Statistical testing against baseline was common in dental research

OBJECTIVES To assess the presence of within-group comparisons with baseline in a subset of leading dental journals and to explore possible associations with a range of study characteristics including journal and study design. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING Thirty consecutive issues of five leading dental journals were electronically searched. The conduct and reporting of statistical analysis in respect of comparisons against baseline or otherwise along with the manner of interpretation of the results were assessed. Descriptive statistics were obtained, and chi-square test and Fisher's exact were undertaken to test the association between trial characteristics and overall study interpretation. RESULTS A total of 184 studies were included with the highest proportion published in Journal of Endodontics (n = 84, 46%) and most involving a single center (n = 157, 85%). Overall, 43 studies (23%) presented interpretation of their outcomes based solely on comparisons against baseline. Inappropriate use of baseline testing was found to be less likely in interventional studies (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION Use of comparisons with baseline appears to be common among both observational and interventional research studies in dentistry. Enhanced conduct and reporting of statistical tests are required to ensure that inferences from research studies are appropriate and informative.

Controle judicial de políticas públicas no Brasil : limites da intervenção do poder judiciário na execução de políticas públicas para efetivação dos direitos fundamentais sociais à prestação

O Controle judicial das políticas públicas necessárias para a efetivação dos direitos constitucionais sociais à prestação é tema muito polêmico na atividade jurisdicional brasileira. Há os que defendem a intervenção irrestrita na tarefa de impor à administração pública a qualquer custo a efetivação das políticas públicas de sua competência. Contudo o nosso trabalho defende que a intervenção do Poder Judiciário no controle de políticas públicas é possível, segundo comando constitucional contido no artigo 3º da Carta Magna, mas com limitações para evitar a violação do princípio da separação dos poderes. Para demonstrar a nossa concepção sobre o tema partimos da definição e da natureza dos direitos fundamentais sociais e sua concepção na ordem constitucional brasileira. Analisamos as principais funções dos direitos fundamentais, concentrando a nossa atenção na função prestacional, ou direito a prestação em sentido estrito. Nesse particular passamos a discutir as questões que envolvem a efetivação dos direitos fundamentais sociais, a partir de sua eficácia jurídica e social até aos aspectos referentes a sua concretização. Salientamos que a efetivação dos direitos fundamentais sociais “derivados” passa por uma atividade legislativa de conformação antes de sua efetivação e que os “originais” poderiam ser concretizados imediatamente, sem se descurar da necessidade de outra atividade legislativa de destinação dos recurso públicos através da lei orçamentária, na foi ressaltado que deveria ser tomado como um dos critérios para essa destinação o princípio do “mínimo existencial”. Analisamos a tese recorrente de defesa da administração para justificar a não efetivação dos direitos sociais à prestação, a denominada “tese da reserva do possível”, salientamos que embora relevante, não era absoluto esse argumento. Contudo a atuação jurisdicional no controle das políticas públicas, não pode fugir da atenção aos princípios da razoabilidade e da proporcionalidade.

The Political and Judicial Life of Metadata: Digital Rights Ireland and the Trail of the Data Retention Directive. CEPS Paper in Liberty and Security No. 65, May 2014

This paper examines the challenges facing the EU regarding data retention, particularly in the aftermath of the judgment Digital Rights Ireland by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of April 2014, which found the Data Retention Directive 2002/58 to be invalid. It first offers a brief historical account of the Data Retention Directive and then moves to a detailed assessment of what the judgment means for determining the lawfulness of data retention from the perspective of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: what is wrong with the Data Retention Directive and how would it need to be changed to comply with the right to respect for privacy? The paper also looks at the responses to the judgment from the European institutions and elsewhere, and presents a set of policy suggestions to the European institutions on the way forward. It is argued here that one of the main issues underlying the Digital Rights Ireland judgment has been the role of fundamental rights in the EU legal order, and in particular the extent to which the retention of metadata for law enforcement purposes is consistent with EU citizens’ right to respect for privacy and to data protection. The paper offers three main recommendations to EU policy-makers: first, to give priority to a full and independent evaluation of the value of the data retention directive; second, to assess the judgment’s implications for other large EU information systems and proposals that provide for the mass collection of metadata from innocent persons, in the EU; and third, to adopt without delay the proposal for Directive COM(2012)10 dealing with data protection in the fields of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

