Efficiency of Immediate and Controlled release of Aceclofenac on Post-instrumentation Pain in Root Canal Treatment - A Triple Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with moderate to severe preoperative pain have a high incidence of postoperative pain. The objective of this trial was to evaluate the efficiency of oral premedication with Aceclofenac (immediate release and controlled release) in the management of post-instrumentation pain in root canal treatment, in patients with moderate to severe preoperative pain. METHODS: Three-arm parallel, triple blinded randomized controlled trial was planned. Patients with moderate to severe endodontic pain, requiring primary endodontic treatment were enrolled. Aceclofenac 100mg- immediate release (Aceclofenac-IR), Aceclofenac 200mg- controlled release (Aceclofenac-CR), and Ibuprofen 400mg were compared. The tablets were given one hour before the root canal treatment. Postoperatively, patients rated their pain at various time points. The duration of pain relief (primary outcome), the intensity of post-instrumentation pain, and the need for additional medicine were calculated. Statistical analysis was done using Kruskal-Wallis followed by Dunn post-hoc, Chi-square tests, and Binominal logistic regression. RESULTS: Aceclofenac-CR had a statistically significant longest duration of pain relief when compared to Ibuprofen (p=0.037) and Aceclofenac-IR (p=0.026). The intensity of post-instrumentation pain was lowest in Aceclofenac-CR, followed by Aceclofenac-IR and Ibuprofen. Additional medicine was required for only 8% of patients in Aceclofenac-CR group; whereas for 32% in each of Aceclofenac-IR and Ibuprofen groups. The odds of taking additional medicine were reduced to 0.16 in Aceclofenac-CR; increased to 1.05 with age. CONCLUSION: Aceclofenac-CR had the longest duration of pain relief compared to Aceclofenac-IR and Ibuprofen. (EEJ-2022-03-037).

Food as Medicine Clinic: Early Results and Lessons Learned.

INTRODUCTION: Hospital-based food pantries are commonly used to address food insecurity. However, few studies have examined the impact of these food pantries on patients with chronic health conditions. In this study, we sought to assess the effect of a hospital-based food pantry clinic on self-reported dietary changes, health outcomes, and resource utilization. METHODS: This study included food insecure participants with suboptimally controlled congestive heart failure, hypertension, or diabetes who visited a Food as Medicine (FAM) clinic at an academic healthcare system between October 2018 and November 2019. The clinic provided a three-day supply of food for participants and their families up to two times per month for up to 12 months. Baseline, three-month, and six-month surveys were used to assess dietary behaviors, and electronic health record (EHR) data were used to assess health outcomes and utilization. Multivariable Poisson regression was used to explore variables associated with FAM clinic use. RESULTS: At three months, participants self-reported improved dietary behaviors, including increased consumption of fruits and vegetables as snacks and an increased variety of fruits and vegetables consumed. There were no statistically significant changes in clinical or healthcare utilization measures, despite small absolute improvements in systolic blood pressure (SBP), hospitalizations, and emergency department (ED) visits. There was a weak association between FAM clinic visit frequency and changes in dietary behaviors. CONCLUSION: Among patients with chronic diseases, the use of the FAM clinic was associated with improved self-reported dietary behaviors and a nonsignificant improvement in health outcomes and resource utilization.

ADAR2 enzymes: efficient site-specific RNA editors with gene therapy aspirations.

The adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR) enzymes are essential for neuronal function and innate immune control. ADAR1 RNA editing prevents aberrant activation of antiviral dsRNA sensors through editing of long, double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs). In this review, we focus on the ADAR2 proteins involved in the efficient, highly site-specific RNA editing to recode open reading frames first discovered in the GRIA2 transcript encoding the key GLUA2 subunit of AMPA receptors; ADAR1 proteins also edit many of these sites. We summarize the history of ADAR2 protein research and give an up-to-date review of ADAR2 structural studies, human ADARBI (ADAR2) mutants causing severe infant seizures, and mouse disease models. Structural studies on ADARs and their RNA substrates facilitate current efforts to develop ADAR RNA editing gene therapy to edit disease-causing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Artificial ADAR guide RNAs are being developed to retarget ADAR RNA editing to new target transcripts in order to correct SNP mutations in them at the RNA level. Site-specific RNA editing has been expanded to recode hundreds of sites in CNS transcripts in Drosophila and cephalopods. In Drosophila and C. elegans, ADAR RNA editing also suppresses responses to self dsRNA.

