An in vivo electromyographic evaluation of pain relief using different therapies in masticatory myalgia patients.

OBJECTIVES: : This study is aimed to evaluate and compare the effect of moist heat fomentation therapy with ultrasound therapy in patients with the masticatory myalgia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted on 42 patients with masticatory myalgia, dividing them into two groups; Group A (21 patients), received moist heat therapy and Group B (21 patients), received ultrasound therapy for seven effective days. Prior and after the treatment the numeric rating scale (NRS) and the electromyography (EMG) scores were recorded and compared. The observations were analyzed clinically and statistical support was taken to assess the NRS and EMG data. RESULTS: Irrespective of the groups, patients testified a significant reduction in pain after the treatment. From the EMG readings; even though the standard deviation for each group was varied considerably, EMG recorded an improved muscle activity. Statistical analysis was used to assess and identify the best treatment methodology between the two modalities. CONCLUSION: From the statistical analysis, it is concluded that, though both the therapies had significantly reduced the symptomatic response, it is moist heat fomentation that improved muscle activity both statistically and clinically in comparison to ultrasound.

Author Correction: Towards a reliable assessment of Asian elephant population parameters: the application of photographic spatial capture-recapture sampling in a priority floodplain ecosystem.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Towards a reliable assessment of Asian elephant population parameters: the application of photographic spatial capture-recapture sampling in a priority floodplain ecosystem.

The hitherto difficult task of reliably estimating populations of wide-ranging megafauna has been enabled by advances in capture-recapture methodology. Here we combine photographic sampling with a Bayesian spatially-explicit capture-recapture (SCR) model to estimate population parameters for the endangered Asian elephant Elephas maximus in the productive floodplain ecosystem of Kaziranga National Park, India. Posterior density estimates of herd-living adult females and sub-adult males and females (herd-adults) was 0.68 elephants/km2 (95% Credible Intervals, CrI = 0.56-0.81) while that of adult males was 0.24 elephants/km2 (95% CrI = 0.18-0.30), with posterior density estimates highlighting spatial heterogeneity in elephant distribution. Estimates of the space-usage parameter suggested that herd-adults ([Formula: see text] = 5.91 km, 95% CrI = 5.18-6.81) moved around considerably more than adult males ([Formula: see text] = 3.64 km, 95% CrI = 3.09-4.34). Based on elephant movement and age-sex composition, we derived the population that contributed individuals sampled in Kaziranga to be 908 herd-adults, 228 adult males and 610 young (density = 0.46 young/km2, SD = 0.06). Our study demonstrates how SCR is suited to estimating geographically open populations, characterising spatial heterogeneity in fine-scale density, and facilitating reliable monitoring to assess population status and dynamics for science and conservation.

Poly(L-lactic acid) nanofibers containing Cissus quadrangularis induced osteogenic differentiation in vitro.

Cissus quadrangularis (CQ) is known as "bone setter" in Ayurvedic Medicine because of its ability to promote fracture healing. Polymers incorporated with CQ at lower concentration have shown to enhance osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in vitro. However, for the healing of clinically relevant critical sized bone defects, large amount of CQ would be required. Based on this perception, a herbal fibrous sheet containing high weight percentage of CQ [20,40 and 60wt/wt% in poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA)] was fabricated through electrospinning. The solution concentration, flow rate, voltage and tip-target distance was optimized to obtain nanofibers. The hydrophobicity of PLLA fibers was reduced through CQ incorporation. There was considerable increase in the adhesion, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of MSCs on herbal fibers than normal fibers, mainly on P-Q20 and P-CQ40. MSCs were differentiated into osteoblasts without providing any osteogenic supplements in the medium, indicating its osteoinductive capability. The herbal sheet also could promote mineralization when immersed in simulated body fluid for 14days. These studies specify that PLLA nanofibers loaded with 20 and 40wt% of CQ could serve as a potential candidate for bone tissue engineering applications.

Enhanced fluorescence of aqueous BODIPY by interaction with cavitand cucurbit[7]uril.

One cationic BODIPY chromophore was synthesized and its complexation behaviour with the macrocyclic host cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) was studied using different spectroscopy techniques such as UV-vis absorption, steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence, 1H NMR as well as DFT based quantum calculations. The dye showed formation of a 1 : 1 dye-CB[7] complex with improvement in the fluorescence intensity. These new results of the formation of moderate association of aqueous BODIPYs with the nontoxic host CB[7] may lead to promising applications of the dye molecule as a sensitive and efficient off-on mode fluorescent probe in chemical and biological studies.

A teaching learning based optimization based on orthogonal design for solving global optimization problems.

In searching for optimal solutions, teaching learning based optimization (TLBO) (Rao et al. 2011a; Rao et al. 2012; Rao & Savsani 2012a) algorithms, has been shown powerful. This paper presents an, improved version of TLBO algorithm based on orthogonal design, and we call it OTLBO (Orthogonal Teaching Learning Based Optimization). OTLBO makes TLBO faster and more robust. It uses orthogonal design and generates an optimal offspring by a statistical optimal method. A new selection strategy is applied to decrease the number of generations and make the algorithm converge faster. We evaluate OTLBO to solve some benchmark function optimization problems with a large number of local minima. Simulations indicate that OTLBO is able to find the near-optimal solutions in all cases. Compared to other state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms, OTLBO performs significantly better in terms of the quality, speed, and stability of the final solutions.

