Immune system 'circuitry' that kills malaria in mosquitoes identifiedPublic release date: 7-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tim Parsons tmparson@jhsph.edu 410-955-7619 Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have, for the first time, determined the function of a series proteins within the mosquito that transduce a signal that enables the mosquito to fight off infection from the parasite that causes malaria in humans. Together, these proteins are known as immune deficiency (Imd) pathway signal transducing factors, are analogous to an electrical circuit. As each factor is switched on or off it triggers or inhibits the next, finally leading to the launch of an immune response against the malaria parasite. The study was published June 7 in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
The latest study builds upon earlier work of the research team, in which they found that silencing one gene of this circuit, Caspar, activated Rel2, an Imd pathway transcription factor of the Anopheles gambiae mosquito. The activation of Rel2 turns on the effectors TEP1, APL1 and FBN9 that kill malaria-causing parasites in the mosquito's gut. More significantly, this study discovered the Imd pathway signal transducing factors and effectors that will mediate a successful reduction of parasite infection at their early ookinete stage, as well as in the later oocyst stage when the levels of infection were similar to those found in nature.
"Identifying and understanding how all of the players work is crucial for manipulating the Imd pathway as an invention to control malaria. We now know which genes can be manipulated through genetic engineering to create a malaria resistant mosquito" said George Dimopoulos PhD, professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
To conduct the study, Dimopoulos's team used a RNA interference method to "knock down" the genes of the Imd pathway. As the components were inactivated, the researchers could observe how the mosquito's resistance to parasite infection would change.
"Imagine a string of Christmas lights or other circuit that will not work when parts aren't aligned in the right sequence. That is how we are working with the mosquito's immune system," explained Dimopolous. "We manipulate the molecular components of the mosquito's immune system to identify the parts necessary to kill the malaria parasites."
Malaria kills more than 800,000 people worldwide each year. Many are children.
###
The authors of "Anopheles Imd pathway factors and effectors in infection intensity-dependent anti-Plasmodium action" are Lindsey S. Garver, Ana C. Bahia, Suchismita Das, Jayme A. Souza-Neo, Jessica Shiao, Yuemei Dong and George Dimopoulos.
The research was funded by the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute.
Follow the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/JohnsHopkinsSPH and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JohnsHopkinsSPH.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Immune system 'circuitry' that kills malaria in mosquitoes identifiedPublic release date: 7-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tim Parsons tmparson@jhsph.edu 410-955-7619 Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have, for the first time, determined the function of a series proteins within the mosquito that transduce a signal that enables the mosquito to fight off infection from the parasite that causes malaria in humans. Together, these proteins are known as immune deficiency (Imd) pathway signal transducing factors, are analogous to an electrical circuit. As each factor is switched on or off it triggers or inhibits the next, finally leading to the launch of an immune response against the malaria parasite. The study was published June 7 in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
The latest study builds upon earlier work of the research team, in which they found that silencing one gene of this circuit, Caspar, activated Rel2, an Imd pathway transcription factor of the Anopheles gambiae mosquito. The activation of Rel2 turns on the effectors TEP1, APL1 and FBN9 that kill malaria-causing parasites in the mosquito's gut. More significantly, this study discovered the Imd pathway signal transducing factors and effectors that will mediate a successful reduction of parasite infection at their early ookinete stage, as well as in the later oocyst stage when the levels of infection were similar to those found in nature.
"Identifying and understanding how all of the players work is crucial for manipulating the Imd pathway as an invention to control malaria. We now know which genes can be manipulated through genetic engineering to create a malaria resistant mosquito" said George Dimopoulos PhD, professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
To conduct the study, Dimopoulos's team used a RNA interference method to "knock down" the genes of the Imd pathway. As the components were inactivated, the researchers could observe how the mosquito's resistance to parasite infection would change.
"Imagine a string of Christmas lights or other circuit that will not work when parts aren't aligned in the right sequence. That is how we are working with the mosquito's immune system," explained Dimopolous. "We manipulate the molecular components of the mosquito's immune system to identify the parts necessary to kill the malaria parasites."
Malaria kills more than 800,000 people worldwide each year. Many are children.
