1,721,044 research outputs found
Non-Motherhood between Obligation and Choice: Statistical Analysis Based on Permutation Tests of Spontaneous and Induced Abortion Rates in the Italian Context
No full text(1) Background: This paper aims to examine two relevant phenomena in the context of public health: spontaneous abortion (SA) and induced abortion (IA). SA is one of the most common complications of pregnancies; IA is a conscious choice that is made by the mother/couple. (2) Methods: Permutation tests were applied to SA and IA standardized rates detected by ISTAT (2016–2020). The NPC test, chosen for its optimal properties, was applied to compare different Italian territorial divisions (stratifying for year and age classes of women) and analyze the trend of years by stochastic ordering. (3) Results: Only for SA, there are significant differences among the three territorial divisions: the South records higher SA standardized rates than the North and the Center; the rates of IA are similar. Relating to distinct women age classes, the SA standardized rates do not show significant differences among the three analyzed geographical areas; different results are highlighted for IA. Stochastic ordering shows that only the IA standardized rates are characterized by a significant monotonous decreasing trend over the years. (4) Conclusion: The SA phenomenon has shown a decreasing trend that could be justified by the progress of science. For IA, we can certainly say that the general decrease in the phenomenon is due to the greater use of contraceptive methods that help to prevent unwanted pregnancies
A Cumulative Proportional Odds Model to Analyze the Influence of Mass Media on Teenagers in Messina
No full textThe media are constantly evolving at a breakneck pace and mainly young people, with their flexibility of mind and their continuous curiosity, can better understand the characteristics and potential of such advances. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relationship between teenagers and media, in order to try to better understand the habits and to conduct analysis on social interactions with young people. In order to evaluate the influence of mass media in the life of the young people, the Statisticians of Messina University decided to perform a statistical survey to evaluate the influence of the media in the life of Messina’s teenagers. A questionnaire entitled "Perceptions of the influence exerted by mass media" was administered in some schools. From the methodological point of view, three statistical models were estimated in order to formalize the dependence of the mass media influence by the kind of TV programs, the time spent on TV viewing and computer use and the kind of most used social networks. Since the mass media influence is an ordinal variable expressed by four ordered categories (1 = nothing; 2 = low; 3 = average; 4 = high) we used the Cumulative Proportional Odds Model to formalize the dependence by the potential predictors
Gender affects early psychomotor milestones and long-term neurodevelopment of preterm infants
No full textTemporal differences of neurodevelopmental milestones' achievement are commonly taken into account in preterm infant assessment during the first year of life, especially when minor or none neurological signs arise from clinical examination. The influence of gender on neurodevelopment in preterm infants was examined by a milestones-based neurological approach. Two-hundred twenty-seven moderate and late preterm and full-term infants (51.9% male), without evidence of severe white matter insults, were early assessed by classic neurological examination. Griffiths Mental Developmental Scale was used at long-term observation. Children were sorted into three gestational age groups (Group 1: 32–33 weeks, Group 2: 34–36 weeks, and Group 3: ≥37 weeks) and compared according to their neurodevelopmental pathways and gender. The achievement of head control was slightly earlier in females. The pointing, one of the main communicative hand gesture, appeared significantly earlier in females across all the groups. At the Griffiths Scale, the majority of gender-related differences emerged in personal–social and eye and hand coordination subscale. An independent role of male gender was evidenced in personal–social, language, and eye and hand coordination subscales. Gender and gestational age likely addressed different temporal profiles of neurodevelopment in early and late assessments in preterm and full-term infants. The role of gender and gestational age on these findings has been discussed. Highlights: A classic, milestones-based neurological evaluation disclosed different developmental profiles in males versus females preterm infants. Moderate preterm and full-term infants showed similar developmental profiles. Gender and gestational age may influence neurodevelopmen
