Prosthodontic Rehabilitation with a Telescopic Prosthesis of a Nonsyndromic Oligodontia Patient.

Oligodontia is the congenital absence of six or more permanent teeth, excluding the third molars. Oligodontia of permanent dentition is a rare occurrence. Preservation of the remaining deciduous dentition in such situations is important for both functional and esthetic rehabilitation of the patient. This clinical report describes the rehabilitation of a 16-year-old male with oligodontia of permanent teeth treated by an interdisciplinary team of prosthodontist, pedodontist, and orthodontist. The remaining deciduous dentition was endodontically treated. Occlusal vertical dimension (OVD) of the deciduous dentition was assessed. A full-mouth single piece porcelain-fused-to-metal telescopic prosthesis for the maxillary and mandibular arches was planned with a minimal increase in OVD. The telescopic prosthesis provided excellent retention, stability, esthetics, and stress equalization on the remaining deciduous dentition. Maintenance of oral hygiene procedures was simplified for the adolescent with the telescopic prosthesis. Preservation of remaining deciduous dentition and fabrication of a telescopic prosthesis in this patient provided an effective esthetic and functional rehabilitation.

Development of advanced antimicrobial and sterilized plasma polypropylene grafted muga (Antheraea assama) silk as suture biomaterial.

Surface modification of silk fibroin (SF) materials using environmentally friendly and non-hazardous process to tailor them for specific application as biomaterials has drawn a great deal of interest in the field of biomedical research. To further explore this area of research, in this report, polypropylene (PP) grafted muga (Antheraea assama) SF (PP-AASF) suture is developed using plasma treatment and plasma graft polymerization process. For this purpose, AASF is first sterilized in argon (Ar) plasma treatment followed by grafting PP onto its surface. AASF is a non-mulberry variety having superior qualities to mulberry SF and is still unexplored in the context of suture biomaterial. AASF, Ar plasma treated AASF (AASFAr) and PP-AASF are subjected to various characterization techniques for better comparison and the results are attempted to correlate with their observed properties. Excellent mechanical strength, hydrophobicity, antibacterial behavior, and remarkable wound healing activity of PP-AASF over AASF and AASFAr make it a promising candidate for application as sterilized suture biomaterial.

DNA Encoding-Based Nucleotide Pattern and Deep Features for Instance and Class-Based Image Retrieval.

Recently, DNA encoding has shown its potential to store the vital information of the image in the form of nucleotides, namely A, C, T , and G , with the entire sequence following run-length and GC-constraint. As a result, the encoded DNA planes contain unique nucleotide strings, giving more salient image information using less storage. In this paper, the advantages of DNA encoding have been inherited to uplift the retrieval accuracy of the content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system. Initially, the most significant bit-plane-based DNA encoding scheme has been suggested to generate DNA planes from a given image. The generated DNA planes of the image efficiently capture the salient visual information in a compact form. Subsequently, the encoded DNA planes have been utilized for nucleotide patterns-based feature extraction and image retrieval. Simultaneously, the translated and amplified encoded DNA planes have also been deployed on different deep learning architectures like ResNet-50, VGG-16, VGG-19, and Inception V3 to perform classification-based image retrieval. The performance of the proposed system has been evaluated using two corals, an object, and a medical image dataset. All these datasets contain 28,200 images belonging to 134 different classes. The experimental results confirm that the proposed scheme achieves perceptible improvements compared with other state-of-the-art methods.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Artificial Intelligence-Based Algorithms in Automated Detection of Neck of Femur Fracture on a Plain Radiograph: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of artificial intelligence-based algorithms in identifying neck of femur fracture on a plain radiograph. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources: PubMed, Web of science, Scopus, IEEE, and the Science direct databases were searched from inception to 30 July 2023. Eligibility criteria for study selection: Eligible article types were descriptive, analytical, or trial studies published in the English language providing data on the utility of artificial intelligence (AI) based algorithms in the detection of the neck of the femur (NOF) fracture on plain X-ray. Main outcome measures: The prespecified primary outcome was to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, Youden index, and positive and negative likelihood ratios. Two teams of reviewers (each consisting of two members) extracted the data from available information in each study. The risk of bias was assessed using a mix of the CLAIM (the Checklist for AI in Medical Imaging) and QUADAS-2 (A Revised Tool for the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies) criteria. Results: Of the 437 articles retrieved, five were eligible for inclusion, and the pooled sensitivity of AIs in diagnosing the fracture NOF was 85%, with a specificity of 87%. For all studies, the pooled Youden index (YI) was 0.73. The average positive likelihood ratio (PLR) was 19.88, whereas the negative likelihood ratio (NLR) was 0.17. The random effects model showed an overall odds of 1.16 (0.84-1.61) in the forest plot, comparing the AI system with those of human diagnosis. The overall heterogeneity of the studies was marginal (I2 = 51%). The CLAIM criteria for risk of bias assessment had an overall >70% score. Conclusion: Artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms can be used as a diagnostic adjunct, benefiting clinicians by taking less time and effort in neck of the femur (NOF) fracture diagnosis. Study registration: PROSPERO CRD42022375449. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43465-024-01130-6.

