Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND: Human skin emits a variety of volatile metabolites, many of them odorous. Much previous work has focused upon chemical structure and biogenesis of metabolites produced in the axillae (underarms), which are a primary source of human body odour. Nonaxillary skin also harbours volatile metabolites, possibly with different biological origins than axillary odorants. OBJECTIVES: To take inventory of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the upper back and forearm skin, and assess their relative quantitative variation across 25 healthy subjects. METHODS: Two complementary sampling techniques were used to obtain comprehensive VOC profiles, viz., solid-phase microextraction and solvent extraction. Analyses were performed using both gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and gas chromatography with flame photometric detection. RESULTS: Nearly 100 compounds were identified, some of which varied with age. The VOC profiles of the upper back and forearm within a subject were, for the most part, similar, although there were notable differences. CONCLUSIONS: The natural variation in nonaxillary skin odorants described in this study provides a baseline of compounds we have identified from both endogenous and exogenous sources. Although complex, the profiles of volatile constituents suggest that the two body locations share a considerable number of compounds, but both quantitative and qualitative differences are present. In addition, quantitative changes due to ageing are also present. These data may provide future investigators of skin VOCs with a baseline against which any abnormalities can be viewed in searching for biomarkers of skin diseases

The routine evaluation of teaching effectiveness is important in improving faculty, departmental, and institutional efforts. There are three main categories of assessments: those performed by students, peers, and self. Although each category is independently valid, a collection of data from all three categories leads to a more comprehensive outcome and a creation of a triangulation model. The purpose of this study was to identify commonly used methods of assessing teaching effectiveness and to suggest the use of a triangulation model, which has been advocated in the literature on performance assessment as an optimal approach for evaluating teaching effectiveness. A twelve-question survey was sent to all U.S. dental schools to identify evaluation methods as well as to find evidence of triangulation. Thirty-nine out of fifty-seven schools responded. The majority of the schools used student evaluations (81 percent) and peer reviews (78 percent). A minority of schools reported using self-evaluations (31 percent). Less than one in five dental schools reported using all three strategies to achieve triangulation (19 percent). The three most commonly used evaluation methods ('performed routinely') were all in the student evaluation category. Less than half of the schools routinely evaluated clinical teaching effectiveness by any means (42 percent). In conclusion, dental schools should implement a triangulation process, in which evaluation data are obtained from students, peers, and self to provide a comprehensive and composite assessment of teaching effectiveness

INTRODUCTION: While protein-energy malnutrition may have multiple effects on oral tissues and subsequent disease development, reports of the effect of malnutrition on the human salivary glands are sparse. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of the effect of early childhood protein-energy malnutrition (EC-PEM) and adolescent nutritional status on salivary flow and pH was conducted with rural Haitian children, ages 11-19 years (n=1017). Malnutrition strata exposure cohorts were based on 1988-1996 weight-for-age records which covered the birth through 5-year-old period for all subjects. Then, data on current anthropometrical defined nutritional status categories, stimulated and unstimulated salivary flow rates, and salivary pH were collected for the same subjects of 11-19 years old during field examinations in the summer of 2005. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used for the analyses. RESULTS: Stimulated and unstimulated salivary flow rates were reduced at statistically significant levels in subjects who had experienced severe malnutrition in their early childhood or who had continuing nutrition stress which resulted in delayed growth, as measured at ages 11-19 years. Salivary pH demonstrated little clinically meaningful variability between malnourished and nonmalnourished groups. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to report of a continuing effect on diminished salivary gland function into adolescence as a result of early childhood malnutrition (EC-PEM) and suggests that exocrine glandular systems may be compromised for extended periods following EC-PEM, which may have important implications for the body's systemic antimicrobial defences

Pierre Fauchard (1678-1761) is considered the father of modern dentistry. His seminal book, Le Chirurgien Dentiste, ou Traite des Dents (1728), is the discipline's first complete work. During the five years preceding its publication (1723-1728), Pierre Fauchard sought the opinions, contributions, and 'approbation' (approval) of 19 of his colleagues: six physicians, 12 surgeons, and one dentist. The first and most important contributor to the manuscript was Jean Devaux, surgeon and mentor to Fauchard. The next six reviewers were illustrious physicians and scientists of the time: Philippe Hecquet, Jean-Claude Adrien Helvetius, Jean Baptiste Silva, Antoine DeJussieu, Raymond Jacob Finot, and Antoine Benignus Winslow. The subsequent 12 reviewers were all sworn-surgeons (certified by St. Come), including a lone dentist, Laudumiey, surgeon-dentist to His Majesty, Philip V, King of Spain. Fauchard knew that for dentistry to be regarded as a learned profession, and perhaps for Fauchard to be recognized as its leader, he needed the support and approval of the establishment before publishing his book. This is an account of how he attained this endorsement

Health care, including oral health care and oral health education, is under great stress in the United States. The cost of and access to care, the cost of dental education, and a shortage of educators have led leaders in dental education, organized dentistry, and the public sector to underscore the problem. One of the proposed solutions is to find synergies and new health care and education models by building bridges among the health professions. One potential solution is being implemented at the NYU College of Dentistry (NYUCD). Dentistry and nursing are seemingly unrelated professions, and they are rarely if ever modeled together. That is about to change with the joining together of NYUCD and the Division of Nursing of the NYU Steinhardt School of Education in creating a College of Nursing within the College of Dentistry. This process has not been without controversy. Following the Division of Nursing's request to join NYUCD, and the subsequent announcement of the proposed combination by NYU in December 2004, some members of the dental profession responded by questioning the appropriateness of the merger and the similarity of the two programs. Nevertheless, substantial parallels exist in the education and practice of dentists and nurse practitioners (NP) including basic, social, and some clinical science education, practice models, research synergies, and community service. However, similarities in the core competencies of these professions have not been analyzed formally and in detail. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to compare the core competencies of nurse practitioner and dental education programs. The results show a surprising overlap of the core competencies of the dental and nursing professions (38 percent partial or total overlap). A similar overlap with medicine also exists, albeit lower (25.4 percent). These results are notable because they demonstrate that the three health professions, independently of one another, developed very similar basic competencies and learning objectives. These data should encourage other health professions programs to seek new collaborative models for education, beyond the current silos of training, and new health care delivery systems as has been strongly recommended by the Institute of Medicine. Such collaborative education redirects health care toward providing truly interdisciplinary comprehensive primary care for patients.