Occlusal and MRI characterizations in systemic sclerosis patients: A prospective study from Southern Italian cohort
No full textObjectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of temporomandibular joint (TMJ)symptoms, clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in a cohort of Southern Italian patientswith SSc.Methods: Twenty-seven patients with SSc (12 diffuse, 15 limited, mean age 53.9, SD ± 1.2) and 28 healthysubjects (mean age 54.8, SD ± 4.2) were enrolled in this observational cohort study. In all patients, clinicalexamination for assessing the presence of TMJ sounds, pain in the TMJ area, tenderness of masticatorymuscles, limited mouth opening, pain assessment, MRI scan and Anamnestic and Dysfunctional Indexwere performed.Results: The test groups reported more clinical and MRI findings of TMJ symptoms and dysfunction thancontrol group. The frequency distributions of symptoms were significantly different (P < 0.05), in thetest groups for TMJ sounds, pain during mandibular movement and difficulty in the maximum mouthopening. There was also a significant decrease (P < 0.001), in the test groups, in the mean of leftward,rightward laterotrusion and protrusion. Correlation analysis allowed to affirm that maximum openingleftward laterotrusion, protrusion and click were significantly correlated to Modified Rodnan Skin Score.The mean duration of disease was significantly correlated, ever in total SSc group, only for the maximummouth opening value.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that TMJ involvement is common in SSc patients and is correlatedwith a length and involvement of disease and supports the notion that TMJ examination should be encour-aged in the rheumatology setting and clinicians should provide a right pain management and patientsupport.Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of temporomandibular joint (TMJ)symptoms, clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in a cohort of Southern Italian patientswith SSc.Methods: Twenty-seven patients with SSc (12 diffuse, 15 limited, mean age 53.9, SD ± 1.2) and 28 healthysubjects (mean age 54.8, SD ± 4.2) were enrolled in this observational cohort study. In all patients, clinicalexamination for assessing the presence of TMJ sounds, pain in the TMJ area, tenderness of masticatorymuscles, limited mouth opening, pain assessment, MRI scan and Anamnestic and Dysfunctional Indexwere performed.Results: The test groups reported more clinical and MRI findings of TMJ symptoms and dysfunction thancontrol group. The frequency distributions of symptoms were significantly different (P < 0.05), in thetest groups for TMJ sounds, pain during mandibular movement and difficulty in the maximum mouthopening. There was also a significant decrease (P < 0.001), in the test groups, in the mean of leftward,rightward laterotrusion and protrusion. Correlation analysis allowed to affirm that maximum openingleftward laterotrusion, protrusion and click were significantly correlated to Modified Rodnan Skin Score.The mean duration of disease was significantly correlated, ever in total SSc group, only for the maximummouth opening value.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that TMJ involvement is common in SSc patients and is correlatedwith a length and involvement of disease and supports the notion that TMJ examination should be encour-aged in the rheumatology setting and clinicians should provide a right pain management and patientsupport
Neighborhood-level heterogeneity in childhood morbidity through generalized linear mixed models
No full textObjective Childhood morbidities are crucial for improving long-term public health outcomes. This study aimed to examine the existence of child-specific and regional variation in childhood morbidity based on the cross-cutting study of the Performance Monitoring for Action Ethiopia community survey (PMA-ET), and its relationship to socioeconomic and demographic variables in families.MethodsWe enrolled 2,581 children suffering from different illnesses from six regions of the country of the survey at 6 weeks postpartum. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) with maximum likelihood estimation were used to assess children's comorbidity status, and the DHARMa package in R to provide readily interpretable scaled residuals and test functions for typical model misspecification problems for the fitted GLMMs.ResultsGLMMs with two random intercept models show the presence of child morbidity variations. Cough, fever, and diarrhea were found to be the most frequent types of children's illnesses among the main illness categories that were recorded. Cooking fuel, wealth quartiles, mothers' marital status, mother age, parity, residence, mother's education status, and availability of electricity were significantly associated with children's morbidity.ConclusionsThese data show that variations in children's comorbidity were associated with both regional and child-specific characteristics. Thus, general principles for designing policies and interventions are required to reduce child comorbidity
