RESUMEN
Pandemic 2019 is observed in all sectors of the world which had caused a huge disruption in the education system in India as well as worldwide adding challenges to student's life. We aimed to provide an outline on E-Learning and the difficulties experienced by students of various colleges in the southern parts of India and to conduct knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) analysis based on student's perception regarding E-learning by collecting an online survey, 346 valid questionnaires were retrieved. In order to evaluate the association between the variables of KAP, structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The influencing factors of KAP were observed to know the effect of the pandemic on E-learning from the model. The result finding moderately fit the collected data and reveals a good fit of the model in the means of satisfying the threshold values.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Evaluation of adhesion of Streptococcus mutans on recycled orthodontic brackets is significant, as Streptococcus mutans is the main causative factor in enamel demineralization and many clinicians, in their practice, resort to reconditioning of brackets, as it is cost-effective. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the adhesion of Streptococcus mutans on new brackets of three different companies (Group I, Group II, and Group III) and brackets recycled by three different recycling methods (RC I: flame heating followed by acid bath; RC II: flame heating followed by ultrasonic cleaning and electropolishing; RC III: flame heating followed by sandblasting and electropolishing). Materials and methods: A total of 10 brackets from each group were incubated with 108 colony-forming units (CFUs) of Streptococcus mutans in trypticase soy broth overnight. The brackets were then washed with phosphate-buffered saline and treated with 0.25% trypsin for 20 minutes followed by vertexing the solution to remove the adhered bacteria and then the solution was plated on the blood agar and incubated overnight. The total viable count of bacteria was quantified. RESULTS: Comparing all the three groups and recycling methods, Group II brackets showed significantly more adhesion, Group I brackets showed lesser adhesion, and Group III brackets showed intermediate adhesion. When comparing recycling methods, all the three methods of recycling with all the three groups showed more bacterial adhesion than the control brackets, which was statistically insignificant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Recycled brackets showed more bacterial adhesion and electropolishing resulted in reduced bacterial adhesion.