Detection of Breast Cancer from Five-View Thermal Images Using Convolutional Neural Networks.

Breast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer. Its aggressive nature coupled with high mortality rates makes this cancer life-threatening; hence early detection gives the patient a greater chance of survival. Currently, the preferred diagnosis method is mammography. However, mammography is expensive and exposes the patient to radiation. A cost-effective and less invasive method known as thermography is gaining popularity. Bearing this in mind, the work aims to initially create machine learning models based on convolutional neural networks using multiple thermal views of the breast to detect breast cancer using the Visual DMR dataset. The performances of these models are then verified with the clinical data. Findings indicate that the addition of clinical data decisions to the model helped increase its performance. After building and testing two models with different architectures, the model used the same architecture for all three views performed best. It performed with an accuracy of 85.4%, which increased to 93.8% after the clinical data decision was added. After the addition of clinical data decisions, the model was able to classify more patients correctly with a specificity of 96.7% and sensitivity of 88.9% when considering sick patients as the positive class. Currently, thermography is among the lesser-known diagnosis methods with only one public dataset. We hope our work will divert more attention to this area.

Hypoxia-induced TGF-ß-RBFOX2-ESRP1 axis regulates human MENA alternative splicing and promotes EMT in breast cancer.

Hypoxic microenvironment heralds epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion and metastasis in solid tumors. Deregulation of alternative splicing (AS) of several cancer-associated genes has been instrumental in hypoxia-induced EMT. Our study in breast cancer unveils a previously unreported mechanism underlying hypoxia-mediated AS of hMENA, a crucial cytoskeleton remodeler during EMT. We report that the hypoxia-driven depletion of splicing regulator ESRP1 leads to skipping of hMENA exon 11a producing a pro-metastatic isoform, hMENAΔ11a. The transcriptional repression of ESRP1 is mediated by SLUG, which gets stimulated via hypoxia-driven TGF-ß signaling. Interestingly, RBFOX2, an otherwise RNA-binding protein, is also found to transcriptionally repress ESRP1 while interacting with SLUG. Similar to SLUG, RBFOX2 gets upregulated under hypoxia via TGF-ß signaling. Notably, we found that the exosomal delivery of TGF-ß contributes to the elevation of TGF-ß signaling under hypoxia. Moreover, our results show that in addition to hMENA, hypoxia-induced TGF-ß signaling contributes to global changes in AS of genes associated with EMT. Overall, our findings reveal a new paradigm of hypoxia-driven AS regulation of hMENA and insinuate important implications in therapeutics targeting EMT.

Synthesis of Semicrystalline Polyolefin Materials: Precision Methyl Branching via Stereoretentive Chain Walking.

We report the discovery of C2-symmetric nickel catalysts capable of the regio- and isoselective polymerization of 1-butene to produce isotactic 4,2-poly(1-butene), a new semi-crystalline polyolefin. The catalyst exhibits enantioface selectivities as high as 84% and the resulting polymers display melting temperatures up to 86 °C. This system marks a rare example of preserving stereochemistry through a chain walking polymerization process.

