A preventative approach to oral health for children in a regional/rural community in south-west Victoria Australia

Abstract Dental caries is a major health problem in most industrialised countries. Childhood dental disease can cause acute pain, difficulty eating resulting in reduced self-esteem and sleep deprivation. The treatment of oral disease using traditional methods is costly and in industrialized countries currently rates the fourth most expensive disease to treat. Dental professionals are currently facing an unfathomable task of how to manage the large burden of consequences associated with caries progression across the world. The Barwon South-West Region of Victoria, Australia is a diverse regional/rural area. Some communities are quite remote. Barwon Health and Colac Area Health Oral Health Services developed an outreach program to improve access to dental services for children. A Minimal Intervention Dentistry approach was incorporated and includes early diagnosis, risk assessment, early detection of mineral loss, non-surgical treatment and preservation of the tooth structure. Kindergartens throughout the region and children in the first year of Primary School are visited by Oral Health Therapists. Teeth are scored according to the International Caries Detection Assessment System and any early 'white spot' lesions identified have fluoride varnish applied. Children receive up to three dental check-ups during the year and given a toothbrush and toothpaste at each visit. Parent engagement sessions are conducted during Visit 2. Examinations and fluoride application take only 3 - 6 minutes for each child, compared with the usual 30 minute appointments in dental clinics. Two virtual chairs have been created as two dental teams visit Kindergartens throughout the Barwon Region, significantly easing pressure at Community dental clinics. The Kinder Wide Smiles program successfully intervened in the oral health of 5,305 children in the region. Most importantly, one of the barriers for children not presenting to static dental clinics for screening has been eliminated.

Board leadership, outside directors’ expertise and voluntary corporate disclosures

This study examines the linkages between board leadership structure in terms of CEO duality (CEOs who jointly serve as board chairs), the proportion of expert outside directors on the board (PENEDs) and voluntary corporate disclosures. Regression analyses of observations from 385 Hong Kong companies show that CEO duality is associated with lower levels of voluntary corporate disclosures. However, the negative CEO duality/voluntary disclosure association is weaker for firms with higher PENEDs suggesting that the expertise of non-executive directors (NEDs) moderates the CEO duality/corporate disclosures relationship.

Prevalencia del desorden músculo-esquelético asociado a la actividad docente en instituciones distritales de la localidad de Usme, Bogotá, D.C.

ANTECEDENTES: Los desórdenes musculo esqueléticos DME son una de las alteraciones más frecuentes y una de las principales causas de ausentismo laboral en el continente americano, y Unión Europea, generando graves repercusiones económicas a nivel empresarial, de la salud pública, y del empleado. Esto es debido a una sobrecarga laboral causada por los trabajos repetitivos, posturas mantenidas, y requerimientos de fuerza muscular, por lo que se hace importante identificarlos a través de distintos métodos ergonómicos con el objeto de generar programas de prevención que permitan la mitigación de los mismos. OBJETIVO: Determinar los síntomas músculo-esqueléticos y su relación con las condiciones de trabajo de los docentes de instituciones educativas distritales de la localidad de Usme, Bogotá, D. C. MATERIALES Y METODOS: Estudio de corte transversal, efectuado en 192 docentes que se evaluaran con el cuestionario Nórdico estandarizado de síntomas musculo esqueléticos y preguntas sociodemográficas de la encuesta de condiciones de trabajo y salud (ECTS) para caracterizar la población estudio. Para el análisis estadístico se realizó distribución de frecuencias y medidas de tendencia central y dispersión. La evaluación de las posibles asociaciones se realizó mediante la prueba de chi-cuadrado de Pearson, con intervalos de confianza del 95%, la prevalencia fue ajustada por género con los intervalos de confianza. RESULTADOS: El 57,8% de los participantes era de sexo femenino, el 41,7% tenían edades entre los 30 y 39 años de edad, el 82,8% de los encuestados manejaban grupos de estudiantes que oscilan entre los 20 a 60 estudiantes, del total de los encuestados el 42,7% (IC95%: 35.9-49.5) presentan un DME ya diagnosticado por un médico o servicio de salud. El 77,1% respondieron afirmativamente a la presencia de esta variable con un IC95%: de 70,3-82,8. En cuanto a la localización del dolor, se observó que la región del cuello con el 51.6% (IC 44.3-58.9) y región lumbar con el 49% (IC95%: 42.2-56.3) fueron las dos regiones anatómicas valoradas con mayor presencia de dolor. Se encontró asociación entre la edad y el dolor (chi-cuadrado: 6,858), el sexo y dolor (chi-cuadrado: 0.250) y el número de estudiantes con el dolor (chi-cuadrado: 2,179) CONCLUSIONES: los resultados obtenidos en el presente estudio confirman la relación existente entre la presencia de desórdenes músculo-esqueléticos (DME) y la actividad docente, pero se hace pertinente la realización de más estudios que permitan valorar los DME con el riesgo psicosocial, jornada laboral y tipo de asignatura que imparten los docentes en sus cátedras para este tipo de población.

10th European Conference on Information Systems Management

The 10th European Conference on Information Systems Management is being held at The University of Evora, Portugal on the 8 /9 September 2016. The Conference Chair is Paulo Silva and the Programme Chairs are Prof. Rui Quaresma and Prof. António Guerreiro. ECISM provides an opportunity for individuals researching and working in the broad field of information systems management, including IT evaluation to come together to exchange ideas and discuss current research in the field. This has developed into a particularly important forum for the present era, where the modern challenges of managing information and evaluating the effectiveness of related technologies are constantly evolving in the world of Big Data and Cloud Computing. We hope that this year’s conference will provide you with plenty of opportunities to share your expertise with colleagues from around the world. The keynote speakers for the Conference are Carlos Zorrinho from the Portuguese Delegation and Isabel Ramos from University of Minho, Portugal. ECISM 2016 received an initial submission of 84 abstracts. After the double blind peer review process 25 aca demic papers, 7 PhD research papers, 3 Masters research paper and 5 work in progress papers have been ac cepted for publication in these Conference Proceedings. These papers represent research from around the world, including Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, The Netherlands, UK and Vietnam.