The active metabolite of vitamin D such as 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)2D3) is a well-known key regulatory factor in bone metabolism. However, little is known about the potential of vitamin D as an odontogenic inducer in human dental pulp cells (HDPCs) in vitro. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of vitamin D3 metabolite, 1α,25(OH)2D3, on odontoblastic differentiation in HDPCs. HDPCs extracted from maxillary supernumerary incisors and third molars were directly cultured with 1α,25(OH)2D3 in the absence of differentiation-inducing factors. Treatment of HDPCs with 1α,25(OH)2D3 at a concentration of 10 nM or 100 nM significantly upregulated the expression of dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) and dentin matrix protein1 (DMP1), the odontogenesis-related genes. Also, 1α,25(OH)2D3 enhanced the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and mineralization in HDPCs. In addition, 1α,25(OH)2D3 induced activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs), whereas the ERK inhibitor U0126 ameliorated the upregulation of DSPP and DMP1 and reduced the mineralization enhanced by 1α,25(OH)2D3. These results demonstrated that 1α,25(OH)2D3 promoted odontoblastic differentiation of HDPCs via modulating ERK activation.

The aim of this study was to examine the image for dental hygienists and career consideration in academic high school students. A self-reported questionnaire was surveyed by 199 high school students in Gwangju. The questionnaire composed subject's general characteristics, image for dental hygienists, career consideration. The data were analyzed for independent t-test or Mann-Whitney test, one-way ANOVA or Kruskal wallis test and pearson's correlation coefficient by using IBM SPSS Statistics ver. 21.0 program. The average of total image was 3.36, personal images were 3.64, occupational images were 3.47, business images were 3.42, social images were 2.83 in the five-point scale. The image of dental hygienists was higher significantly in case of having a dental practitioner in the family, treatment experience less than 1 year, and treatment in dental hospital. The participants who considered to be dental hygienist were higher significantly in occupational and social images. There were positive correlations among the personal, occupational, business, social images of dental hygienists. These results showed that general images for dental hygienists were slightly positive but among them, social image was the lowest level. It showed that most students didn't consider to be dental hygienist. Therefore, we suggested to enhance positive recognition for dental hygienists be needed.

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the knowledge and attitude toward cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) in some dental hygienists.Methods : A self-reported questionnaire was filled out by 207 dental hygienists in Gwangju from February to March, 2014. The questionnaire consisted of knowledge and attitude toward CPR dental hygienists. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 19.0 program for chi-square test, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA and multiple regression analysis.

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