Effect of quadrantwise versus full-mouth subgingival instrumentation on clinical and microbiological parameters in periodontitis patients: A randomized clinical trial
No full textAim: This study evaluated the efficacy of quadrantwise subgingival instrumentation (Q-SI) versus one-stage full-mouth subgingival instrumentation (FM-SI) on probing depth and periodontal pathogen reduction over a 6-month follow-up period, as well as whether baseline periodontal pathogens influenced the impact of periodontal treatment protocols on outcomes. Methods: Patients with periodontitis were randomized to receive Q-SI (n = 43) or FM-SI (n = 45). Patients were instructed and motivated to maintain optimal oral hygiene during the treatment sessions. Clinical (probing pocket depth [PPD], clinical attachment loss [CAL], and bleeding on probing [BOP]) and periodontal pathogens were assessed at baseline and after 30, 90, and 180 days. Total bacterial load and periodontal pathogens were analysed via real-time PCR. Results: At the 6-month follow-up, the median PPD decreased from 4.8 mm (interquartile range [IQR]: 4.3-5.2) to 2.6 mm (IQR: 2.3-2.9) in FM-SI patients and from 4.7 mm (IQR: 4.1-5.2) to 3.2 mm (IQR: 2.4-3.5) in Q-SI patients (p < .001). At 6 months, FM-SI was more effective at reducing the median proportions of Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), Aggregatibacter actinocomyctemcomitans, and Tannerella forsythia (Tf) (p < .001 for each value). Multilevel linear regression analysis demonstrated that high baseline PPD (p = .029), Pg (p = .014), and Tf (p < .001) levels and the FM-SI protocol (p < .001) were statistically significant predictors of PPD reduction at 6 months. Furthermore, PPD reduction was significantly greater in the FM-SI group when lower baseline Pg levels were detected. Conclusion: The FM-SI was more effective than the Q-SI in reducing the mean PPD and number of periodontal pathogens in periodontitis patients over a 6-month follow-up period. Higher baseline PPD and Pg levels had a negative impact on PPD reduction at 6 months after FM-SI
Étude de la temporomandibulaire chez les patients atteints de sclérodermie : étude d'une cohorte du sud de l'Italie
No full textPeriodontal biotype: characteristic, prevalence and dimensions related to dental malocclusion. [Il biotipo parodontale: Caratteristiche, prevalenze e dimensioni correlati alla malocclusione dentale]
No full textBACKGROUND: Knowledge of periodontal anatomy is essential when performing surgical and non-surgical procedures in the field of oral healthcare. Gingival biotype is often assessed for this purpose. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of the gingival biotypes in a group of patients and to evaluate if the gingival biotypes were related with the different types of Angle's classification of malocclusion.
METHODS: The study was performed on 76 volunteer patients (38 males, 38 females, mean age 14.7 years old). Gingival biotypes were assessed with the evaluation on the translucence of a periodontal probe through the gingival margin of the tooth during the probing, at the mid facial aspect of both maxillary central, lateral incisors and canine; on each patient, Angle's classification of malocclusion was also recorded.
RESULTS: The prevalence in the whole sample of thin gingival biotype was 43.4% and thick gingival biotype was 56.6%. The frequency of female with thin gingival biotype was significantly less respect to male patients (42.4% and 55.6%, respectively) while the thick gingival biotype was higher in the female respect to male patients (55.8% and 44.2%, respectively) (χ2=1.339, P=0.247). There was not a significant association between type of malocclusion and gingival biotype (P=0.143). There was however a prevalence of thick gingival biotype in patient with class II malocclusion and a slight prevalence of thin gingival biotype in patient with class I malocclusion.
CONCLUSIONS: No relationship was found between gingival biotypes and Angle's classification of malocclusion. In this sample, a higher prevalence of thick gingival biotype especially among female subjects was observed
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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