Nanotechnology-Based Approaches for Cosmeceutical and Skin Care: A Systematic Review.

Cosmeceuticals have gained great importance and are among the top-selling products used for skin care. Because of changing lifestyles, climate, and increasing pollution, cosmeceuticals are utilized by every individual, thereby making cosmeceuticals a fruitful field for research and the economy. Cosmeceuticals provide incredibly pleasing aesthetic results by fusing the qualities of both cosmetics and medicinal substances. Cosmeceuticals are primarily utilized to improve the appearance of skin by making it smoother, moisturized, and wrinkle-free, in addition to treating dermatological conditions, including photoaging, burns, dandruff, acne, eczema, and erythema. Nanocosmeceuticals are cosmetic products that combine therapeutic effects utilizing nanotechnology, allowing for more precise and effective target-specific delivery of active ingredients, and improving bioavailability.

A Path of Novelty from Nanoparticles to Nanobots: Theragnostic Approach for Targeting Cancer Therapy.

Pharmaceutical development of cancer therapeutics is a dynamic area of research. Even after decades of intensive work, cancer continues to be a dreadful disease with an ever-increasing global incidence. The progress of nanotechnology in cancer research has overcome inherent limitations in conventional cancer chemotherapy and fulfilled the need for target-specific drug carriers. Nanotechnology uses the altered patho-physiological microenvironment of malignant cells and offers various advantages like improved solubility, reduced toxicity, prolonged drug circulation with controlled release, circumventing multidrug resistance, and enhanced biodistribution. Early cancer detection has a crucial role in selecting the best drug regime, thus, diagnosis and therapeutics go hand in hand. Furthermore, nanobots are an amazing possibility and promising innovation with numerous significant applications, particularly in fighting cancer and cleaning out blood vessels. Nanobots are tiny robots, ranging in size from 1 to 100 nm. Moreover, the nanobots would work similarly to white blood cells, watching the bloodstream and searching for indications of distress. This review articulates the evolution of various organic and inorganic nanoparticles and nanobots used as therapeutics, along with their pros and cons. It also highlights the shift in diagnostics from conventional methods to more advanced techniques. This rapidly growing domain is providing more space for engineering desired nanoparticles that can show miraculous results in therapeutic and diagnostic trials.

Evaluation of antibiofilm properties of dehydroacetic acid (DHA) grafted spiro-oxindolopyrrolidines synthesized via multicomponent 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction.

The current work involves the use of dehydroacetic acid based chalcone derivatives for the synthesis of spirooxindole grafted pyrrolidine moieties. All the synthesized compounds have been characterized using spectroscopic techniques such as NMR (1H-NMR and 13C-NMR), IR, mass and elemental analysis. Molecular mechanics studies were performed to comprehend the regioselectivity in the product formation. Molecular docking of the synthesized compounds was performed with few bacterial proteins of Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa responsible for biofilm formation followed by molecular dynamics simulations with the potential lead compound. Further, to corroborate the results obtained via in silico study, anti-biofilm activity etc. of the synthesized compounds (4a-e) was checked for effectiveness against biofilm formation. Taken together, this study opens up to explore these compounds' multiple roles in diverse fields in the arena of medical sciences.

Highlighting the Potential Role of Exosomes as the Targeted Nanotherapeutic Carrier in Metastatic Breast Cancer.

Breast cancer, being the second most common type of cancer, is a leading cause of death in the female population. Of all the available treatments existing for breast cancer, exosomes appear as an important medium for the site targeted delivery of the drugs. Exosomes, unlike all the other extracellular vesicles, play a vital role in the transport of numerous biomolecules throughout the body and can easily be detected because of the presence of specific biomarkers. Apart from playing a wide variety of roles in the progression of many diseases, they are also responsible for tumor progression and metastasis in breast cancer. Exosomes and related engineering strategies are being discussed as nano-carrier for the delivery of different drugs in the case of breast cancer. Overall, we have discussed in this review the role of exosomes in breast cancer and the engineering strategies being devised for making them an efficient drug delivery system.

Role of Tau in Various Tauopathies, Treatment Approaches, and Emerging Role of Nanotechnology in Neurodegenerative Disorders.

A few protein kinases and phosphatases regulate tau protein phosphorylation and an imbalance in their enzyme activity results in tau hyper-phosphorylation. Aberrant tau phosphorylation causes tau to dissociate from the microtubules and clump together in the cytosol to form neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), which lead to the progression of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other tauopathies. Hence, targeting hyperphosphorylated tau protein is a restorative approach for treating neurodegenerative tauopathies. The cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk5) and the glycogen synthase kinase (GSK3ß) have both been implicated in aberrant tau hyperphosphorylation. The limited transport of drugs through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) for reaching the central nervous system (CNS) thus represents a significant problem in the development of drugs. Drug delivery systems based on nanocarriers help solve this problem. In this review, we discuss the tau protein, regulation of tau phosphorylation and abnormal hyperphosphorylation, drugs in use or under clinical trials, and treatment strategies for tauopathies based on the critical role of tau hyperphosphorylation in the pathogenesis of the disease. Pathology of neurodegenerative disease due to hyperphosphorylation and various therapeutic approaches including nanotechnology for its treatment.

