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Background and Aim Dental plaque is key in periodontitis development making plaque control crucial for successful periodontal therapy. Brushing alone often falls short in removing all plaque highlighting the importance of interdental cleaning aids for maintaining good oral hygiene. While many studies have examined dental professionals oral health behaviours few have focused on their knowledge and use of interdental aids. Therefore this study was undertaken with the objective of assessing the knowledge attitude and practice of interdental aids among dentists in Bangalore city.Methods A questionnaire-based study was conducted involving 100 subjects comprising 24 male and 76 female dentists. Data collection was facilitated through an online Google form. The questionnaire comprised 15 questions with five questions each focusing on knowledge attitude and practice. Chi square test of independence was employed to examine the distribution of responses to all questions.Results The average knowledge scores for male and female dentists were 4.83plusmn0.483 and 4.51plusmn0.931 respectively. Similarly the mean attitude scores were 4.08plusmn1.1 and 3.29plusmn1.198 while the mean practice scores were 3.667plusmn1.37 and 3.355plusmn1.4 for male and female dentists respectively. Notably there was a statistically significant difference P 0.005 in attitude towards interdental aids between the two groups.Conclusion The investigation into oral hygiene aids among dentists unveiled a predominantly sound grasp and implementation of interdental aids despite the identification of knowledge gaps in specific areas. The practice regarding interdental aids should be improved. Dentists should adhere to recommended oral self-care practices and set an example for their patients.

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a major public health problem in certain states of India associated with morbidity and mortality in children. The characteristics and clinical features of SCD are different in India as compared to those in developed countries with considerable clinical diversity. AIMS: This study aimed to describe clinical features in patients with SCD at the time of diagnosis and first visit. SETTING AND DESIGN: Department of Pediatrics at tertiary care hospital or Sickle-Thal Society Amravati,India (Both Collectively called as Unit). Design: Cross sectional Study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All SCD patients 0–18 years, attending unit from October 1, 2019, to March 31, 2021, were included in the study. Data collected were based on history, clinical examination, and review of old records. The sample size was 153. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Data was analyzed by using software statistical packages in social sciences (SPSS) version 16. Mean, standard deviation (SD), proportions were calculated and Chi -square test of significance was used. RESULTS: Of 157 SCD patients (145 families), 90 (57.32%) were males and 67 (42.68%) females. The mean age of diagnosis and unit visit was 53.59 and 115.74 months, respectively. At diagnosis, paleness (68%), pain (54%), and fever (45%) were common complaints with other nonspecific complaints. Pallor (97.45%) and palpable spleen (53.90%) were common signs at the first unit visit. The spleen was palpable in 65 (42.48%) even after 5 years. CONCLUSION: SCD patients had paleness, pain, and fever as the most common complaints. Palpable spleen was seen even after 5 years of age. Early suspicion is key for diagnosis.

Abstract Background Home death is one of the key performance indicators of the quality of palliative care service delivery. Such a measure has direct implications on everyone involved at the end of life of a dying patient, including a patient’s carers and healthcare professionals. There are no studies that focus on the views of the team of integrated inpatient and community palliative care service staff on the issue of preference of place of death of their patients. This study addresses that gap. Methods Thirty-eight participants from five disciplines in two South Australian (SA) public hospitals working within a multidisciplinary inpatient and community integrated specialist palliative care service, participated in audio-recorded focus groups and one-on-one interviews. Data were transcribed and thematically analysed. Results Two major and five minor themes were identified. The first theme focused on the role of healthcare professionals in decisions regarding place of death, and consisted of two minor themes, that healthcare professionals act to: a) mediate conversations between patient and carer; and b) adjust expectations and facilitate informed choice. The second theme, healthcare professionals’ perspectives on the preference of place of death, comprised three minor themes, identifying: a) the characteristics of the preferred place of death; b) home as a romanticised place of death; and c) the implications of idealising home death. Conclusion Healthcare professionals support and actively influence the decision-making of patients and family regarding preference of place of death whilst acting to protect the relationship between the patient and their family/carer. Further, according to healthcare professionals, home is neither always the most preferred nor the ideal place for death. Therefore, branding home death as the ideal and hospital death as a failure sets up families/carers to feel guilty if a home death is not achieved and undermines the need for and appropriateness of death in institutionalised settings.

