A short term comparative evaluation of the efficacy of diode laser with desensitizing toothpastes and mouthwashes in the treatment of dentinal hypersensitivity

Treatment of dentinal hypersensitivity (DH) has always been challenging with a wide variety of therapeutic options, in-office and home care. The study objective was to compare the clinical efficacy of diode laser [DL] with four commercially available des

Salivary and gingival crevicular fluid histatin in periodontal health and disease

Objectives: Histatin, with its anti bacterial, anti protease, and wound closure stimulating property might influence the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. This study assessed the presence of histatin in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF); the levels of salivary and GCF histatin in periodontal disease. Material and methods: It was a cross sectional study that included systemically healthy forty five subjects (22 males and 23 females) between the age group of 20 to 45 years. Based on Gingival Index (Loe and Silness ,1963) and Russell's Periodontal Index they were grouped as 15 healthy (Group 1), 15 gingivitis (Group 2), and 15 periodontitis (Group 3) subjects. Whole pooled unstimulated saliva was collected by asking the patient to spit in a sterile container and GCF samples were collected using a micropipette from all the subjects. Histatin levels were assessed using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The intergroup comparison was done by ANOVA and Mann Whitney U Test was done for pair wise comparison. Results: The results of this study show that histatin is present in saliva and gingival crevicular fluid. When the salivary histatin levels were compared it was found that the levels of histatin increase from health to periodontitis but the levels of histatin in the gingival crevicular fluid and saliva had no correlation with severity of periodontal disease as there was no statistically significant difference between the three groups. Conclusions: It can be concluded that histatin cannot be used as a potential marker of periodontal disease

A clinical study of the effect of calcium sodium phosphosilicate on dentin hypersensitivity

Objective: Dentinal hypersensitivity is a commonly encountered problem with varied treatment options for its management. A large number of home use products have been tested and used for the management of dentinal hypersensitivity. This 8 week clinical trial investigates the temporal efficacy of commercially available calcium sodium phosphosilicate containing toothpaste in comparison to a potassium nitrate containing toothpaste. Methods: A total 20 subjects between the ages of 18 to 65 years were screened for a visual analogue score (VAS) for sensitivity of 5 or more by testing with a cold stimulus and randomly divided into test and positive control groups. Baseline sensitivity VAS scores to air evaporative stimulus were recorded for minimum two teeth. The subjects were prescribed respective dentifrices and revaluated for sensitivity scores at 2, 4 and 8 weeks. Results:The study demonstrated reduction in symptoms for all treatment groups from baseline to 2, 4 and 8 weeks. The calcium sodium phosphosilicate group showed a higher degree of effectiveness at reducing hypersensitivity to air evaporative stimulus at 2 weeks, than commercially available potassium nitrate. However, there was no significant difference in scores of subjects using the calcium sodium phosphosilicate toothpaste as compared to potassium nitrate at 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Conclusion: Calcium sodium phosphosilicate showed greater reduction in sensitivity compared to potassium nitrate at an earlier stage which is of high clinical value. However, based on the findings of the present study long term effects of calcium sodium phosphosilicate seem to be less promising than previously claimed

Multi-frequency, Multi-Epoch Study of Mrk 501: Hints for a two-component nature of the emission

Since the detection of very high energy (VHE) $\gamma$-rays from Mrk 501, its broad band emission of radiation was mostly and quite effectively modeled using one zone emission scenario. However, broadband spectral and flux variability studies enabled by the multiwavelength campaigns carried out during the recent years have revealed rather complex behavior of Mrk 501. The observed emission from Mrk 501 could be due to a complex superposition of multiple emission zones. Moreover new evidences of detection of very hard intrinsic $\gamma$-ray spectra obtained from {\it Fermi}--LAT observations have challenged the theories about origin of VHE $\gamma$-rays. Our studies based on {\it Fermi}--LAT data indicate the existence of two separate components in the spectrum, one for low energy $\gamma$-rays and the other for high energy $\gamma$-rays. Using multiwaveband data from several ground and space based instruments, in addition to HAGAR data, the spectral energy distribution of Mrk~501 is obtained for various flux states observed during 2011. In the present work, this observed broadband spectral energy distribution is reproduced with a leptonic, multi-zone Synchrotron Self-Compton model.Comment: Published in Astrophysical Journal (ApJ

Phase transition and hybrid star in a SU(2) chiral sigma model

We use a modified SU(2) chiral sigma model to study nuclear matter at high density using mean field approach. We also study the phase transition of nuclear matter to quark matter in the interior of highly dense neutron stars. Stable solutions of Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations representing hybrid stars are obtained with a maximum mass of 1.69 $M_{\odot}$, radii around 9.3 kms and a quark matter core constituting nearly 55-85 % of the star radii.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for Mod. Phys. Letts.

The Three Dimensional Dual of 4D Chirality

Chiral gauge theories can be defined in four-dimensional Anti de Sitter space, but AdS boundary conditions explicitly break the chiral symmetry in a specific, well defined manner, which in turns results in an anomalous Ward identity. When the 4D theory admits a dual description in terms of a 3D CFT, the 3D dual of the broken chiral symmetry is a certain double-trace deformation of the CFT, which produces the same anomalous chiral Ward identities that obtains in the 4D bulk theory.Comment: 10 pages, small misprints corrected, reference [16] updated. Version to appear in JHE