In pursuit of next-generation therapeutics: Antimicrobial peptides against superbugs, their sources, mechanism of action, nanotechnology-based delivery, and clinical applications.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) attracted attention as potential source of novel antimicrobials. Multi-drug resistant (MDR) infections have emerged as a global threat to public health in recent years. Furthermore, due to rapid emergence of new diseases, there is pressing need for development of efficient antimicrobials. AMPs are essential part of the innate immunity in most living organisms, acting as the primary line of defense against foreign invasions. AMPs kill a wide range of microorganisms by primarily targeting cell membranes or intracellular components through a variety of ways. AMPs can be broadly categorized based on their physico-chemical properties, structure, function, target and source of origin. The synthetic analogues produced either with suitable chemical modifications or with the use of suitable delivery systems are projected to eliminate the constraints of toxicity and poor stability commonly linked with natural AMPs. The concept of peptidomimetics is gaining ground around the world nowadays. Among the delivery systems, nanoparticles are emerging as potential delivery tools for AMPs, amplifying their utility against a variety of pathogens. In the present review, the broad classification of various AMPs, their mechanism of action (MOA), challenges associated with AMPs, current applications, and novel strategies to overcome the limitations have been discussed.

Peptide Utility (PU) search server: A new tool for peptide sequence search from multiple databases.

Proteins are essential building blocks in humans that have garnered huge attention from researchers worldwide due to their numerous therapeutic applications. To date, different computational tools have been developed to extract pre-existing information on these biological molecules, but most of these tools suffer from limitations such as non-user friendly interface, redundancy of data, etc. To overcome these limitations, a user-friendly interface, the Peptide Utility (PU) webserver (https://chain-searching.herokuapp.com/) has been developed for searching and analyzing homologous and identical protein/peptide sequences that can be searched from approximately 0.4 million sequences (structural and sequence information) in both online and offline modes. The PU web server can also be used to study different types of interactions in PDBSum, identifying the most dominating interface residues, the most prevalent interactions, and the interaction preferences of different residues. The webserver would also pave way for the design of novel therapeutic peptides and folds by identifying conserved residues in the three-dimensional structure space of proteins.

N95 Mask with Exhalation Valve: Reporting of One Safety Issue.

To the editor: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a novel coronavirus that transmits via human to human by aerosol droplets, physical contact, and airborne route.

Reliability of palatal rugae patterns in individual identification.

Background: Dental identification plays a major role in mass disaster identification of human remains. Palatal rugae can be used as a substitute for a comparative method of identification. Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study was done with 137 pre- and post-orthodontically treated casts of patients, which were divided into 50 cases each of extraction and nonextraction and 37 cases of palatal expansion involving both extraction and nonextraction. Hydrocolloid (alginate) impression of the upper jaw of the patient was taken and then cast in the dental plaster of Paris material. Palatal rugae pattern was classified according to Lysellm, and Thomas and Kotze classification. Two Observers recorded the data, mean of two were taken for analysis. Results: On the right side, there was no significant difference between the extraction and nonextraction groups; however, there was a rise in length in the nonextraction and palatal expansion groups. On the left side, there was little change between the nonextraction and palatal expansion groups, but the extraction group had a modest increase in length. Mean lengths compared within three groups revealed insignificant difference. Conclusion: Palatal rugae pattern can be used in establishing identity in forensic medicine provided antemortem data are available. Orthodontic treatment has an impact on stability of palatal rugae. Most reliable and stable points being third rugae, they could be used as reference points to evaluate tooth movements.

Extracellular matrix in invasion and metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma is a common cancer in developing countries with highly invasive and metastasis credentials. The Lymphnode metastasis in oral squamous cell carcinoma is regarded as the factor that decides on disease survival of patients. Steps have been made towards research in the field of Oral squamous cell carcinoma for better understanding of the molecular events involved in invasion and metastasis. Recently, the role of Extracellular matrix (ECM) of oral squamous cell carcinoma in invasion and metastasis has gained interest, as ECM is known to actively contribute in events that regulate transcriptional controls and cell signalling mechanisms involved in invasion and metastasis. Understanding such contributing role of ECM may pave way for newer methodologies in early detection, prevention and therapeutic strategies for oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Forensic odontology as a humanitarian tool.

