisfaction have important roles in shaping the patient loyalty, while patient satisfaction was found to fully mediate the patient’s perceived service quality. Loyalty relationship was also found to partially mediate the trust–loyalty relationship. Nonetheless, the patient’s satisfaction–loyalty relationship was found to be only moderated by the age factor.

Implications are provided to the Egyptian private hospitals in order for them to formulate improvement plans as well as set higher standards of conduct.

This original research is the first one, up to the researcher knowledge, that explores the drivers of patient satisfaction in the private hospitals in Egypt.

This study aims to measure the perception of the residents regarding peer assisted learning in emergency medicine residency program as well as assessing the psychometric properties of the questionnaire used as the research tool.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at King Abdullah Medical City, Saudi Arabia, Makkah on a Convenience sample of Emergency Medicine residents who completed peer assisted learning sessions. Data were collected through a questionnaire evaluating the residents’ perception of Peer Assisted Learning. Descriptive statistics were used and statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. The Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) satisfaction questionnaire was tested for construct validity and reliability. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted. The reliability of the used questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha.

The study showed that the PAL questionnaire yielded four factors. The four factors are labeled as the following: Factor 1: Cognitive congruence, Factor 2: Social congruence; Factor 3: Teaching skills in Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) session; and Factor 4: Professional development. These results indicated that questionnaire has a good structure validity. In addition, the study showed high internal consistency of the questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient value for the total scale was 0.88. The perception of residents was assessed and results revealed residents’ satisfaction regarding Peer Assisted Learning.

Up to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study which assessed the psychometric properties of a questionnaire measuring the residents’ perceptions regarding Peer Assisted Learning. The study contributed to improving information regarding the psychometric properties and usefulness of PAL questionnaire.

Despite the growing emphasis on revitalizing the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector in Bangladesh, very little discussion has taken place on reforming the current inflexible transition pathways, from TVET to the universities. This paper aims to reflect critically on the existing literature on TVET, in the global and national context, and the experiences of students and TVET experts, to develop a model of collaboration between the polytechnic institutes and the universities in Bangladesh.

This paper follows a qualitative strategy of enquiry, using a mix of critical reflection on literature on TVET and higher education and unstructured interviews with two TVET experts, four TVET students and four students from a public university. It draws on the theories of collaboration and uses exemplary cases to illustrate and support the line of reasoning.

This paper identifies that there is resource dependency between the polytechnic institutes and universities in Bangladesh, and their institutional environment necessitates them to form collaboration to ensure flexible transition pathway, from polytechnic institutes to universities; this paper proposes a model for such collaboration.

This paper offers a guideline for forming collaboration among the relevant stakeholders.

Collaboration between polytechnic institutes and universities in Bangladesh is likely to address the inequitable nature of TVET, by improving its social status and acceptance, as well as allowing higher income opportunity and greater mobility for the TVET graduates, coming especially from humble socio-economic backgrounds.

This paper contributes in the recent discussions on how collaboration among different stakeholders can contribute in achieving the sustainable development goals, with special emphasis on TVET.

A global trend of type 2 diabetes prevalence is rising. Preventing and managing of systemic and dental complications is crucial to decrease negative effects on glycemic control. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the efficacy of Brief Lifestyle Change in conjunction with Dental Care (Brief-LCDC) Programs to decrease glycemic level and improve periodontal status in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Health Center 54 conducted randomized controlled trial among 192 patients (96 intervention and 96 control) from February to August 2018. Group education for lifestyle modification, individual oral hygiene instruction and lifestyle counseling by motivational interviewing was provided to the intervention group at baseline. Motivation of lifestyle modification every month by multimedia was also provided to the intervention group. The usual program was provided to the control group. At baseline and a six-month follow-up, glycemic level and periodontal status were assessed from participants. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistic, t-test, χ² test, Fisher’s exact test, Repeated measure ANOVA and multiple linear regression.

Glycemic level and periodontal status were lower in the intervention group than the control group at the sixth-month followed up with statistical significances. Glycemic level and periodontal status had negatively correlated to intervention group with statistically significant.

Brief-LCDC Program which incorporated lifestyle modification and oral health care had efficacious to decrease glycemic level and improve periodontal status in patients with type 2 diabetes. Early prevention program by Brief-LCDC Program is crucial to prevent dental complications.