The effect of food supplements on completely edentulous women rehabilitated with complete dentures: A randomized controlled trial.

Aim: Neglected oral health is a major issue, especially in women of developing countries, leading to early loss of teeth which may further lead to malnutrition, degradation of overall health, and increased chances of osteoporosis. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of food supplement on masticatory performance, nutritional status, electromyography (EMG) (masseter and temporalis), and bone mineral density (BMD) among women rehabilitated with complete denture. Settings and Design: Hospital based randomized controlled trial. Materials and Methods: A randomized controlled trial with 106 women of 45-65 years rehabilitated with complete denture (56 received food supplement and 50 did not receive food supplement) and 52 healthy control was conducted. The outcomes were assessed at baseline and 3 and 6 months of follow up (after complete denture fabrication). Outcomes were measured via masticatory performance, nutritional status (hemoglobin, serum calcium, albumin, and Vitamin D level), EMG of masseter and temporalis muscles, and BMD. Statistical Analysis Used: Friedman's analysis of variance test was used as a nonparametric test, and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21.0 at a significance level of 0.05 was used for statistical analysis. Results: A statistically significant change was observed during follow up for the group with food supplement for BMD, EMG, and masticatory performance. When biochemical parameters were assessed during follow up, no statistically significant change was observed for both groups (with and without food supplement), except for serum calcium level in group which received food supplement. Conclusion: It was found that the magnitude of effect was remarkably meager in food supplement group which could be perhaps due to less time given for follow up period. Longer duration of trials would yield better results.

Association of salivary cortisol and psychological burden in patients with oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorders: A prospective study.

Introduction: This study aimed to find an association between psychological burden (in terms of depression, anxiety, and stress) and salivary cortisol among oral cancer (OC) and oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD) patients at various time frames. Methods: In total, 50 patients with OC and OPMD were studied after their informed consent along with 30 healthy controls. Depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 (DASS-21) was administered and saliva was collected (non-invasively) at different stages including the time of diagnosis, one and three months after intervention (medical or surgical). To avoid diurnal variation, saliva was collected twice (morning and evening). To assess the linear relationship between depression, anxiety, and stress with salivary cortisol, a partial correlation was calculated. Results: Comparison of salivary cortisol levels among control, OC, and OPMD groups showed a statistically significant difference in both morning and evening values at different point of time intervals. Higher values of salivary cortisol were observed in OC patients (both morning and evening) in comparison to the OPMD or control group. A positive correlation was discerned between stress and salivary cortisol in both OPMD and OC patients, while no association was found for depression and anxiety domains. Conclusion: The measurement of salivary cortisol effectively demonstrates raised stress levels in OPMD as well as OC patients. Therefore, it is recommended to institute stress management interventions in the patients as part of the treatment of OPMD and OC.

A single-blinded assessment of the effect of communication on psychological burden among oral cancer and oral potentially malignant disorder patients.

Objective: Lack of communication begets distress in patients and often hampers patient care. This study aims to assess the effect of communication on psychological distress among patients with Oral Cancer (OC) and Oral Potentially Malignant Disorder (OPMD). Methods: This is a prospective single-arm study wherein the psychological burden in terms of depression, anxiety, and stress was evaluated in 120 patients through Beck's anxiety inventory, Beck's depression inventory, and perceived stress scale respectively when they were diagnosed with OPMD or OC. All patients were then communicated and informed about their disease through an audiovisual mode and their queries were resolved. Their psychological status was re-evaluated 15 min after this communication. Results: Wilcoxon signed ranks test revealed a statistically significant decline in the scores of each domain for both OC and OPMD post communication. When OC and OPMD were compared, a statistically significant difference was observed for only depression and anxiety domains. Conclusion: Audiovisual communication by healthcare professionals reduces the psychological burden of patients and is immensely useful in providing tailored information to the patients and their families. It is recommended to initiate such communication set ups at the waiting area of all outpatient departments as a good practice, where detailed tailored information can be provided to the patients. Practice implications: The intervention used in this study was not time-consuming and expensive, and can be used by the clinicians or health professional in their clinical practice to improve upon their treatment outcome. However, it should not be considered as a substitute to treatment.