Humanitarian forensic action is the application of skills of forensic science in a conflicts or disasters as a humanitarian action. Forensic odontologist promote forensic odontology and forensic science principles to caseworks with the purpose of preventing human right violation by human identification, age estimation and where ever dental evidence is involved. Forensic odontologist is involved in all phases of disaster victim identification. According to Disaster Victim Identification Guide, if a positive match is found using dental identification it can be trusted as a standalone identifier. Dental structures are well protected and the hardest structure of the body. They resist decomposition and high temperatures and are the last one to disintegrate after death. Dental hard tissue provide abundant information in disaster victim identification, missing and unidentified persons, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence and sexual abuse with bite mark evidence, age estimation of unaccompanied minors, border control and human trafficking. The present article highlights the role of forensic odontologist in human identification for the purpose of preventing human rights violation.

Ameloblastic carcinoma: A rare case with diagnostic dilemma.

Ameloblastic Carcinoma is a rare malignant Odontogenic tumour with characteristic histopathology and clinical features which requires aggressive surgical treatment and surveillance and therefore differs from ameloblastoma. It is possible that ameloblastoma shows a variety of histologic and biologic behaviour ranging from benign to frank malignancy. Cases of ameloblastoma should thus be studied carefully, correlating their histologic pattern with biologic behaviour to direct subtle changes in histology that may predict the aggressiveness of the tumor. Thus the identifying features of Ameloblastic Carcinoma must be carefully known and recognized by dental professionals. The purpose of this article is to report a rare case of Ameloblastic Carcinoma and to highlight the clinical, radiological and variable histological features with possible differential diagnosis.

Frequency and variability of five non metric dental crown traits in the permanent maxillary dentitions of a racially mixed population from Bengaluru, Karnataka.

INTRODUCTION: Evaluation of Tooth Crown non metric traits benefits to assess the biological distance between populations. It is well known that these traits are characterised by a high inter-population differentiation, low sexual dimorphism, and their recording is loaded by relatively small intra and inter observer error. The dental morphological traits are successfully used in the description and explanation of the microevolutionary and ethnogenetic processes. This paper presents the results of the permanent maxillary dentition tooth crown traits differentiation of human populations from Bengaluru. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The comparative analysis was carried out on the basis of 4 groups for 5 Tooth Crown non metric traits in maxillary permanent dentition using Arizona State University Dental Anthropology System for morphological scoring system of each trait and each score was charted on Osteoware Dental Morphology software. RESULTS: Study analysed 400 dental casts from 4 different ethnic groups. Traits Winging, shovelling, lingual tubercle showed highest expression in Iranians while Cusp of Carabelli's trait expression showed 87% of prevalence in the surveyed group but the Hypocone trait showed the highest expression in Muslims. CONCLUSION: Traits of the human dentition can be a valuable diagnostic tool for anthropological studies in classifying and characterizing different ethnic groups. According to the results obtained from this study, it can be said that the groups Hindus, Muslims and Christians (Indians) belong to Sundonts, while Iranians fall under sinodonts population group.

Mucormycosis in immunocompetent patient resulting in extensive maxillary sequestration.

Mucormycosis or zygomycosis, also called phycomycosis, is an uncommon, invasive, potentially lethal and an aggressive fungal infection of the order Mucorales that usually affects patients with alteration of their immunological system. From its initial description (Paltauf, 1885), this entity still has a high mortality. Imaging techniques are not usually diagnostic, and cultures are not totally reliable. Definitive diagnosis is exclusively obtained by means of histopathological examination. Early recognition and aggressive treatment are of paramount importance and have reduced the mortality and morbidity. We present here a case report of oral mucormycosis in a 32-year-old male, immunocompetent individual resulting in extensive maxillary sequestration.

Caesarean Scar Endometriosis.

Endometriosis is a common benign gynecologic disorder defined as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside of the normal location. The overall prevalence is 8-15% in women of reproductive age group. Scar endometriosis is a rare disease, and is difficult to diagnose. It is commonly seen following obstetrical and gynecological surgeries. The symptoms are non-specific, typically involving abdominal wall pain at the incision site at the time of menstruation and palpable tender mass in the incision site. The diagnosis is frequently made only after excision of the diseased tissue and its histological analysis. We present here a case of abdominal wall scar endometriosis in a woman who had undergone a caesarean section four years ago. Surgical excision led to the diagnosis of scar endometriosis. The pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of this rare condition are discussed.

Skin cancer detection using non-invasive techniques.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer and is globally rising. Historically, the diagnosis of skin cancers has depended on various conventional techniques which are of an invasive manner. A variety of commercial diagnostic tools and auxiliary techniques are available to detect skin cancer. This article explains in detail the principles and approaches involved for non-invasive skin cancer diagnostic methods such as photography, dermoscopy, sonography, confocal microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, terahertz spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, the multispectral imaging technique, thermography, electrical bio-impedance, tape stripping and computer-aided analysis. The characteristics of an ideal screening test are outlined, and the authors pose several points for clinicians and scientists to consider in the evaluation of current and future studies of skin cancer detection and diagnosis. This comprehensive review critically analyses the literature associated with the field and summarises the recent updates along with their merits and demerits.

