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Aim: To evaluate the upcoming choices in dental post-graduation and career inclination among female dental students in Karachi. Study design: Descriptive cross sectional study. Place and duration of study: Bhitai Medical & Dental College and Jinnah Medical & Dental College, Karachi from 1st January 2019 to 30th June 2019. Methodology: A structured questionnaire comprising of 9 questions regarding subject and study was distributed to female dental students. Out of 500 questionnaires distributed, 370 responses were received. Results: The average age of the participants was 22.07±1.91 years. There were 81.8% females and 18.2% males. Most of the participants were studying in final years i.e. 31.2%. Three hundred and thirty six (91.1%) intended to pursue specialization in their career. 65% of the participants felt that they had sufficient specialty exposure and encouragement from their dental school to be able to decide which career pathway to choose. Talent in the field 32.2%, further studying 19% and financial reasons 15.2% were the commonest factors which were most likely to affect the decision on specialization. Specialization is too expensive 31.7% and too time consuming 35.2% were the reasons where participants thought that they would be discouraged to do specialization. Post-graduation from abroad, job in public sectors and working in private dental practice were responded opinion regarding about future career plan selection. Conclusion: Most students had an inclination towards oral and maxillofacial pathology, orthodontics and restorative dentistry. The majority of undergraduate students having no intentions to specialize is that they thought it was too time consuming. Key words: Postgraduate, Dental specialty, Career inclination

The ability to estimate and quantify biothiols in biological fluids is very significant for attaining a detailed understanding of biothiols-related pathological diseases. Most of the developed methods for biothiols detection are not suitable for this purpose owing to their low sensitivity, poor selectivity, and long experimental procedures. In this study, a novel and simple structure electrochemical probe has been synthesized for the first time for the selective determination of biothiols. The developed probe is based on using 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl moiety (DNBS) as a selective recognition moiety for biothiols. The electrochemical probe was successfully fabricated through a facile one-step reaction between 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl chloride (DNBS-Cl) and

Objective: To determine the pattern of occlusal contacts in lateral jaw position of the mandibles in different of molar classification. Study Design: Observational study. Setting: Study carried out at Department of Prosthodontics; Institute of Dentistry, LUMHS, Jamshoro, Pakistan from June 2020 to December 2020. Materials and Methods: Subjects having normal Angle’s class 1 occlusal alignment, both male and females aged between 20-30 years old and subjects having full dentition with the exception for third molars were included the study. While Subjects with severe attrition problems, Subjects were placed in a dental chair with the Frankfurt level parallel to the floor. The interocclusal contacts were recorded with 12μ thick shim stock in four lateral positions on both sides; 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 mm measured with Vernier caliper from the maximum intercuspation point. The shim stock was placed on the occlusal surface on the right side, and the subject was asked to close his/her mandible in the maximum intercuspation position. While a constant pulling force was maintained on the shim stock, the subject was then asked to perform a habitual gliding movement to the right. When the subject’s mandible was moved 0.5 mm right from the intercuspal position, the presence or absence of an occlusal contact were examined and recorded. Results: From 81 patients, the minimum age was found 20 years and maximum age was 30 years with mean and standard deviation of the age was 25.40 ± 2.84 years. Males were 44/81 (54.3%) while females were 33/81 (45.7%). The different lateral positions on right side of tooth of patients at 0.5 mm were 225, 1 mm were 176, 2 mm were 161 and 3 mm were 140. The different lateral positions on left side of tooth of patients at 0.5mm were 197, 1 mm were 171, 2mm were 146 and 3 mm were 123. Conclusion: In the current study, significant association was found between tooth number and first molar tooth lateral position on right side but there was no significant association for other positions and between tooth numbers and different lateral position on left side.

Objective: To determine the clinico-pathological association of haemoglobin at the time of presentation as a predictor of survivorship in patients suffering from COVID-19. Study Design: Prospective observational study. Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital Hyderabad Pakistan, from Mar to Sep 2020. Methodology: Two hundred and four patients who were symptomatic and PCR positive for COVID-19 were included in the study. Informed consent was taken from patients and approval from the institutional ethics committee was obtained. Haemoglobin values were analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: In our study, 186 (91.2%) patients survived the disease and 18 (8.8%) patients died. The mortality rate was high in patients who presented with low haemoglobin levels at time of presentation. Conclusion: This study concluded that hemoglobin level at time of presentation could be a predictor of survivorship.