Wetland acts as an important habitat that supports a massive diversity of organisms, especially waterbirds. We examined waterbird diversity and habitat use in relation to abiotic factors at Mavoor and Vazhakkad, two major wetlands in southwestern India. The study was carried out from 2015 December to 2016 November. A total of 50 species from Vazhakkad and 40 species from Mavoor wetlands were recorded; 12 species were exclusive to Vazhakkad and three to Mavoor. Among them, 16 species were winter visitors in Vazhakkad and nine in Mavoor. Highest diversity of waterbirds was observed in the agroecosystem of Vazhakkad. Physicochemical variables were recorded for the two wetlands, and their effect on waterbird richness, abundance and diversity were correlated. Multivariate analysis showed the variation in diversity between the two wetlands (MANOVA: Wilks’ λ = 0.933, F = 3.69, P = 0.006) and habitat wetland interaction (MANOVA: Wilks’ λ = 0.694, F = 10.25, P = 0.00). Nonlinear regression analyses were carried out between the evolution of the ecological index in the two wetlands separately. The present study could determine the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on wetland function from this study.

Robust and reliable recognition are indeed necessary requirements for optical character recognition systems. Distortions present in the document image and the pre-processing errors cause the optical character recognition system to apply rejection policies to achieve reliable recognition in computer assisted applications. The objective of this paper is to implement a robust and reliable character recognition system for Malayalam language. Random Fourier features classified with Regularized Least Square loss function based Regression classifier can approximate the non-linear kernel machines. Baseline Malayalam character recognition based on Random Fourier features and Regularized Least Square regression classifier is implemented in this paper. Up on this baseline character recognition system, rejection strategies are applied and are experimented with real world document images. An improvement in recognition accuracy is achieved with the simulated Malayalam character recognition system at the cost of rejecting character images having low classification score.

Background: Periodontal diseases are considered to be the most prevalent chronic infectious disease of the gums. Aim: The present study was conducted to assess the awareness and practices on oral hygiene and its association with the sociodemographic factors among patients attending the general Outpatient Department (OPD) of the Faculty of Dental Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, India. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 526 patients attending the general OPD of the Faculty of Dental Sciences, BHU, Varanasi, India, from September 2017 to November 2017. The study tool was a predesigned and pretested semi-structured schedule. Data entry was done in Microsoft Excel sheets and analyzed using SPSS 16 (SPSS Inc. Released 2007, SPSS for Windows Version 16.0., SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Descriptive statistics and Chi-square analysis were used. Results: About 87.1% of the participants used a toothbrush with toothpaste as a method of cleaning their teeth; 21.7% brushed their teeth twice daily; and very few were using floss or other interdental cleaning aids. About 52.5% of the people visited the dentist due to pain and only 21.7% visited for checkup in the past 1–5 years. Most of the people admitted to the fact that oral health affects general health. Conclusion: Oral health awareness and practices among the study population were poor and need improvement.

Introduction: Berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid isolated from the Berberis aristata, has been shown to display a wide array of pharmacological activities (hypoglycaemic and hypolipidemic). Aim: The present study was designed to investigate whether these pharmacological properties translate into the cardioprotective effects of Berberine in the setting of diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: Necessary approval from the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee was taken for the study. Experimental diabetes was produced with single dose of Streptozotocin (STZ): 45mg/kg ip and myocardial infarction was induced by administering Isoproterenol (ISP): 85mg/kg, sc to rats on 35th & 36th day. After the confirmation of diabetes on 7th day (>200mg/dl), Berberine (100 mg/kg) was administered orally to experimental rats from day 8 and continued for 30 days thereafter. Various anti-diabetic (Glucose, HbA1c), cardioprotective (CPK-MB), metabolic (lipid profile), safety {liver function (SGPT, kidney function (Creatinine)} and histopathological indices of injury were evaluated in Healthy Control, Diabetic Control and Berberine treated groups. Results: Administration of STZ-ISP resulted in a significant decrease in body weight (p