The cusp of Carabelli: Frequency, distribution and type in the Bengaluru population.

AIMS: Detailed description and study of teeth traits could provide valuable information regarding phylogeny of man and distinctions between races and subraces. But morphological variations of the human dentition have not been utilized to their full potential by anthropologists concerned with patterns of human biological variation in Indian population. The aim of the present study is to detect the frequency and degree of expression of Carabelli's trait in Bengaluru population, this helps to develop a probabilistic model to distinguish individuals from specific human populations, particularly for forensic purposes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total number 400of age and sex matched individuals from four different ethnic groups - Hindu, Islam, Christian and Iranians were examined clinically and study casts were made. Permanent maxillary first molars were examined for the expression of Carabelli's trait, Dahlberg classification system was used to score the trait on the teeth. The scores were recorded on Osteoware Dental Morphology software. The cast were examined by 2 observers independently to eliminate intra observer variation in interpretation and mean of 2 was taken for analysis. The data so obtained was statistically analysed especially emphasizing on differences between above mentioned 4 ethnic groups. RESULTS: Cusp of Carabelli was present in 87% of the study population in maxillary first permanent molar. Type 3 was the most frequently expressed and Type 6 was the least frequently expressed and both type being expressed in Islamic groups. The expression of trait was bilateral in 90% of the surveyed groups. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that the prevalence of cusp of Carabelli in the small population from Bengaluru considered in the present study was found to possess a high degree of Carabelli trait expression.

Epigenetics in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common type of oral neoplasm, accounting for over 90% of all oral malignancies and 38% of head and neck tumors. Worldwide, OSCC is the eighth most common human cancer, with more than 500,000 new cases being diagnosed every year with a fairly onerous prognosis, encouraging further research on factors that might modify disease outcome. Genetic and/or environmental risk factors associated with the development of oral cancer have been sufficiently understood (smoking, alcohol, betel, diet, living habits, etc.). Knowledge of the genetic basis in oral carcinogenesis is still a challenging task. To improve the diagnosis and prevention, a previously unknown type of chromatin modification, known as epigenetic, which is defined as heritable DNA changes that are not encoded in the sequence itself and which are reversible and increasingly appear to serve fundamental roles in cell differentiation and development are studied. Tumors shed their DNA into the blood and epigenetic changes that occur early during tumorigenesis, sometimes even in premalignant lesions, can provide valuable biomarkers. Key components involved in epigenetic regulation are DNA methylation, histone modifications and modifications in micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs). Epigenetic modifications may contribute to aberrant epigenetic mechanisms seen in oral precancers and cancers. In the near future, epigenetic variations found in oral dysplastic cells can act as a molecular fingerprint for malignancies.

Juxtaoral organ of Chievitz: An innocuous organ to be known.

The Juxtaoral Organ of Chievitz is a normal anatomical structure located within the soft tissue in the buccotemporal fascia on the medial surface of the ascending ramus. This enigmatic vestigial structure is considered to be of neuroepithelial origin with no known function. As a matter of fact, JOOC is one of the most treacherous pitfalls in surgical pathology with respect to lesions in the head and neck area. Hence the basic aim of this short communication is to reveal the importance about this organ and enlighten the oral pathologist about this histopathological structure, thus preventing extensive and unnecessary investigations.

Prevalence of nasal carriers of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus among dental students: An in vivo study.

AIM: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of nasal carriage of coagulase positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among dental students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four hundred dental students, divided into two groups - undergraduates (200) and postgraduates (200), were screened using sterile cotton swabs for carriage of MRSA in anterior nares. The samples were inoculated on HiCrome MeReSa Agar Base-with cefoxitin supplement. Further confirmatory tests were done by Gram-staining, Tube coagulase and Cefoxitin disc diffusion test on Mueller-Hinton agar. RESULTS: MRSA was positive among 25 (12.50%) undergraduates and 49 (24.50%) postgraduates students. Further confirmatory test also showed the same results. MRSA colonization was significantly more in postgraduate students, who are exposed to more number of patients and have put in more clinical hours as compared to undergraduate students who have just entered clinics and have limited clinical exposure. CONCLUSION: The present study concluded that rate of MRSA colonization was 18.5% in the dental school population. The colonization rate was significantly (P = 0.002%) higher in postgraduate students as compared to undergraduate students emphasizing the need to follow infection control protocols stringently. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Awareness about MRSA among dental doctors is mandatory so as to prevent transmission of MRSA in dental settings.