Improving the oral health status of functionally independent and dependent seniors residing in long-term care facilities through dental hygiene education /

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the oral health status of residents residing in 2 long-term care facilities and determine if dental hygiene education was required in order to improve their current oral health. The oral health status of 6 independent and 4 dependent individuals residing in 2 long-term care facilities was evaluated. In addition, the current oral health and disease prevention practices employed by 4 caregivers who were responsible for providing oral care to dependent residents in the long-term care facilities were evaluated. Furthermore, an evaluation of the oral care practices of independent residents who were responsible for providing their own care was conducted. Finally, the challenges that caregivers and independent residents faced when performing oral care were determined, and methodological changes were proposed. Using a generic qualitative research methodology, data collection was comprised of semi structured interviews, field observations, and documentation. The oral health status of the residents was reevaluated 3 months later. The findings of this study demonstrated an increase in plaque accumulation, gingival inflammation, and unhealthy gingival tissue colour changes among the residents over the 3-month period. The study revealed that poor oral health among the residents was a result of inadequate oral hygiene care techniques, difficulties accessing oral health care, financial limitations, insufficient care staff, insufficient time for personal care duties, lack of professional development, minimal interprofessional collaboration of health disciplines, and lack of perseverance on the part of the caregivers and residents. Overall, oral health is essential, and maintaining optimal oral health requires increased collaboration and communication between health care providers.

Dietary Intakes and Periodontal Outcomes After Sanative Therapy

Diet has an important role in the maintenance of oral health, but the relationship between diet and clinical outcomes following sanative therapy (ST) has not been investigated. Due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, we hypothesized that periodontal patients with higher intakes of vitamin C, vitamin D, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) would have greater reductions in probing depth (PD) after ST. Patients completed the Block food frequency questionnaire, a supplement use questionnaire and had their serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D measured. There were no significant associations between intakes of vitamin C, vitamin D, EPA, DHA and PD. There were, however, negative associations between intakes of linoleic acid, α- linolenic acid or total vegetable intake and PD, as well as a positive association between the total omega-6/omega-3 ratio and PD (p < 0.05). Therefore, dietary intakes of essential fatty acids and vegetables may be important modulators of periodontal outcomes following ST.

Effects of dietary restraint and oral contraceptives on bone strength and bone turnover in young women

ABSTRACT Introduction The purpose of this study was to assess specific osteoporosis-related health behaviours and physiological outcomes including daily calcium intake, physical activity levels, bone strength, as assessed by quantitative ultrasound, and bone turnover among women between the ages of 18 and 25. Respective differences on relevant study variables, based on dietary restraint and oral contraceptive use were also examined. Methods One hundred women (20.6 ± 0.2 years of age) volunteered to participate in the study. Informed written consent was obtained by all subjects prior to participation. The study and all related procedures were approved by the Brock University Research Ethics Board. Body mass, height, relative body fat, as well as chest, waist and hip circumferences were measured using standard procedures. The 10-item restrained eating subscale of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) was used to assess dietary restraint (van Strien et al., 1986). Daily calcium intake was assessed by the Rapid Assessment Method (RAM) (Hertzler & Frary 1994). Weekly physical activity was documented by the 4-item Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (Godin & Shephard 1985). Bone strength was determined from the speed of sound (SOS) as measured by QUS (Sunlight 7000S). SOS measurements (m/s) were taken of the dominant and non-dominant sides of the distal one third of the radius and the mid-shaft of the tibia. Resting blood samples were collected from all subjects between 9am and 12pm, in order to evaluate the impact of lifestyle factors on biochemical markers of bone turnover. Blood was collected during the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle (approximately days 1-5) for all subjects. Samples were centrifliged and the serum or plasma was aliquoted into separate tubes and stored at -80°C until analysis. The bone formation markers measured were Osteocalcin (OC), bone specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and 25-OH vitamin D. The bone resorption markers measured were the carboxy (CTx) and amino (NTx) terminal telopeptides of type-I collagen crosslinks. All markers were assessed by ELISA. Subjects were divided into high (HDR) and low dietary restrainers (LDR) based on the median DEBQ score, and also into users (BC) and non-users (nBC) of oral contraceptives. A series of multiple one way ANOVA's were then conducted to identify differences between each set of groups for all relevant variables. A two-way ANOVA analysis was used to explore significant interactions between dietary restraint and use of oral contraceptives while a univariate follow-up analysis was also performed when appropriate. Pearson Product Moment Correlations were used to determine relationships among study variables. Results HDR had significantly higher BMI, %BF and circumference measures but lower daily calcium intake than LDR. There were no significant differences in physical activity levels between HDR and LDR. No significant differences were found between BC and nBC in body composition, calcium intake and physical activity. HDR had significantly lower tibial SOS scores than LDR in both the dominant and non-dominant sites. The post-hoc analysis showed that within the non-birth control group, the HDR had significantly lower tibial SOS scores of bone strength when compared to the LDR but Aere were no significant differences found between the two dietary restraint groups for those currently on birth control. HDR had significantly lower levels of OC than LDR and the BC group had lower levels of BAP than the nBC group. Consistently, the follow-up analysis revealed that within those not on birth control, subjects who were classified as HDR had significantly (f*<0.05) lower levels of OC when compared with LDR but no significant differences were observed in bone turnover between the two dietary restraint groups for those currently on birth control. Physical activity was not correlated with SOS scores and bone turnover markers possibly due to the low physical activity variability in this group of women. Conclusion This is the first study to examine the effects of dietary restraint on bone strength and turnover among this population of women. The most important finding of this study was that bone strength and turnover are negatively influenced by dietary restraint independent of relative body fat. In general, the results of the present thesis suggest that dietary restraint, oral contraceptive use, as well as low daily calcium intake and low physical activity levels were widespread behaviours among this population of college-aged women. The young women who were using dietary restraint as a strategy to lose weight, and thus were in the HDR group, despite their higher relative body fat and weight, had lower scores of bone strength and lower levels of markers of bone turnover compared to the low dietary restrainers. Additionally, bone turnover seemed to be negatively affected by oral contraceptives, while bone strength, as assessed by QUS, seemed unaffected by their use in this population of young women. Physical activity (weekly energy expenditure), on the other hand, was not associated with either bone strength or bone tiimover possibly due to the low variability of this variable in this population of young Canadian women.

