Lactate dehydrogenase as a biomarker in oral cancer and oral submucous fibrosis.

BACKGROUND: Oral cancer is the commonest cause of death in the Indian population, with a mortality rate of 0.3 million deaths per year. Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) is a potentially malignant disorder that has a high prevalence rate in India. It has been found that serum lactate dehydrogenase levels are increased in potentially malignant and malignant disorders. There are very few data on the application of salivary LDH in the detection of such disorders. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The estimation of LDH levels in saliva as diagnostic markers, using a noninvasive method in patients with OSMF, oral cancer, and in the controls. METHODS: A total of 60 subjects with the age range of 20-70 years were selected from the Department of Oral Medicine & Radiology and were grouped into three groups. Twenty-five subjects with clinically diagnosed OSMF (Group I), 25 subjects with histopathologically diagnosed oral cancer (Group II), and 10 subjects as control (Group III). Five milliliters of unstimulated whole saliva was aseptically collected. Following which, the collected saliva was centrifuged and then analyzed by ERBA-CHEM 5 semi auto-analyzer. The values obtained were statistically analyzed using descriptive statistics and paired t-test using the SPSS software version 22. P-value < 0.05- was taken as significant. RESULTS: The mean LDH levels were Group I 608.28 ± 30.22, Group II 630.96 ± 39.80, and Group III 182.21 ± 34.85. The P-value obtained was 0.0009 for both Group I and Group II which was highly significant. CONCLUSION: Salivary LDH levels were consistently higher in OSMF and oral cancer; hence, it could be a future biomarker.

Production of novel cell-associated tannase from newly isolated Serratia ficaria DTC.

Five strains of tannic acid degrading bacteria were isolated and identified by phenotypic characterization. All the five isolates showed cell-associated activity, where as only three showed extracellular activity. Serratia ficaria DTC showing highest cell-associated activity (0.29 U/l) was selected for further shake flask studies. Tannase synthesis was growth associated and reached the peak in the late stationary phase of growth. Organic nitrogen sources enhanced the tannase production. Peak tannase production of 0.56 U/l was recorded in the medium having the initial pH of 6. The pH and temperature optima of the enzyme were found to be 8.9 and 35 degrees , respectively. This is the first report of cell-associated activity in case of bacterial tannase. Cell-associated tannase of Serratia ficaria DTC could be industrially important from the perspective of its activity at broad temperature and pH range, its unusually high activity at pH 8.9.

Salivary lead concentration in dental caries among normal and children with cerebral palsy.

INTRODUCTION: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological disability the exact cause of which is not known. Exposure to toxic elements, environmental pollutants, and various teratogens such as lead, either prenatal or postnatal, can be a risk factor for this neurologic disability. CP children have poor neuromuscular coordination, exposing them to increased risk of oral diseases such as drooling of saliva, periodontal diseases, dental caries, and malocclusion. There are less studies comparing lead concentration in CP children, as it can be one of the contributing factors to dental caries. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The present study was to estimate and compare the salivary lead level in normal and neurologically disabled children and to correlate salivary lead level with dental caries in both normal and neurologically disabled children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A study on 45 children reporting to CP rehabilitation center and 41 normal children taken from the Outpatient Department of the Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry. P.M.N.M. Dental College and Hospital, Bagalkot, Karnataka. All children were between the age group of 5-12 years. In all individuals, a thorough medical history and dental examination were done. The age, state of dentition, and the level of caries in all individuals were determined by the same examiner, and salivary lead concentrations were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. All children were divided into four groups depending on the presence or absence of dental caries. Group 1 consisted of 20 normal children with dental caries, Group 2 consisted of 21 normal children without dental caries, Group 3 consisted of 25 CP children with dental caries, and Group 4 consisted of 20 CP children without dental caries. RESULTS: Were recorded tabulated and statistically analyzed. CP children had high decayed, missing, and filled teeth/def scores, dental caries, and salivary lead concentration as compared to normal children. Statistically significant correlation was obtained between the dental caries and saliva lead concentration. The lead concentration was directly proportional to the carious status. CONCLUSION: CP children are more prone to dental caries and increased salivary lead concentration which could be a cause as well as the effect of CP.

Lung Parenchymal Analysis on Dynamic MRI in Thoracic Insufficiency Syndrome to Assess Changes Following Surgical Intervention.

General surgeons, orthopedists, and pulmonologists individually treat patients with thoracic insufficiency syndrome (TIS). The benefits of growth-sparing procedures such as Vertical Expandable Prosthetic Titanium Rib (VEPTR)insertionfor treating patients with TIS have been demonstrated. However, at present there is no objective assessment metricto examine different thoracic structural components individually as to their roles in the syndrome, in contributing to dynamics and function, and in influencing treatment outcome. Using thoracic dynamic MRI (dMRI), we have been developing a methodology to overcome this problem. In this paper, we extend this methodology from our previous structural analysis approaches to examining lung tissue properties. We process the T2-weighted dMRI images through a series of steps involving 4D image construction of the acquired dMRI images, intensity non-uniformity correction and standardization of the 4D image, lung segmentation, and estimation of the parameters describing lung tissue intensity distributions in the 4D image. Based on pre- and post-operative dMRI data sets from 25 TIS patients (predominantly neuromuscular and congenital conditions), we demonstrate how lung tissue can be characterized by the estimated distribution parameters. Our results show that standardized T2-weighted image intensity values decrease from the pre- to post-operative condition, likely reflecting improved lung aeration post-operatively. In both pre- and post-operative conditions, the intensity values decrease also from end-expiration to end-inspiration, supporting the basic premise of our results.

A comparative study of septoplasty with or without nasal packing.

This study was conducted to compare the outcome of septoplasty with or without Nasal packing. The study subjects were randomly allocated into two groups. There was significant reduction in frequency of post operative pain, headache, discomfort and duration of hospital stay in patients who have undergone septoplasty without nasal packing. However there was no difference in post operative bleeding and septal perforation between two groups. Therefore after Septoplasty without nasal packing is preferred alternative to with nasal packing.