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Introduction: Chemotherapy, postchemotherapy retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (pcRPLND), and metastasectomy remain the standard of care for the management of advanced nonseminomatous germ cell tumor (NSGCT). Methods: We retrospectively studied 73 patients who had pcRPLND at a single tertiary-care center (2003-2022). Surgical and clinicopathological features and oncological outcomes are presented. Results: The mean age was 28.27 years (15-48). Three-fourths had Stage III disease at diagnosis. International Germ Cell Cancer Collaborative Group risk stratification was 54.54% and 21.21% in intermediate risk, and poor risk, respectively. Sixty-two patients had Standard, 7 had Salvage and 4 underwent Desperation pcRPLND. Eleven patients (15.06%) required adjunctive procedures. Thirteen patients (17.8%) had ≥ class 3 Clavien--Dindo complications and postoperative mortality occurred in 5 (6.8%) patients. The histopathologies (HPE) of the pcRPLNDs were necrosis, teratoma, and viable tumor in 39.7%, 45.2%, and 15.1%, respectively. Seven patients underwent metastasectomy. An 85% size reduction in the size of RPLN predicted necrosis. There was 71.4% concordance between pcRPLND and metastasectomy HPEs. The median follow-up was 26.72 months (inter-quartile range -- 13.25-47.84). The 2-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate was 93% (95% confidence interval [CI]-83%-97%) and the overall survival (OS) rate was 90% (95% CI-80%-95%). This is the largest series of pcRPLND for NSGCT in India to our knowledge. Conclusion: Although most of the cohort belonged to stage III, an RFS and OS rate of >90% at 2 years was achieved. We believe that successful management of postchemotherapy residual masses in NSGCT is contingent on the availability of multidisciplinary expertise and is therefore best done at tertiary-care referral centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common sarcoma among children and accounts for 20% of soft tissue sarcomas. In children, close to 50% of rhabdomyosarcomas arise in the head and neck. RMS of the oral cavity is rare and is seen in only 10-12% of all head and neck lesions and the involvement of the jaws is extremely rare. Histopathologically, the various types are pleomorphic type, botryoid type, spindle cell type, embryonal, and alveolar type of RMS. The alveolar variant accounts for almost 30% of all rhabdomyosarcomas and tends to arise in patients of the age group 10-25 years. We present a case of orofacial RMS in a young adult who was referred to our Institution for the management of an odontogenic lesion of the maxilla. The clinicopathological aspects and poor survival rate as a consequence of delayed diagnosis are discussed. We dentists may misdiagnose it as an odontogenic tumour due to its location in the oral and maxillofacial region. Careful clinical history and examination and investigations may help to narrow down the diagnosis. Expert opinion and referrals to oral pathologists and oncologists are essential to arrive at early diagnosis and to initiate the treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The chances of extrusion of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) are quite high if apical barrier is not present in immature pulpless permanent teeth. Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) enriched with platelets and growth factors serves to accelerate the wound healing of periapical lesion in immature pulpless permanent teeth and also serves as internal matrix to condense MTA. Aim: The aim of the present study was to comprehensively review the clinical success of MTA+PRF in healing of periapical lesions in immature pulpless permanent teeth. Materials and Methods: An electronic search for systematic review was conducted in Pubmed/Medline (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), Cochrane (www.cochrane.org), Scopus (www.scopus.com) databases upto 15th January 2020 related to the healing of periapical lesions in permanent teeth with immature apices when combination of MTA+PRF was used. A sample of 10 relevant studies and case reports were identified in our search out of 65. The sampling method was simple random technique. The studies and case reports with Randomised Controlled Trials(RCTs), Invitro studies, Case reports and animal studies in healing of periapical lesion were included in our comprehensive systematic review. Results: The search showed that the combination of MTA+PRF showed faster and definite periapical lesion healing in immature permanent teeth. The follow-up period was also recorded in all the relevant studies and case reports. Conclusion: Acclerated bone filling was seen in healing of periapical leions when MTA+PRF was used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dear Editor, Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is defined as a disorder of vision related to brain injury or dysfunction not attributable to ocular or anterior visual pathway disorder.[[1]] It has been reported to be one of the commonest causes of childhood visual impairment.[[2]] A retrospective study (Institutional Review Board no 12602, dated 29.1.2020) was carried out in children who visited our clinic over 15 months in a tertiary care hospital who were diagnosed as having profound visual impairment due to CVI. The results of this study indicate that vision stimulation strategies administered with good compliance, spectacles prescribed for hypoaccommodation, and healthy optic disc were associated with better visual outcomes. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Evidence-based practice requires clinical trials to be performed. In India, if any clinical trial has to be performed, it has to be registered with clinical trial registry of India. Studies have shown that the report of clinical trials is poor in dentistry . Hence, the present study has been conducted to assess the type and trends of clinical trials being undertaken in dentistry in India over a span of 6 years. Methodology: All the clinical trials which were registered with the Central Trial Registry of India (CTRI) (www.ctri.nic.in) from January 1, 2007 to March 3, 2014 were evaluated using the keyword "dental." Following information were collected for each of the clinical trials obtained from the search; number of centres (single center/multicentric), type of the institution undertaking the research (government/private/combined), study (observational/interventional), study design (randomized/single blinded/double-blinded), type of health condition, type of participants (healthy/patients), sponsors (academia/commercial), phase of clinical trial (Phase 1/2/3/4), publication details (published/not published), whether it was a postgraduate thesis or not and prospective or retrospective registration of clinical trials, methodological quality (method of randomization, allocation concealment). Descriptive statistics was used for analysis of various categories. Trend