Evaluation of flexural strength and microhardness in Vaccinium macrocarpon (cranberry)-added self-cure polymethyl methacrylate dental resin: An in vitro study.

AIM: Occurrence of denture stomatitis and prosthesis breakage are common problems faced by elderly people wearing removable dentures. To overcome this, several attempts are made to improve the denture material by addition of antimicrobials without compromising original properties. The aim of the study was to evaluate flexural strength and microhardness of self-cured polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) denture base resin after addition of Vaccinium macrocarpon (commonly called as cranberry), extract as antimicrobial, at varying proportions. STUDY SETTING AND DESIGN: Experimental in vitro study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Frozen cranberry fruits were subjected to extraction process in the presence of aqueous solvents. Lyophilized extract was added in proportions of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 dry wt/wt % into polymer of self-cure PMMA denture base resin. Based on cranberry inclusion, the study comprised one control (0%) and four test groups (0.5%-2%) with total of 100 samples. A three-point bending test for flexural strength was done for fifty study samples (n = 10). Surface of fractured samples was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Microhardness was determined using Vickers hardness test. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: One-way statistical ANOVA test was done to find the difference between groups, followed by Tukey's post hoc test for multiple pairwise comparison. RESULTS: Flexural strength ranged from 66.80 to 69.28 MPa, and a statistically insignificant difference was observed between groups (P > 0.05). SEM evaluation showed uniformly dispersed strands of cranberry extract in PMMA matrix. With higher concentration, less voids were seen. Vickers microhardness value significantly decreased from 15.96 in the control group to 14.57 with 2% cranberry addition (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Incorporation of cranberry extract into self-cure PMMA denture base resin, up to 2 dry wt %, did not decline the flexural strength. However, there was a significant decrease in Vickers microhardness values when compared against the control group (0% cranberry inclusion).

COVID-19 Booster Vaccination Adverse Effects and Willingness to Receive a Yearly Booster Dose among Members of Health Sciences Faculties: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: New severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants and waning vaccine efficacy led to the administration of booster doses. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are vulnerable to contract the infection, and vaccination hesitancy in this group may have an impact on vaccine uptake among the general public. Aims: This study aimed to (1) assess the prevalence of self-reported adverse effects (AEs) after the first booster dose vaccine, (2) evaluate the AEs between the homologous and heterologous booster vaccines, and (3) evaluate the willingness to receive a hypothetical yearly booster dose. Materials and Methods: An online, cross-sectional, self-administered, structured questionnaire was distributed to members of the health sciences faculties (HSFs), XXXX University, Malaysia. Convenience sampling was adopted, and descriptive statistics was used to interpret the results. Results: About 67.1% of participants experienced systemic or local AEs. The common AEs were pain at the site of injection (60.2%), fatigue (45.7%), headache (31.6%), and fever (24.7%). About 64% of our participants believed that the booster dose provided extra immunity against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and 57.7% of participants expressed concern over the "mix-match" of vaccination. About 78% of the participants were keen to receive the hypothetical yearly booster dose. The severity of AEs between the booster dose and the primary dose was statistically insignificant (P < 0.159). Conclusion: Booster vaccination AEs were similar to the primary dose. However, a higher severity of AEs occurring in heterologous vaccine receivers was noted in our study.

Knowledge, Awareness, and Perception of Dental Stem Cell: A Questionnaire-based Cross-sectional Study.

The purest and unrestricted source of stem cells is the enamel of the teeth. Dental stem cells (DSCs), which are simple to get, quick to use, and reasonably priced, have the potential to be used in a variety of promising therapeutic applications. Due to their capacity for self-renewal, they are employed to treat significant flaws brought about by diseases, injuries, or surgical procedures. However, they are constrained by moral and ethical issues, as well as challenges with isolation, culturing, and implantation. DSCs are used in the rebuilding of orofacial structures because they retain the ability to differentiate into neurogenic, adipogenic, and odontogenic components. Before stem cell implantation, scaffolding that has been treated with growth hormones and bone morphogenic proteins is crucial. A self-administered questionnaire was used for a cross-sectional study (n = 200) that collected data on demographics, knowledge of stem cells, and attitude statements. Statistical Package for Social Software version 20.0 was used to analyze the data. This study seeks to learn more about professional groups' perceptions of stem cell research in Tamil Nadu and their knowledge and awareness of DSCs.

Masquerading fungal bowel mass in an adolescent: a clinicopathological challenge.

