Candida Albicans Involvement in Denture-Related Stomatitis: A Serious and Real Clinical Concern

Colonization of oral surfaces by Candida spp. is considered a risk factor for invasive fungal infections. Oropharyngeal candidiasis manifests clinically as acute pseudomembranous, acute atrophic, chronic atrophic, chronic hypertrophic/hyperplastic and angular cheilitis. Yeast-like microorganisms belonging to the Candida genus are the etiological agents of candidiasis, which are common dwellers of the oral cavity, gastrointestinal tract and vagina of normal people. However, when the conditions become appropriate, the nonpathogenic yeast forms are transformed into pathogenic invasive forms. 

Many predisposing factors have been implicated in the development and severity of denture stomatitis, including: patient age and gender, trauma caused by the denture itself, poor oral and denture hygiene, continuous denture wear, age of denture, availability of sugar in the oral environment through dietary intake, malnourishment, smoking, alcohol consumption, impaired salivary flow and salivary gland function, diabetes mellitus, antibacterial drug therapy, corticosteroids, radiotherapy, malignancy and other immunocompromised conditions, especially acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Read more>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Re-engagement in HIV Care: A Clinical and Public Health Priority

Public health departments in the United States have been at the forefront of HIV education, testing and surveillance. Effectiveness of education programs is unclear as the incidence of HIV has remained relatively constant from 2008 to 2014 at approximately 45,000 (±3,000) cases per year . The effects of testing and surveillance are much clearer. 

For example, during 2011 nearly 1.6 million individuals were tested for HIV by public health departments and over 22,000 were found to be HIV positive. In the United States, all HIV infections are reported to local and state health departments where they provide a picture of local HIV trends. These data are then forwarded to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and form the basis of an accurate picture of the trends in the epidemic for the whole country. Read more>>>>>>>>>>

Risk Factors Associated with Clostridium difficile Infection in A Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Ward

Currently clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is recognized as an increasingly important pathogen in children with increasing incidence among pediatric patients. In this study, we report the first outbreak of CDI in pediatric hematology-oncology ward in Saudi Arabia and describe the associated risk factors for CDI. This is a descriptive, epidemiologic hospital based case-control study of pediatric Patients in hematology-oncology ward who had CDI in an outbreak from January2012 to June 2013 at a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia, matched randomly to a control group who were admitted in the same ward during the study period. 

The main outcome measure was the adjusted odds ratio estimates of potential risk factors for CDI infection. Risk factors associated with CDI were antibiotic use with cotrimoxazole being the most used one, and length of hospital stay. Controls were found to have been treated more with penicillins and aminoglycosides. Factors associated with CDI infection are often complex and maybe confounded by local variables, antibiotic exposure and lengthy hospital stays are among many risk factors for CDI in high -risk populations.  Read more>>>>>>>>>>

Exercise Training versus Drug Interventions on Mortality Outcomes

Population study has shown that people who exercise have a higher quality of life and better health compared to sedentary, with reductions of hospital admissions. Favorable results have been seen in patients with arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and respiratory .Naci et al. combined study level death outcomes from exercise and drug trials using random effects network meta-analysis. The authors included 16 (4 exercise and 12 drugs) meta-analyses. Incorporating an additional three recent exercise trials, our review collectively included 305randomized controlled trials with 339,274 participants.

Across all four conditions with evidence on the effectiveness of exercise on mortality outcomes (secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, treatment of heart failure, prevention of diabetes, rehabilitation of stroke), 14,716 participants were randomized to physical activity interventions in 57 trials. There was no statistically significance between exercise and drug interventions in secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and pre-diabetes. Read more>>>>>>>>>>>

Patterns of Variation in Botanical Supplement Use among Hispanics and Latinos in the United States

In the United States (US), botanical dietary supplements are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration under the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. The Act defines dietary supplements as “a product (other than tobacco) that is intended to supplement the diet that bears or contains one or more of the following dietary ingredients: an herb or other botanical, a vitamin, a mineral, an amino acid, a dietary substance for use by man to supplement the diet by increasing the total daily intake, or a concentrate, metabolite, constituent, extract, or combinations of these ingredients.

Botanical supplements are popular in the US; national surveys estimate that approximately 18% of the US population uses botanical supplements. The literature supports a wide body of prevalence data on botanical supplement use in the general population, but less is known about use patterns in minority populations, including Hispanics/Latinos. Among studies in these populations, prevalence estimates vary widely and the reasons for these large variations are obscure. Read more.................

Crime and Punishment in Ancient Surgery: An Examination of Assyrian and Egyptian Physicians

The history of surgery is a fascinating collection of knowledge from various civilizations dating back up to four thousand years. Some of the oldest writings on surgery and surgeons’ duties date back to the Hammurabi code and Egyptian papyri. The role of the surgeon, particularly, has always had a somewhat peculiar distinction from that of other physicians. In reality, the physician sphere rarely interacted or overlapped with the surgeon sphere of practice, and responsibilities and rewards assigned to the two groups were frequently completely different. We sought to examine and compare the scope of practice, risks, rewards, and punishments of surgeons in Ancient Assyria and Ancient Egyptian times.

Ancient Assyria: The Surgeon’s Role

In 1849, Lord Austin Henry Layard excavated the vast majority of the clay tablets that we now associate with Assyrian times. This movement to preserve Assyrian medical texts occurred approximately four thousand years after their original creation. One can appreciate thousands of tablets and approximately 800 complete medical texts attributable to the Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations from Lord Layard’s work. Read more>>>>>>>>>>

The Perspective of Socioeconomic Inequalities and Infectious Disease in 21st Century

At the turn of the new century, the United Nations set a series of global health goals to be achieved by 2015. Amongst the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), goalsix aimed to combat HIV, malaria and other diseases . Whilst progress has been made towards addressing MDG 6, improvement has been slower than anticipated and both communicable and non-communicable diseases have risen to prominence in the minds of health planners in the last few years. In recent times, attention has been focused on addressing non-communicable diseases, as statistics indicate they are the major threats to health.

However, the notion that infectious diseases could be eradicated, which came to prominence in the 1960s and 70s, has proven to be false and the need to address the growing threat from infectious diseases has become clear. Since the turn of the century it has become apparent that we are losing the fight against infectious diseases, and many of the diseases we thought under control are now a threat once again. Additionally, several new forms of infectious disease have been recorded, many of which threaten human health as we have little or no resistance towards them. Read more<<<<<<<<<