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The use of the term "stem cells" dates back to the 1800s; however, the application of the same is still not completely understood. Recent advances have indicated the harvesting of postnatal stem cells from sources such as the dental pulp and fat. The pluripotent nature of these cells allows for use in various aspects of treatment and patient care such as organ and tissue transplantation, bony defects repair, distraction osteogenesis, cell therapies, gene therapy, and toxicology testing of new drugs. This article explores the various aspects involved, the current status, and future challenges of stem cell therapy in patient care and management.
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OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to evaluate the satisfaction of patients, parents, and individuals other than health professionals (neighbors or relatives), regarding the quality of care, and to evaluate the patients general care, facial appearance, dental changes, and psychological assessment by social outlook and emotional quotient. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty patients with cleft lip and palate reporting to a dental institution were divided into two age groups, 0-15 years (G1) and 15-30 years (G2), their parents (P1 and P2) and a group comprising their neighbour's or relatives (T1 and T2) were also divided according to G1 and G2. To evaluate their satisfaction toward the treatment received, three separate questionnaires were given to the three groups and their responses were subjected to statistical analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that majority of patients (74%) and their parents (60%) were satisfied with the orthodontic treatment they received to align the teeth. But they were not satisfied with the appearance of lip (61.6% and 56.6%), nose (60% and 53.3%), and speech (62%). This study showed that cleft-affected individuals were teased mainly for speech (60%) followed by lip and teeth. Sixty percent of the patients admitted that their self-confidence was quite affected because of cleft and 36.6% expressed that their school/college results have been affected. CONCLUSION: Majority of cleft lip and palate patients as well as their parents were satisfied with their child's dental appearance; they were unsatisfied with the appearance of nose, lip, smile, and speech.
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Biomolecular folding often occurs through a cooperative two-state reactant â product transition; the term cooperative does not convey that intermediate structures are nonexistent but rather that these states are not observable by existing experimental techniques. Because of this, few intermediates have been studied and characterized. Recently, ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) measurements revealed that the oligomer polyproline-13 (Pro13, which in propanol (PrOH) favors the right-handed helical PPI structure having adjacent pyrrolidine rings in a cis configuration) folds through six sequential long-lived intermediates as it converts to the all-trans-configured PPII structure that is favored in aqueous solutions. Here, we examine the PPIPrOH â PPIIaq folding transition for a HisPro13 sequence, i.e., Pro13 having a single histidine residue added to the N-terminus. Remarkably, the IMS measurements show that, upon addition of histidine, all of the IMS peaks associated with intermediate structures disappear. Instead, HisPro13 folds via a cooperative two-state transition, delayed by a significant induction period. The induction period is temperature dependent-shifting the transition to longer times at lower temperatures. Equilibrium studies show that the HisPro13 PPIPrOH â PPIIaq transition is endothermic but favored entropically. From these clues, we propose a sequential folding mechanism and develop a model that suggests that â¼13-17 long-lived intermediates are likely responsible for the induction period. In this model, intermediates are separated by average individual activation barriers of â¼90 kJ·mol-1, and are entropically favorable.