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Objectives Association of temporomandibular disorders (TMD)-related pain with severe headaches (migraine and tension-type headaches [TTH]) was studied over a follow-up period of 11 years. Materials and methods The data used was from two nationally representative health surveys in Finland—the Health 2000 Survey (baseline) and the Health 2011 Survey (follow-up) (Bioresource Research Impact Factor [BRIF] 8901)—conducted by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). The primary dataset of the current study included a subset of the population undergoing a clinical oral examination, including TMD examination, at baseline, and answering the questions related to severe headaches, both at baseline and at follow-up (n = 530). From the primary dataset, two datasets were created to study the onset of migraine (dataset 1) and TTH (dataset 2) separately. Dataset 1 included participants healthy of migraine, but not other headaches, at baseline (n = 345), and dataset 2 participants healthy of TTH and other headaches, except migraine, at baseline (n = 464). Bayesian logistic regression models with weakly informative priors were utilized to assess the association of muscle-related TMD pain (mTMD) at baseline and temporomandibular joint-related TMD pain (jTMD) at baseline with the presence of migraine and TTH at follow-up. Results Neither of the baseline TMD-related pain variables were associated with the presence of migraine at follow-up (posterior effect estimates-0.12, 95% credible interval [CI] -0.49–0.24, and 0.11, 95% CI -0.38–0.59, for mTMD and jTMD, respectively), whereas mTMD at baseline (posterior effect estimate 0.36, 95% CI 0.02–0.69), but not jTMD at baseline (posterior effect estimate -0.32, 95% CI -0.94–0.25), was associated with the presence of TTH at follow-up. Bayesian sensitivity analyses revealed that the estimates of the regression models were stable, demonstrating sufficient validity and consistency of the estimates. Conclusion These results indicate that diverse mechanisms may exist behind the associations of TMD-related painful conditions with different types of severe headaches. Clinical relevance TMD-related pain is a frequent comorbidity of severe primary headaches. Therapy of severe primary headaches may thus benefit significantly with the incorporation of a multi-disciplinary clinical team.

Introduction: Diet of an individual plays a remarkable role in maintaining health. Urbanization has had a great impact on the food habits of the society with the balance shifting to sweetened and refined food consumption. Dietary habits also has remarkable contribution to dental and overall health status. Aim: This study was designed to evaluate oral health awareness, practices, status, and the use of sugary products among urban and rural high school adolescents of Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional mixed study was conducted using questionnaire and clinical examination among two female and two male urban and rural schools. Information on oral health awareness, practices, and use of sugar products were obtained using a self-reported structured questionnaire. Oral health status was assessed using decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index, gingival index, Angle's classification at University dental clinics. The Chi-square test and t-test were performed using SPSS. Results and Discussion: Ninety-seven urban and one hundred and twenty-eight rural students with a median age of 17 years for males and 16 years for females completed the study. Eighty-five percent urban and 86% rural students demonstrated oral health awareness and practices, showing significant level for rural females (54%, P = 0.002) and urban females (72%, P = 0.006). Ninety-four percent urban and 89% of rural students used sugary products with a significant level for rural females (P = 0.001) for carbonated drinks only. Eighty-six percent of students had decayed, 22% missing and 38% filled teeth. Mean DMFT was 7.0 ± 4.7. Ninety-five (95%) participants showed mild-to-moderate gingivitis, 35% malocclusion, 11% other oral pathologies. Rural and urban difference for oral health parameters was significant only for filled teeth (P = 0.001) for urban and missing teeth (P = 0.019) among 15 years old for rural adolescents. Conclusion: This study demonstrates a good level of oral health awareness, but poor oral health status among both urban and rural students with an insignificant difference for most of the parameters studied.

