Awareness, perspectives and satisfaction levels among patients with psoriatic arthritis: a multicentric cross-sectional survey.

Perception of the disease and its management impacts patients with Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) to a great degree. Studies examining patients' viewpoints and perception of their disease and its management are scarce. This multicentric cross-sectional survey was undertaken to understand the perspectives of patients with PsA. A survey questionnaire with items on demographics, awareness about their disease, treatment, physical therapy, quality of life and satisfaction with the care received was designed. After internal and external validation, a pilot survey was conducted, and the questionnaire was finalized. The final survey (with translations in local languages) was carried out at 17 centres across India. There were 262 respondents (56% males) with mean age of 45.14 ± 12.89 years. In 40%, the time lag between onset of symptoms and medical assessment for it was more than a year. In most of the patients, the diagnosis of PsA was made by a rheumatologist. Over 83% of patients were consulting their rheumatologist periodically as advised and fully compliant with the treatment. Lack of time and cost of therapy were the most common reasons for non-adherence to therapy. Eighty-eight patients (34%) were not fully satisfied with their current treatment. Over two-third of patients had never seen a physiotherapist due to barriers including a lack of time, pain, and fatigue. The daily activities and employment status were affected in nearly 50% of patients with PsA. The current survey has identified a gap in patients' awareness levels and helps healthcare providers in understanding the varied perceptions of patients with PsA. Addressing these issues in a systematic manner would potentially improve the treatment approaches, outcomes, and patient satisfaction levels.

Usefulness of a workshop on scientific writing and publication in improving the baseline knowledge deficit among postgraduates.

BACKGROUND: A well-written manuscript published in a reputable journal is the deserved end-point of good research. It is important for postgraduates to be trained in scientific writing for their academic progression as well as the advancement of science. METHODS: A day-long workshop on scientific writing and publication was conducted at Raipur, India in February 2020. The medical postgraduate (UK equivalent: Core Medical Trainee) participants were engaged with lectures, discussions and a practical session requiring critical appraisal of a manuscript. The lectures also discussed publication ethics and the perils of falling prey to predatory journals. Pre and post-workshop surveys were given to the participants to assess the impact of the workshop on the baseline knowledge of scientific writing and publishing. RESULTS: Out of 69 participants, there were 67 (response rate 97%) and 41 (response rate 59%) respondents to the pre and post-workshop surveys respectively. The former identified a lack of baseline knowledge ranging from 6% for determining the components of the individual sections of the manuscript such as Introduction or Methods, 40% for the use of acronyms, and 55% for knowledge of different referencing styles, to 61% for knowledge of indexing agencies. The post-workshop survey revealed improvement in participants' knowledge of the contents of various sections of the manuscript and their knowledge about referencing styles and indexing agencies. In the post-workshop survey, 20% of respondents said that they would be open to engaging with predatory journals, which underscored the need to educate them continuously regarding the demerits of such practice. Participants expressed the need for longer workshops, preferably spread over two days, with discussion on research methodology and statistical analysis, and more 'hands-on' sessions. CONCLUSION: This survey underscores the need for structured training in scientific writing. Its inclusion in the medical postgraduate curriculum appears desirable.

Providing Healthcare-as-a-Service Using Fuzzy Rule Based Big Data Analytics in Cloud Computing.

With advancements in information and communication technology, there is a steep increase in the remote healthcare applications in which patients can get treatment from the remote places also. The data collected about the patients by remote healthcare applications constitute big data because it varies with volume, velocity, variety, veracity, and value. To process such a large collection of heterogeneous data is one of the biggest challenges which requires a specialized approach. To address this challenge, a new fuzzy rule based classifier is presented in this paper with an aim to provide Healthcare-as-a-Service. The proposed scheme is based upon the initial cluster formation, retrieval, and processing of the big data in cloud environment. Then, a fuzzy rule based classifier is designed for efficient decision making for data classification in the proposed scheme. To perform inferencing from the collected data, membership functions are designed for fuzzification and defuzzification processes. The proposed scheme is evaluated on various evaluation metrics, such as average response time, accuracy, computation cost, classification time, and false positive ratio. The results obtained confirm the effectiveness of the proposed scheme with respect to various performance evaluation metrics in cloud computing environment.

Comparative failure load values of acrylic resin denture teeth bonded to three different heat cure denture base resins: An in vitro study.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: Acrylic teeth are used for fabrication of dentures. Debonding of tooth - denture base bond is routine problem in dental practice. The aim of this study was to comparatively evaluate failure load of acrylic resin denture teeth bonded to three different heat resin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four groups were created out of test samples central incisors (11). Group I: Control, whereas Group II, Group III and Group IV were experimental groups modified with diatoric hole, cingulum ledge lock and Teeth modified with both diatoric hole and cingulum ledge lock, respectively. These test specimens with 3 teeth (2 central [11, 21] and 1, lateral [12] incisors) positioned imitating arrangement of teeth in the conventional denture, prepared by three different heat cure materials (DPI, Trevalon, Acralyn-H). A shear load was applied at cingulum of central incisor (11) at 130° to its long axis using universal tester at a cross head speed of 5 mm/min until failure occurred. Failure load test was conducted and statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 16 software package (IBM Company, New York, U.S). RESULTS: Highest failure load was seen in Group IV specimens, prepared by Trevalon but did not significantly differ from that of DPI. CONCLUSION: The failure load of bonding denture teeth to three different heat cure materials was notably affected by modifications of ridge lap before processing. The specimens with a combination of diatoric hole and cingulum ledge lock, prepared by Trevalon showed highest failure load but did not significantly vary from that of DPI. The control group prepared by Acralyn-H showed lowest failure load but did not significantly differ from that of DPI.

An insight into the genesis of hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia in a case report.

Hypohidrotic (anhidrotic) ectodermal dysplasia (HED) is a congenital syndrome characterized by sparse hair, oligodontia, and reduced sweating. It is estimated to affect at least one in 17000 people worldwide. We report a rare case of HED in a 14-year-old male child patient which extraorally manifested as alopecia, scanty eyebrow and eye lashes, frontal bossing, depressed nasal bridge, and full and everted lips. Intraoral examination revealed complete anodontia of the deciduous teeth and partial anodontia of the permanent teeth. It is usually inherited as an X-linked recessive trait caused by mutation in any of the three EDA pathway genes. X-linked and autosomal recessive forms are phenotypically similar; thus, identification of carriers of partial forms of the disorder in their families is the key to clarifying intrafamilial genetic transmission.