Objective: To assess the reliability of gingival crevicular blood as a diagnostic tool for diabetes in patients with periodontal disease with and without diabetes. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Periodontics, Jinnah Medical and Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan, from Jul 2017 to Jul 2018. Methodology: Forty patients with diabetes and 60 patients without diabetes with mild to moderate gingivitis or periodontitis in either the upper or lower anterior region were included. Gingival crevicular blood (GCB) was collected and was assessed by glucometer. The same patient underwent finger stick blood (FSB) and intravenous blood glucose level (IV). Plaque Index (PI), Periodontal Pocket Depth (PPD) and Gingival index were also recorded. Results: A positive correlation (r) was detected between glucose levels of Gingival crevicular blood with finger stick blood with the value of coefficient correlation ‘r’=0.849. The mean values of Gingival index in patients without diabetes is 1.53 ± 0.97mm, patients with newly diagnosed diabetes is 1.87 ± 0.920mm and without diabetes is 2.13± 0.94mm. Conclusion: Blood glucose level can be assessed with the help of Gingival crevicular blood as this technique was found easy and non-invasive to the patient and it can help in diagnosing diabetes during regular periodontal treatment.

Life-threatening diseases, such as hepatitis B, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and COVID-19, are widespread due to pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Therefore, the development of highly sensitive, rapid, portable, cost-effective, and selective methods for the analysis of such microorganisms is a great challenge. Microchip electrophoresis (ME) has been widely used in recent years for the analysis of bacterial and viral pathogens in biological and environmental samples owing to its portability, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and rapid analysis. However, microbial enrichment and purification are critical steps for accurate and sensitive analysis of pathogenic bacteria and viruses in complex matrices. Therefore, we first discussed the advances in the sample preparation technologies associated with the accurate analysis of such microorganisms, especially the on-chip microfluidic-based sample preparations such as dielectrophoresis and microfluidic membrane filtration. Thereafter, we focused on the recent advances in the lab-on-a-chip electrophoretic analysis of pathogenic bacteria and viruses in different complex matrices. As the microbial analysis is mainly based on the analysis of nucleic acid of the microorganism, the integration of nucleic acid-based amplification techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative PCR, and multiplex PCR with ME will result in an accurate and sensitive analysis of microbial pathogens. Such analyses are very important for the point-of-care diagnosis of various infectious diseases.

Tris(4,7'-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) ruthenium (II) dichloride [Ru(dpp)

Researchers are constantly looking to find new techniques of virus detection that are sensitive, cost-effective, and accurate. Additionally, they can be used as a point-of-care (POC) tool due to the fact that the populace is growing at a quick tempo, and epidemics are materializing greater often than ever. Electrochemiluminescence-based (ECL) biosensors for the detection of viruses have become one of the most quickly developing sensors in this field. Thus, we here focus on recent trends and developments of these sensors with regard to virus detection. Also, quantitative analysis of various viruses (e.g., Influenza virus, SARS-CoV-2, HIV, HPV, Hepatitis virus, and Zika virus) with a specific interest in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was introduced from the perspective of the biomarker and the biological receptor immobilized on the ECL-based sensors, such as nucleic acids-based, immunosensors, and other affinity ECL biosensors.

Causes and outcomes of children diagnosed with hydronephrosis in resource-limited countries with a low utilization of antenatal ultrasonography remain unexplored. We performed a retrospective, crosssectional study of all paediatric patients diagnosed with hydronephrosis and managed at a tertiary care center in Karachi, Pakistan between 2005 and 2010. Data relating to demographics, clinical features, etiologies and treatment modalities were systematically collected. Of a total of 234 cases (74.4% male), 83 (35.5%) and 42 (17.9%) were neonates and infants respectively. Congenital urinary tract pathologies were noted in 192(72.2%) patients, of which only 96(50%) had undergone foetal ultrasonography and 77(40.1%) first presented after the age of 1 year. At a median follow-up of 4 years, 24(12.5%) of these patients had evidence of renal dysfunction. Worse urologic outcomes in this study were most likely attributable to delayed diagnosis of congenital urinary tract abnormalities.

Hydrogen peroxide is a dominating coreactant of most luminol electrochemiluminescence (ECL) studies though it is unstable and sensitive to many metal ions. Tripropylamine is an eminent coreactant of tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium ECL. In comparison with H2O2, tripropylamine is much more stable. In this study, tripropylamine has been exploited as a new coreactant of luminol ECL for the first time. The emission spectrum reveals that the ECL peak was aroused by excited 3-aminophthalate. Under optimized conditions, a biphasic linear relationship is obtained between the ECL intensities and luminol concentrations in the presence of 10 mM tripropylamine over the range of 1.0 × 10−11 −1.0 × 10−7 M and 1.0 × 10−7 −1.0 × 10−4 M with a detection limit of 6.9 × 10−12 M. The detection of tripropylamine showed a linear relationship between ECL intensities and tripropylamine concentrations in the range of 1.0 × 10−6 to 1.0 × 10−2 M with a detection limit of 7.7 × 10−7 M. Compared to luminol-H2O2 ECL, luminol-tripropylamine ECL system displays not only high stability but also high sensitivity. Hence, it shows great potential in many fields including immunoassay or non-immunoassay diagnostic, clinical, pharmaceutical, environmental and food analysis in the future.

