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In tropical nations, snakebite envenomation is a significant public health issue with negative human and social effects. This is due to three factors: 1) more species of the most hazardous snakes are present; 2) emergency medical assistance is not readily available; and 3) inadequate health care. The problems caused by snakebite envenomation have been partially resolved by immunotherapy. An extensive collection of medicinal herbs is recognized to have antivenomous properties in traditional medicine. However, very few species have undergone scientific investigation, and even fewer have had their active components separated and structurally and functionally defined. In this work, the anti-venom potential of hot and cold aqueous extracts from Pittosporum neelgherrense is evaluated using an in-vitro model. The experimental results showed that 4H-pyran-4-one, 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-(11.20), 1-Undecanol (16.38), Lauryl acetate (18.25), and Cyclotridecane (19.14) were phytochemical substances whose chemical structures were recognized by GCMS. The Direct and Indirect hemorrhagic activity was found to be completely neutralized by P. neelgherrense extract (44.61% hot plant extract & 55.38% cold plant extract) and the zone (2.4 mm), respectively. The neutralization of venoms was indicated by the zone (0.5-0.9 cm) of hydrolysis production of proteolytic activity. Additionally, the results of the gelatine liquefaction study demonstrated that clot formation was not triggered by venom at low concentrations (50:50) but was instead brought on by higher concentrations. The present study suggested that the neutralization of venom by hot water extracts of P. neelgherrense is a potentially therapeutic application., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Stainless steel (SS) orthodontic brackets may have varying corrosion resistance when used with mouthwashes during orthodontic treatment. Studying their effects on orthodontic brackets will be beneficial., Aim: The study's objective was to analyze the surface characteristics of SS orthodontic brackets and their resistance to corrosion, exposed to chlorhexidine and povidone-iodine mouth rinses - an in vitro and in vivo study., Materials and Methods: The in vitro test: MBT 0.022" slot SS orthodontic brackets were immersed in three groups - Group A - Modified Meyer-Fusayama artificial saliva (AS), Group B - Chlorhexidine, and Group C - Povidone-iodine mouthwash. The in vivo test: Brackets were conventionally bonded on the patient's teeth and divided into Group I - control group, Group II - patients used chlorhexidine, and Group III used povidone-iodine mouth rinse. The corrosion resistance and surface characteristics of SS brackets were determined using scanning electron microscope (SEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy., Results: Higher corrosion resistance was obtained for brackets immersed in chlorhexidine mouth rinse. The polarization resistance value of the orthodontic SS bracket was 109 MΩ, 1383 MΩ, and 769 MΩ immersed in AS, chlorhexidine, and povidone-iodine mouth rinse, respectively. After surface chemical analysis, XPS data showed the largest intensity peak of metallic chromium (CrO) fresh sample and in the sample immersed in chlorhexidine mouthwash. According to SEM, brackets immersed in chlorhexidine showed a relatively smooth surface., Conclusion: In this study, chlorhexidine was found to be less corrosive followed by povidone-iodine., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Contemporary Clinical Dentistry.)

Objective: To assess the utility of oropharyngeal crowding indicators as predictors of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)., Methods: STOP-BANG Questionnaire was administered to 145 adults. Of the 95 with high OSA risk, 42 underwent polysomnography. Intraoral space was assessed using modified Mallampati (MMP) and Friedman Scoring (FS) System., Results: Twenty-four were found to have OSA by polysomnography. Most with low risk (86%) had only Class I MMP. Whereas Class III and IV were seen in 37.9% and 17.9% patients with high risk ( p  < .001) and 50% and 20.8% patients with OSA ( p  < .831), respectively. All with low risk had Stage 1 FS. Stages 3 and 4 were observed in 27.4% and 1.1% in the high-risk group ( p  < .001) and in 29.2% and 4.2% with OSA ( p  < .092), respectively., Conclusion: In limited settings, either MMP or FS scores along with the STOP-BANG questionnaire can be used to diagnose OSA.