Abdominal masses clubbed with weight loss in the paediatric age group can raise hairs, especially since malignancy is a differential. We present the case of an early adolescent male who presented with abdominal pain and was found to have a mass mimicking a malignancy. The resected surgical specimen revealed entomophthoromycosis of the jejunum and he made a complete recovery following surgery and adjuvant itraconazole. The diagnosis of a fungal aetiology in these cases requires a high index of suspicion and background knowledge of the risk factors, disease occurrence and mode of presentation. Gastrointestinal entomophthoromycosis has an impressive potential for cure if promptly diagnosed and treated.

Retention and Patient Satisfaction of Conventional Over Simplified Non-Balanced Maxillary Removable Complete Dentures.

AIM: Insufficient evidence is available in quantifying the retention between simplified and conventional non-balanced dentures. The aim of the study was to quantify and compare the maxillary denture retention and patient satisfaction between conventional and simplified removable non-balanced complete dentures. METHOD: This randomized clinical trial recruited 44 patients (n=22) with definitive criteria. Simplified and conventional non-balanced complete dentures were fabricated for the intervention groups. The denture retention of maxillary complete dentures was assessed with a dynamometer and patient satisfaction with a visual analogue scale. The mean retention of maxillary denture and satisfaction were recorded at 0-,3-, and 6 - month intervals. The data were statistically analyzed. (α=.05). RESULTS: The mean ±SD of retention for conventional denture at 0, 3, and 6 months by dynamometer ranged from 122 ± 1.64 N to 121 ± 1.57 N and 111 ±1.45N to 110±1.97 N for the simplified denture. The mean ±SD of visual analogue score varied between 9.45±0.35 to 7.19± 0.69 for conventional dentures and 8.00 ±1.39 to 6.81±0.82 for simplified dentures. The repeated ANOVA, t-test and post-hoc Bonferroni revealed statistically significant differences between the two types of denture. (P⟨.05) Conclusion: Numerical retention and satisfaction were higher in conventional non-balanced dentures than simplified dentures.

An article on "letter to the editor".

A 'Letter to the Editor' is an abbreviated form of communication where 'readers' can express their carefully considered scientific opinion about a recently published article in a journal. It is considered as 'post-publication peer review'. There are certain things that a letter writer and the 'editor' need to keep in mind while writing a 'Letter' for a journal. The 'editor' needs to curate the contents of the 'Letter' and make sure that there are no misinformation shared. The formatting, type, scope and the scientific quality of the 'Letter' depend on the journal that publishes them, and hence, different publications may require their 'letter writers' to present the information that they want in a certain way. The following article reflects an overview of the role of editors and writers, guidelines, scope, and format of the 'Letter to the Editor'.

Field and agroinoculation screening of national collection of urd bean (Vigna mungo) germplasm accessions for new sources of mung bean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) resistance.

Yellow mosaic disease (YMD) is a major problem in Urd bean (Vigna mungo L.) in India, which causes huge yield losses. Breeding for wide spectrum and durable Mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) resistance and cultivating resistant cultivars is the most appropriate and effective approach. However, the task has become challenging with the report of at least two species of the virus, viz., Mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) and Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV) and their recombinants; the existence of various isolates of these species with varied virulence and rapid mutations noted in the virus as well as in the whitefly vector population. Thus the present study was carried out to identify and characterize novel and diverse sources of YMV resistance and develop linked molecular markers for breeding durable and broadspectrum resistant urdbean cultivars against YMV. Towards this goal, we have screened 998 accessions of urdbean national collection of germplasm against YMD Hyderabad isolate both in a field under the natural level of disease incidence and through agro inoculation in the laboratory using viruliferous clones of the same isolate. Ten highly resistant accessions identified through repeated testing have been characterized in terms of reported linked markers. We attempted to see diversity among the ten resistant accessions reported here using earlier reported resistance-linked SCAR marker YMV1 and SSR CEDG180 marker. SCAR marker YMV1 did not amplify with any of the 10 accessions. But with CEDG180, results suggested that 10 accessions shortlisted through field and laboratory tests do not carry PU31 allele and this shows that it may be likely to carry novel gene(s). Further studies are needed to genetically characterize these new sources.

Targeting Redundant ROBO1 and SDF-1 Pathways Prevents Adult Hemangioblast Derived-EPC and CEC Activity Effectively Blocking Tumor Neovascularization.