Content-Based Image Retrieval Using DNA Transcription and Translation.

DNA carries the genetic information of almost all the living beings on the earth. The flow of genetic information takes place by a series of transcription and translation reactions in which the DNA gets converted into amino-acid sequences which determine the phenotype of an organism. This property of DNA has been used in the proposed CBIR technique in which the images are first stored in DNA sequences and then their corresponding amino-acid sequences are extracted which are used to form the feature-vectors. This not only ensures the reduction of the dimension of the feature-vectors but also the preservation of the necessary information. These feature-vectors are then given as input to various classifiers for training and testing purpose. Ensemble learning is then applied to enhance the retrieval efficiency of the algorithm. The proposed algorithm is a novel approach that uses the efficiency of DNA-based computing to increase the efficiency of classifiers for image retrieval. Experimental results show that the proposed method is more efficient than the existing state-of-the-art algorithms.

Global Research Trends in Limb Salvage Surgery for Osteosarcoma: Findings from a Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis over 15 Years.

Background: Limb salvage surgery in osteosarcoma requires a multidisciplinary team of experts, due to which research interest has remained limited globally. This article analyzes research trends over 15 years from 2007 to 2022. Materials and Methods: Publications on limb salvage surgery in osteosarcoma were retrieved using the Web of Science. Bibliometric analysis of the publication metadata was done using R software. VOS viewer software was used to analyze the bibliographic coupling, co-citation, co-authorship, and co-occurrence to report the current trends in global research on limb salvage surgery in osteosarcoma. Results: A total of 693 articles were retrieved. On applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a publication metadata of 276 articles was analyzed using the methodology mentioned. Annual scientific production on the subject has shown a steady rising trend globally. China has the highest number of publications on the topic; however, the USA has the highest citations globally. The Journal "Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research" remains the pioneer in the topic with the highest number of publications and H index among all journals. Most of the research interest is generated in the developed countries of the USA, Europe, and China. Keyword analysis suggested 4 clusters of surgical reconstruction, Survival, Chemotherapy, and general management related. Newer keywords such as biological reconstructions, allograft, metastases, cell, and chemotherapy suggest future research topics in the field. Conclusion: Research interest in limb salvage surgery in osteosarcoma continues to grow with the introduction of concepts such as biological reconstructions and allografts. However, for more inclusive research on the topic, research interest must also be encouraged in underdeveloped and developing countries.

Synergistic Effect of Au Interband Transition on Graphene Oxide/ZnO Heterostructure: Experimental Analysis with FDTD Simulation.