AIMS To study the possible associations of various clinically assessed painful signs of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) with the presence of migraine using a large population-based dataset. METHODS The data were taken from the nationally representative Health 2000 Survey (BRIF8901). The sample consisted of 5,876 adults (age range 30 to 97 years, mean ± standard deviation 52.5 ± 14.8), 5,378 nonmigraineurs and 498 migraineurs. The study participants answered questions concerning migraine presence, migraine frequency, and migraine medication consumption during a home interview. They also underwent a clinical TMD examination. RESULTS Based on the multivariate regression models, painful muscular TMD, but not joint-related TMD, was associated with the presence of migraine (odds ratio [OR] = 1.58; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.23 to 2.04; P < .01). Migraine with TMD was associated with increased migraine frequency (daily or a few attacks within a week) (OR = 1.93; 95% CI = 1.27 to 2.93; P < .01) and higher migraine medication consumption (OR = 2.37; 95% CI = 1.43 to 3.92; P < .01). CONCLUSION According to the results of this study, muscle-related TMD pain is associated with the presence of migraine. Additionally, migraine along with painful TMD signs is associated with increased migraine frequency and migraine medication consumption.

The rapid proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) systems, has enabled transforming urban areas into smart cities. Smart cities’ paradigm has resulted in improved quality of life and better services to citizens, like smart healthcare, smart parking, smart transport, smart buildings, smart homes, and so on. One of the major challenges of IoT devices is the limited capacity of their battery because the devices consume a large amount of energy once they communicate with each other. Furthermore, the IoT-based smart systems would contain sensitive data about network systems, introducing serious privacy and security issues. IoT-based smart systems are highly exposed to botnet attacks. Examples of such attacks are Mirai and BASHLITE malware launched from compromised surveillance devices, which are common in smart cities, resulting in paralysis of Internet-based services through distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Such DDoS attacks on IoT devices and their networks further threaten the emerging concept of sustainable smart cities. To discover such cyberattacks, this paper proposes a novel statistical learning-based botnet detection framework, called IoTBoT-IDS, which protects IoT-based smart networks against botnet attacks. IoTBoT-IDS captures the normal behavior of IoT networks by applying statistical learning-based techniques, using Beta Mixture Model (BMM) and a Correntropy model. Any deviation from the normal behavior is detected as an anomalous event. To evaluate IoTBoT-IDS, three benchmark datasets generated from realistic IoT networks were used. The evaluation results showed that IoTBoT-IDS effectively identifies various types of botnets with an average detection accuracy of 99.2%, which is higher by about 2–5% compared with compelling intrusion detection methods, namely AdaBoost ensemble learning, fuzzy c-means, and deep feed forward neural networks.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a major health burden across the world which leads to the development of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). This review article discusses the prevalence of HIV, its major routes of transmission, natural immunity, and evasion from the host immune system. HIV is mostly prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa and low income countries. It is mostly transmitted by sharing syringe needles, blood transfusion, and sexual routes. The host immune system is categorized into three main types; the innate, the adaptive, and the intrinsic immune system. Regarding the innate immune system against HIV, the key players are mucosal membrane, dendritic cells (DCs), complement system, interferon, and host Micro RNAs. The major components of the adaptive immune system exploited by HIV are T cells mainly CD4+ T cells and B cells. The intrinsic immune system confronted by HIV involves (apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like 3G) APOBEC3G, tripartite motif 5-α (TRIM5a), terherin, and (SAM-domain HD-domain containing protein) SAMHD1. HIV-1 efficiently interacts with the host immune system, exploits the host machinery, successfully replicates and transmits from one cell to another. Further research is required to explore evasion strategies of HIV to develop novel therapeutic approaches against HIV.

Macrotyloma uniflorum (Lam.) Verdc. (Papilionaceae) is commonly known as Horse gram and Kulthi. The seeds are reported as anthelmintic, diaphoretic, diuretic and emmenagogue. It is also useful in asthma, bronchitis and urolithiasis. In the present study, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and diuretic effects of the methanol extract of Macrotyloma uniflorum seeds were evaluated in doses of 200 and 400mg/kg. Significant results were obtained in all activities.

