Effect Of COVID 19 Pandemic On The Academic Performance Of Physical Therapy Students.

Objectives: To examine the impact of university closure and recourse to internet-based learning on the academic achievement of physical therapy students. Method: The retrospective study was conducted at Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt, and comprised academic grades of physical therapy students related to pre-coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic academic year 2019-2020 in group 1 and per-pandemic 2020-2021 session group 2. Data was analysed using SPSS 26. RESULTS: Of the 8,190 students, 4,764(58.2%) were females and 3,426(41.8%) were males with age range 17-23 years who were studying at 5 academic levels. There were 3,732(45.6%) students in group 1 and 4,458(54.4%) in group 2. There were significant difference in the academic grades between the groups (p<0.005). There was greater improvement in the mean results of students' grades (p=0.001) and less variation between students in group 2 compared to group 1 (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Online learning was found to be an effective teaching method for physical therapy students during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic with respect to basic medical knowledge. However, its impact on clinical and practical skills of the students was not confirmed.

The educational value of ward rounds as a learning and teaching opportunity for house officers, medical officers, and registrars in Sudanese hospitals: a multi-center cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Ward rounds are a cornerstone in the educational experience of junior doctors and an essential part of teaching patient care. Here, we aimed to assess the doctors' perception of ward rounds as an educational opportunity and to identify the obstacles faced in conducting a proper ward round in Sudanese hospitals. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted from the 15th to the 30th of January 2022 among house officers, medical officers, and registrars in about 50 teaching and referral hospitals in Sudan. House officers and medical officers were considered the learners, while specialist registrars were considered the teachers. Doctors' perceptions were assessed using an online questionnaire, with a 5-level Likert scale to answer questions. RESULTS: A total of 2,011 doctors participated in this study (882 house officers, 697 medical officers, and 432 registrars). The participants were aged 26.9 ± 3.2 years, and females constituted about 60% of the sample. An average of 3.1 ± 6.8 ward rounds were conducted per week in our hospitals, with 11.1 ± 20.3 h spent on ward rounds per week. Most doctors agreed that ward rounds are suitable for teaching patient management (91.3%) and diagnostic investigations (89.1%). Almost all the doctors agreed that being interested in teaching (95.1%) and communicating appropriately with the patients (94.7%) make a good teacher in ward rounds. Furthermore, nearly all the doctors agreed that being interested in learning (94.3%) and communicating appropriately with the teacher (94.5%) make a good student on ward rounds. About 92.8% of the doctors stated that the quality of ward rounds could be improved. The most frequently reported obstacles faced during ward rounds were the noise (70%) and lack of privacy (77%) in the ward environment. CONCLUSION: Ward rounds have a special value in teaching patient diagnosis and management. Being interested in teaching/learning and having good communication skills were the two major criteria that make a good teacher/learner. Unfortunately, ward rounds are faced with obstacles related to the ward environment. It is mandatory to ensure the quality of both ward rounds' teaching and environment to optimize the educational value and subsequently improve patient care practice.

Prospects of Using Gum Arabic Silver Nanoparticles in Toothpaste to Prevent Dental Caries.

There is growing interest in the use of green synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to control and prevent dental diseases. The incorporation of green synthesized AgNPs into dentifrices to reduce pathogenic oral microbes is motivated by their presumed biocompatibility and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. In the present study, gum arabic AgNPs (GA-AgNPs) were formulated into a toothpaste (TP) using a commercial TP at a non-active concentration, to produce GA-AgNPs_TP. The TP was selected after evaluating the antimicrobial activity of four commercial TPs 1-4 on selected oral microbes using agar disc diffusion and microdilution assays. The less active TP-1 was then used in the formulation of GA-AgNPs_TP-1; thereafter, the antimicrobial activity of GA-AgNPs_0.4g was compared to GA-AgNPs_TP-1. The cytotoxicity of GA-AgNPs_0.4g and GA-AgNPs_TP-1 was also assessed on the buccal mucosa fibroblast (BMF) cells using the MTT assay. The study demonstrated that antimicrobial activity of GA-AgNPs_0.4g was retained after being combined with a sub-lethal or inactive concentration of TP-1. The non-selective antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity of both GA-AgNPs_0.4g and GA-AgNPs_TP-1 was demonstrated to be time and concentration dependent. These activities were instant, reducing microbial and BMF cell growth in less than one hour of exposure. However, the use of dentifrice commonly takes 2 min and rinsed off thereafter, which could prevent damage to the oral mucosa. Although, GA-AgNPs_TP-1 has a good prospect as a TP or oral healthcare product, more studies are required to further improve the biocompatibility of this formulation.

Antimicrobial Effects of Gum Arabic-Silver Nanoparticles against Oral Pathogens.