Neovascularization is a key therapeutic target for cancer treatment. However, anti-angiogenic therapies have shown modest success, as tumors develop rapid resistance to treatment owing to activation of redundant pathways that aid vascularization. We hypothesized that simultaneously targeting different pathways of neovascularization will circumvent the current issue of drug resistance and offer enhanced therapeutic benefits. To test this hypothesis, we made use of two distinct models of tumor-neovascularization, which exhibit equally dense microvasculature but show disparate sensitivity to anti-SDF-1 treatment. Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) is primarily a vasculogenic-tumor that is associated with HSC functioning as a hemangioblast to generate circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cells contributing to formation of new blood vessels, and responds to anti-SDF-1 treatment. B16F0 melanoma is an angiogenic-tumor that derives new blood vessels from existing vasculature and is resistant to anti-SDF-1 therapy. In this study, we observed increased expression of the angiogenic-factor, Robo1 predominantly expressed on the blood vessels of B16F0 tumor. Blockade of Robo1 by the decoy receptor, RoboN, resulted in reduced microvascular-density and tumor-growth. However, this was associated with mobilization of BM-cells into the B16F0 tumor, thus switching the mode of neovascularization from angiogenic to vasculogenic. The use of a combinatorial treatment of RoboN and the monoclonal anti-SDF-1 antibody effectively attenuated tumor-growth and inhibited both angiogenic and BM-derived microvessels.

Freeze v/s air-dried alginate-pectin gel beads modified with sodium dodecyl sulphate for enhanced removal of copper ions.

This work presents a novel polymer-based adsorbent, Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate modified alginate-pectin gel beads (APS221) prepared via controlled freeze drying & air drying, for the removal of copper ions from the aqueous solution. This work also critically discusses the role played by various components and their concentrations in the success of APS221. Addition of pectin to alginate resulted into approximately 150 % increase in the metal removal performance of the adsorbent while addition of SDS into alginate-pectin complex enhanced the performance by 14 % approximately, taking the maximum adsorption capacity of final complex APS221 to 111.11 mg/g. Our characterization studies revealed that the adsorption happened predominantly by complexation and ion-exchange mechanisms, and hence despite having a higher surface area, freeze-dried variant showed lesser adsorption capacity than air-dried variant as there was a loss of ion-exchange sites resulting from breakage of crosslinking bonds due to chain elongation. The adsorption process was found to follow Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetics with a good fit of experimental data. Further, operating parameters have been optimized via RSM to, simultaneously, maximize the utilization of the adsorbent and minimize the cost of the process. Stability studies showed that APS221 beads could be used up to eight cycles.

Diagnostic challenges of superficial mucoceles: An update.

A superficial mucocele is a unique variant of a mucocele of the oral cavity that was described by Eveson for the first time in 1988. It occurs due to subepithelial extravasation of sialomucin at the epithelial-connective tissue interface and is related to damage of the minor salivary gland ducts. Clinically, they appear as small, asymptomatic, clear, tense vesicles with a predilection for the soft palate, retromolar pads, and posterior buccal mucosa. They are reported to occur more frequently in women than in men. Before Eveson endeavoured to describe these rather peculiar lesions, they were often misdiagnosed as vesiculobullous lesions such as bullous lichen planus, mucous membrane pemphigoid, and the like. It is incumbent on the present-day pathologist to be cognizant of the presence of these entities as it could present a formidable diagnostic challenge otherwise. This review gives an updated account on the etiology, prevalence, clinical features, differential diagnosis, and management of superficial mucoceles.

Severity Prediction over Parkinson's Disease Prediction by Using the Deep Brooke Inception Net Classifier.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative illness that progresses and is long-lasting. It becomes more difficult to talk, write, walk, and do other basic functions when the brain's dopamine-generating neurons are injured or killed. There is a gradual rise in the intensity of these symptoms over time. Using Parkinson's Telemonitoring Voice Data Set from UCI and deep neural networks, we provide a strategy for predicting the severity of Parkinson's disease in this research. An unprocessed speech recording contains a slew of unintelligible data that makes correct diagnosis difficult. Therefore, the raw signal data must be preprocessed using the signal error drop standardization while the features can be grouped by using the wavelet cleft fuzzy algorithm. Then the abnormal features can be selected by using the firming bacteria foraging algorithm for feature size decomposition process. Then classification was made using the deep brooke inception net classifier. The performances of the classifier are compared where the simulation results show that the proposed strategy accuracy in detecting severity of the Parkinson's disease is better than other conventional methods. The proposed DBIN model achieved better accuracy compared to other existing techniques. It is also found that the classification based on extracted voice abnormality data achieves better accuracy (99.8%) over PD prediction; hence it can be concluded as a better metric for severity prediction.

Wnt pathway modulators in cancer therapeutics: An update on completed and ongoing clinical trials.