A new Single-Resistance-Controlled (SRC) sinusoidal oscillator using single Voltage Differencing-Differential Input Buffered Amplifier (VD-DIBA), only four passive components (two capacitors and two resistors), is presented. The proposed structure provides the following advantageous features: 1) independent control of oscillation frequency and condition of oscillation and 2) low active and passive sensitivities. The effects of non-idealities of the VD-DIBA on the proposed oscillator have also been investigated. The proposed SRC sinusoidal oscillator has been checked for robustness using Monte-Carlo simulation. SPICE simulation results have been included using 0.35 μm MIETEC technology to confirm the validity of the proposed SRC sinusoidal oscillator.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a growing concern all over the world. With the number of patients rising exponentially with each passing day, HCC is a problem that needs immediate attention. Currently, available treatment strategies focus on controlling the damage after the development of HCC. The options available from chemo- and radio-embolization to surgical resection and transplantation are not efficacious as required due to the complex nature of the disease. Liver regeneration and tissue healing are the subject of great interest today. Interleukin-22 (IL-22) is a cytokine with the ability to regenerate and therefore reverse the injuries caused by a wide range of agents. IL-22 acts via STAT molecule and controls the activity of a wide variety of cell survival and proliferation genes. Experimental data has given a positive insight into the role of IL-22 in inhibition of viral and alcohol-induced hepatocellular carcinoma. A further insight into the nature of IL-22 and the factors that can be manipulated in controlling the activity of IL-22 can help to counter the menace caused by the devastating effects of HCC.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) pathogenesis and treatment outcomes are multifactorial phenomena involving both viral and host factors. This study was designed to determine the role of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor 1(TRAIL-R1) and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) genetic mutations in susceptibility and response to interferon-based therapy of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The detection of TRAIL-R1 rs4242392 and IFN-γ rs2069707 single nucleotide polymorphisms was completed in 118 chronic HCV patients and 96 healthy controls by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphisms polymerase chain reaction. Patients were further categorized into sustained virological responder (SVR) and nonresponder (NR) groups on the basis of their response to interferon-based therapy for HCV infection. Real-time PCR was used for HCV quantification. HCV genotyping was performed by Ohno's method. The results demonstrated that the distribution of the TRAIL-R1 rs4242392TT genotype was significantly higher in the SVR group (78%) compared to the NR group (36%). It showed that chronic HCV patients possessing the TRAIL-R1 rs4242392TT genotype are better responders to interferon-based therapy (p0.05). The prevalence of the TRAIL-R1 rs4242392TT genotype in healthy controls and chronic HCV patients was 56% and 65% respectively. It indicated that there is the TRAIL-R1 rs4242392 genetic variation plays no role in the spontaneous clearance of HCV infection (p0.05). The distribution of IFN-γ rs2069707 was the opposite to TRAIL-R1 rs4242392 prevalence, that is, there was high distribution of the IFN-γ rs2069707GG genotype in patients and healthy controls (p0.05), while the prevalence of IFN-γ rs2069707GG in SVR and NR groups was comparable (p0.05). In conclusion, genetic variation of TRAIL-R1 rs4242392 is linked with response to interferon-based therapy for HCV infection, and genetic variation IFN-γ rs2069707 is associated with natural clearance of HCV infection.

This paper analyzes the power ratio between the directed line of sight configuration links increased by reducing the receiver Field of View (FOV). Line of Sight systems employ high degree of directionality of the transmitter and receiver and uninterrupted LOS. LOS link design reduces multipath distortion and increases power efficiency. The performance of the link relies upon the existence of an uninterrupted LOS path between the transmitter and receiver. This can be quantified by the Rician factor. The Field of View of the receiver is related to the collection area of a lens and the photo detector area. The FOV of the detector is smaller than the radiation incident angle. It is an observation that the concentrator gain or channel gain increases when the value of FOV reduces. In this paper, the line of sight channel gain is calculated at different values of FOV.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) chronically infects almost 2% of world's population. Chronic infection can lead to liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Approximately 10% of the Pakistani population is infected with HCV and type 3 is the most prevalent genotype with 75-90% prevalence. In this study we have developed transiently expressing cell culture based system for the expression of HCV non-structural NS3, NS3-4A and NS4A proteins of genotype 3a. HCV non-structural genes NS3, NS3-4A and NS4A were cloned in to pFLAG-CMV2 and pEGFP-C1vectors. All vectors were transfected separately to Huh-7 cells and their protein expression was analyzed by Western blot and immunofluorescence. All proteins were expressed correctly and in the transfection we have obtained 42-70% efficiency for all clones. This system can be used for the development of novel antiviral strategies to inhibit the viral replication, to study apoptosis pathways induced by HCV, for the evaluation of vaccine candidates and also to study the role of HCV different signaling pathways.