Manganese biosorption sites of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Experiments conducted by pre-treating the fermentation industrial waste biomass of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with laboratory grade chemicals like formaldehyde-formic acid, ethanol, triethyl phosphite-nitromethane, dithiopyridine and benzene helped in studying the roles played by amines, carboxylic acids, phosphates, sulfhydryl group and lipids present on the cell wall of the biomass in manganese biosorption. Potentiometric titration of S. cerevisiae revealed the presence of carboxyl, phosphate, amine groups. The extent of the contribution of the functional groups and lipids to manganese biosorption was in the order: carboxylic acids > amines > lipids > phosphates. Blocking of sulfhydryl group did not have any significant effect on manganese uptake.

Use of cross-species in-situ hybridization (ZOO-FISH) to assess chromosome abnormalities in day-6 in-vivo- or in-vitro-produced sheep embryos.

Causes of chromosomal differences such as mosaicism between embryos developed in vivo and in vitro may be resolved using animal models to compare embryos generated in vivo with those generated by different production systems. The aims of this study were: (1) to test a ZOO-FISH approach (using bovine painting probes) to detect abnormal chromosome make-up in the sheep embryo model, and (2) to examine the extent of chromosome deviation in sheep embryos derived in vivo and in vitro. Cytogenetic analysis was performed on day 6 in-vivo and in-vitro derived sheep embryos using commercially available bovine chromosome painting probes for sex chromosomes X-Y and autosomes 1-29. A total of 8631 interphase and metaphase nuclei were analyzed from 49 in-vitro-derived and 51 in-vivo-derived embryos. The extent of deviation from normal ovine chromosome make-up was higher (p < 0.05) in in-vitro-produced embryos relative to in-vivo-derived embryos (65.3% vs. 19.6% respectively) mainly due to diploid-polyploid mosaicism. Polyploid cells ranged from 3n to 8 n with tetraploids most predominant among non-diploid cells. The proportions of polyploid cells per mixoploid embryo in in-vitro-produced embryos ranged from 1.4% to 30.3%, in contrast to less than 10% among the in-vivo-derived embryos. It was concluded that in-vitro-derived embryos are vulnerable to ploidy change compared to their in-vivo counterparts. The application of ZOO-FISH to domestic animal embryos is an effective approach to study the chromosome complement of species for which DNA probes are unavailable.

Use of somatic cell nuclear transfer to study meiosis in female cattle carrying a sex-dependent fertility-impairing X-chromosome abnormality.

Animal models have played an important part in establishing our knowledge base on reproduction, development, and the occurrence and impact of chromosome abnormalities. Translocations involving the X chromosome and an autosome are unique in that they elicit sex-dependent infertility, with male carriers rendered sterile by synaptic anomalies during meiosis, whereas female carriers conceive but repeatedly abort. Until now the limited access to relevant fetal oocytes has precluded direct study of meiotic events in female carriers. Because somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) circumvents meiotic problems associated with fertility disturbances in translocation carriers, we used SCNT to generate embryos, fetuses, and calves from a cell line derived from a deceased subfertile X-autosome translocation carrier cow to study the meiotic configurations in carrier oocytes. Data from 33 replicates involving 2470 oocyte-donor-cell complexes were assessed for blastocyst development and of these, 42 blastocysts were transferred to 21 recipients. Fourteen pregnancies were detected on day 35 of gestation. One of these was sacrificed for ovary retrieval on day 94 and three went to term. Features of oocytes from the fetal ovary and from the newborn ovaries were examined. Of the pachytene spreads analyzed, 16%, 82%, and 1.5% exhibited quadrivalent, trivalent/univalent, and bivalent/univalent/univalent structures, respectively, whereas among the diakinesis/metaphase I spreads, 16% ring, 75% chain, and 8.3% bivalent/bivalent configurations were noted, suggesting that the low fertility among female carriers may be related to synaptic errors in a predominant proportion of oocytes. Our results indicate that fibroblasts carrying the X-autosome translocation can be used for SCNT to produce embryos, fetuses, and newborn clones to study such basic aspects of development as meiosis and to generate carriers that cannot easily be reproduced by conventional breeding.

Impact of in vitro production techniques on the expression of X-linked genes in bovine (bos taurus) oocytes and pre-attachment embryos.

Our previous studies showed that expression patterns of X-linked genes in cultured cells are different from those of their tissues of origin. This investigation analyses the transcription pattern of the X-linked genes BIRC4, GAB3, MECP2, RPS4X, SLC25A6, and XIST in bovine in vitro matured oocytes and in vitro fertilized embryos, and their in vivo counterparts. In vitro-derived pools of mature oocytes and pre-attachment embryos were obtained by: (a) TCM-199/serum with bovine oviductal epithelial cells as co-culture, and (b) synthetic oviductal fluid/BSA. Pools of in vivo-derived morulae and blastocysts were provided by a commercial embryo transfer operation. Total RNA was extracted for quantification of gene-specific transcript levels using real-time quantitative PCR. Statistical analysis was performed using a mixed model factorial ANOVA with alpha = 0.05. The effect of the in vitro environmental conditions on X-linked gene transcription was most evident during the fourth cell cycle, at the period of activation of the embryonic genome, and seemed to be less pronounced at later developmental stages, with the exception of BIRC4. The levels of X-linked genes transcripts in in vivo-derived embryos were lower relative to their in vitro counterparts for all genes tested. Finally, the pattern of expression of XIST in bovine oocytes and embryos was similar to that reported in humans. These results highlight the possibility that X-linked gene expression analysis is a useful tool to monitor the impact of reproductive biotechnologies on the developmental potential of embryos and aid in their improvement.