Diagnostic and prophylactic potential of a stabilized foot-and-mouth disease serotype Asia1 virus like particles designed through a structure guided approach.

Intact capsids of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) play a vital role in eliciting a protective immune response. Any change in the physico-chemical environment of the capsids results in dissociation and poor immunogenicity. Structural bioinfomatics studies have been carried out to predict the amino acids at the interpentameric region that resulted in the identification of mutant virus-like particles(VLPs) of FMDV serotype Asia1/IND/63/1972. The insect cell expressed VLPs were evaluated for their stability by sandwich ELISA. Among 10 mutants, S93H showed maximum retention of antigenicity at different temperatures, indicating its higher thermal stability as revealed by the in-silico analysis and retained the antigenic sites of the virus demonstrated by Sandwich ELISA. The concordant results of the liquid phase blocking ELISA for estimation of antibody titre of known sera with stable mutant VLP as antigen in place of virus antigen demonstrate its diagnostic potential. The stable mutant VLP elicited a robust immune response with 85.6 % protection in guinea pigs against virus challenge. The stabilized VLP based antigen requires minimum biosafety and cold storage for production and transit besides, complying with differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals. It can effectively replace the conventional virus handling during antigen production for prophylactic and diagnostic use.

An improved deep reinforcement learning routing technique for collision-free VANET.

Vehicular Adhoc Networks (VANETs) is an emerging field that employs a wireless local area network (WLAN) characterized by an ad-hoc topology. Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) comprise diverse entities that are integrated to establish effective communication among themselves and with other associated services. Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) commonly encounter a range of obstacles, such as routing complexities and excessive control overhead. Nevertheless, the majority of these attempts were unsuccessful in delivering an integrated approach to address the challenges related to both routing and minimizing control overheads. The present study introduces an Improved Deep Reinforcement Learning (IDRL) approach for routing, with the aim of reducing the augmented control overhead. The IDRL routing technique that has been proposed aims to optimize the routing path while simultaneously reducing the convergence time in the context of dynamic vehicle density. The IDRL effectively monitors, analyzes, and predicts routing behavior by leveraging transmission capacity and vehicle data. As a result, the reduction of transmission delay is achieved by utilizing adjacent vehicles for the transportation of packets through Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication. The simulation outcomes were executed to assess the resilience and scalability of the model in delivering efficient routing and mitigating the amplified overheads concurrently. The method under consideration demonstrates a high level of efficacy in transmitting messages that are safeguarded through the utilization of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication. The simulation results indicate that the IDRL routing approach, as proposed, presents a decrease in latency, an increase in packet delivery ratio, and an improvement in data reliability in comparison to other routing techniques currently available.

Efficacy of Transdermal Diclofenac Patch as an Analgesic Following Premolar Extractions in Orthodontic Patients.

AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of transdermal diclofenac patch versus oral diclofenac tablet as analgesic following premolar extractions in orthodontic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-three symmetrical pairs of indicated premolars (either first or second) were included for the present study. Each patient was given either transdermal diclofenac sodium patch 100 mg once a day or oral diclofenac tablet 50 mg twice a day for 3 days after the extraction. Pain was assessed by a 10-point visual analog scale and 4-point verbal rating scale given to the patient for each day for 3 days after the extraction. All observational findings were recorded, tabulated, and analyzed statistically. RESULTS: This study consisted of 33 patients with a mean age of 18.73 ± 3.677 years. Out of 33 patients included in this study, 5 were male and 28 were female. The result of the study showed that consecutive postoperative days transdermal diclofenac patch was slightly more efficient in controlling the postoperative pain in the extraction done for the orthodontic purpose than diclofenac oral tablet, however statistically no significant difference was observed using Chi-square test (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Transdermal diclofenac patch showed potential analgesic modality for the management of mild-to-moderate intensity pain in premolar orthodontic extraction, with lower incidence of systemic adverse effects. However, cost and availability may limit the use of transdermal patch.

Proximity of maxillary posterior teeth roots to maxillary sinus and adjacent structures using Denta scan®.

AIM: The study aimed to investigate the proximity of maxillary posterior teeth roots to maxillary sinus and measure the distance of maxillary posterior teeth roots and the sinus floor as well as the thickness of bone between the roots and alveolar cortical bone using Denta scan®. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study samples include Denta scan® images of fifty patients with normally erupted bilateral maxillary first premolar to maxillary second molar. The vertical relationship of each tooth root with maxillary sinus is classified into four types of Denta scan® images (based on the classification by Jung in 2009). The distance between the sinus floor and root, and the bone thickness between the root and alveolar cortical plate will be measured and analyzed. CONCLUSION: The buccal root of the maxillary molars was more commonly protruded into the maxillary sinus. Among the roots of maxillary posterior teeth, mesiobuccal root of first molar and palatal root of second premolar were found in close proximity to the floor of maxillary sinus. The bone thickness on the buccal aspect to the root was significantly thinner in the maxillary first premolar and maxillary first molar as compared to other maxillary posterior teeth roots. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Knowledge of anatomical relationship between the maxillary posterior teeth and maxillary sinus guides us not only in proper preoperative treatment planning but also avoids the possible complications encounter while performing the minor oral surgical procedures involving maxillary posterior teeth, which are close to the maxillary sinus.

Psychiatric morbidity in prisoners.

CONTEXT: The prevalence of psychiatric illness in correctional settings is significantly elevated, with higher than community rates reported for most mental disorders. AIMS: (1) To examine the socio-demographic profile of convicted prisoners. (2) To evaluate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in convicted prisoners. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 500 convicts were assessed for psychiatric morbidity with the help of (a) Socio-demographic proforma, (b) Pareek Udai and Trivedi G's socio-economic status scale (rural) (household schedule), (c) Kuppuswamy's economic status scale (urban) and (d) Present State Examination (PSE). RESULTS: 23.8% of the convicted prisoners were suffering from psychiatric illness excluding substance abuse. 56.4% of the prisoners had history of substance abuse / dependence prior to incarceration. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that a substantial burden of psychiatric morbidity exists in the prison population of India and the burden of psychiatric illness in this vulnerable and marginalized population poses a serious challenge to psychiatrists.