Wnt signaling plays an essential role in the initiation and progression of various types of cancer. Besides, the Wnt pathway components have been established as reliable biomarkers and potential targets for cancer therapy. Wnt signaling is categorized into canonical and noncanonical pathways. The canonical pathway is involved in cell survival, proliferation, differentiation and migration, while the noncanonical pathway regulates cell polarity and migration. Apart from its biological role in development and homeostasis, the Wnt pathway has been implicated in several pathological disorders, including cancer. As a result, inhibiting this pathway has been a focus of cancer research with multiple targetable candidates in development. In this review, our focus will be to summarize information about ongoing and completed clinical trials targeting various Wnt pathway components, along with describing current and emerging Wnt targeted therapies. In addition, we will discuss potential opportunities and associated challenges of inhibiting Wnt signaling for cancer therapy.

Dentistry and the Pandemic: A Year of Reckoning.

In March 2020, the world that we know irrevocably changed forever. It feels like "Groundhog Day" all over again, and it seems that the nightmare is here to stay. It all began on the January 8, 2020, when China grimly announced that coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" (SARS-CoV-2)1 but it was not until March 2020 that the situation swiftly careened out of control and is unequivocally posing the greatest challenge to humanity worldwide since the end of the Second World War. While the scientific community heroically galvanized itself and raced against time to provide viable solutions to this formidable foe in the form of vaccines, the worldwide dental fraternity has had to grapple with an extraordinary situation evolving in real-time and ensure that we responded robustly to this daunting health emergency that has spared no corner of our beloved planet. Initially, COVID-19 ensured cessation of all non-urgent dental care in most parts of the world but with increasingly significant inputs about the nature of the pathogen from the scientific community, the dental community has been able to cobble together a workable plan in reconfiguring and restructuring the dental practice in consonance with the situation at hand. It is fiendishly arduous to estimate the massive impact on the dental profession, but it is safe to assume it to be substantial.

Autophagy: The "Pac-Man" within Us-Ally or Adversary?

Autophagy, first described by the Belgian biochemist Christian De Duve in 1963, is derived from the Greek word "autóphagos," which means "self-devouring." It is a cellular homeostatic process in which the body rids itself of flawed or damaged cells and other defective cellular organelles.1 The implication of defective autophagy in various human diseases has been well documented. The vital importance of autophagy is underscored by the fact that robust cellular health and function are intricately linked with it.

Correction: Characterization of an exopolysaccharide from probiont Enterobacter faecalis MSI12 and its effect on the disruption of Candida albicans biofilm.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/C5RA10302A.].

Recent advances in heavy metal removal by chitosan based adsorbents.

Chitosan, a low cost polymer, has been used in many studies for adsorption of heavy metal ions. This review covers the performance of all those adsorbents which were derived from chitosan for the adsorption of heavy metal ions in recent past. Further, the common chitosan modifications methods have been discussed in this paper among which crosslinking and grafting were found to be the most popular methods. Adsorption equilibrium and kinetics were also studied and Pseudo-second order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm were found to be successful for modeling of most of the chitosan derivatives-metal adsorption experiments. Moreover, with focus on chitosan derivatives, effect of adsorbent structure on metal removal, adsorption mechanism, effect of co-existing ions on adsorption, adsorbent synthesis protocols and regeneration methods have been also discussed in great detail. Finally, fixed bed column design for industrial wastewater treatment was elaborated along with efficiency of chitosan based adsorbents in columns.

Synthesis, crystal structure, DFT calculations and Hirshfeld surface analysis of 3-butyl-2,6-bis-(4-fluoro-phen-yl)piperidin-4-one.

The title compound, C21H23F2NO, consists of two fluoro-phenyl groups and one butyl group equatorially oriented on a piperidine ring, which adopts a chair conformation. The dihedral angle between the mean planes of the phenyl rings is 72.1 (1)°. In the crystal, N-H⋯O and weak C-H⋯F inter-actions, which form R 2 2[14] motifs, link the mol-ecules into infinite C(6) chains propagating along [001]. A weak C-H⋯π inter-action is also observed. A Hirshfeld surface analysis of the crystal structure indicates that the most significant contributions to the crystal packing are from H⋯H (53.3%), H⋯C/C⋯H (19.1%), H⋯F/F⋯H (15.7%) and H⋯O/O⋯H (7.7%) contacts. Density functional theory geometry-optimized calculations were compared to the experimentally determined structure in the solid state and used to determine the HOMO-LUMO energy gap and compare it to the UV-vis experimental spectrum.

Genotype × environment interactions for grain iron and zinc content in rice.

