Association of Liver Function Tests With the Severity and Outcome of Dengue Fever in Children.

Background Dengue is one of the most common vector-borne diseases in India, and it is transmitted by Aedes family mosquitoes. Hepatic injury is known to occur from dengue infection. Direct hepatotoxicity and deranged host immune responses to the virus are responsible for this hepatic dysfunction. Hence, the study was undertaken to understand the deranged hepatic enzymes using liver function tests (LFTs) and the severity and outcome of dengue fever in children. Methods This study is an observational-descriptive study conducted between June 2022 and May 2024. The study population includes children between the ages of one month and 16 years who have been diagnosed with dengue fever and admitted to pediatric wards and pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), with a sample size of 151. Informed consent from guardians and institutional ethical clearance were obtained. Results A total of 4.8% (N = 7) mortality was seen in this study with dengue patients. Hepatomegaly was seen in 34% (N = 49) of cases. There is a clear statistical significance that is seen among the non-survived and survived dengue patients with a 10-fold increase in serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) levels, respectively, along with total bilirubin, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and prothrombin time (PT). Conclusions The current study shows that deranged LFTs are associated with more severe disease with more PICU admissions and mortality of the disease. The evidence clearly indicates the inclusion of LFTs as a routine investigation to understand the severity of the disease and the prognosis of the outcome.

Effect of submucosal administration of dexamethasone on postoperative discomfort after third molar surgery.

Aim: To compare the impact of submucosal dexamethasone (4 mg) administered after the onset of local anesthesia on postoperative discomfort after third molar surgery and compare the parameters with a control group that did not receive the drug. Methods: A total of 60 patients indicated for surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars (mesioangular, Class II or III, and position B or C) were randomly divided into two groups of 30 patients each. After the onset of local anesthesia, the first group (Group A) received a submucosal injection of 4 mg dexamethasone adjacent to the surgical site, and the control group (Group B) received no drug. Pain, swelling, and trismus were recorded at follow-up visits on the 1st, 2nd, and 7th postoperative days. Assessment of postoperative discomfort was performed by evaluating responses through a modified postoperative symptom severity scale questionnaire, which was administered to the patients on the 7th postoperative day. Results: The difference in subjective pain values and the mean number of analgesics consumed was not significant between the groups. The difference in postoperative swelling was statistically significant on the 1st, 2nd (P < 0.0001), and 7th postoperative days (P = 0.0152). The difference in postoperative trismus was highly significant on 1st and 2nd postoperative days (P < 0.0001). The difference in the mean total quality of life (QOL) score, Eating, Appearance, Daily activity subscale (P < 0.0001), and Social Isolation subscale (P = 0.0002) was statistically significant between both groups. Conclusion: It was found that the administration of submucosal dexamethasone resulted in significantly lesser postoperative swelling and trismus and better QOL outcomes.

Ononin: A comprehensive review of anticancer potential of natural isoflavone glycoside.

Cancer is one of the major causes of death worldwide, with more than 10 million deaths annually. Despite tremendous advances in the health sciences, cancer continues to be a substantial global contributor to mortality. The current treatment methods demand a paradigm shift that not only improves therapeutic efficacy but also minimizes the side effects of conventional medications. Recently, an increased interest in the potential of natural bioactive compounds in the treatment of several types of cancer has been observed. Ononin, also referred to as formononetin-7-O-ß-d-glucoside, is a natural isoflavone glycoside, derived from the roots, stems, and rhizomes of various plants. It exhibits a variety of pharmacological effects, including Antiangiogenic, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, proapoptotic, and antimetastatic activities. The current review presents a thorough overview of sources, chemistry, pharmacokinetics, and the role of ononin in affecting various mechanisms involved in cancer. The review also discusses potential synergistic interactions with other compounds and therapies. The combined synergistic effect of ononin with other compounds increased the efficacy of treatment methods. Finally, the safety studies, comprising both in vitro and in vivo assessments of ononin's anticancer activities, are described.

Rural-urban disparities in knowledge, attitude, and practice toward child oral health among mothers of 9-36-month-old children.

