Accelerated Orthodontics

Clinical orthodontics is ever dynamic branch of Dentistry. Traditionally orthodontics was always considered as aesthetic treatment of face & also needed for proper oral oral function. This treatment may take up 2–3 years of total duration. The chapter describes changing trends in this aspect wherein we speed up the treatment by various methods thus reducing the overall time duration. These modalities include alteration in bio mechanics, pharmacological, chemical & by biological means. It is also cautioned here that the clinician has to take up these changing trends based on sound clinical knowledge & evidence based applicability

Health Food for Soldiers

One of the biggest challenges the Indian army has been confronting is maintaining its troops at tough high altitude battle field of more than 18,000 feet.  At such high altitude, troops are exposed to inclement weather, perilous altitude, difficult terrain and psychological problems arising out of being isolated from the main land miles away from their near and dear ones.  Under such circumstances if an army has to keep its soldiers physically fit and in high morale to fight against the enemy and protect the integrity of the nation, it has to be provided with palatable, healthy and adequate nutritious food.  Hence, it is essential to formulate health foods keeping in aid the real need of the soliders to alleviate such situations also. There are hundreds of phytochemicals reported to possess therapeutic effects. The health foods containing these phytochemicals can be classified in to six categories, viz. health promotion - to improve health on a regular basis, sickness prevention - to prevent seasonal climate related problems, disease control - to fight early symptoms of health problems, supporting - to complement the primary treatment and to combat adverse side effects of harsh drugs during sickness, recuperating - to revive and regain vitality after sickness, rejuvenating - to repair damages and body malfunctions to restore healt

Defining the relationship between Plasmodium falciparum parasite rate and clinical disease: statistical models for disease burden estimation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clinical malaria has proven an elusive burden to enumerate. Many cases go undetected by routine disease recording systems. Epidemiologists have, therefore, frequently defaulted to actively measuring malaria in population cohorts through time. Measuring the clinical incidence of malaria longitudinally is labour-intensive and impossible to undertake universally. There is a need, therefore, to define a relationship between clinical incidence and the easier and more commonly measured index of infection prevalence: the "parasite rate". This relationship can help provide an informed basis to define malaria burdens in areas where health statistics are inadequate.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Formal literature searches were conducted for <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>malaria incidence surveys undertaken prospectively through active case detection at least every 14 days. The data were abstracted, standardized and geo-referenced. Incidence surveys were time-space matched with modelled estimates of infection prevalence derived from a larger database of parasite prevalence surveys and modelling procedures developed for a global malaria endemicity map. Several potential relationships between clinical incidence and infection prevalence were then specified in a non-parametric Gaussian process model with minimal, biologically informed, prior constraints. Bayesian inference was then used to choose between the candidate models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The suggested relationships with credible intervals are shown for the Africa and a combined America and Central and South East Asia regions. In both regions clinical incidence increased slowly and smoothly as a function of infection prevalence. In Africa, when infection prevalence exceeded 40%, clinical incidence reached a plateau of 500 cases per thousand of the population <it>per annum</it>. In the combined America and Central and South East Asia regions, this plateau was reached at 250 cases per thousand of the population <it>per annum</it>. A temporal volatility model was also incorporated to facilitate a closer description of the variance in the observed data.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It was possible to model a relationship between clinical incidence and <it>P. falciparum </it>infection prevalence but the best-fit models were very noisy reflecting the large variance within the observed opportunistic data sample. This continuous quantification allows for estimates of the clinical burden of <it>P. falciparum </it>of known confidence from wherever an estimate of <it>P. falciparum </it>prevalence is available.</p

Real world evidence of effectiveness and safety of an oral formulation containing un-denatured type-II collagen 40 mg and aflapin 100 mg (HAPID®) in the management of osteoarthritis of knee: findings of a prospective, multi-center, observational study