BACKGROUND: Nutrient deficiency in humans, especially in children and lactating women, is a major concern. Increasing the micronutrient concentration in staple crops like rice is one way to overcome this. The micronutrient content in rice, especially the iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) content, is highly variable. The identification of rice genotypes in which there are naturally high Fe and Zn concentrations across environments is an important target towards the production of biofortified rice. RESULTS: Phenotypic correlations between grain Fe and Zn content were positive and significant in all environments but a significant negative association was observed between grain yield and grain Fe and Zn. Promising breeding lines with higher Zn or Fe content, or both, were: IR 82475-110-2-2-1-2 (Zn: 20.24-37.33 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.47-14.65 mg kg-1 ); IR 83294-66-2-2-3-2 (Zn: 22-37-41.97 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 9.43-17.16); IR 83668-35-2-2-2 (Zn: 27.15-42.73 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 6.01-14.71); IR 68144-2B-2-2-3-1-166 (Zn: 23.53-40.30 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 10.53-17.80 mg kg-1 ) and RP Bio 5478-185M7 (Zn: 22.60-40.07 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.64-14.73 mg kg-1 ). Among these, IR82475-110-2-2-1-2 (Zn: 20.24-37.33 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.47-14.65 mg kg-1 ) is also high yielding with 3.75 t ha-1 . Kelhrie Cha (Zn: 17.76-36.45 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.17-14.77 mg kg-1 ), Dzuluorhe (Zn: 17.48-39.68 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 7.89-19.90 mg kg-1 ), Nedu (Zn: 18.97-43.55 mg kg-1 Fe: 8.01-19.51 mg kg-1 ), Kuhusoi-Ri-Sareku (Zn: 17.37-44.14 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 8.99-14.30 mg kg-1 ) and Mima (Zn: 17.10-45.64 mg kg-1 ; Fe: 9.97-17.40 mg kg-1 ) were traditional donor genotypes that possessed both high grain Fe and high Zn content. CONCLUSION: Significant genotype × location (G × L) effects were observed in all traits except Fe. Genetic variance was significant and was considerably larger than the variance of G × L for grain Zn and Fe content traits, except grain yield. The G × L × year variance component was significant in all cases. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Synthesis, vibrational spectra, DFT calculations, Hirshfeld surface analysis and molecular docking study of 3-chloro-3-methyl-2,6-diphenylpiperidin-4-one.

A newly synthesized molecular complex 3-chloro-3-methyl-2,6-diphenylpiperidin-4-one [CMDP] crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1. The piperidin-4-one ring exhibits a distorted chair conformation with the puckering parameters Q = 0.559 (3) Å, θ = 173.3 (3°) and φ = 180 (2°). The methyl substituent on the third position of the piperidine ring takes up a syn-periplanar positioning although the chloro substituent takes up an anti-clinical positioning with dihedral angle: Cl1-C2-C1-O1 = 113.3 (2°) due to the repulsion from an adjacent oxygen atom. The optimized molecular geometry and fundamental vibrational frequencies of the CMDP compounds are interpreted with the help of normal coordinate force field calculations based on DFT method B3LYP/6-31+G (d,p) level basis set. The HOMO-LUMO energy gap of the molecule is 5.4194 eV. The hardness value (η) of the CMDP molecule is 2.7097 eV. Hirshfeld surface analysis and fingerprint plots are supportive for determining the molecular shape and visually analyzing the intermolecular interactions in the crystal structure. The Hirshfeld surfaces like di,de,dnorm, shape index and curvedness of C18H18NOCl were pictured and discussed. The various levels of electronic transitions have been predicted by Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) calculations and compared with the recorded absorption spectrum. Molecular docking study was performed and reported for the synthesized compound against 4ey7 protein.

Finite element analysis of displacement with single and two piece hollow bulb obturator prosthesis.

BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation of hemi-maxillectomy defects is difficult and challenging when there is displacement of obturator prosthesis. The literature lacks data on the displacement of different types of obturators. The intent of the study was to evaluate the differences in displacement between the single and two piece hollow bulb obturator prosthesis in Aramany Class I maxillectomy defect. METHODS: Finite element (FE) model of Aramany Class I maxillectomy defect restored with single and two piece closed bulb obturator was fabricated based on patient computed tomography (CT) scan. Finite element analysis (FEA) with three different load applications was done to measure the displacement of the obturator. Graphical and numerical values of displacement were obtained and the results were tabulated. RESULTS: The results were obtained as displacement colour images and the numerical displacement values. The displacement of two piece obturator was 4.779e-8, 6.372e-8, 7.965e-8 compared to single piece obturator 4.509e-8, 6.012e-8, and 7.5151e-8. There was marginal numerical increase in magnitude of displacement in two piece obturator compared to single piece obturator. CONCLUSION: The study observed no significant difference in displacement between the obturator. The numerical difference in displacement is more in two piece obturator compared to the single piece obturator.