ABSTRACT Introduction There has been no valid and reliable instrument available to measure the impact of oral health on the quality of life of Slovenian preschool children. The main aim of this study ...was to develop and evaluate the validity and reliability of the first Slovenian instrument assessing Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) preschool children: the ECOHIS-SVN. Methods The ECOHIS-SVN was developed using forward-backward translations and with the participation of children aged under six and their parents. The children’s teeth were examined, and parents were asked to complete questionnaires, including the ECOHIS-SVN. The internal consistency of ECOHIS-SVN was evaluated through the calculation of Cronbach’s alpha (α), test-retest reliability with an intra-class-correlation coefficient (ICC), convergent validity with Spearman’s rank correlation (r) and criterion validity with the Mann-Whitney test. The association between the ECOHIS-SVN score and parents’ age, educational level, self-reported oral health and OHIP-SVN14 was estimated using multiple linear regression. Results In the study, 255 children participated, with a mean age of 4.8 years (±0.8). The ECOHIS-SVN questionnaire was completed by the parents of all 255 children and re-filled by 71 parents. The results of the total ECOHIS-SVN scale include α=0.85, ICC=0.85, and r=0.6-0.75. A statistically significant association was found between the ECOHIS-SVN and parents’ age and between the ECOHIS-SVN and parents’ OHIP-SVN14 in the whole group and in the subgroup of children with no teeth affected by cavitated caries (dmft=0) (p=0.025, p=0.028), respectively. Conclusion ECOHIS-SVN enables further studies to assess the OHRQoL of preschool children in the Slovenian-speaking population.
This study aimed to characterize self-reported headaches because of problems with the teeth, mouth, jaws, or dentures (HATMJD) in chronic patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) in order to ...compare their results with those of TMD patients without such headaches and to investigate the associations of HATMJD with depression, anxiety, physical symptoms, oral behaviors, and sleep quality. We conducted a case-control study on consecutive chronic TMD patients referred to the University Medical Center of Ljubljana, Slovenia. A self-reported HATMJD was extracted from item #12 in the 49-item version of the Oral Health Impact Profile questionnaire. Axis II instruments of the Diagnostic Criteria for TMD (i.e., for screening of depression, anxiety, specific comorbid functional disorders, and oral behaviors) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index were used in this study. In total, 177 TMD patients (77.4% women; mean age: 36.3 years) participated in this study; 109 (61.6%) patients were classified as TMD patients with HATMJD. TMD patients with at least mild depressive and anxiety symptoms, with at least low somatic symptom severity, and a high number of parafunctional behaviors had more HATMJD. Parafunctional behavior and sleep quality were the most prominent predictive factors of the occurrence of HATMJD. TMD patients with HATMJD have more psychosocial dysfunction, a higher frequency of oral behaviors, and poorer sleep quality than TMD patients without such headaches.
•Optimization and analysis of the alkali activated mixtures were performed.•Laboratory and scale-up (pilot) productions of façade panels were conducted.•The durability behaviour of façade panels from ...both types of production was investigated.
Novel prefabricated insulating façade panels were developed from construction and demolition waste (CDW) aggregates under the framework of the European H2020 project InnoWEE. These non-structural components, aimed at improving the thermal efficiency of existing buildings, consist of an insulating plate covered by a facing layer made of CDW aggregates bound with metakaolin, furnace slag and class F fly ash activated by a potassium silicate solution. The paper presents the design and assessment of the binder and panels for exterior use, taking into account mechanical performance, behaviour in the presence of water and durability issues. Testing was carried out on both laboratory prototypes and panels from the pilot industrial production.
Introduction: The most important biochemical reactions of the human organism take place in the liver, and
therefore it represents one of the most important organs for life. Parameters that play an ...important role in
the diagnosis and monitoring of patients are the enzymes ALT, AST, GGT, ALP, and bilirubin.
Objective: To evaluate the serum activity of enzymes and bilirubin in patients with liver cirrhosis and liver
cancer. Materials and methods: The study included 120 patients aged over 50 years. Among them, 40
patients had liver cirrhosis, 40 had cancer and liver metastases, and 40 patients were apparently healthy
(control group). The concentrations of AST, ALT, GGT, and ALP were determined on Abbott Architect
i2000sr biochemical analyzer and Dimension analyzer.
Results: The study showed that the mean values of the studied parameters were significantly higher in
subjects with liver cirrhosis and cancer with liver metastases than in the control group. A statistically
significant difference (p <0.05) was found in ALP and bilirubin concentrations between the studied groups.
In addition, the study revealed a statistically significant difference (p <0.05) in ALT, AST, and GGT activity
between subjects with cancer and the control group and subjects with cirrhosis and the control group.
Conclusions: The results confirm that the activities of enzymes ALT, AST, GGT, ALP, and bilirubin were
increased in subjects with cirrhosis and cancer compared to the control group.
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