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We present a catalyst‐free route for the reduction of carbon dioxide integrated with the formation of a carbon‐carbon bond at the air/water interface of negatively charged aqueous microdroplets, at ambient temperature. The reactions proceed through carbanion generation at the α‐carbon of a ketone followed by nucleophilic addition to CO2. Online mass spectrometry reveals that the product is an β‐ketoacid. Several factors, such as the concentration of the reagents, pressure of CO2 gas, and distance traveled by the droplets, control the kinetics of the reaction. Theoretical calculations suggest that water in the microdroplets facilitates this unusual chemistry. Furthermore, such a microdroplet strategy has been extended to seven different ketones. This work demonstrates a green pathway for the reduction of CO2 to useful carboxylated organic products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we show that particles of common minerals break down spontaneously to form nanoparticles charged water microdroplets within milliseconds. We transformed micron-sized natural minerals like quartz and ruby into 5- to 10-nanometer particles when integrated into aqueous microdroplets generated via electrospray. We deposited the droplets on a substrate, which allowed nanoparticle characterization. We determined through simulations that quartz undergoes proton-induced slip, especially when reduced in size and exposed to an electric field. This leads to particle scission and the formation of silicate fragments, which we confirmed with mass spectrometry. This rapid weathering process may be important for soil formation, given the prevalence of charged aerosols in the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung cancer is a severe disease, which causes high deaths in the world. Earlier discovery of lung cancer is useful to enhance the rate of survival in patients. Computed Tomography (CT) is utilized for determining the tumor and identifying the cancer level in the body. However, the issues of CT images cause less tumor visibility areas and unconstructive rates in tumor regions. This paper devises an optimization-driven technique for classifying lung cancer. The CT image is utilized for determining the position of the tumor. Here, the CT image undergoes segmentation, which is performed using the DeepJoint model. Furthermore, the feature extraction is carried out, wherein features such as local ternary pattern-based features, Histogram of Gradients (HoG) features, and statistical features, like variance, mean, kurtosis, energy, entropy, and skewness. The categorization of lung cancer is performed using Hierarchical Attention Network (HAN). The training of HAN is carried out using proposed Firefly Competitive Swarm Optimization (FCSO), which is devised by combining firefly algorithm (FA), and Competitive Swarm Optimization (CSO). The proposed FCSO-based HAN provided effective performance with high accuracy of 91.3%, sensitivity of 88%, and specificity of 89.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several biomedical and psychosocial problems lead to poor quality of life in the elderly. Major depression is known to affect 1 out of 100 individuals above 65 years of age. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of depression among the elderly population in an urban area and the factors associated with depression. Methodology: A cross-sectional community-based study on 216 elderly individuals was undertaken over a period of two months from 1st June 2016 to 31st July 2016. Results and Discussion: Prevalence of depression was found to be 41%. Age, financial dependency, marital status, type of family and feeling of neglect showed association with depression. Conclusion: Prevalence of elderly depression is high in the study area. Identified risk factors have to be addressed to prevent depression among the elderly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tooth brushing is most common method of maintaining oral hygiene. In removing plaque and other soft debris from the teeth, tooth brushes become contaminated with bacteria, blood, saliva and oral debris. These contaminated tooth brushes can be a source of infection. Aims and objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the presence of microorganisms in the tooth brushes and to investigate the effect of disinfectants such as chlorhexidine gluconate, sodium hypochlorite and water to decontaminate them. Materials and Methods: Twenty-one children were asked to brush their teeth for 5 days with a tooth brush. The tooth brushes were put in Robertson's Cooked Meat broth and were observed for growth of Streptococcal microorganisms. These tooth brushes were then placed in disinfectants such as 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate (Group I), 1% sodium hypochlorite (Group II) and water (Group III) for 24 hrs and then cultured again. Reduction of growth of microorganisms was seen in Group I, Group II and remnants of growth seen in Group III. Conclusion: We conclude that the use of disinfectant for a tooth brush is a must for every individual at least at regular intervals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) has emerged as a promising agent for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease; however, its impact in ulcerative colitis (UC) targeting colonic mitochondrial dysfunction for maintenance of colon epithelial tract remains uninvestigated. Methods Two working models are as follows. In