The Journal of the Michigan State Dental Association

Includes directory issues

Sociodemographic backgrounds and career decisions of Australian and New Zealand dental students

This article describes the sociodemographic and career selection characteristics of dental students in Australia and New Zealand. A total of 672 dental students participated in the study. The survey covered age, language proficiency, type of school attended, place of residence, parental occupation, and level of education. The respondents had an average age of twenty-two years, with a range of eighteen to fifty. Fifty-six percent of respondents were female, and approximately half had completed secondary education in private schools with 44.3 percent having finished in public schools. The majority of students lived with their parents, with only a few respondents reporting a rural home address (6.8 percent). The majority of students (65.3 percent) had placed dentistry as their first career choice and had most likely made the decision after leaving high school or near the end of high school (81.4 percent), with self-motivation being the major influence on their decision. This study provides a description of the sociodemographic profile of Australian and New Zealand dental students and provides a better understanding of career decision issues. It also highlights areas for further investigation and management by educational institutions and public policy.

Maintaining human agency in the design on context-aware systems: Design games in a dental surgery

This paper describes a series of design games, specifically aimed at exploring shifts in human agency in order to inform the design of context-aware applications. The games focused on understanding information handling issues in dental practice with participants from a university dental school playing an active role in the activities. Participatory design activities help participants to reveal potential implicit technical resources that can be presented explicitly in technologies in order to assist humans in managing their interactions with and amidst technical systems gracefully.

Improving civil jury decision-making: Evidentiary and procedural issues

The civil jury has been under attack in recent years for being unreliable and incompetent. Considering the myriad causes for poor civil juror decision-making, the current investigation explores both procedural and evidentiary issues that impact juror's decisions. Specifically, the first phase of this dissertation examines how jurors (mis)use evidence pertaining to the litigants when determining liability and awarding damages. After investigating how jurors utilize evidence, the focus shifts to exploring the utility of procedural reforms designed to improve decision-making (specifically revising the instructions on the laws in the case and bifurcating the damage phases of the trial). Using the results from the first two phases of the research, the final study involves manipulating pieces of evidence related to the litigants while exploring the effects that revising the judicial instructions have on the utilization of evidence in particular and on decision-making in general. ^ This dissertation was run on-line, allowing participants to access the study materials at their convenience. After giving consent, participants read the scenario of a fictitious product liability case with the litigant manipulations incorporated into the summary. Participants answered several attitudinal, case-specific, and comprehension questions, and were instructed to find in favor of one side and award any damages they felt warranted. Exploratory factor analyses, Probit and linear regressions, and path analyses were used to analyze the data (M-plus and SPSS were the software packages used to conduct the analyses). Results indicated that misuse of evidence was fairly frequent, though the mock jurors also utilized evidence appropriately. Although the results did not support bifurcation as a viable procedural reform, revising the judicial instructions did significantly increase comprehension rates. Trends in the data suggested that better decision-making occurred when the revised instructions were used, thus providing empirical support for this procedural reform as a means of improving civil jury decision-making. Implications for actual trials and attorneys are discussed. ^

Irish dental practitioners perceived barriers to the care of patients with special healthcare needs and the effect of postgraduate training

Inequalities in oral healthcare service provision to people with special health needs have been reported in the Republic of Ireland. These include higher unmet dental treatment needs and longer waiting period to access routine dental treatment than the general population. Aim: The aims of this study were to determine the groups of patients with special needs which pose a challenge to manage in the dental surgery and to examine perceived barriers to the care of these patients. We aimed to determine whether postgraduate training in the management of these patients increases the practitioners’ frequency of treatment and their desire for further training in this area. Methods: A questionnaire was used to survey 326 randomly selected dentists from the Dental Council’s register of dentists. Questionnaire and information sheets explaining the purpose of the survey, confidentiality and anonymity of the responses were posted to the dentists. Results: The results showed that children with intellectual disability posed the biggest challenge for dentists to manage in the dental surgery. Behaviour management issues and the degree of disability were perceived by many dentists as factors that would have high effects on their willingness to treat patients with special needs. Dentists who have postgraduate training in the management of patients with special needs were significantly more willing to treat these patients and to seek additional training in the future. Conclusion: There are links between the training and the willingness of practitioners to undertake dental treatment or patients with special healthcare needs.