Dental health care workers (DHCW) are at a risk of occupational exposure to Helicobacter pylori from the aerosolized oral biofilms and saliva of patients. We designed this study to investigate the prevalence of H. pylori in the oral biofilms of a group of dental and non-dental undergraduates from Sri Lanka. After obtaining informed consent, oral biofilms were collected from 38 dental undergraduates (19 males and 19 females) undergoing clinical training and 33 non-dental undergraduates (14 males and 19 females). The participants were in the age range of 22–27 years and had healthy periodontium. Total DNA from the oral biofilms were extracted, and H. pylori DNA was detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of 16S rRNA gene of H. pylori using JW22-JW23 primers, and the results were confirmed using PCR amplification of H. pylori -urease specific HPU1-HPU2 primers. Out of 71 participants, 11 (28.95%) dental and 3 (9.09%) non-dental undergraduates had H. pylori in their oral biofilms indicating an overall prevalence rate of 19.72% (14/71). Thus, the prevalence of H. pylori in oral biofilms was significantly higher in dental undergraduates than in non-dental undergraduates (p < 0.05). An odds ratio of 4.07 indicated that dental undergraduates were four times more likely to harbor H. pylori in their oral biofilms than nondental undergraduates. Foregoing data support the fact that there may be greater occupational risk of exposure to H. pylori for dental undergraduates during clinical training than that for non-dental undergraduates, warranting meticulous infection control practices during clinical dentistry.

This study was performed to identify the effect of synovium graft on conjunctiva in rabbits after dry eye induction. Six New Zealand White rabbits were used as dry eye models. Both eyes were divided to two groups as control and synovium graft group. The synovium graft was performed in fourth week after dry eye modeling. Quantitative change of tears through Schirmer tear test (STT), qualitative change of tear film through tear film break up time (TFBUT), and damage of cornea through fluorescein staining were observed for 10 weeks at intervals of two weeks. Histological examination was performed to evaluate cornea and conjunctiva at tenth week. In both groups, STT and TFBUT were significantly decreased in 4 weeks after modeling compared to 0 weeks (p < 0.05) . After synovium graft, there were increases in STT value at 4 weeks and TFBUT at 4 and 6 weeks in graft group (p < 0.05). Corneal fluorescein staining showed no significant difference between the two groups. In histopathological examination, grafted synovium was detected as round to ovoid ingression folds, well attached to grafted regions with 0.11 ± 0.04 mm2 (range, 0.05- 0.16 mm2). These results indicated that the synovium graft on the conjunctiva had an effect on the qualitative and quantitative improvement of the tear film even though there was no histological change.

한-아프리카 농식품 기술협력 협의체 (KAFACI)는 아프리카 농업 공통현안을 연구과제를 통하여 해결하고자 2010년에 출범하여 현재 한국 포함 20개국으로 구성되었다. 본 논문은 지난 10년간 회원국에서 수행한 결과를 바탕으로 KAFACI 회원 국과 비회원국 간의 양자 무역 흐름에 대한 국제 기술 협력의 영향을 분석하였다. 분석은 UN 상품 무역 통계 데이터베이스에서 2000년에서 2018년 동안 45 개 아프리카 국가 간의 양 자 무역 패널 데이터를 이용하였으며 국제 무역 중력 모델을 적용하였다. 또한, 내생성, 표본 선택 편의, 패널내의 상관관계 를 통제하는 표본 선택 기법을 적용한 핵크만 랜덤 효과 회귀 모형을 사용하였다. 분석결과 경험적 결과는 국제 기술 협력이 KAFACI 회원국과 비회원 국 간의 양자 무역 흐름에 긍정적인 영향을 미친다는 것을 보여준다. 이러한 연구 결과 이 외에도 KAFACI는 회원국과 아프리카 이외의 주요 무역 파트 너 간의 양자 무역 흐름을 크게 늘렸을 가능성이 있지만 여기서는 다루지 않았다. 또한 KAFACI 회원국의 기술 채택 수준과 비율은 무역을 잠금 해제하기 위해 경제의 공급 측면에 영향을 미치는데 중요하지만 여기에서는 다루지 않았다.