We furnish a comprehensive study on light-induced carrier generation due to the synergistic contribution of Au interband transition and graphene oxide (GO)/ZnO heterostructure. Plasmonic gold nanoparticles (Au_nps) are incorporated as a substructure sandwiched between GO and ZnO, assisting in additional photo-induced charge carrier generation. GO is prepared by a single-step plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition process. The GO/ZnO heterostructure having an active working area of 0.25 cm2 is created to unleash the pyroelectric property of ZnO, and subsequently, Au_np is introduced at the interface of GO/ZnO. Here, the interband transition of Au_np and its capability for charge carrier generation combined with the excitonic charge carrier generation of the highly crystalline non-centrosymmetric hexagonal wurtzite ZnO enhances the photoresponse. Furthermore, the interaction of Au_np with ZnO and its spatial electric field intensity distribution is demonstrated by finite difference time domain simulation which indicate toward an efficient carrier generation at the interface of Au_np and ZnO. The fabricated heterostructure has an active working wavelength in the UV-A region with the highest responsivity at 375 nm of the electromagnetic spectrum. The ultrafast response time (∼29 µs) of the device is due to the pyro-phototronic effect of the GO/ZnO heterostructure enhanced by the interband transition of Au. In the comparative study of the Au_np-enriched GO/ZnO heterostructure device with a GO/ZnO device, the former shows better performance. Both the devices work in the self-powered mode as well as the photoconductive mode, but with a higher on-off current ratio in the photoconductive mode. Hence, this work helps in properly understanding photo-induced charge generation in a Au interband transition enriched GO/ZnO heterostructure.

Arsenic exposure through groundwater to the rural and urban population in the Allahabad-Kanpur track in the upper Ganga plain.

This preliminary study reports for the first time that part of the rural population in the Allahabad district and the urban population in the Suklaganj-Kanpur of Unnao district in the Allahabad-Kanpur track of the upper Ganga plain are drinking and using for agricultural irrigation arsenic contaminated water (maximum arsenic concentrations in drinking water and urine are 707 and 1744 microg L(-1) respectively) mostly from shallow hand tube-wells (depth 7.5-40 m) without knowing that these are arsenic contaminated.

An improved three-factor authentication scheme for patient monitoring using WSN in remote health-care system.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE:  Wireless sensor network-based remote health-care systems are becoming popular day by day with the rapid growth of Internet technologies and the proliferation of Internet-based application. A remote health-care system always demands a flexible and secure mechanism since any misuse of health-care related data leads to the risk of a patient's life. To make patient-related information more secure, we further consider that the patient related all the communication must be anonymous and untraceable to prevent traffic analysis. This particular approach makes the healthcare system more secure and suitable for real-time scenario. METHODS:  Recently, a three-factor mutual authentication scheme in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is suggested by Challa et al. to deal with the security of the remote health-care system. They believe that their scheme is suitable and ensure the security of the remote health-care system. However, the authors of this article have found that their scheme suffers from sensor node capture attack; user identity reveals attack, session key leak attack, and message modification attack. Further, their scheme designs improper user revocation phase and re-registration phase, which produces the risk of illegal use of smartcard by a legitimate user. So, in this paper, the authors have given an enhanced mechanism for developing a three-factor secure mutual authentication scheme to attain effectively the security of the remote health-care system for patient monitoring. Further, the proper revocation and re-registration of users have been incorporated to support some additional securities in a case when the user lost his/her smartcard or smartcard is stolen. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS:  Testing with the BAN logic model affirms the accuracy of mutual authentication of the scheme designed in this paper. Also, the output of the AVISPA simulation depicts that the enhanced scheme efficiently tackle the active and passive attacks. Further, the comparative studies of our scheme with state-of-the-art schemes are also acceptable in terms of different security aspects.

An RGB colour image steganography scheme using overlapping block-based pixel-value differencing.

