Clarissa Giebel summarises a systematic review, which concludes that the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) has good sensitivity (77.2%) and specificity (85.9%) for diagnosing dementia in multicultural populations.
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This review of botulinum toxin (BTX) for treating temporomandibular disorders identified 5 RCTs involving a total of 117 patients. There was marked heterogeneity between the studies and the therapeutic benefits are unclear. Well reported high quality RCTs are needed.
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This review of the impact of smoking on dental implants had broad inclusion criteria and included 107 studies. The findings suggest smoking affects implant failure rates, incidence of postoperative infections, as well as the marginal bone loss.
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In her debut blog, Maggie Hendry considers a systematic review of the current evidence investigating the role of vision on knee biomechanics during various functional tasks.
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The number of non-carious cervical lesions (NCCLs) that will require management in the future is expected to increase. This review was only able to identify 4 RCTs looking at whether bevelling the enamel margin improves retention, so there is limited evidence for the clinician.
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Only 7 small trials with 140 patients in total were available for this review. It suggests that adjunctive treatments did not significantly improve the efficacy of professional plaque removal in improving gingival indices, bleeding on probing or pocket depth.
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One of our female Elf friends has fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes pain all over their body. Do you know that fibromyalgia affects around seven times as many women as men? The condition typically develops between the ages of 30 and 50, but can occur in people of any age, including children and the elderly. [read the full story…]
Patrick Kennedy-Williams summarises a recent systematic review of pharmacotherapy for PTSD, which compares antidepressants with placebo for post-traumatic stress disorder. [Please note: this blog was amended on 7/5/15].
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13 retrospective studies were included in this review comparing superficial and total conservative parotidectomy approaches for the management of benign parotid tumours. The review suggests that superficial approach is better but the quality of the evidence is low.
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In this blog, David Pugh considers a study, which looked at the evidence relating obesity using BMI, body weight and body composition to knee cartilage changes on MRI scanning.
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