analysis was done to assess the changes over a period of time. Results: The search yielded a total of 84 trials of which majority of them were single centered. Considering the study design more than half of the registered clinical trials were double-blinded (47/84 [56%]). With regard to the place of conducting a trial, most of the trials were planned to be performed in private hospitals (56/84 [66.7%]). Most (79/84, 94.1%) of the clinical trials were interventional while only 5/84 (5.9%) were observational. Majority (65/84, 77.4%) of the registered clinical trials were recruiting patients while the rest were being done in healthy participants. From 2011, some of the postgraduate thesis trials had also been registered (2011-8; 2012-8; 2013-13; 2014-6). Inadequacy in reporting the method of randomization and allocation concealment was observed in 37/67 (55.2%) and 31/67 (46.2%) clinical trials respectively. A considerable number of postgraduate theses was also registered with CTRI in dentistry and majority of the clinical trials despite being completed are not yet published. Conclusion: The number of clinical trials in dentistry are low in India, and more focus should be placed by dental investigators regarding the reporting standards. Furthermore, researchers and trial sponsors should aim at publication of the research findings so that it is made publically available for use. A clear-cut need exists for an increase in both the quantity and quality of clinical trials in dentistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pilot studies play a pivotal role in deciding whether a main study can be undertaken thereby helping in appropriate framing of time, cost and study methods. However, they cannot be employed for testing a hypothesis and are underpowered in detecting clinically significant differences between the treatment arms. Literature from the west has shown serious lacunae on the part of researchers in reporting pilot studies. The present study assessed the reporting quality of pilot studies published from India. Materials and Methods: All the journal articles with a pilot study design published in Indian Journals between January and December 2013 were identified through PubMed search and were assessed for the following: Reason for undertaking the pilot study; report about intention of further work; mention about sample size calculation; statement on other studies evaluating the same hypothesis published elsewhere; whether any hypothesis was tested in the present study; use of inferential statistics including the total number of statistical analyses performed and whether confidence intervals were reported; post-hoc power calculation; application of randomization and/or blinding; total number of study participants and presence of a control group. Results: A total of 93 articles were considered in the present study. None of these reported reasons for undertaking the present pilot study and intention to carry of carrying out further work depending on their results. Also, none of them discussed the feasibility of conducting such studies in the given set-up. A total of 69/93 (67.7%) studies tested a hypothesis and had employed at least one of the statistical tests to infer whether any significant difference exist between various groups. None of the 93 articles mentioned confidence intervals and calculation of the sample size despite all mentioning the presence of previous studies evaluating a similar hypothesis. Similarly, none of these studies mentioned post-hoc analysis of power and median (range) of times of statistical analyses performed includes 5 (0-57). Conclusion: Pilot studies have been poorly reported in Indian biomedical journals, and more attention is required from all the stakeholders of research; researchers, peer reviewers and journal editors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Rationale: The precise fit of prosthesis depends on the impression materials and the technique used. Addition silicone impression materials being the user-friendly material are used in monophase and two-phase techniques. Considering the paucity of data on the effectiveness of intraoral delivery tip (IODT) on void, tear and bubble formation using monophase impression technique in stock tray and two-phase impression technique in custom tray the present study was initiated. Materials and Methods: A total of 50 patients requiring single complete veneer crowns were enrolled. Monophase and two-phase impressions with and without IODT were made. Evaluation of the impression were made for tears, voids, and bubbles and alpha, beta, delta scores were given. Results: A significant reduction in the total number of voids was observed with two-phase technique either with or without IODT. No significant differences were observed in the proportion of overall evaluation into alpha, beta and delta between monophase and two-phase with and without IODT. No significant association was seen in the overall evaluation between the two groups (monophase and two-phase) as compared using Chi-square test for independency and a trend in association between overall evaluation as tested using Chi-square for linear trend analysis. Conclusion: Two-phase impression technique with the use of IODT produced decreased number of voids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcifying epithelial odontogenic tumor (CEOT), also known as Pindborg tumor, is a rare odontogenic epithelial neoplasm. So far, nearly 200 cases have been reported in the literature. We are reporting a case of CEOT in a 42-year-old male patient with painless bony swelling in the mandible. The clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic features are discussed with relevant references. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented regarding the mandatory requirement of audio-visual recording of the informed consent of the participant of the clinical trials.

Obtaining negative or contradicting results, whereas conducting a study has always been overlooked as inadequacies on the part of the researcher. Many-a-times, negative results are arrived at even after conducting the study with great care and effort. This cannot be considered, a flaw, always. Contradicting results may be arrived at because of various reasons and should be considered and published in order to arrive at a definitive result. Various journals are available which publish these contradicting results exclusively. It is the duty of the researcher to know in detail the cause and effect of these, considering the pros and cons. This article gives a bird's eye view of when, where and how to manage negative or contradicting results of a study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the incident of redundant publication in biomedical fields. It mentions the study that assesses the duplication of articles in pharmacology journals. The need for authors to be aware on such case and strengthen their efforts in reviewing their works to eliminate its occurrence is also emphasized.