Creatinine is an important biomarker in clinical diagnosis and biomonitoring programs as well as urinary metabolomic/metabonomics research. Current methods are either nonselective, time consuming or require heavy and expensive instruments. In this study, chemiluminescence of creatinine with hydrogen peroxide has been reported for the first time, and its chemiluminescence is remarkably enhanced in the presence of cobalt ions. By utilizing these phenomena, we have developed a sensitive and selective chemiluminescence method for creatinine determination by coupling with flow injection analysis. The calibration curve is linear in the range of 1×10(-7)-3×10(-5)mol/L with a limit of detection (S/N=3) of 7.2×10(-8)mol/L, which is adequate for detecting creatinine in the clinically accepted range. The relative standard deviation for seven measurements of 3×10(-5)mol/L creatinine is 1.2%. The chemiluminescence method was then utilized to detect creatinine in human urine samples after simple dilution with water. It takes less than 1min each measurement and the recoveries for spiked urine samples were 100-103%. The interference study demonstrates that some common species in urine, such as amino acids, ascorbic acid and creatine, have negligible effects on creatinine detection. The present method does not use expensive instruments, enzymes and separation technique. This method has the advantages of sensitivity, selectivity, simplicity, rapidity, and low cost. It holds great promise for basic or comprehensive metabolic panel, drug screening, anti-dopping, and urinary metabolomic/metabonomics research.

Chemiluminescence (CL) is a light-emitting phenomenon as a result of chemical reactions. Luminol and lucigenin are typical CL luminophores, and hydrogen peroxide is typical coreactant. It is an important analytical technique because of its inherent features, such as high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, fast detection, simple equipment, and low instrumentation costs because no external light source or optics is needed. It has been extensively used for immunoassays, DNA detection, enzymatic biosensors, forensic bloodstain detection, pharmaceutical analysis, metal ion determination, imaging and so on. To improve performance of CL analysis and broaden the applications of CL, it is of great importance to develop new CL systems. Herein, we present some new CL systems such as artemisinin/luminol, thiourea dioxide/luminol, N-hydroxyphthalimide/luminol, hydroxylamine-O-sulfonic acid/luminol, allantoin/ lucigenin and creatinine/H2O2 systems. We will also demonstrate their applications in forensic bloodstain detection, enzyme detection, metal ions detection, and so on [1-7]. Acknowledgment We are grateful for financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFA0201300), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21874126,21675148), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)-the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), President’s Fellowship Program, and the CAS President's International Fellowship Initiative (PIFI) project. References 1. Wenyue Gao, Chao Wang, Kateryna Muzyka, Shimeles Addisu Kitte, Jianping Li, Wei Zhang and Guobao Xu*. Artemisinin-luminol chemiluminescence for forensic bloodstain detection using smart phone as detector. Chem., 2017, 89 (11), 6160–6165. 2. Wenyue Gao, Wenjing Qi, Jianping Lai, Liming Qi, Saadat Majeed and Guobao Xu*. Thiourea dioxide as unique eco-friendly coreactant of luminol chemiluminescence for sensitive detection of luminol, thiourea dioxide, and cobalt ions. Chem. Commun., 2015, 51(9), 1620–1623. 3. Muhammad Saqib, Liming Qi, Pan Hui, Anaclet Nsabimana, Mohamed Ibrahim Halawa, Wei Zhang,* Guobao Xu*. Development of luminol-N-hydroxyphthalimide chemiluminescence system for highly selective and sensitive detection of superoxide dismutase, uric acid and Co2+. Biosens. Bioelectron., 2018, 99, 519-524. 4. Muhammad Saqib, Baohua Lou, Mohamed Ibrahim Halawa, Shimeles Addisu Kitte, Zhongyuan Liu, Guobao Xu* Chemiluminescence of lucigenin-allantoin and its application for the detection of allantoin. Chem., 2017, 89(3), 1863-1869. 5. Muhammad Saqib, Wenyue Gao, Jianping Lai, Liming Qi, Saadat Majeed, Muhammad Rehan Hasan Shah Gilani, Guobao Xu*. Hydroxylamine-O-sulfonic acid as an efficient coreactant of luminol chemiluminescence for selective and sensitive detection. Chem. Commun., 2015, 51, 6536–6539. 6. Yixiang Lan, Fan Yuan, Tadesse Haile Fereja, Chao Wang, Baohua Lou*, Jianping Li*, and Guobao Xu*. Chemiluminescence of Lucigenin/Riboflavin and Its Application for Selective and Sensitive Dopamine Detection. Anal. Chem., 2019, 91(3), 2135-2139. 7. Saima Hanif, Peter John*, Wenyue Gao, Muhammad Saqib, Liming Qi, Guobao Xu*. Chemiluminescence of creatinine/H2O2/Co2+ and its application for selective creatinine detection. Biosens. Bioelectron., 2016, 75, 347-351.

