Efficacy of 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy in patients with nicotine stomatitis.

AIM: This study aimed to treat smoker's palate (SP) using 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT). METHODS: A total of 24 patients with SP were divided into two groups: group-I (test group; n = 12); and group-II (control group; n = 12). Group-I patients were treated with 5-ALA-mediated PDT, while group-II patients were advised to cease the smoking habit during the entire duration of the study and later. PDT was repeated on days 3, 7, and 14 (i.e., a total of four sittings including day 0 [baseline]). Later, the participants were called for follow-up after week-4 (1st follow-up), week-6 (2nd follow-up), and week-8 (3rd follow-up) after the completion of the treatment. The SPSS version 22.0 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Group-I patients showed a statistically significant improvement when all three time points were assessed (p < 0.0001). Similarly, the same trend was observed in the group-II participants (p < 0.001), however, the difference between both groups (i.e., group-I [test group] and group-II [control group]) was larger. CONCLUSION: The findings of this clinical trial indicated a promising and satisfactory decrease in the clinical features of the smoker's palate without any adverse impacts utilizing 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy. Hence, 5-ALA-mediated PDT appeared to be a promising treatment option together with smoking cessation.

High yield recovery of 2,3-butanediol from fermented broth accumulated on xylose rich sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate using aqueous two-phase extraction system.

Downstream processing of chemicals obtained from fermentative route is challenging and cost-determining factor of any bioprocess. 2,3-Butanediol (BDO) is a promising chemical building block with myriad applications in the polymer, food, pharmaceuticals, and fuel sector. The current study focuses on the recovery and purification of BDO produced (68.2 g/L) from detoxified xylose-rich sugarcane bagasse hydrolysate by a mutant strain of Enterobacter ludwigii. Studies involving screening and optimization of aqueous-two phase system (ATPS) revealed that 30% w/v (NH4)2SO4 addition to clarified fermented broth facilitated BDO extraction in isopropanol (0.5 v/v), with maximum recovery and partition coefficient being 97.9 ± 4.6% and 45.5 ± 3.5, respectively. The optimized protocol was repeated with unfiltered broth containing 68.2 g/L BDO, cell biomass, and unspent protein, which led to the partitioning of 66.7 g/L BDO, 2.0 g/L xylose and 9.0 g/L acetic acid into organic phase with similar BDO recovery (97%) and partition coefficient (45).

Actinomycosis of the Middle Ear and Mastoid.

INTRODUCTION: Actinomycosis is a saprophytic infection caused by actinomycetes. Actinomycetes is a gram positive, anaerobic, non acid-fast, filamentous bacterium. Although actinomyce is considered as a part of the normal flora, it is rarely seen in middle ear and mastoid cavity. AIM: is to report a rare case of Actinomycosis infection of the middle ear and mastoid cavity. CASE REPORT: We presented A 24 years old male arrived to our outpatient department complaining of right-sided otalgia and hearing loss for 8 years, no history of otorreah, vertigo or dizziness. He had a history of right-sided chronic suppurative otitis media with a history of two operations at the same side. This report suggests that actinomycosis , although it is rare, it could occurs in middle ear. It should be considered as one of the differential for chronic suppurative otitis media patients with no improvement on medical treatment. CONCLUSION: Combined medical and surgical treatment is the recommended management for Actinomycosis infection of the middle ear and mastoid cavity.