Oral health-related quality of life of children in relation to dental appearance and educational transition

Background A variety of inherited and acquired conditions affect the dentition. The aim of this research was to investigate the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of children in relation to the status of their permanent incisors, at a significant transitional stage in their childhood.Method Two hundred and sixteen patients of the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital, Sheffield, aged between 10 and 11 years, were sent an OHRQoL questionnaire (CPQ 11-14) three months before secondary school entry. Participants were categorised, according to clinical status, as having a visible dental difference (abnormal incisor aesthetics and/or orthodontic malocclusion) or no visible difference. Follow-up questionnaires were issued three months after secondary school entry to obtain repeat psychosocial data. Analysis of variance tests investigated the impact of clinical variables, self-reported satisfaction with dental appearance and gender on OHRQoL during educational transition.Results Ninety-two children participated in the baseline study and 71 of these children completed the follow-up questionnaire (43% and 77% response rates, respectively). Visible dental differences and dissatisfaction with dental appearance were associated with worse OHRQoL at baseline and follow-up.Conclusions Dental conditions which result in visible incisor differences are associated with higher levels of dissatisfaction with appearance and have potential to negatively impact on children's OHRQoL.</p

Evolution of Puma Lentivirus in Bobcats (Lynx rufus) and Mountain Lions (Puma concolor) in North America

Mountain lions (Puma concolor) throughout North and South America are infected with puma lentivirus clade B (PLVB). A second, highly divergent lentiviral clade, PLVA, infects mountain lions in southern California and Florida. Bobcats (Lynx rufus) in these two geographic regions are also infected with PLVA, and to date, this is the only strain of lentivirus identified in bobcats. We sequenced full-length PLV genomes in order to characterize the molecular evolution of PLV in bobcats and mountain lions. Low sequence homology (88% average pairwise identity) and frequent recombination (1 recombination breakpoint per 3 isolates analyzed) were observed in both clades. Viral proteins have markedly different patterns of evolution; sequence homology and negative selection were highest in Gag and Pol and lowest in Vif and Env. A total of 1.7% of sites across the PLV genome evolve under positive selection, indicating that host-imposed selection pressure is an important force shaping PLV evolution. PLVA strains are highly spatially structured, reflecting the population dynamics of their primary host, the bobcat. In contrast, the phylogeography of PLVB reflects the highly mobile mountain lion, with diverse PLVB isolates cocirculating in some areas and genetically related viruses being present in populations separated by thousands of kilometers. We conclude that PLVA and PLVB are two different viral species with distinct feline hosts and evolutionary histories. IMPORTANCE An understanding of viral evolution in natural host populations is a fundamental goal of virology, molecular biology, and disease ecology. Here we provide a detailed analysis of puma lentivirus (PLV) evolution in two natural carnivore hosts, the bobcat and mountain lion. Our results illustrate that PLV evolution is a dynamic process that results from high rates of viral mutation/recombination and host-imposed selection pressure