Objective: To assess and compare the knowledge, attitude, and practice of mothers of pre-school children in urban and rural areas toward maintaining child oral health. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted in a convenient sample of 400 mothers of pre-school children (aged 9 months to 3 years) visiting the outpatient department of the Department of Dentistry, Shyam Shah Medical College, Rewa (M.P), India between February 1 and April 21, 2022. The study sample was divided into two groups based on whether they belonged to a rural area (Group A) or urban area (Group B). Group A included 236 participants, and Group B 186 participants. They were served a 24-item questionnaire to assess and compare their knowledge, attitude, and practice toward child oral health. The data were represented as mean and proportions, and a student t test and analysis of variance were performed. Results: In Group A and Group B, 93.64% and 98.17% mothers respectively had the knowledge of cariogenic food. While 66.10% of mothers in Group A and 73.78% in Group B were aware that regular cleaning of teeth protects against tooth decay, only 5.49% of mothers in Group B and none in Group A reported taking their children to routine dental visits; the majority (94.07% in Group A and 78.05% in Group B) had never taken their children to the dentist. Urban background was significantly associated with better knowledge, attitude, and practice scores. Mother's' age and education level were significantly associated with better Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice scores in both groups. Conclusion: Mothers can play an important role in promoting positive attitudes and healthy practices toward oral health care in children. Knowledge, attitude, and practice score were found to be significantly low in mothers who belonged to the rural subgroup.

Covid19-IBO: A Covid-19 Impact on Indian Banking Ontology Along with an Efficient Schema Matching Approach.

The exponential spread of Covid-19 is not only a serious concern for public health but has also severely affected the global economy. India is not an exception. The banking sector must plan innovatively in a wide range of scenarios focusing upon Covid-19 specific requirements. It becomes essential to examine the impact of Covid-19 on the performance of the Indian banking sector and take focused initiatives at both the tactical and the strategic levels. This paper offers the Covid-19 Impact on Banking Ontology (Covid19-IBO) that provides semantic information about the impact of Covid-19 on the banking sector of India. The developed ontology has been verified and validated and has been made available on the Linked Open Data cloud. It can be utilized to annotate the related data to provide meaningful insights. The Covid-19 ontologies already available have some overlapping information that causes redundancy. Unified integration of these ontologies is required to operate upon them unambiguously. It becomes reasonable to develop a matching approach to link all these ontologies semantically. We, therefore, also provide a schema matching approach with reasonable results to map the Covid-19 ontologies.

Bioterrorism: Law Enforcement, Public Health & Role of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon in Emergency Preparedness.

INTRODUCTION: The contrived and deliberate use of pathogenic strains of micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses or their toxins to spread life-threatening diseases on a mass scale with the aim to devastate the population of an area is referred to as 'bioterrorism'. RISK ASSESSMENT: The threat of bioterrorism is higher than ever. It is now a well established fact that the capability to create immense panic and unimaginable fear has allured the terrorists for the despicable use of biological agents for causing terror attacks. Moreover to add to the grievance, this era of biotechnology and nanotechnology has created an easy accessibility to more sophisticated biologic agents apart from the conventional bacteria, viruses and toxins. These biologic weapons can cause large-scale mortality and morbidity in large population and create civil disruption in the shortest possible time. PREPAREDNESS AND MITIGATION: Fight against bioterrorism is a global concern and necessitates that the issue should be criminalized internationally with the assistance of international co-operation and laws in favor of global public health. National public health agencies must also fortify their ability to be able to detect and respond to such biological attacks with better research and training facilities to health professionals, enhanced surveillance and improved diagnostic facilities by evolving an empowered public health system. Public health education and awareness are imperative; people should be made aware of reporting early to health institutions on arousal of signs and symptoms related to suspicious bioterrorist attack. CONCLUSION: Effective bioterrorism planning, prevention and response requires cooperation and collaboration between law enforcement and public health; Oral and maxillofacial surgeons can be successfully integrated into the emergency medical response system. With their education, training, skills and amenities in form of equipments they can augment medical and surgical personnel in early identification and subsequent control of a bioterrorist attack.