###
The authors of "Anopheles Imd pathway factors and effectors in infection intensity-dependent anti-Plasmodium action" are Lindsey S. Garver, Ana C. Bahia, Suchismita Das, Jayme A. Souza-Neo, Jessica Shiao, Yuemei Dong and George Dimopoulos.
The research was funded by the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute.
Follow the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/JohnsHopkinsSPH and Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JohnsHopkinsSPH.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New orders in Britain?s construction industry bounced back in the first three months of this year, although not by enough to offset the sharp fall at the end of 2011, official data on Friday showed.
The Office for National Statistics said that new orders ? a forward-looking indicator that does not take account of work actually undertaken ? rose by 4.6 per cent in the January to March period.
This is equal to ?11bn when seasonal adjustments and inflation are taken into account.
Construction orders do not form part of the calculation for gross domestic product.
However, the value of orders in the fourth quarter of 2011 was revised downward and now shows a decline from the previous quarter of 5.2 per cent to ?10.5bn, instead of the ?11bn initially reported.
Private commercial work saw a surge of orders, with the value of new contracts rising to ?3.6bn from ?2.8bn, while orders for private industrial construction, at ?738m, rose to their best level since the fourth quarter of 2008.
However, other sectors, such as private housing construction, showed a continued decline.
Meanwhile, cuts in public spending appear to be weighing on the construction industry; new orders for public work, excluding infrastructure, at ?1.7bn, fell to their lowest level since the fourth quarter of 1986
[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
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We'll be honest: we originally made our way over to Jetway's booth here at Computex because we had heard scuttlebutt that a KIRF Samsung Galaxy Note was on display. Turns out, that wasn't true -- this thing doesn't even support pen input! -- but as it happens, Jetway had an interesting story to tell nonetheless. Jetway, based in Taiwan, has until now been designing motherboards, but is now releasing its first phone. What you see there is the Alfar 560, a reference design that various OEMs can rebadge under their own names. Based on the specs, it's clear that whatever brand picks this up, it's going to be a low-to-mid-range device: key specs include a 650MHz MTK6575 CPU, a 5.1-inch (800 x 480) display, 512MB of RAM, Bluetooth 2.1, a pair of 0.3- and 5-megapixel cameras. Additionally, it's dual-SIM-capable, with support for both WCDMA and GSM.
If all that sounds ho-hum, we'll remind you that we haven't seen that many low-end phones with screens this huge, and the design here is actually decent, aside from the fact that the phone is chunkier than whatever flagships HTC and Samsung have to offer. If you're reading this in the US, you probably won't ever get to see it in person, but you just might get to handle it if you live in Asia, the Middle East or South America -- Jetway says it expects the 560 to eventually arrive in those three regions. Wherever you are, feel free to rubberneck at the photos below, and check out our quickie video after the break.
ScienceDaily (June 6, 2012) ? Panthera's camera traps recently produced the first photographic evidence of wild jaguars with cubs in an oil palm plantation in Colombia, including photos of two male jaguars and a female jaguar with cubs (left and below), and a video of a jaguar male.
Placed in the Magdalena River valley, these camera traps were set to gather new data about the impact of Colombia's ever-increasing oil palm plantations on jaguars. Panthera's scientists are working to understand the implications of these habitat changes on jaguars and their ability to travel and reproduce, as well as the impacts palm plantations have on their prey species.
In Latin America and Asia, oil palm plantations result in the clearing of expansive tracts of forest on which thousands of animal and plant species depend. Data have shown that in Indonesia, tigers avoid plantations, which serve as major barriers restricting their movement, and gene flow. In Latin America, Panthera's scientists are investigating whether oil palm plantations have similar effects on jaguars.
Rare photos of a female jaguar and her cubs taken with Panthera's camera traps confirm that, at least in some cases, jaguars are willing to move through oil palm. Importantly, the photos come from a small plantation adjacent to a protected area with some indigenous habitat present -- perhaps the best case scenario for fostering jaguar use of palm oil tracts.
Panthera's Northern South America Jaguar Program Director, Dr. Esteban Payan, explained, "Typically, jaguars can move across human-dominated landscapes by travelling through riparian forests or using road underpasses, but until now, scientists had no photographic proof that jaguars entered oil palm developments in this region."