Background. The incidence of metabolic syndrome co-existing with diabetes mellitus is on the rise globally. Objective. The present study was designed to develop a unique animal model that will mimic the pathological features seen in individuals with diabetes and metabolic syndrome, suitable for pharmacological screening of drugs. Materials and Methods. A combination of High-Fat Diet (HFD) and low dose of streptozotocin (STZ) at 30, 35, and 40 mg/kg was used to induce metabolic syndrome in the setting of diabetes mellitus in Wistar rats. Results. The 40 mg/kg STZ produced sustained hyperglycemia and the dose was thus selected for the study to induce diabetes mellitus. Various components of metabolic syndrome such as dyslipidemia (increased triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and decreased HDL cholesterol), diabetes mellitus (blood glucose, HbA1c, serum insulin, and C-peptide), and hypertension {systolic blood pressure} were mimicked in the developed model of metabolic syndrome co-existing with diabetes mellitus. In addition to significant cardiac injury, atherogenic index, inflammation (hs-CRP), decline in hepatic and renal function were observed in the HF-DC group when compared to NC group rats. The histopathological assessment confirmed presence of edema, necrosis, and inflammation in heart, pancreas, liver, and kidney of HF-DC group as compared to NC. Conclusion. The present study has developed a unique rodent model of metabolic syndrome, with diabetes as an essential component.

ABSTRACT: Aims: Extended orthodontic treatment leads to a number of negative outcomes, including a higher chance of dental cavities, gingival recession, open gingival embrasure gaps, and root resorption. It has been stated that micro osteoperforations (MOPs) use the biology of the body to speed up tooth movement. Our objective was to investigate how MOPs with micro implants affected the tooth movement rate. Methods: A parallel arm clinical trial at Noorul Islam College of Dental Sciences involved 36 maxillary quadrants from 18 patients aged 14–20 with class I malocclusion requiring maxillary first premolar extraction. The left quadrant served as a control, and the right as the experimental side. Following alignment with the MBT bracket system, MOPs with mini implants were conducted on the experimental side before retraction. This process was repeated every 28 days for three months. Tooth movement on both sides was measured and analyzed using SPSS 26.0. Result: The rate of retraction did not differ statistically significantly between the experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, the mean rate of retraction was 5.77 ± 0.71 mm, while in the control group, it was 5.71 ± 0.73 mm. Conclusion: Micro osteoperforations (MOPs) used in the study didn't facilitate an enhanced retraction rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has emerged as a cornerstone in veterinary regenerative medicine. The present study evaluated the impact of the operator on the qualitative and quantitative features of non-activated PRP derived from canine whole blood. Blood was collected in anticoagulant acid citrate dextrose from twelve healthy adult dogs and PRP was prepared according to the double-spin method. Both operators followed an identical protocol and utilized the same equipment for PRP preparation from the pooled blood samples. The resulting PRP underwent characterization, classification and coding based on minimum reporting standards. The consistency and internal reliability of different parameters were also assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient and Cronbach's alpha values. Variables such as white blood cell (WBC) concentration, relative WBC composition and mean platelet volume (MPV) showed poor reliability, and WBC concentration and MPV also had unacceptable internal consistency. Significant differences were observed in several qualitative and quantitative parameters of the prepared PRP, highlighting the influence of the operator even when the same protocol and equipment were used. Our study has direct implications to regenerative medicine, reinforcing the urgency to set minimum requirements for reporting PRP in research studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ocular squamous cell carcinoma affects the equine eye and adnexa. A 12- year-old female non-descript horse was presented with a history of progressively developed, highly inflamed protruding mass with reddish discharge on the right eye noticed since six months. Detailed history from the owner revealed that the lesion initially started as a protrusion from the eyelid and later progressed to an ulcerating mass. Based on the history and clinical findings, the condition was tentatively diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. The physiological and haematological parameters were within the normal limits. The horse was premedicated with xylazine at a dose rate of 1.1 mg/kg body weight and butorphanol at a dose rate of 0.2 mg/ kg body weight. General anaesthesia was induced and maintained with ketamine hydrochloride at a dose rate of 2.2 mg/kg body weight. Additionally, retrobulbar nerve block was induced with 2 % lignocaine hydrochloride. After establishing a sterile surgical field, orbital exenteration was performed. Histopathological examination of stained tissue sections confirmed the condition as squamous cell carcinoma. The horse made an uneventful recovery without any recurrence after nine months of follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nomiine bees of the genera Hoplonomia Ashmead and Crocisaspidia Ashmead occurring in India are reviewed. Specimens were collected from Kerala. Biology and distribution of five species are summarized. An identification key to Hoplonomia and Crocisaspidia of India is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]