Wireless electrochemiluminescence system based on the wireless energy transmission technique has been demonstrated for the first time. It has a disposable transmitter and a coiled energy receptor. The coiled energy receptor is smartly used as the electrode. The wireless electrochemiluminescence system has been used to detect hydrogen peroxide with good sensitivity, featuring advantages of easy manipulation, low cost, and small size. The handy and cheap wireless electrochemiluminescence device can use laptops as a power supply. It is promising for the development of portable or disposable electrochemiluminescence devices for various applications (e.g., such as point of care testing, field analysis, scientific research, and chemical education). These advantages enable one to integrate many wireless electrochemiluminescence minidevices with screen printing coiled electrode arrays in microwell plates and charge-coupled devices (CCD) cameras to develop electrochemiluminescence high-throughput screening systems with broad applications in clinical analysis, drug screening, and biomolecular interaction studies.

Oral white lesions constitute a major clinical problem in Pakistan and South Asian countries. The study was done with the objective to analyse oral white lesions histologically and clinically, and evaluate association between various risk factors in different ages, gender, ethnic groups, sites and sizes of the lesion.A total of 80 patients presenting with oral white lesions were included in this cross-sectional study conducted at Department of Histopathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), Rawalpindi. The biopsy sample was fixed in 10% formalin and after standardized processing, slides were prepared, stained by Hematoxylin and Eosin, with special stains when required. The histo-pathological diagnosis of lesion was recorded. Mean and standard deviation were calculated for quantitative variable. Frequency and percentages were calculated for qualitative variables.Out of total 80 patients 43 were females and 37 males. The mean age of cases was 47.92 years. Majority of the patients were between 30 ± 39 years. Buccal mucosa was affected in majority of the cases (55%), followed by lateral border of tongue 17.5% and lip mucosa (8.8%). No risk factor had been observed in almost half of the patients. Histologically Lichen Planus was the most common lesion (32.5%), followed by chronic nonspecific inflammation in (22.5%), keratosis without dysplasia (10%), keratosis with dysplasia (8.8%), Pemphigus vulgaris (7.5%), fungal infestation (5%) and Squamous cell carcinoma (3.8%).Oral Lichen Planus was the most common oral white lesion in our set up, with buccal mucosa involved in majority of the cases. Association between histo-pathological diagnosis with age and gender was insignificant. However, significant association was observed between histopathological diagnosis and site. Among risk factors significant association was seen between snuff dippers and pan users.

The quenching of electrochemiluminescence by single-walled carbon nanohorn has been demonstrated for the first time. Moreover, a sensitive, label-free, and signal-on electrochemiluminescence ATP aptasensor was developed using single-walled carbon nanohorn as both quencher and scaffold.

(2005). The Use of the Bystander Test for Apparent Bias. Judicial Review: Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 78-83.

Alkanethiols generally form self-assembled monolayers on gold electrodes and the electrochemical reduction of aromatic diazonium salts is a popular method for the covalent modification of carbon. Based on the reaction of alkanethiol with aldehyde groups covalently bound on carbon surface by the electrochemical reduction of aromatic diazonium salts, a new strategy for the modification of carbon electrodes with alkanethiols has been developed. The modification of carbon surface with aldehyde groups is achieved by the electrochemical reduction of aromatic diazonium salts in situ electrogenerated from a nitro precursor, p-nitrophenylaldehyde, in the presence of nitrous acid. By this way, in situ electrogenerated p-aminophenyl aldehyde from p-nitrophenylaldehyde immediately reacts with nitrous acid, effectively minimizing the side reaction of amine groups and aldehyde groups. The as-prepared alkanethiol-modified glassy carbon electrode was further used to make biomembrane-like films by casting didodecyldimethylammonium bromide on its surface. The biomembrane-like films enable the direct electrochemistry of immobilized myoglobin for the detection of hydrogen peroxide. The response is linear over the range of 1–600 μM with a detection limit of 0.3 μM.

Background: Physical properties of a resin composite are as important for the longevity of composite material as the mechanical properties are for its survival in the oral environment. Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of artificial saliva with different pH (4.6, 5.1, 5.7, 6.3, 6.9, 7.5&8.1) on the sorption of dental nano-filled composites. Material and Methods: 5 disc shaped specimens were made for each group of pH with nano-filled composite resin and immersed for four weeks. Optical density was measured in Ultraviolet Vis Spectrophotometer. Statistical one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) and the two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used throughout this study. Results: No significant differences were detected in specimens of any group of pH. Conclusions: Salivary pH has no effect on the nano-filled dental composite material. Future research needs to test more experimental designs that could depict the clinical behavior of the restorative material in vitro environment.