This paper presents a steganographic scheme based on the RGB colour cover image. The secret message bits are embedded into each colour pixel sequentially by the pixel-value differencing (PVD) technique. PVD basically works on two consecutive non-overlapping components; as a result, the straightforward conventional PVD technique is not applicable to embed the secret message bits into a colour pixel, since a colour pixel consists of three colour components, i.e. red, green and blue. Hence, in the proposed scheme, initially the three colour components are represented into two overlapping blocks like the combination of red and green colour components, while another one is the combination of green and blue colour components, respectively. Later, the PVD technique is employed on each block independently to embed the secret data. The two overlapping blocks are readjusted to attain the modified three colour components. The notion of overlapping blocks has improved the embedding capacity of the cover image. The scheme has been tested on a set of colour images and satisfactory results have been achieved in terms of embedding capacity and upholding the acceptable visual quality of the stego-image.

An indirect watermark hiding in discrete cosine transform-singular value decomposition domain for copyright protection.

Digital image watermarking has emerged as a promising solution for copyright protection. In this paper, a discrete cosine transform (DCT) and singular value decomposition (SVD) based hybrid robust image watermarking method using Arnold scrambling is proposed and simulated to protect the copyright of natural images. In this proposed scheme, before embedding, watermark is scrambled with Arnold scrambling. Then, the greyscale cover image and encrypted watermark logo are decomposed into non-overlapping blocks and subsequently some selected image blocks are transformed into the DCT domain for inserting the watermark blocks permanently. For better imperceptibility and effectiveness, in this proposed algorithm, watermark image blocks are embedded into singular values of selected blocks by multiplying with a feasible scaling factor. Simulation result demonstrates that robustness is achieved by recovering satisfactory watermark data from the reconstructed cover image after applying common geometric transformation attacks (such as rotation, flip operation, cropping, scaling, shearing and deletion of lines or columns operation), common enhancement technique attacks (such as low-pass filtering, histogram equalization, sharpening, gamma correction, noise addition) and jpeg compression attacks.

Arsenic in groundwater of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), India: Critical review and modes of mitigation.

This study represents the first comprehensive report of groundwater arsenic contamination status in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). During the past 23 years, 4210 groundwater samples were analysed from all 141 wards in the KMC: 14.2% and 5.2% samples had arsenic >10 µg/l and >50 µg/l, respectively, representing 77 and 37 wards. The study shows that the number of arsenic contaminated samples (and wards) in the southern part of the KMC exceeds that of other parts of the city. The daily intake of arsenic from drinking water was estimated as 0.95 µg per kg bw and the cancer risk was estimated as 1425/106. Analyses of biological samples (hair, nail and urine) showed elevated concentrations of arsenic indicating the presence of subclinical arsenic poisoning, predicting an enhanced lifetime cancer risk for the population in southern part of the KMC. In the KMC, groundwater is not a sustainable source of freshwater due to arsenic, high iron, hardness and total dissolved solids. Its continued use is impelled by the lack of an adequate infrastructure to treat and supply surface water and in some wards the unaccounted for water (UFW) is even >45% incurred during distribution. The rare imposition of a water tax makes the water supply systems unsustainable and fosters indifference to water conservation. To mitigate the arsenic problem, continuous groundwater monitoring for pollutants, a treated surface water supply with strict policy implications, rainwater harvesting in the urban areas and introduction of water taxes seem to be long-term visible solutions.

Arsenic groundwater contamination and its health effects in the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in upper and middle Ganga plain, India: a severe danger.