vivo model: DSS was administered in C57BL/6J mice @ 3.5%/gm body weight for three cycles of 5 days each (5 days gap in between each cycle); i.p. dose of VIP @ 0.5 nmol/mouse/day was administered for next 10 days. Posttreatment mice were sacrificed and isolated mitochondria were utilized for experimentation. In vitro model: to substantiate in vivo findings and accurately identify the reactive species involved in progression of UC, HT29 MTX-E12 mucosal model depicting semi-wet interface as in colon, was subjected to DSS (5%) treatment for 6 days followed by VIP (10 nM) treatment for 4 days in presence and absence of O2 •- scavenger superoxide dismutase (SOD; 20 mM) or •OH scavenger dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO; 20 mM) or H2O2 scavenger catalase (CAT; 50 μg/mL) or nitric oxide (NO) scavenger L-NAME (100 μM) or ONOO- scavenger cum nitric oxide synthase inhibitor MEG (0.5 mM). Results In vivo: treatment with VIP reduced clinical and histopathological severity of DSS-induced colitis with partial recovery of inhibited mitochondrial respiratory complexes, altered mitochondrial membrane potential and lowered ATP generation. Amelioration of mitochondrial oxidative stress variables were also observed following VIP treatment. In vitro: treatment with VIP restored mitochondrial dysfunction and its efficacy proved at par with SOD and DMSO indicating involvement of O2 •- and •OH in the process. However, other free radical scavengers/inhibitors like CAT, L-NAME and MEG proved ineffective indicating non-involvement of H2O2, NO and ONOO- in the process. Conclusions VIP can act as potent anticolitogenic agent by virtue of its free radical scavenging property as it restored colonic mitochondrial function that contributed in maintenance of colon epithelial lining following exogenous VIP treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Forensic odontologists routinely come across the task of estimating the age at death of human skeletal remains. Individuals may be exposed to extreme heat in a number of scenarios, including bomb blast, fire and gas accidents, etc. Teeth are among the most durable structures in human body and hence the age estimation using teeth is a possibility. Hence, in our study we made an attempt to use cemental annulations for age estimation in thermally altered teeth. Aim: To estimate the age of an individual using cemental annulations of teeth subjected to different temperatures. Materials and Methods: Freshly extracted 30 permanent teeth of known age were collected and divided into three groups of 10 each and were exposed to temperatures of 100°C (Group I), 300°C (Group II) and 600°C (Group III) respectively using laboratory furnace. Teeth were then subjected to ground sectioning for microscopic examination. Only dark cemental lines in the middle third of root were counted to obtain the 'estimated age'. Then the estimated age was compared with the known actual age. Results: Regression analysis was done and the value of regression coefficient (R) obtained for Group I was 0.350a and Group II was 0.178a, which established a better correlation between the actual age and the estimated age with Group I than compared to Group II. Conclusion: Tooth cemental annulations can be used as a reliable tool for age estimation in thermally altered specimens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Heat shock proteins (HSP) are a group of cyto-protective proteins whose synthesis is increased in response to environmental or patho-physiological stresses. HSP27 a low molecular weight HSP, is expressed in high levels in various tumors, acting as a biomarker of such diseases. Studies report upregulation of HSP27 in oral carcinomas in areca quid chewers. Oral sub-mucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a potentially malignant disorder seen chiefly among betel quid chewers. So an attempt has been made to evaluate HSP27 expression in tissue sections of OSMF. Aim: To evaluate expression of heat shock protein 27 in OSMF and compare with the normal tissue. Materials and Methods: Fifteen cases of OSMF tissue sections and nine normal oral mucosal tissue sections were immunohistochemistry (IHC) stained using HSP27 antibody. The stained slides were evaluated by grading the percentage of positively stained cells and the intensity of staining and were compared with the normal tissue sections. Statistical Analysis: All the comparisons were done using chi-square test. Results: The percentage of positively stained cells was found to be less in OSMF as compared to normal tissues, but the P value (P = 0.065) obtained was insignificant. The majority of OSMF cases showed moderate staining intensity, while majority of normal cases showed low staining intensity for HSP27, but the difference was insignificant (P = 0.113). Conclusion: No statistically significant difference was found between OSMF cases and normal tissues. So we hypothesize that HSP27 does not have a role in OSMF. Further larger studies are required to validate the current results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a catalyst-free route for the reduction of carbon dioxide integrated with the formation of a carbon-carbon bond at the air/water interface of negatively charged aqueous microdroplets, at ambient temperature. The reactions proceed through carbanion generation at the α-carbon of a ketone followed by nucleophilic addition to CO 2 . Online mass spectrometry reveals that the product is an α-ketoacid. Several factors, such as the concentration of the