In this paper, we present an indigenously developed automated measurement setup comprising of three modules, using LabVIEW software in CSIR-NPL. The first module deals with differential measurements of any thin films, devices, elements, etc., under different magnetic field environment. Differential measurements provide analysis of individual slope of an I-V curve. The second is to measure the I-V (current-voltage) characteristics of any element or devices. The third module consists of a setup that can be used to measure the I-V characteristics of thin films, semiconductor devices, etc., from room to cryogenics temperature. Some of the results obtained using these softwares had been reported in this paper. Also the setup had been validated. The paper encourages the use of virtual instrumentation for accurate and fast measurements.

Objective: Mutations in HCV nonstructural protein 5A (NS5A) play a vital role in virus resistance. The aim of this study was to develop a correlation between NS5A mutations (genotype 3a) and virological response towards interferon alpha (IFN-α) plus ribavirin therapy. Methods: In this study, which was conducted from 09-02-2013 to 25-11-2015 in the rural area of Province Sindh – Pakistan, total patients’ responses to peg-IFN therapy were investigated. Patients were given peg-IFN therapy for 24 to 48 weeks and categorized as sustained virologic responders (SVR) or non-responders (NR) to HCV infection. HCV NS5A region (2215-2335) of genotype 3a was identified in both responders and non-responders. Results: Twenty-four NR with 24 SVR isolates showed significant mutations within the nonstructural protein 5A region in HCV genotype 3a. The New Zealand (NZL1) (GenBank D17763) differences were observed by using gene. The ISDR mutations for nonstructural protein 5A in non-responders have been reported as a possible explanation of HCV interferon resistance. Conclusion: Based on these results, it is suggested that decreased SVR is caused by the increased mutations in nonstructural protein 5A sequences. When the sequence outside the Protein kinases R binding domain (PKRBD) (2281–2335) was examined, significant differentiations were observed among the SVR and NR classes at few amino acid strains., published version, peerReviewed

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is involved in different liver pathologies worldwide. In contemporary scenario, HCV treatment is lagging behind owing to absence of vaccines against virus. The only consideration for HCV treatment is pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin that results in sustained virological response in 50 % of patients. Two feasible hosts for HCV infection are chimpanzee and humans. For decades, chimpanzees are sole host to study HCV pathogenesis, but their use is limited due to ethical issues. The dilemma behind HCV therapy is the need of sustainable animal models that can help simulate in vivo conditions. We have assembled recent advances in animal models to study liver diseases for targeted therapy.

Relatively few articles have examined the rates of return to education in Pakistan in recent years. This paper uses data from the 2001-02 Pakistan Integrated Household Survey to compute returns from different levels of education. Returns to education are found to be higher for females than for males at the lowest level of schooling. The results presented here support the findings of other researchers. In addition the result have significant policy implications for educators and policymakers.

Hepatitis B is one of the leading causes of liver cancer worldwide and unfortunately the number of people affected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still on the rise. Although the HBV has been known to cause fatal illness since decades but the population effected by this lethal virus have still only a few options for its management. The major treatment strategies include interferons and nucleos(t)ide analogues. These agents have so far produced unsatisfactory results in terms of complete virus eradication. Interferons cannot be used for long term therapy because of their potential side effects. Prolong treatment with nucleos(t)ide analogues has also been reported to cause serious side effects besides the increasing resistance by the virus. The need for new innovative solutions for treatment of HBV has been realized by global research institutes and pharmaceutical industry. Present review focuses in detail on the new ideas that are being transformed into therapeutic tools for use as future therapies in HBV infection. Modern drug designing and screening methods have made the drug discovery process shorter and more reliable. HBV therapeutics will take a new turn in coming years owing to these intelligent drug designing and screening methods. Future therapy of HBV is aiming to include the use of vaccines (both prophylactic and therapeutic), immunomodulators such as antibodies, non-nucleoside antivirals such as RNAi and inhibitors of viral life cycle.