Payan added, "Given the extensive amount of jaguar habitat overtaken by oil palm plantations in Colombia, we hope that certain plantations can be part of the Jaguar Corridor, enabling jaguars to reach areas with little or no human disturbances."
Panthera's Jaguar Corridor Initiative seeks to connect and protect jaguar populations from Argentina to Mexico within human-dominated landscapes, such as oil palm plantations, to preserve the species' genetic diversity. Cupped between Panama to the north and a handful of South American countries, Colombia holds the key to the jaguar's passage from Central America to South America.
Panthera's Jaguar Program Executive Director, Dr. Howard Quigley, stated, "Human development in the shape of large monocultures, like oil palm plantations, are drastically changing the face of the planet, creating refugees out of wild cats by breaking up their habitats and forcing them to live within smaller, often degraded, and more isolated pockets of land. Data collected through Panthera's Jaguar Corridor Initiative are critical for oil palm growers, national policy makers and local governments in their decision making so they can account for the needs of jaguars across their range and minimize impacts on wildlife."
Panthera promotes sustainable oil palm practices, asking farmers to adhere to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Recommendations to help curb the negative impacts of extensive agriculture development on biodiversity and enable initiatives like the Jaguar Corridor to become a reality.
Quigley added, "Our data suggest that plantations can be part of a landscape mosaic that jaguars will use. But careful planning that avoids large-scale replacement of forest with huge palm oil areas will be essential if we want to avoid the kind of isolation that tigers now suffer."
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One of the first roadblocks to establishing an effective exercise program is finding your motivating factor to get you started. Whether it comes as a New Years Resolution, or afer a disturbing diagnosis from a doctor, most people need some kind of motivation to start. However, after a month or so when the progress begins to level out or seems to slow, you need to find motivating factors to continue. Some people look outside conventional motivation to find when inspires them to continue.
Learn More Here: http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20410918,00.html
Dr. Alan Weidner
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2012 at 9:34 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
NYU College of Dentistry study explores effects of family dynamics on oral healthPublic release date: 6-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christopher James christopher.james@nyu.edu 212-998-6876 New York University
What does mental health have to do with dental health? Quite a bit, according to Richard Heyman, PhD, and Amy Smith Slep, PhD, psychologists who joined the New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) in July 2011.
Professors Heyman and Slep, who co-direct the family Translational Research Group within the NYUCD's Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care, are part of a growing trend among dentists trying to understand how psychological factors affect oral health, especially when it comes to cracking the code on the causes of early childhood caries.
The NYUCD faculty has long included psychologists, such as Hillary Broder, PhD, who have tended to focus on teaching dental students to treat patients with sensitivity and to communicate effectively with them. Professor Broder's research has focused on how dental care affects a patient's quality of life.
According to Mark Wolff, DDS, PhD, professor and chair of the NYUCD Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care and associate dean for predoctoral clinical education, "There is a major change happening in our beliefs about the impact of psychological factors on both patient behaviors and on the biology of oral health. We need to ask how psychological events relate to tooth decay. For example, when we ask why someone doesn't brush, we need to think about whether he or she suffers from depression."
Many factors contribute to the intransigence of early childhood caries. They include lack of parental education or acceptance of caries as normal, lack of access to dental care, and poor insurance coverage.
However, until now, family dynamics have not been explored systematically as a contributor to oral health. In early 2008, Professor Heyman was contacted by a program officer at the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), because the agency was seeking to fund novel approaches to improving oral health.
Professors Heyman and Slep, who research couples in conflict, immediately wondered whether it would be possible to find out whether conflict was affecting their research subjects' oral health.
Research had already shown that couples' conflict can lead to increases in blood pressure, lower immunological functioning, and slower wound healing. Professors Heyman, Slep, and their group, had collected data on how family and environmental factors affect children's and adults' physical and psychological health. It wasn't a stretch to ask whether these factors would also impact oral health, yet no one had researched this question. Seeking an oral health collaborator, Professors Heyman and Slep approached Associate Dean Wolff, and the team was awarded an NIH grant of $1 million, in 2009, to conduct a study.