reagents, pressure of CO 2 gas, and distance traveled by the droplets, control the kinetics of the reaction. Theoretical calculations suggest that water in the microdroplets facilitates this unusual chemistry. Furthermore, such a microdroplet strategy has been extended to seven different ketones. This work demonstrates a green pathway for the reduction of CO 2 to useful carboxylated organic products., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Aims: To elucidate the impact of 10-(6-plastoquinonyl) decyltriphenylphosphonium (SkQ1) as an anti-colitogenic agent for maintenance of colon epithelial tract in ulcerated mice through recovery of mitochondrial dysfunction and mitochondrial stress by virtue of its free radical scavenging properties., Main Methods: DSS induced ulcerated BALB/c mice were treated with SkQ1 for 14 days @ 30 nmol/kg/body wt./day/mice. Post-treatment, isolated colonic mitochondria were utilized for spectrophotometric and spectrofluorometric biochemical analysis of various mitochondrial functional variables including individual mitochondrial respiratory enzyme complexes. Confocal microscopy was utilized for measuring mitochondrial membrane potential in vivo. ELISA technique was adapted for measuring colonic nitrite and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) content. Finally in vitro cell line study was carried out to substantiate in vivo findings and elucidate the involvement of free radicals in UC using antioxidant/free radical scavenging regimen., Key Findings: Treatment with SkQ1 in vivo reduced histopathological severity of colitis, induced recovery of mitochondrial respiratory complex activities and associated functional variables, improved oxidative stress indices and normalized mitochondrial cardiolipin content. Importantly, SkQ1 lowered nitrite concentration and 3-nitrotyrosine formation in vivo. In vitro SkQ1 restored mitochondrial functions wherein the efficacy of SkQ1 proved equal or better compared to SOD and DMSO indicating predominant involvement of O 2 - and OH in UC. However, NO and ONOO - also seemed to play a secondary role as MEG and L-NAME provided lesser protection as compared to SOD and DMSO., Significance: SkQ1 can be considered as a potent anti-colitogenic agent by virtue of its free radical scavenging properties in treating UC., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We present the fabrication and use of a film of a carborane-thiol-protected tetranuclear copper cluster with characteristic orange luminescence using ambient electrospray deposition (ESD). Charged microdroplets of the clusters produced by an electrospray tip deposit the clusters at an air-water interface to form a film. Different microscopic and spectroscopic techniques characterized the porous surface structure of the film. Visible and rapid quenching of the emission of the film upon exposure to 2-nitrotoluene (2-NT) vapours under ambient conditions was observed. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations established the favourable binding sites of 2-NT with the cluster. Desorption of 2-NT upon heating recovered the original luminescence, demonstrating the reusability of the sensor. Stable emission upon exposure to different organic solvents and its quenching upon exposure to 2,4-dinitrotoluene and picric acid showed selectivity of the film to nitroaromatic species.

Objective: To evaluate whether any potential association exists between respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and periodontal health status clinically and or microbiologically., Materials and Methods: Fifty patients of COPD (test group) and 50 Patients without COPD (control group) were recruited for the study with more than 20 years of age with at least six natural teeth. All the patients were nonsmokers. Periodontal health was assessed by measuring clinical attachment loss (CAL) and gingival bleeding by using William's graduated periodontal probe. Microbiological evaluation was done by collecting sputum samples of the subjects with respiratory diseases to find out any periodontal pathogen in the lung fluid., Result and Conclusion: The results showed that the subjects with COPD had significantly more bleeding sites (i.e. >20%) and had more of the clinical mean attachment loss (2.84 ± 0.66) than those without COPD. On the basis of the observed results of the study, we can hypothesize that the risk for COPD appeared to be significantly elevated when attachment loss was found to be severe., Clinical Significance: It is conceivable that oral interventions that improve oral health status may prove to lower the severity of lung infection in susceptible populations.

Aim and Background: An odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) or keratocystic odontogenic tumor (KCOT) and giant cell granuloma (GCG) in the jaws are common lesions which have been studied extensively in detail over the years. However, a lesion showing features of both is exceptionally rare and is reported only twice in the literature till date., Case Description: A rare case of OKC in mandible showing foci of GCG like areas is reported in a 29 years old male patient., Conclusion: It seems to be a collision lesion, though the possibility of KCOT showing a reactive response to form giant cells or it being a rare variant cannot be totally ruled out., Clinical Significance: This entity requires aggressive treatment since biological behavior of this unique lesion is difficult to predict unless more of such lesions are reported and followed up in future.