Many studies have used micro-level data in estimating earnings differentials by gender for college professors. None has studied racial earnings differences for faculty except by employing a dummy variable for race in its regression models. The availability of the 1993 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty has made such a study possible. We use a variant of the Oaxaca decomposition technique suggested by Cotton (1988) and Neumark (1988). Although the salaries of black faculty trail those of their white counterparts at the Associate and Full Professor levels, the reverse is true at the Assistant Professor level. The increased emphasis in recent years on increasing diversification in the racial composition of college faculty are possible explanations.

Pakistan is today, a case study in ethnic strife. Carved out of pre- Independence India in 1947, the country is home to five broad ethnic groups: Punjabis (the dominant segment of the population), Balochis, Pathans and Sindhis. Each has a distinctive culture and language. In spite of broad similarities stemming from a common religion (more than 98 percent of the population is Muslim), several factors combine to create dissension and discord. The fifth ethnic group in Pakistan are the Muhajirs (which literally translates to “Immigrants”) who migrated to Pakistan in large numbers from India in 1947. Most of them settled in Karachi. Pakistan’s largest city, a teeming port city with a current population of around 12 million. Charges of favouritism in the award of jobs abound, and the Muhajirs in particular allege that, not being “sons of the soil,” they are singled out for discriminatory treatment. Given that this is the case, it is surprising that no study has been carried out to ascertain if indeed, earnings differences originate from ethnic differences in Pakistan. This study attempts to examine this issue, and thus settle questions that have led to many a pitched argument.

Coronary artery disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus and remains one of the largest burdens on health care resources. Prevalence of asymptomatic CAD in this population is high and poses a diagnostic challenge due to lack of overt clinical complaints. At this time there is no clear algorithm to screen for silent myocardial ischemia in diabetics. In this article we review various diagnostic tools available for assessment and propose a step wise approach for risk stratification in these patients.

No study has recently examined how unions affect professors’ salaries. In the only studies using micro-level data, both Ashraf (1992) and Barbezat (1989) used data from 1977. I update earlier work by using data from 1988. In conjunction with data from 1969 and 1977, the effect of faculty unions over a twenty-year period is examined. While faculty at unionized colleges earned significantly less than their counterparts at nonunion institutions in 1969, they earned marginally more in 1977 and 1988.

This study estimates the earnings differential between the male and female faculty in the United States over a period of two decades (1969-1989). Five micro-level data sets are used for this purpose. A modified version of the widely used Oaxaca model is used in the estimations. It is found that the racial earnings gap narrowed considerably more than did the gender earnings differential over this period. A higher male - female earnings gap at the professor level relative to junior ranks suggests that relatively recent entrants in the academic labour market face a less discriminatory environment than did their predecessors. A controversial finding is that the discriminatory component of the earnings differential between male and female faculty fell between 1969 and 1984, but rose thereafter.

Previous studies of the gender pay gap in the United States have found a narrowing of that gap in the past two decades, but have differed substantially in the reported magnitude of that change. This study calculates gender earnings differences using Panel Study of Income Dynamics data for 1968–89, a longer time series than has been examined by any similar study. It also employs improved statistical techniques, notably an adjustment for selection bias and a recently recommended modification of the most commonly used decomposition technique. The author finds a significant decline both in the portion of the differential due to observed differences between men's and women's characteristics and in the “unexplained” component, which is often attributed to discrimination. The results of one analysis show that over the 1968–89 period the gender pay gap narrowed to as little as 47%.

