Validation of communication between elderly denture wearers and dentists: a questionnaire on satisfaction with complete dentures using semi-structured interviews

Objectives: To validate a semi‐structured interview (SSI) for communication between complete denture wearers and dentists. Design: A SSI using a questionnaire with eight questions on satisfaction with complete dentures (CD): covering function, aesthetics and comfort. The first seven questions used a five‐point Likert scale and the last was dichotomous. Two dentists, carefully trained in the use of the structured questionnaire, administered the SSI. Setting: A Greek Department of Prosthetic Dentistry. Subjects: A consecutive sample of 78 CD wearers took part in the study. All subjects presented with complaints from their dentures. Intervention: All participants and their dentures underwent clinical examination. Results: The method showed good reliability, verified by the Cronbach alpha (0.86). Both dentists used the questionnaire produced very similar results. (Wilcoxon test 61–99%). Further, the association of the answers with respect to the five‐point Likert scale was very high; all gamma coefficients were statistically significant except for pain and discomfort from the upper CD (CDU). Conclusions: This method of communication between patients and dentists is reliable and can be used to give good repeatability for qualitatively assessing satisfaction with CD. It can be valuable for clinical use and for extending the study of denture quality to establish outcome measures based on the subjective criteria of satisfaction.     

Purification, properties and specificity of a NDP kinase from Alyssum murale grown under Ni(2+) toxicity

During the growth of Alyssum murale, a nickel accumulator plant, three root peptides chains of 55, 18 and 16kDa undergo phosphorylation. The intensity of the phosphorylated bands decreased in the course of growth in nutrient solution supplied with 0.5mM Ni(2+). In the shoot only two phosphorylated peptide chains with a size of 18 and 16kDa were detected. These two shoot peptides disappeared on the 19th day of growth in Ni(2+)-exposed plants, while the root peptide of 16kDa continued to be present in less intensity. This peptide was identified as the catalytic subunit of nucleoside diphosphate kinase (NDP kinase: E.C. 2.7.4.6) and was named NDPK-B. The enzyme was purified by means of ammonium sulphate precipitation, DEAE-sepharose and hydroxyapatite column chromatography. NDPK-B was thermostable, displayed a molecular mass of 103,000 and was comprised of six catalytic subunits. The autophosphorylated enzyme displayed an isoelectric point (pI) of 6.5. The NDPK-B autophosphorylation activity was metal-dependent. With regard to the transfer reaction, NDPK-B exhibited the following properties: (a) the enzyme had an optimum pH of 7.6; (b) it was capable of using both (gamma-(32)P) ATP and (gamma-(32)P) GTP as phosphate donors and of using all the available NDPs except dCDP as phosphate acceptors; (c) its activity using NDPs as substrates was metal dependent; (d) in the presence of (gamma-(32)P) GTP as the phosphate donor, it phosphorylated exclusively ADP when a mixture of NDPs was added in the reaction mixture; and, (e) ADP had a very low K(m) value towards 8.4nM. This high affinity towards ADP suggests that the enzyme may play a crucial function in the formation of the amount of ATP necessary for Alyssum murale to survive Ni(2+) stress.