Quality of life among Oral Potentially Malignant Disorder (OPMD) patients: A prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the quality of life among the Oral Potentially Malignant Disorder (OPMD) patients during diagnosis, at one month and 3 months after intervention (surgical or conservative). METHODS: The University of Washington Quality of Life version (4UWQOL v4) and World Health Organization (WHO-BREF) were repeatedly administered on 54 OPMD patients. RESULTS: The results of Friedman's ANOVA showed a statistically significant change in the mean scores for pain, activity, speech, shoulder, taste, saliva, mood, and anxiety domains of UWQOL with time, (p-value <0.05); while physical health, social relationships, environment domains of WHO- BREF have shown significant changes in their respective mean scores. CONCLUSION: The assessment of Quality of Life (QOL) should routinely be done by the clinicians. If the clinicians start considering the QOL as the primary outcome of a treatment protocol, it will enhance patients' identity, well-being, and personality.

A Psychologic Assessment of the Parents of Patients With Cleft Lip and Palate.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychologic burden in terms of depression, anxiety, and stress among the parents of children with congenital craniofacial deformity, nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) with early and late diagnosis and/or treatment. In this study, total 240 patients were enrolled, out of which 72 were parents (either mother/father) of CL/P children, below 10 years (group A: before adolescence), 70 were parents of CL/P children, above 10 years of age (group B: after adolescence), and 98 were parents of children with no CL/P or any other genetic disorder (group C). Depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 was administered in all groups after obtaining the informed consent. Mean ranks of group B revealed a higher score for all the 3 psychologic domains. The CL/P was further divided into only cleft lip, only cleft palate, and both cleft lip and palate groups. A statistically significant difference was observed in group B for all the psychologic domains. Analysis of variance was applied between the groups and a P-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Analysis revealed severe to extremely severe depressed state of mind and moderate to severe levels of stress in maximum parents (above 20%) of group B. However, approximately 50% parents of group B showed extremely severe anxiety. Therefore, psychologic assessment helps in providing a psychiatric or psychologic counseling and treatment to the parents of CL/P children.

Reliability and psychometric validity of Hindi version of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) for Hindi speaking Head Neck Cancer and Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders Patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to carefully translate and psychometrically validate the depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21 (DASS-21) in Hindi language for Hindi-speaking head and neck cancer (HNC) and oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD) patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and sixty-seven HNC and OPMD patients were recruited for this study comprising of 111 oral cancer and 56 OPMD patients. According to internationally accepted guidelines, forward and backward translation procedures were performed, to develop a culturally acceptable version of DASS-21. Validated Hindi version of hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) questionnaire was used to compare the scores. Internal consistency for construct validity of the DASS-21 was assessed. Related data and the patients' demographics details were recorded. Factor analysis using varimax rotation was also carried out. RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha values were 0.998, 0.990, and 0.994, respectively, for depression, anxiety, and stress domains, which was comparable to other studies and indicated a strong internal consistency and good construct validity. Factor and varimax analysis revealed items to be well suited to their respective domains. A statistically significant strong correlation was reflected with HADS Hindi questionnaire; Spearman's rank correlation values observed were 0.80 and 0.83 for depression and anxiety, respectively. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: Hindi version of the DASS-21 questionnaire appears to be culturally appropriate, reliable, and psychometrically valid tool for evaluation of the psychological burden (depression, anxiety, and stress) in Hindi-speaking HNC and OPMD patients.

A case study of primary malignancy of buccal mucosa using proton HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy on tissue specimens.

The diagnosis and confirmation of oral SCC (squamous cell carcinoma) is still dependent on histopathology report in spite of development of radiological investigations. It is, thus important to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms and how the alterations in metabolic pathways effect the tumor development and progression. The simultaneous and comprehensive information about the presence and absence of small molecule metabolites and their relative concentrations has been provided by 1H HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy on tissue specimens. In this paper a unique case study was presented in order to correlate histological and NMR spectroscopic findings. The patient's initially lesion was found to be non-malignant in nature based on histological findings but its periodic localized recurrence even after laser ablation prompted us to perform HR-MAS based analysis and its role in identifying the metabolic alterations in known pathways occurring during its progressions. Thus it was confirmed after analysis that HR-MAS NMR can also be used as an analytical tool which is reliable in order to distinguish between malignant and non-malignant tissues, in combination with histopathology.

Host interactions of Chandipura virus matrix protein.

