Effect of Frequency of Micro-osteoperforation on Miniscrew- supported Canine Retraction: A Single-centered, Split-mouth Randomized Controlled Trial.

AIM: The present study aimed at evaluating the increase in the rate of tooth movement by increasing the number and frequency of micro-osteoperforations (MOPs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was a single-center, split-mouth, randomized controlled trial. A total of 20 patients were included in the study who had fully erupted maxillary canines with class I molar canine relationship and a bimaxillary protrusion that required the removal of both maxillary and mandibular first premolars. Out of 80 samples, the experimental and controlled groups were randomly assigned. The experimental group received five MOPs in the extracted site of the first premolar before retraction, at 28th day and 56th day. The control group received no MOPs. The rate of tooth movement was measured on 28th, 56th, and 84th day on both the experimental and control sides. RESULTS: In maxillary dentition, the canine on the MOP side moved by 0.65 ± 0.21 mm, 0.74 ± 0.23 mm, and 0.87 ± 0.27 mm during 28th, 56th, and 84th day, respectively, whereas in control side the rate of tooth movement was 0.37 ± 0.09 mm, 0.43 ± 0.11 mm, and 0.47 ± 0.11 mm during 28th, 56th and 84th day, respectively, which was statistically significant (p-value = 0.000). In mandibular dentition, the canine on the MOP site has moved by 0.57 ± 0.12 mm, 0.68 ± 0.21 mm, and 0.67 ± 0.10 mm during 28th, 56th, and 84th day, respectively, whereas in control side the rate of the tooth movement was 0.34 ± 0.08 mm, 0.40 ± 0.15 mm, and 0.40 ± 0.13 mm during 28th, 56th, and 84th day, respectively, which was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Micro-osteoperforations effectively increased the rate of tooth movement. Overall, MOPs increased the rate of canine retraction by 2-fold when compared with the control group. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Micro-osteoperforation is a proven methodology to increase the rate of tooth movement and decrease the treatment time. However, it is important to repeat the procedure during every activation to increase its effectiveness.

Teachers' and Parents' Perspectives on a Curricular Subject of "Religion and Spirituality" for Indian Schools: A Pilot Study Toward School Mental Health Program.

Religious-spiritual (R/S) education helps medical students cope with caregiving stress and gain skills in interpersonal empathy needed for clinical care. Such R/S education has been introduced into K-12 and college curricula in some developed nations and has been found to positively impact student's mental health. Such a move has not yet been seen in the Indian education system. This paper aimed to examine perspectives of teachers and parents in India on appropriateness, benefits, and challenges of including R/S education into the school curriculum and also to gather their impressions on how a R/S curriculum might promote students' health. A cross-sectional study of religiously stratified sample of teachers and parents was initiated in three preselected schools in India and the required sample size (N = 300) was reached through snowballing technique. A semi-structured questionnaire, with questions crafted from "Religion and Spirituality in Medicine, Physicians Perspective" (RSMPP) and "American Academy of Religion's (AAR) Guidelines for Religious Literacy," was used to determine participants' perspectives. Findings revealed that teachers' and parents' "comfort in integrating R/S into school curriculum" was associated with their gender (OR 1.68), education status (OR 1.05), and intrinsic religiosity (OR 1.05). Intrinsic religiosity was significantly (p = 0.025) high among parents while "intrinsic spirituality" was high (p = 0.020) among teachers. How participants' R/S characteristics influence their support of R/S education in school is discussed. In conclusion, participants believe R/S education will fosters students' emotional health and interpersonal skills needed for social leadership. A curriculum that incorporates R/S education, which is based on AAR guidelines and clinically validated interpersonal spiritual care tools would be acceptable to both teachers and parents.

Synthesis and evaluation of N-acetyl-L-tyrosine based compounds as PPARalpha selective activators.

The development of type 2 diabetes in obese individuals is linked to lipid accumulation in non-adipose tissues. A series of N-acetyl-L-tyrosine derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for PPAR transactivation. Compounds 4d and 4f were found to show better PPARalpha transactivation as compared to PPARgamma. Molecular docking analysis was carried out to study their important interactions with the active site of PPARalpha.