The team collected data on nearly 150 families, taking blood and saliva samples, conducting physical exams, and administering questionnaires. In September 2011, they were ready to present preliminary data to the NIDCR Council. The researchers found that the more verbal or physical aggression that occurred between parents, the more oral health problems occurred in the child. The question was, Why?
"There are two hypotheses about how oral health is affected by parental discord," Professor Heyman says. "First, lax supervision of children, as an outgrowth of discord, directly impacts children eating sugary cereals and beverages, and not brushing. The second is a biological response. There is strong research showing that family conflict and stress affect the immune system."
Lax parenting may be an even stronger influence on tooth decay than violent behavior," says Associate Dean Wolff. "Allowing children to eat sugary food is something seen even among well-educated people. We have to understand the psychological causation of tooth decay to prevent it. A simple lecture on brushing isn't going to improve things. You have to change parenting behaviors."
Now, Professor Heyman's and Slep's group, together with Associate Dean Wolff and NYUCD's Dr. Ananda Dasanayake, professor of epidemiology and health promotion, are turning their findings into action, developing an intervention for couples where discord may impact the oral health of their very young children.
"The birth of a new baby is a good time to intervene with families, because past research has shown that's when they are most open to changes in their couple relationship," Professor Heyman says.
"Couples realize that a baby can put a strain on their relationship. The aim of the intervention is to lower risk factors and get messages out on good preventive health care."
The NIDCR awarded the team a clinical trial planning grant to adapt and test an intervention that has been shown to help couples develop healthier relationships with each other and with their children. The intervention was developed in Australia and is currently being tested by the team. NYU College of Dentistry researchers want to find out whether this intervention can also produce improvements in physical and oral health.
Up to 30 families are being recruited from maternity wards at Bellevue Hospital Center and Stony Brook University Hospital. The researchers are seeking families whose newborn children are already considered at high risk for poor oral health due to low family incomes, parents who have no more than a high school education, and at least one non-European-American parent. Couples who participate will watch DVD segments on conflict resolution and healthy parenting. They also will be assigned a coach, who will check in and help them improve their conflict-resolution and parenting skills. And they will complete a workbook that reinforces those messages with exercises.
This project is the first to intervene with new parents on multiple levels to prevent childhood caries. The aim is that, by improving noxious family environments, instilling daily oral health-promoting behaviors in children, and encouraging parents to bring the child to regular dental check-ups, the children's early oral health will be demonstrably better than is typical.
The couples' intervention takes place over eight sessions, timed to intersect with the developmental stages of their infant, from three to 12 months. This timing covers the period of tooth eruption and transition to recommended dental visits. It also covers both the newborn and toddler periods and allows families breaks between sessions and time to review material and solidify their skills. To examine the impact on oral health, dental exams will be performed on the children at 15 months.
Researchers will look directly for early childhood caries as well as contributing factors such as bacteria and saliva hormones related to stress.
###
About New York University College of Dentistry
Founded in 1865, New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the US, educating more than 8 percent of all dentists. NYUCD has a significant global reach and provides a level of national and international diversity among its students that is unmatched by any other dental school.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NYU College of Dentistry study explores effects of family dynamics on oral healthPublic release date: 6-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Christopher James christopher.james@nyu.edu 212-998-6876 New York University
What does mental health have to do with dental health? Quite a bit, according to Richard Heyman, PhD, and Amy Smith Slep, PhD, psychologists who joined the New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) in July 2011.
Professors Heyman and Slep, who co-direct the family Translational Research Group within the NYUCD's Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care, are part of a growing trend among dentists trying to understand how psychological factors affect oral health, especially when it comes to cracking the code on the causes of early childhood caries.
The NYUCD faculty has long included psychologists, such as Hillary Broder, PhD, who have tended to focus on teaching dental students to treat patients with sensitivity and to communicate effectively with them. Professor Broder's research has focused on how dental care affects a patient's quality of life.
According to Mark Wolff, DDS, PhD, professor and chair of the NYUCD Department of Cariology and Comprehensive Care and associate dean for predoctoral clinical education, "There is a major change happening in our beliefs about the impact of psychological factors on both patient behaviors and on the biology of oral health. We need to ask how psychological events relate to tooth decay. For example, when we ask why someone doesn't brush, we need to think about whether he or she suffers from depression."