This communication presents results of our 2-year survey on groundwater arsenic contamination in three districts Ballia, Varanasi and Gazipur of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the upper and middle Ganga plain, India. Analyses of 4,780 tubewell water samples revealed that arsenic concentrations in 46.5% exceeded 10 microg/L, in 26.7%, 50 microg/L and in 10% 300 microg/L limits. Arsenic concentrations up to 3,192 microg//L were observed. The age of tubewells (n=1,881) ranged from less than a year to 32 years, with an average of 6.5 years. Our study shows that older tubewells had a greater chance of contamination. Depth of tubewells (n=3,810) varied from 6 to 60.5 m with a mean of 25.75 m. A detailed study in three administrative units within Ballia district, i.e. block, Gram Panchayet, and village was carried out to assess the magnitude of the contamination. Before our survey the affected villagers were not aware that they were suffering from arsenical toxicity through contaminated drinking water. A preliminary clinical examination in 11 affected villages (10 from Ballia and 1 from Gazipur district) revealed typical arsenical skin lesions ranging from melanosis, keratosis to Bowens (suspected). Out of 989 villagers (691 adults, and 298 children) screened, 137 (19.8%) of the adults and 17 (5.7%) of the children were diagnosed to have typical arsenical skin lesions. Arsenical neuropathy and adverse obstetric outcome were also observed, indicating severity of exposure. The range of arsenic concentrations in hair, nail and urine was 137-10,900, 764-19,700 microg/kg, and 23-4,030 microg/L, respectively. The urine, hair and nail concentrations of arsenic correlated significantly (r=0.76, 0.61, and 0.55, respectively) with drinking water arsenic concentrations. The similarity to previous studies on arsenic contamination in West Bengal, Bihar and Bangladesh indicates that people from a significant part of the surveyed areas in UP are suffering and this will spread unless drives to raise awareness of arsenic toxicity are undertaken and an arsenic safe water supply is immediately introduced.

An eight-year study report on arsenic contamination in groundwater and health effects in Eruani village, Bangladesh and an approach for its mitigation.

Based on several surveys during 1997-2005 and visits of a medical team to Eruani village, Laksham upazila, Comilla district, Bangladesh, the arsenic contamination situation and consequent clinical manifestations of arsenicosis among the villagers, including dermatology, neuropathy, and obstetric outcome, are reported here. Analysis of biological samples from patients and non-patients showed high body burden of arsenic. Even after eight years of known exposure, village children were still drinking arsenic-contaminated water, and many of them had arsenical skin lesions. There were social problems due to the symptoms of arsenicosis. The last survey established that there is a lack of proper awareness among villagers about different aspects of arsenic toxicity. The viability of different options of safe water, such as dugwells, deep tubewells, rainwater harvesting, and surface water with watershed management in the village, was studied. Finally, based on 19 years of field experience, it was felt that, for any successful mitigation programme, emphasis should be given to creating awareness among villagers about the arsenic problem, role of arsenic-free water, better nutrition from local fruits and vegetables, and, above all, active participation of women along with others in the struggle against the arsenic menace.

Self-Powered Broadband Photodetector using Plasmonic Titanium Nitride.

We report the demonstration of plasmonic titanium nitride (TiN) for fabrication of an efficient hybrid photodetector. A novel synthesis method based on plasma nanotechnology is utilized for producing air stable plasma polymerized aniline-TiN (PPA-TiN) nanocomposite and its integration in photodetector geometry. The device performs as a self-powered detector that responds to ultraviolet and visible light at zero bias. The photodetector has the advantage of broadband absorption and outcomes an enhanced photoresponse including high responsivity and detectivity under low light conditions. This work opens up a new direction for plasmonic TiN-based hybrid nanocomposite and its exploitation in optoelectronic applications including imaging, light-wave communication and wire-free route for artificial vision.

Fate of over 480 million inhabitants living in arsenic and fluoride endemic Indian districts: Magnitude, health, socio-economic effects and mitigation approaches.

During our last 27 years of field survey in India, we have studied the magnitude of groundwater arsenic and fluoride contamination and its resulting health effects from numerous states. India is the worst groundwater fluoride and arsenic affected country in the world. Fluoride results the most prevalent groundwater related diseases in India. Out of a total 29 states in India, groundwater of 20 states is fluoride affected. Total population of fluoride endemic 201 districts of India is 411 million (40% of Indian population) and more than 66 million people are estimated to be suffering from fluorosis including 6 million children below 14 years of age. Fluoride may cause a crippling disease. In 6 states of the Ganga-Brahmaputra Plain (GB-Plain), 70.4 million people are potentially at risk from groundwater arsenic toxicity. Three additional states in the non GB-Plain are mildly arsenic affected. For arsenic with substantial cumulative exposure can aggravate the risk of cancers along with various other diseases. Clinical effects of fluoride includes abnormal tooth enamel in children; adults had joint pain and deformity of the limbs, spine etc. The affected population chronically exposed to arsenic and fluoride from groundwater is in danger and there is no available medicine for those suffering from the toxicity. Arsenic and fluoride safe water and nutritious food are suggested to prevent further aggravation of toxicity. The World Health Organization (WHO) points out that social problems arising from arsenic and fluoride toxicity eventually create pressure on the economy of the affected areas. In arsenic and fluoride affected areas in India, crisis is not always having too little safe water to satisfy our need, it is the crisis of managing the water.