Dental caries is considered one of the most prevalent oral diseases worldwide, with a high rate of morbidity among populations. It is a chronic infectious disease with a multifactorial etiology that leads to the destruction of the dental tissues. Due to their antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and antioxidant properties; silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are incorporated in dental products to help prevent infectious oral diseases. In this study, the antimicrobial effects of AgNPs synthesized using Gum Arabic extracts (GAE) were examined. The GA-AgNPs were synthesized and characterized using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometer, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The antimicrobial activity of the GA-AgNPs was evaluated on Streptococcus sanguinis (S. sanguinis), Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), Lactobacillus acidophilus (L. acidophilus), and Candida albicans (C. albicans) using agar disc diffusion and microdilution assays. The antibiofilm of GA-AgNPs was evaluated on the surface of human tooth enamel that had been exposed to S. mutans with and without the GA-AgNPs using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). GA-AgNPs were spherical in shape with a particle size distribution between 4 and 26 nm. The GA-AgNPs exhibited antimicrobial activity against all the tested oral microbes, with GA-AgNPs_0.4g having higher antimicrobial activity. The GA-AgNPs_0.4g inhibited S. mutans adhesion and biofilm formation on the surface of the tooth enamel. Therefore, this study supports the prospective implementation of the plant extract-mediated AgNPs in dental healthcare.

Assessment of the toxicity and carcinogenicity of double-walled carbon nanotubes in the rat lung after intratracheal instillation: a two-year study.

BACKGROUND: Considering the expanding industrial applications of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), safety assessment of these materials is far less than needed. Very few long-term in vivo studies have been carried out. This is the first 2-year in vivo study to assess the effects of double walled carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) in the lung and pleura of rats after pulmonary exposure. METHODS: Rats were divided into six groups: untreated, Vehicle, 3 DWCNT groups (0.12 mg/rat, 0.25 mg/rat and 0.5 mg/rat), and MWCNT-7 (0.5 mg/rat). The test materials were administrated by intratracheal-intrapulmonary spraying (TIPS) every other day for 15 days. Rats were observed without further treatment until sacrifice. RESULTS: DWCNT were biopersistent in the rat lung and induced marked pulmonary inflammation with a significant increase in macrophage count and levels of the chemotactic cytokines CCL2 and CCL3. In addition, the 0.5 mg DWCNT treated rats had significantly higher pulmonary collagen deposition compared to the vehicle controls. The development of carcinomas in the lungs of rats treated with 0.5 mg DWCNT (4/24) was not quite statistically higher (p = 0.0502) than the vehicle control group (0/25), however, the overall incidence of lung tumor development, bronchiolo-alveolar adenoma and bronchiolo-alveolar carcinoma combined, in the lungs of rats treated with 0.5 mg DWCNT (7/24) was statistically higher (p < 0.05) than the vehicle control group (1/25). Notably, two of the rats treated with DWCNT, one in the 0.25 mg group and one in the 0.5 mg group, developed pleural mesotheliomas. However, both of these lesions developed in the visceral pleura, and unlike the rats administered MWCNT-7, rats administered DWCNT did not have elevated levels of HMGB1 in their pleural lavage fluids. This indicates that the mechanism by which the mesotheliomas that developed in the DWCNT treated rats is not relevant to humans. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that the DWCNT fibers we tested are biopersistent in the rat lung and induce chronic inflammation. Rats treated with 0.5 mg DWCNT developed pleural fibrosis and lung tumors. These findings demonstrate that the possibility that at least some types of DWCNTs are fibrogenic and tumorigenic cannot be ignored.

Broad Spectrum Anti-Bacterial Activity and Non-Selective Toxicity of Gum Arabic Silver Nanoparticles.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are the most commercialized nanomaterials and presumed to be biocompatible based on the biological effects of the bulk material. However, their physico-chemical properties differ significantly to the bulk materials and are associated with unique biological properties. The study investigated the antimicrobial and cytotoxicity effects of AgNPs synthesized using gum arabic (GA), sodium borohydride (NaBH4), and their combination as reducing agents. The AgNPs were characterized using ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis), dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The anti-bacterial activity was assessed using agar well diffusion and microdilution assays, and the cytotoxicity effects on Caco-2, HT-29 and KMST-6 cells using MTT assay. The GA-synthesized AgNPs (GA-AgNPs) demonstrated higher bactericidal activity against all bacteria, and non-selective cytotoxicity towards normal and cancer cells. AgNPs reduced by NaBH4 (C-AgNPs) and the combination of GA and NaBH4 (GAC-AgNPs) had insignificant anti-bacterial activity and cytotoxicity at ≥50 µg/mL. The study showed that despite the notion that AgNPs are safe and biocompatible, their toxicity cannot be overruled and that their toxicity can be channeled by using biocompatible polymers, thereby providing a therapeutic window at concentrations that are least harmful to mammalian cells but toxic to bacteria.