The current standard of care (SOC) for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the combination of pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN), Ribavirin and protease inhibitor for HCV genotype 1. Nevertheless, this treatment is successful only in 70-80% of the patients. In addition, the treatment is not economical and is of immense physical burden for the subject. It has been established now, that virus-host interactions play a significant role in determining treatment outcomes. Therefore identifying biological markers that may predict the treatment response and hence treatment outcome would be useful. Both IFN and Ribavirin mainly act by modulating the immune system of the patient. Therefore, the treatment response is influenced by genetic variations of the human as well as the HCV genome. The goal of this review article is to summarize the impact of recent scientific advances in this area regarding the understanding of human and HCV genetic variations and their effect on treatment outcomes. Google scholar and PubMed have been used for literature research. Among the host factors, the most prominent associations are polymorphisms within the region of the interleukin 28B (IL28B) gene, but variations in other cytokine genes have also been linked with the treatment outcome. Among the viral factors, HCV genotypes are noteworthy. Moreover, for sustained virological responses (SVR), variations in core, p7, non-structural 2 (NS2), NS3 and NS5A genes are also important. However, all considered single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL28B and viral genotypes are the most important predictors for interferon based therapy of HCV infection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most important problem across the world. It causes acute and chronic liver infection. Different approaches are in use to inhibit HCV infection, including small organic compounds, siRNA, shRNA and peptide inhibitors. This review article summarizes the current and future therapies for HCV infection. PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for articles published in English to give an insight into the current inhibitors against this life-threatening virus. HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitors and nucleoside/nucleotide inhibitors of NS5B polymerase are presently in the most progressive stage of clinical development, but they are linked with the development of resistance and viral breakthrough. Boceprevir and telaprevir are the two most important protease inhibitors that have been approved recently for the treatment of HCV infection. These two drugs are now the part of standard-of-care treatment (SOC). There are also many other drugs in phase III of clinical development. When exploring the various host-cell-targeting compounds, the most hopeful results have been demonstrated by cyclophilin inhibitors. The current SOC treatment of HCV infection is Peg-interferon, ribavirin and protease inhibitors (boceprevir or telaprevir). The future treatment of this life-threatening disease must involve combinations of therapies hitting multiple targets of HCV and host factors. It is strongly expected that the near future, treatment of HCV infection will be a combination of direct-acting agents (DAA) without the involvement of interferon to eliminate its side effects.

Most studies that have examined the effect of race on earnings in the United States have used aggregated data. This often obscures as much as it reveals.This article computes white-black earnings differentials for a number of relatively narrow groups, and finds that the earnings gap varies considerably across them. By using recent data from 1987, the study also updates earlier estimates of racial differentials. The use of Cotton and Neumark's modified version of the widely used Oaxaca technique, and Heckman's corrections for selectivity bias strengthen the methodological underpinnings of the model, and constitute improvement over previous work.

Frequent “crashes” of the stock market reported during the year 1994 suggest that the Karachi bourse is rapidly converting into a volatile market. This cannot be viewed as a positive sign for this developing market of South Asia. Though heavy fluctuations in stock prices are not an unusual phenomena and it has been observed at almost all big and small exchanges of the world. Focusing on the reasons for such fluctuations is instructive and likely to have important policy implications. Proponents of the efficient market hypothesis argue that changes in stock prices are mainly dependent on the arrival of information regarding the expected returns from the stock. However, Fama (1965), French (1980), and French and Rolls (1986) observed that volatility is to some extent caused by trading itself. Portfolio insurance schemes also have the potential to increase volatility. Brady Commission’s Report provides useful insights into the effect of portfolio insurance schemes. It is interesting to note that many analysts consider the so-called “crashes” of Karachi stock market as a deliberate move to bring down prices. An attempt is made in this study to examine the effect of trading on the volatility of stock prices at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). Findings of the study will help understand the mechanism of the rise and fall of stock prices at the Karachi bourse.

Background: There is insufficient research on the relationship of oral health and coronary artery disease (CAD) from developing countries, such as Pakistan. This study observes the status of oral health in the CAD population. Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 145 cases and 145 controls. Otherwise healthy patients with CAD (cases) and individuals free from previous/current history of CAD (controls), having ‡14 remaining teeth, were examined for oral health status through missing teeth, plaque index (PI), and community periodontal index (CPI). Student t test, x2 test, and multivariate regression analysis were applied at significance level of 95% (P £0.05) to compare study parameters between cases and controls. Results: A significant difference between cases and controls was observed in this study sample with respect to missingteeth(P=0.027)andperiodontalparametersofPIandCPI (P

This paper tracks white-black earnings differentials between 1967 and 1986 using panel data. Separate estimates are computed for males and females. Corrections for selectivity bias have been made, and Neumark's modified version of the Oaxaca procedure is used to derive estimates of the earnings gap. The finding of secular decline in the white-black earnings gap is re-established.