Plasmonic photosensitization of polyaniline prepared by a novel process for high-performance flexible photodetector.

We report the synthesis of a polyaniline (PAni)-gold nanoparticle (AuNP) composite thin film in a single step. A flexible high-performance visible photodetector is constructed using PAni-AuNP composite with low loading of AuNP, and optoelectronic properties of the device are evaluated. The present study demonstrates that a plasmonic hybrid nanocomposite prepared by a single-step novel plasma-based dry process could solve the low lifetime and performance-related issues of organic optoelectronic devices.

Plasmonic Hot Hole Generation by Interband Transition in Gold-Polyaniline.

Studies on hot carrier science and technology associated with various types of nanostructures are dominating today's nanotechnology research. Here we report a novel synthesis of polyaniline-gold (PAni-Au) nanocomposite thin films with gold nanostructures (AuNs) of desired shape and size uniformly incorporated in the polymer matrix. According to shape as well as size variation of AuNs, two tunable plasmonic UV-Visible absorption bands are observed in each of the nanocomposites. Plasmonic devices are fabricated using PAni-Au nanocomposite having different UV-Visible plasmon absorption bands. However, all the devices show strong photoelectrical responses in the blue region (400-500 nm) of the visible spectrum. The d-band to sp-band (d-sp) transition of electrons in AuNs produces hot holes that are the only carriers in the material responsible for photocurrent generation in the device. This work provides an experimental evidence of novel plasmonic hot hole generation process that was still a prediction.

Highly effective antibiofilm coating of silver-polymer nanocomposite on polymeric medical devices deposited by one step plasma process.

Foley's catheters were coated with Silver (Ag), plasma polymerized aniline (PPAni) and Ag-PPAni composite by plasma based deposition processes which were characterized by XRD, EDX, SEM, and FT-IR spectroscopy and bioassays were performed to validate their efficacies to kill planktonic cells as well as to remove biofilm. The analyses confirmed the formation of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs), PPAni and Ag-PPAni composite and also corroborated their successful deposition over the catheters. Antibacterial assays showed that coated catheters were capable of killing planktonic cells of most commonly encountered uropathogens and equally capable of eradicating biofilm formation by the uropathogens as evident from the reduced cfu/ml. UV-vis spectroscopy results showed that the nanoparticle coated catheters were capable of gradual release of AgNPs, killing all planktonic cells in solution over the time. Foley's catheters coated with AgNPs and their composites by one step plasma process were non-toxic devices capable of killing planktonic cells and proficient in eradicating biofilm formation which could be used to cutback the likelihood of the catheter related complications.

Immobilization of trypsin on plasma prepared Ag/PPAni nanocomposite film for efficient digestion of protein.

This work demonstrates the efficacy of a support matrix prepared by plasma process for trypsin immobilization without any surface activator. Plasma polymerization cum sputtering process is used to prepare the nanocomposite support matrix. Plasma sputtered silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are uniformly embedded into plasma polymerized aniline (PPAni) film. Various characterization tools are employed to study the surface morphology, microstructure and chemical composition of the support matrices. Trypsin is immobilized onto the support matrix via the formation of covalent bond between them. Plasma generated free radicals on composite films activate the support matrix and make it efficient for increasing the tertiary enzyme stability via multipoint covalent attachment. Trypsin immobilized onto Ag/PPAni matrix has more hydrolyzing capacity of bovine serum albumin (BSA) than free trypsin as well as trypsin immobilized onto PPAni films.