Astringency and other oral sensations : biological sources of individual variation and association with food and beverage behaviour

Orosensory perception strongly influences liking and consumption of foods and beverages. This thesis examines the influence of biological sources of individual variation on the perception of prototypical orosensory stimuli, food liking, self-reported alcohol liking and consumption, and indices of health. Two orosensory indices were examined: propylthiouracil (PROP) responsiveness, a genetically-mediated index of individual variation associated with enhanced responsiveness to orosensory stimuli often expressed as PROP taster status (PTS); and thermal taster status (TTS), a recently reported index of orosensory responsiveness. Taster status in PTS and/or TTS confers greater responsiveness to most orosensory stimuli. Gender, age, ethnicity, and fungiform papillae (FP) density were not associated with orosensory responsiveness to tastants, an astringent, and a flavour. Unlike PROP responsiveness, FP density was not associated with TTS. Both PROP responsiveness and TTS were associated with increased responsiveness to orosensory stimuli, including temperature and astringency. For PROP, this association did not hold when stimuli were presented at cold or warm temperatures, which are ecologically valid since most foods and beverages are not consumed at ambient temperature. Thermal tasters (TTs), who perceive 'phantom' taste sensations with lingual thermal stimulation, were more responsive to stimuli at both temperatures than thermal non-tasters (TnTs). While PTS, TIS, and gender affected self-reported liking and consumption of some alcoholic beverages, gender associated with the greatest number of beverage types and consumption parameters, with males generally liking and consuming alcoholic beverages more than females. Age and gender were the best predictors of alcoholic beverageAiking and consumption. As expected, .. liking of bitter and fatty foods and cream was inversely related to PROP responsiveness. TTS did not associate with body mass index or waist circumference, and contrary to previous studies, neither did PROP responsiveness. Taken together, TnTs' greater liking of cooked fruits and vegetables and high alcohol, and astringent alcoholic beverages than TTs suggests differences between TTS groups may be driven by perceived temperature and texture. Neither an interaction between PTS and TTS nor a TTS effect on PROP responsiveness was observed, suggesting these two indices of individual variation exert their influences on orosensory perception independently.

A Quantitative Study of Social Capital Components, Self-Reported Health Status and Social Determinants of Health

This quantitative descriptive co-relational study used telephone survey interviews and stratified random sampling to collect data related to Social Capital (SC) and its components (trust and safety, reciprocity, civic engagement and collective action) and selected determinants of health variables in Niagara Region, Canada. Among the four components of social capital, trust and safety levels were highest among all participants (m=5.42, SD=1.0), with community engagement yielding the lowest mean score for the sample (m=1.93, SD=.8). Reciprocity had the strongest association with all other components of SC (r=0.51). Those most likely to report low levels of SC and health were unattached and low-income females. Males were more likely to report higher trust and safety levels and higher levels of self-rated health. In this study, a linear relationship between self-reported health status and SC was not found. Marital and employment status were associated with differences in mean scores of SC and self-reported health.

The relationship between self-efficacy, collective efficacy and sport performance in men’s and women’s ice hockey goaltender teams

Past research has shown a positive relationship between efficacy and performance (Feltz & Lirgg, 1998). Feltz and Lirgg (1998) found a positive relationship between efficacy and sport performance in hockey players, however they excluded goaltenders due to their unique position. The present study replicated Feltz and Lirgg (1998) with only goaltenders. Data was collected from 12 goaltenders from three Ontario hockey leagues. Efficacy was measured through an online questionnaire and official game statistics provided the performance measures. Data was collected for 70 games to total of 112 responses. Results of this study revealed non-significant relationships between both self- and collective efficacy and all performance indicators. Results of the present study are not consistent with Feltz and Lirgg’s (1998), however other published research has found a non-significant relationship between efficacy and sport performance (Sitzmann & Yeo, 2013). Therefore, it is possible that goaltender efficacy is not the most influential psychological construct.