The rhabdovirus matrix (M) protein is a multifunctional virion protein that plays major role in virus assembly and budding, virus-induced inhibition of host gene expression and cytopathic effects observed in infected cells. The myriad roles played by this protein in the virus biology make it a critical player in viral pathogenesis. Therefore, discerning the interactions of this protein with host can greatly facilitate our understanding of virus infections, ultimately leading to both improved therapeutics and insight into cellular processes. Chandipura virus (CHPV; Family Rhabdoviridae, Genus Vesiculovirus) is an emerging rhabdovirus responsible for several outbreaks of fatal encephalitis among children in India. The present study aims to screen the human fetal brain cDNA library for interactors of CHPV M protein using yeast two-hybrid system. Ten host protein interactors were identified, three of which were further validated by affinity pull down and protein interaction ELISA. The study identified novel human host interactors for CHPV which concurred with previously described associations in other human viruses.

Elucidating the interacting domains of chandipura virus nucleocapsid protein.

The nucleocapsid (N) protein of Chandipura virus (CHPV) plays a crucial role in viral life cycle, besides being an important structural component of the virion through proper organization of its interactions with other viral proteins. In a recent study, the authors had mapped the associations among CHPV proteins and shown that N protein interacts with four of the viral proteins: N, phosphoprotein (P), matrix protein (M), and glycoprotein (G). The present study aimed to distinguish the regions of CHPV N protein responsible for its interactions with other viral proteins. In this direction, we have generated the structure of CHPV N protein by homology modeling using SWISS-MODEL workspace and Accelrys Discovery Studio client 2.55 and mapped the domains of N protein using PiSQRD. The interactions of N protein fragments with other proteins were determined by ZDOCK rigid-body docking method and validated by yeast two-hybrid and ELISA. The study revealed a unique binding site, comprising of amino acids 1-30 at the N terminus of the nucleocapsid protein (N1) that is instrumental in its interactions with N, P, M, and G proteins. It was also observed that N2 associates with N and G proteins while N3 interacts with N, P, and M proteins.

Mapping interactions of Chikungunya virus nonstructural proteins.

The four nonstructural proteins (nsPs1-4) of Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) play important roles involving enzymatic activities and specific interactions with both viral and host components, during different stages of viral pathogenesis. Elucidation of the presence and/or absence of interactions among nsPs in a systematic manner is thus of scientific interest. In the current study, each pair-wise combination among the four nonstructural proteins of CHIKV was systematically analyzed for possible interactions. Six novel protein interactions were identified for CHIKV, using systems such as yeast two-hybrid, GST pull down and ELISA, three of which have not been previously reported for the genus Alphavirus. These interactions form a network of organized associations that suggest the spatial arrangement of nonstructural proteins in the late replicase complex. The study identified novel interactions as well as concurred with previously described associations in related alphaviruses.

Intraviral protein interactions of Chandipura virus.

Chandipura virus (CHPV) is an emerging rhabdovirus responsible for several outbreaks of fatal encephalitis among children in India. The characteristic structure of the virus is a result of extensive and specific interplay among its five encoded proteins. The revelation of interactions among CHPV proteins can help in gaining insight into viral architecture and pathogenesis. In the current study, we carried out comprehensive yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) analysis to elucidate intraviral protein-protein interactions. All of the interactions identified by Y2H were assessed for reliability by GST pull-down and ELISA. A total of eight interactions were identified among four viral proteins. Five of these interactions are being reported for the first time for CHPV. Among these, the glycoprotein (G)-nucleocapsid (N) interaction could be considered novel, as this has not been reported for any members of the family Rhabdoviridae. This study provides a framework within which the roles of the identified protein interactions can be explored further for understanding the biology of this virus at the molecular level.

CHIKVPRO - a protein sequence annotation database for chikungunya virus.

UNLABELLED: In the recent past, there has been a resurgence of interest in Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) attributed to massive outbreaks of Chikungunya fever in the South-East Asia Region. This has reflected in substantial increase in submission of CHIKV genome sequences to NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) database. Hereby we submit a database "CHIKVPRO" containing structural and functional annotation of Chikungunya virus proteins (25 strains) submitted in the NCBI repository. The CHIKV genome encodes for 9 proteins:4 non-structural and 5 structural. The CHIKVPRO database aims to provide the virology community with a single accession authoritative resource for CHIKV proteome- with reference to physiochemical and molecular properties, proteolytic cleavage sites, hydrophobicity, transmembrane prediction, and classification into functional families using SVMProt and other Expasy tools. AVAILABILITY: The database is freely available at http://www.chikvpro.info/