Fine tuning of PPAR ligands for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is highly prevalent chronic disease. Recently, many biological targets are discovered for treatment of this disease. The identification of the nuclear hormone receptor peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPAR) and their subtypes alpha, gamma and delta or beta as targets for controlling lipid, glucose and energy homeostasis has proved to be exciting. As hyperlipidaemia, obesity and insulin resistance are independent risk factors for coronary heart disease and macrovascular complications of diabetes; new agents that increase insulin sensitivity as well as decrease hyperlipidaemia by distinct yet complementary mechanism are being studied as they may provide improved therapy for T2DM and related disorders. In this article, we review highly potent PPARgamma agonists, PPARalpha/gamma dual agonists, PPAR pan agonists, alternative PPAR ligands like partial agonists or selective PPAR modulators (SPPARMs) and antagonists from a chemist point of view.

Care seeking behaviour for childhood illness--a questionnaire survey in western Nepal.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization estimates that seeking prompt and appropriate care could reduce child deaths due to acute respiratory infections by 20%. The purpose of our study was to assess care seeking behaviour of the mothers during childhood illness and to determine the predictors of mother's care seeking behaviour. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the immunization clinics of Pokhara city, Kaski district, western Nepal. A trained health worker interviewed the mothers of children suffering from illness during the preceding 15 days. RESULTS: A total of 292 mothers were interviewed. Pharmacies (46.2%) were the most common facilities where care was sought followed by allopathic medical practitioners (26.4%). No care was sought for 8 (2.7%) children and 26 (8.9%) children received traditional/home remedies. 'Appropriate', 'prompt' and 'appropriate and prompt' care was sought by 77 (26.4%), 166 (56.8%) and 33 (11.3%) mothers respectively. The mothers were aware of fever (51%), child becoming sicker (45.2%) and drinking poorly (42.5%) as the danger signs of childhood illness. By multiple logistic regression analysis total family income, number of symptoms, mothers' education and perceived severity of illness were the predictors of care seeking behaviour. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study show that the mothers were more likely to seek care when they perceived the illness as 'serious'. Poor maternal knowledge of danger signs of childhood illness warrants the need for a complementary introduction of community-based Integrated Management of Childhood Illness programmes to improve family's care seeking behaviour and their ability to recognize danger signs of childhood illness. Socioeconomic development of the urban poor may overcome their financial constraints to seek 'appropriate' and 'prompt' care during the childhood illness.

Design and synthesis of 6-methyl-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-pyrimidine-5-carboxylic acid derivatives as PPARgamma activators.

The design and synthesis of novel series of 6-methyl-2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-pyrimidine-5-carboxylic acid (pyrimidone) derivatives that are high affinity ligands for peroxisome proliferators activated receptor gamma have been reported as a potential substitute of 2,4-thiazolidinedione head group. The FlexX docking and radioligand binding affinity of some promising compounds of this series is comparable to that of thiazolidinedione based antidiabetic drugs currently in clinical use.

Synthesis, in vitro and in silico evaluation of l-tyrosine containing PPARalpha/gamma dual agonists.

A novel series of l-tyrosine derivatives have been reported with potential PPARalpha/gamma dual agonistic activity. In vitro cell based PPARalpha/gamma transactivation studies have shown compound 4a and compound 4f to be the most potent PPARgamma and PPARalpha activators, respectively. Molecular docking studies performed on these series of compounds have complemented the experimental results and have led to interesting inferences.

Design, synthesis and evaluation of carbazole derivatives as PPAR alpha/gamma dual agonists and antioxidants.

A series of hydroxycarbazole derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for PPAR alpha/gamma dual agonist as well as antioxidant activities. While most compounds showed good antioxidant activity, some compounds were identified as potential PPAR alpha/gamma dual agonists as well. Compounds 10a and 16 were found to be active in animal studies.

Studies on some glitazones having pyridine as the linker unit.

Molecular modeling on various well-known glitazones carrying a pyridine ring instead of benzene ring as the middle linker unit showed conformational rigidity as compared to their parent molecules. Blocking the lone pair of electrons on the pyridine N, made them flexible once again. A few representatives of these analogues were synthesized and their efficacy as PPARgamma agonists evaluated.