Plant Extract-Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles for Application in Dental Therapy.

Oral diseases are the most common non-communicable diseases in the world, with dental caries and periodontitis causing major health and social problems. These diseases can progress to systematic diseases and cause disfigurement when left untreated. However, treatment of oral diseases is among the most expensive treatments and often focus on restoration of form and function. Caries prevention has traditionally relied on oral hygiene and diet control, among other preventive measures. In this paper, these measures are not disqualified but are brought into a new context through the use of nanotechnology-based materials to improve these conventional therapeutic and preventive measures. Among inorganic nanomaterials, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have shown promising outcomes in dental therapy, due to their unique physicochemical properties and enhanced anti-bacterial activities. As such, AgNPs may provide newer strategies for treatment and prevention of dental infections. However, numerous concerns around the chemical synthesis of nanomaterials, which are not limited to cost and use of toxic reducing agents, have been raised. This has inspired the green synthesis route, which uses natural products as reducing agents. The biogenic AgNPs were reported to be biocompatible and environmentally friendly when compared to the chemically-synthesized AgNPs. As such, plant-synthesized AgNPs can be used as antimicrobial, antifouling, and remineralizing agents for management and treatment of dental infections and diseases.

A microfluidic platform for dissociating clinical scale tissue samples into single cells.

The advancement of sample preparation techniques is essential for the field of cell-based therapeutics. To obtain cells suited for clinical applications, the entire process starting from acquiring donor tissue biopsy, all through cell transplantation into the recipient, should occur in an integrated, safe, and efficient system. The current laboratory approach for solid tissue-to-cell isolation is invasive and involves multiple incoherent manual procedures running in an open operator-dependent system. Such an approach provides a chain of events for systematic cell loss that would be unfavorable for rare cell populations such as adult and cancer stem cells. A few lab-on-chip platforms were proposed to process biological tissues, however, they were limited to partial tissue dissociation and required additional processing off-chip. Here, we report the first microfluidic platform that can dissociate native biological tissue into ready-to-use single cells. The platform can merge the successive steps of tissue dissociation, debris filtration, cell sieving, washing, and staining in one streamlined process. Performance of the platform was tested with diverse biological tissues and it could yield viable cells that were ready for on or off-chip cell culture without further processing. Microfluidic tissue dissociation using this platform produced a higher number of viable single cells (an average of 2262 cells/ml per milligram of tissue compared to 1233.25 cells/ml/mg with conventional dissociation).

Comparative carcinogenicity study of a thick, straight-type and a thin, tangled-type multi-walled carbon nanotube administered by intra-tracheal instillation in the rat.

BACKGROUND: Multi-walled carbon nanotubes can be divided into two general subtypes: tangled and straight. MWCNT-N (60 nm in diameter) and MWCNT-7 (80-90 nm in diameter) are straight-type MWCNTs, and similarly to asbestos, both are carcinogenic to the lung and pleura when administered to rats via the airway. Injection of straight-type MWCNTs into the peritoneal cavity also induces the development of mesothelioma, however, injection of tangled-type MWCNTs into the peritoneal cavity does not induce carcinogenesis. To investigate these effects in the lung we conducted a 2-year comparative study of the potential carcinogenicities of a straight-type MWCNT, MWCNT-A (approximately 150 nm in diameter), and a tangled-type MWCNT, MWCNT-B (7.4 nm in diameter) after administration into the rat lung. Crocidolite asbestos was used as the reference material, and rats administered vehicle were used as the controls. Test materials were administered by intra-Tracheal Intra-Pulmonary Spraying (TIPS) once a week over a 7 week period (8 administrations from day 1 to day 50), followed by a 2-year observation period without further treatment. Rats were administered total doses of 0.5 or 1.0 mg MWCNT-A and MWCNT-B or 1.0 mg asbestos. RESULTS: There was no difference in survival between any of the groups. The rats administered MWCNT-A or asbestos did not have a significant increase in bronchiolo-alveolar hyperplasia or tumors in the lung. However, the rats administered MWCNT-B did have significantly elevated incidences of bronchiolo-alveolar hyperplasia and tumors in the lung: the incidence of bronchiolo-alveolar hyperplasia was 0/20, 6/20, and 9/20 in the vehicle, 0.5 mg MWCNT-B, and 1.0 mg MWCNT-B groups, respectively, and the incidence of adenoma and adenocarcinoma combined was 1/19, 5/20, and 7/20 in the vehicle, 0.5 mg MWCNT-B, and 1.0 mg MWCNT-B groups, respectively. Malignant pleural mesothelioma was not induced in any of the groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this initial study indicate that tangled-type MWCNT-B is carcinogenic to the rat lung when administered via the airway, and that straight-type MWCNT-A did not have higher carcinogenic potential in the rat lung than tangled-type MWCNT-B.