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  • Hviid Massey posted an update 3 days, 7 hours ago

    The aims of this study were to evaluate the effects of a live-video teaching tool on the performance of dental students in bending an orthodontic vestibular arch and to assess the students’ perceptions of the technology. All 135 fourth-year dental students in the 2018 academic year at Hacettepe Dental School, Ankara, Turkey, were invited to participate in the study; after exclusions, the remaining 116 were randomly divided into two demonstration cohorts. These students had no prior experience bending an orthodontic wire. Cohort 1 (control, N=58) was shown a conventional live demonstration of the orthodontic bending of a vestibular arch, and Cohort 2 (experimental, N=58) was shown a live-video demonstration of the same procedure. Both cohorts saw the demonstration before beginning the exercise and were evaluated afterwards on their performance of the procedure. In addition, the students’ perceptions of the demonstration techniques were collected with a questionnaire. The results did not show any significant differences in the students’ bending scores between the control and experimental cohorts (p=0.767). The median values on the questionnaire indicated almost no statistically significant difference in responses between the cohorts. The only significant difference was that Cohort 1 had a higher percentage who answered “yes” they would like to rewatch the demonstration than did Cohort 2 (p=0.024). In this study, the live-video technique was found to be as effective as a conventional live demonstration for orthodontic practical education, suggesting that either technique could be used as an appropriate method for training in orthodontic wire bending. © 2019 American Dental Education Association.The use of surveys is popular in dental education research. However, designing and conducting a survey can have many pitfalls. This article aims to prepare a new researcher or one with little experience to undertake survey research. It covers points such as survey design (including question construction), pilot testing for validity and reliability, sampling strategy, methods to increase response rates, logistical considerations, and items to include when writing the manuscript. Careful consideration of a survey from beginning to end can help one design and conduct a successful study that meets its research aims and adds valuable evidence to the literature. © 2019 American Dental Education Association.Drought is a major cause of losses in crop yield. Under field conditions, plants exposed to drought are usually also experiencing rapid changes in light intensity. Accordingly, plants need to acclimate to both, drought and light stress. Two crucial mechanisms in plant acclimation to changes in light conditions comprise thylakoid protein phosphorylation and dissipation of light energy as heat by non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). Here, we analyzed the acclimation efficacy of two different wheat varieties, by applying fluctuating light for analysis of plants, which had been subjected to a slowly developing drought stress as it usually occurs in the field. This novel approach allowed us to distinguish four drought phases, which are critical for grain yield, and to discover acclimatory responses which are independent of photodamage. click here In short-term, under fluctuating light, the slowdown of NPQ relaxation adjusts the photosynthetic activity to the reduced metabolic capacity. In long-term, the photosynthetic machinery acquires a drought-specific configuration by changing the PSII-LHCII phosphorylation pattern together with protein stoichiometry. Therefore, the fine-tuning of NPQ relaxation and PSII-LHCII phosphorylation pattern represent promising traits for future crop breeding strategies. © 2020 The Authors. Plant, Cell & Environment published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.OBJECTIVES To evaluate the impact of early inpatient bedside injection laryngoplasty (IL) in hospitalized patients with iatrogenic unilateral vocal fold immobility (UVFI). STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. METHODS A retrospective review of hospitalized patients with iatrogenic UVFI undergoing IL between September 2013 and June 2017 was performed. Patients had a swallow evaluation by a speech-language pathologist and bedside IL. Evaluated outcomes included swallow scores, return to diet, secondary events/procedures, and hospital length of stay. Outcomes related to etiology of UVFI were also examined. RESULTS The cohort consisted of 90 patients (61% male, 52% after cardiac/cardiothoracic surgery). Seventy-seven percent of all patients who could improve had increased swallow scores after IL. The lowest number (40%) from the subgroup of patients with high vagal injuries as the cause of UVFI obtained improvement in swallow scores, whereas 87% of those in the cardiac surgery group improved. There were more bronchoscopies and reintubations in patients before IL than after IL. CONCLUSION Hospitalized patients with UVFI are at increased risk of morbidity and mortality due to dysphagia. We advocate for early swallow evaluation and intervention with IL if there is dysphagia and risk of aspiration. Coordination of care between interdisciplinary teams is paramount to a successful inpatient IL program. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2b Laryngoscope, 2020. © 2020 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.Plant oils are valuable commodities for food, feed, renewable industrial feedstocks and biofuels. To increase vegetable oil production, here we show that the nonspecific phospholipase C6 (NPC6) promotes seed oil production in the Brassicaceae seed oil species Arabidopsis, Camelina and oilseed rape. Overexpression of NPC6 increased seed oil content, seed weight and oil yield both in Arabidopsis and Camelina, whereas knockout of NPC6 decreased seed oil content and seed size. NPC6 is associated with the chloroplasts and microsomal membranes, and hydrolyzes phosphatidylcholine and galactolipids to produce diacylglycerol. Knockout and overexpression of NPC6 decreased and increased, respectively, the flux of fatty acids from phospholipids and galactolipids into triacylglycerol production. Candidate-gene association study in oilseed rape indicates that only BnNPC6.C01 of the four homeologues NPC6s is associated with seed oil content and yield. Haplotypic analysis indicates that the BnNPC6.C01 favorable haplotype can increase both seed oil content and seed yield.

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