Many factors contribute to the intransigence of early childhood caries. They include lack of parental education or acceptance of caries as normal, lack of access to dental care, and poor insurance coverage.
However, until now, family dynamics have not been explored systematically as a contributor to oral health. In early 2008, Professor Heyman was contacted by a program officer at the National Institute for Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), because the agency was seeking to fund novel approaches to improving oral health.
Professors Heyman and Slep, who research couples in conflict, immediately wondered whether it would be possible to find out whether conflict was affecting their research subjects' oral health.
Research had already shown that couples' conflict can lead to increases in blood pressure, lower immunological functioning, and slower wound healing. Professors Heyman, Slep, and their group, had collected data on how family and environmental factors affect children's and adults' physical and psychological health. It wasn't a stretch to ask whether these factors would also impact oral health, yet no one had researched this question. Seeking an oral health collaborator, Professors Heyman and Slep approached Associate Dean Wolff, and the team was awarded an NIH grant of $1 million, in 2009, to conduct a study.
The team collected data on nearly 150 families, taking blood and saliva samples, conducting physical exams, and administering questionnaires. In September 2011, they were ready to present preliminary data to the NIDCR Council. The researchers found that the more verbal or physical aggression that occurred between parents, the more oral health problems occurred in the child. The question was, Why?
"There are two hypotheses about how oral health is affected by parental discord," Professor Heyman says. "First, lax supervision of children, as an outgrowth of discord, directly impacts children eating sugary cereals and beverages, and not brushing. The second is a biological response. There is strong research showing that family conflict and stress affect the immune system."
Lax parenting may be an even stronger influence on tooth decay than violent behavior," says Associate Dean Wolff. "Allowing children to eat sugary food is something seen even among well-educated people. We have to understand the psychological causation of tooth decay to prevent it. A simple lecture on brushing isn't going to improve things. You have to change parenting behaviors."
Now, Professor Heyman's and Slep's group, together with Associate Dean Wolff and NYUCD's Dr. Ananda Dasanayake, professor of epidemiology and health promotion, are turning their findings into action, developing an intervention for couples where discord may impact the oral health of their very young children.
"The birth of a new baby is a good time to intervene with families, because past research has shown that's when they are most open to changes in their couple relationship," Professor Heyman says.
"Couples realize that a baby can put a strain on their relationship. The aim of the intervention is to lower risk factors and get messages out on good preventive health care."
The NIDCR awarded the team a clinical trial planning grant to adapt and test an intervention that has been shown to help couples develop healthier relationships with each other and with their children. The intervention was developed in Australia and is currently being tested by the team. NYU College of Dentistry researchers want to find out whether this intervention can also produce improvements in physical and oral health.
Up to 30 families are being recruited from maternity wards at Bellevue Hospital Center and Stony Brook University Hospital. The researchers are seeking families whose newborn children are already considered at high risk for poor oral health due to low family incomes, parents who have no more than a high school education, and at least one non-European-American parent. Couples who participate will watch DVD segments on conflict resolution and healthy parenting. They also will be assigned a coach, who will check in and help them improve their conflict-resolution and parenting skills. And they will complete a workbook that reinforces those messages with exercises.
This project is the first to intervene with new parents on multiple levels to prevent childhood caries. The aim is that, by improving noxious family environments, instilling daily oral health-promoting behaviors in children, and encouraging parents to bring the child to regular dental check-ups, the children's early oral health will be demonstrably better than is typical.
The couples' intervention takes place over eight sessions, timed to intersect with the developmental stages of their infant, from three to 12 months. This timing covers the period of tooth eruption and transition to recommended dental visits. It also covers both the newborn and toddler periods and allows families breaks between sessions and time to review material and solidify their skills. To examine the impact on oral health, dental exams will be performed on the children at 15 months.
Researchers will look directly for early childhood caries as well as contributing factors such as bacteria and saliva hormones related to stress.
###
About New York University College of Dentistry
Founded in 1865, New York University College of Dentistry (NYUCD) is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the US, educating more than 8 percent of all dentists. NYUCD has a significant global reach and provides a level of national and international diversity among its students that is unmatched by any other dental school.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 7-Jun-2012
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