Objective: We assessed the effectiveness of a modified audio-tactile performance (ATP) technique with braille (ATPb) on the oral health statuses of visually-impaired children., Study Design: Ninety visually-impaired institutionalized children received oral hygiene instructions using audio (AM), ATP or ATPb techniques. Plaque scores were assessed at baseline and after reinforcement and non-reinforcement periods., Results: In the totally visually-impaired, mean reductions in plaque scores in the ATPb, ATP and AM groups during the reinforcement period were 1.119 ± 0.260, 0.654 ± 0.239 and 0.237 ± 0.255, respectively (p <0.001), worsening to 0.107 ± 0.160, 0.083 ± 0.193 and -0.208 ± 0.267 during the non-reinforcement period (p <0.001), before culminating at 6 months at 1.227 ± 0.261, 0.737 ± 0.317 and 0.029 ± 0.108 (p <0.001). In partially visually-impaired children, reductions during the reinforcement period were 0.934 ± 0.279, 0.762 ± 0.270 and 0.118 ± 0.237, respectively, dropping to 0.176 ± 0.166, 0.083 ± 0.169 and -0.128 ± 0.114 without reinforcement and culminating at 1.109 ± 0.258, 0.845 ± 0.292 and -0.010 ± 0.226 (p <0.001). There were significant inter-group differences during the three periods (p <0.001), except in the ATP and ATPb groups during the non-reinforcement period for totally impaired (p = 0.157) and during reinforcement (p = 0.155) and non-reinforcement (p = 0.051) periods for partially impaired children., Conclusions: All three techniques were successful when reinforced periodically. However, only ATP and ATPb were successful during periods without reinforcement. The modified audio-tactile performance technique with braille (ATPb) was most effective, allowing visually-impaired children to retain oral hygiene information without intervention.

Current transportation management systems rely on physical sensors that use traffic volume and queue-lengths. These physical sensors incur significant capital and maintenance costs. The ubiquity of mobile devices has made possible access to accurate and cheap traffic delay data. However, current traffic signal control algorithms do not accommodate the use of such data. In this paper, we propose a novel parsimonious model to utilize real-time crowdsourced delay data for traffic signal management. We demonstrate the versatility and effectiveness of the data and the proposed model on seven different intersections across three cities and two countries. This signal system provides an opportunity to leapfrog from physical sensors to low-cost, reliable crowdsourced data., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The spread of traffic jams in urban networks has long been viewed as a complex spatio-temporal phenomenon that often requires computationally intensive microscopic models for analysis purposes. In this study, we present a framework to describe the dynamics of congestion propagation and dissipation of traffic in cities using a simple contagion process, inspired by those used to model infectious disease spread in a population. We introduce two macroscopic characteristics for network traffic dynamics, namely congestion propagation rate β and congestion dissipation rate μ. We describe the dynamics of congestion spread using these new parameters embedded within a system of ordinary differential equations, similar to the well-known susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model. The proposed contagion-based dynamics are verified through an empirical multi-city analysis, and can be used to monitor, predict and control the fraction of congested links in the network over time.

Road traffic congestion continues to manifest and propagate in cities around the world. The recent technological advancements in intelligent traveler information have a strong influence on the route choice behavior of drivers by enabling them to be more flexible in selecting their routes. Measuring traffic congestion in a city, understanding its spatial dispersion, and investigating whether the congestion patterns are stable (temporally, such as on a day-to-day basis) are critical to developing effective traffic management strategies. In this study, with the help of Google Maps API, we gather traffic speed data of 29 cities across the world over a 40-day period. We present generalized congestion and network stability metrics to compare congestion levels between these cities. We find that (a) traffic congestion is related to macroeconomic characteristics such as per capita income and population density of these cities, (b) congestion patterns are mostly stable on a day-to-day basis, and (c) the rate of spatial dispersion of congestion is smaller in congested cities, i.e. the spatial heterogeneity is less sensitive to increase in delays. This study compares the traffic conditions across global cities on a common datum using crowdsourced data which is becoming readily available for research purposes. This information can potentially assist practitioners to tailor macroscopic network congestion and reliability management policies. The comparison of different cities can also lead to benchmarking and standardization of the policies that have been used to date., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Autonomous vehicles are being viewed with scepticism in their ability to improve safety and the driving experience. A critical issue with automated driving at this stage of its development is that it is not yet reliable and safe. When automated driving fails, or is limited, the autonomous mode disengages and the drivers are expected to resume manual driving. For this transition to occur safely, it is imperative that drivers react in an appropriate and timely manner. Recent data released from the California trials provide compelling insights into the current factors influencing disengagements of autonomous mode. Here we show that the number of accidents observed has a significantly high correlation with the autonomous miles travelled. The reaction times to take control of the vehicle in the event of a disengagement was found to have a stable distribution across different companies at 0.83 seconds on average. However, there were differences observed in reaction times based on the type of disengagements, type of roadway and autonomous miles travelled. Lack of trust caused by the exposure to automated disengagements was found to increase the likelihood to take control of the vehicle manually. Further, with increased vehicle miles travelled the reaction times were found to increase, which suggests an increased level of trust with more vehicle miles travelled. We believe that this research would provide insurers, planners, traffic management officials and engineers fundamental insights into trust and reaction times that would help them design and engineer their systems., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.