Assessment of oral health status among endosulfan victims in endosulfan relief and remediation cell - A cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: Endosulfan is a highly toxic agrichemical used in the cashew plantations. The Stockholm Convention held in April 2011 recommended a global ban on the manufacture and use of endosulfan because of its adverse effects on human health and the environment. Its impact on the quality of food, water, and beverages; and its ability to cause neurobehavioral disorders, congenital malformations in female subjects, and abnormalities related to the male reproductive system are studied, but however information regarding the oral health of endosulfan victims is scant. OBJECTIVES: To assess the oral health status of the endosulfan victim in rehabilitation center. METHOD AND METHODOLOGY: A cross sectional study on 18 subjects of 4-50 years of age were interviewed and examined using modified WHO oral health assessment proforma (1997) in Endosulfan Relief and Remediation Cell in Kokkada, Belthangady Taluk, Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India. RESULTS: Among the subjects, 10 (>50%) were found to be in age group <20 years. The overall oral health status of the endosulfan victim's in rehabilitation center considered to be poor, as many of the subjects suffered from major medical problems like mental retardation, physical disabilities etc. CONCLUSION: This study emphasizes the need for special attention from government and voluntary organization to improve overall health status of the victims.

Semicrystalline thermoplastic elastomeric polyolefins: Advances through catalyst development and macromolecular design.

We report the design, synthesis, morphology, phase behavior, and mechanical properties of semicrystalline, polyolefin-based block copolymers. By using living, stereoselective insertion polymerization catalysts, syndiotactic polypropylene-block-poly(ethylene-co-propylene)-block-syndiotactic polypropylene and isotactic polypropylene-block-regioirregular polypropylene-block-isotactic polypropylene triblock copolymers were synthesized. The volume fraction and composition of the blocks, as well as the overall size of the macromolecules, were controlled by sequential synthesis of each block of the polymers. These triblock copolymers, with semicrystalline end-blocks and mid-segments with low glass-transition temperatures, show significant potential as thermoplastic elastomers. They have low Young's moduli, large strains at break, and better than 90% elastic recovery at strains of 100% or less. An isotactic polypropylene-block-regioirregular polypropylene-block-isotactic polypropylene-block-regioirregular polypropylene-block-isotactic polypropylene pentablock copolymer was synthesized that also shows exceptional elastomeric properties. Notably, microphase separation is not necessary in the semicrystalline isotactic polypropylenes to achieve good mechanical performance, unlike commercial styrenic thermoplastic elastomers.

Living polymerization of alpha-olefins with an alpha-diimine Ni(II) catalyst: formation of well-defined ethylene-propylene copolymers through controlled chain-walking.

A C2-symmetric Ni(II) catalyst was found to polymerize alpha-olefins with high levels of omega,2-regiochemistry. The resulting products are ethylene-propylene-type copolymers with methylene sequences of precise length between methyl branches. Modification of reaction conditions can introduce omega,1-enchainments into the polymers which increases the average length of methylene sequences between methyl branches.

Acid-catalyzed ortho-alkylation of anilines with styrenes: an improved route to chiral anilines with bulky substituents.

[reaction: see text] Reaction of para-substituted anilines with styrene derivatives at elevated temperatures, when catalyzed by CF3SO3H, results in highly chemoselective ortho-alkylation of the aniline. When R = H, dialkylation can be achieved by varying the ratio of styrene to aniline. Several different substituted anilines and styrenes were examined, and good yields (42-87%) were obtained, except in the case where electron-withdrawing substituents are present on the styrene.

A C2-symmetric, living alpha-diimine Ni(II) catalyst: regioblock copolymers from propylene.

An isomerically pure, C2-symmetric Ni(II) complex was synthesized and found to be living for propylene polymerization. The regioselectivity of the catalyst varied greatly with reaction temperature, with regioregular, highly isotactic polypropylene (PP) produced at low temperatures, and regioirregular PP produced at high temperatures. Regioblock PP was formed by changing the reaction temperature during the polymerization.

Dehydrogenation of aliphatic polyolefins catalyzed by pincer-ligated iridium complexes.

We report the first example of the catalytic dehydrogenation of aliphatic polyolefins to give partially unsaturated hydrocarbon polymers.

Chiral anilines: development of C2-symmetric, late-transition metal catalysts for isoselective 2-butene polymerization.

Chiral nickel catalysts were synthesized and used for the isoselective polymerization of trans-2-butene.