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) of knee is a common progressive multifactorial joint disorder affecting the quality of life, and surgical repair is the final option which has substantial impact on healthcare costs. This real-world study evaluates the efficacy and safety of an oral formulation containing UC-II and aflapin (Boswellia serrata extract enriched in 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid) for treatment of OA of knee.Methods: Data of 505 ambulatory adult patients (study duration-Jul-21 to Jul-22) of either gender (227 M, 278 F) having OA of knee, and who received study treatment (capsule HAPID®, Wockhardt, India) once daily for a period of up to 90 days were included for the study after obtaining informed written consent. Primary outcomes were mean change in Western Ontario and McMaster universities OA index (WOMAC) scores from baseline through day 90 (total and sub-scales for joint pain, joint stiffness, and physical function), and change in 0-10 visual analogue scale (VAS) score for pain.Results: About 285 (56.4%) patients were newly diagnosed, majority (63.4%) were having grade 2 severity of OA (Kellgren and Lawrence grade). The mean (SD) baseline total WOMAC scores improved from 60.94 (23.60) at baseline to 26.42 (22.19) on day 90. Significant improvements were seen starting from day 5 (p=0.023) and progressively up to day 90 (p&lt;0.0001).Conclusions: The excellent safety and efficacy profile of combination therapy with aflapin and UC-II makes it a desirable pharmacological treatment modality for management of patients of knee OA

Folate Decorated Dual Drug Loaded Nanoparticle: Role of Curcumin in Enhancing Therapeutic Potential of Nutlin-3a by Reversing Multidrug Resistance

Retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular tumor in children. Malfunctioning of many signaling pathways regulating cell survival or apoptosis, make the disease more vulnerable. Notably, resistance to chemotherapy mediated by MRP-1, lung-resistance protein (LRP) is the most challenging aspect to treat this disease. Presently, much attention has been given to the recently developed anticancer drug nutlin-3a because of its non-genotoxic nature and potency to activate tumor suppressor protein p53. However, being a substrate of multidrug resistance protein MRP1 and Pgp its application has become limited. Currently, research has step towards reversing Multi drug resistance (MDR) by using curcumin, however its clinical relevance is restricted by plasma instability and poor bioavailability. In the present investigation we tried to encapsulate nutlin-3a and curcumin in PLGA nanoparticle (NPs) surface functionalized with folate to enhance therapeutic potential of nutlin-3a by modulating MDR. We document that curcumin can inhibit the expression of MRP-1 and LRP gene/protein in a concentration dependent manner in Y79 cells. In vitro cellular cytotoxicity, cell cycle analysis and apoptosis studies were done to compare the effectiveness of native drugs (single or combined) and single or dual drug loaded nanoparticles (unconjugated/folate conjugated). The result demonstrated an augmented therapeutic efficacy of targeted dual drug loaded NPs (Fol-Nut-Cur-NPs) over other formulation. Enhanced expression or down regulation of proapoptotic/antiapoptotic proteins respectively and down-regulation of bcl2 and NFκB gene/protein by Fol-Nut-Cur-NPs substantiate the above findings. This is the first investigation exploring the role of curcumin as MDR modulator to enhance the therapeutic potentiality of nutlin-3a, which may opens new direction for targeting cancer with multidrug resistance phenotype

Connections between Classical and Parametric Network Entropies

This paper explores relationships between classical and parametric measures of graph (or network) complexity. Classical measures are based on vertex decompositions induced by equivalence relations. Parametric measures, on the other hand, are constructed by using information functions to assign probabilities to the vertices. The inequalities established in this paper relating classical and parametric measures lay a foundation for systematic classification of entropy-based measures of graph complexity

A new world malaria map: Plasmodium falciparum endemicity in 2010

Background: transmission intensity affects almost all aspects of malaria epidemiology and the impact of malaria on human populations. Maps of transmission intensity are necessary to identify populations at different levels of risk and to evaluate objectively options for disease control. To remain relevant operationally, such maps must be updated frequently. Following the first global effort to map Plasmodium falciparum malaria endemicity in 2007, this paper describes the generation of a new world map for the year 2010. This analysis is extended to provide the first global estimates of two other metrics of transmission intensity for P. falciparum that underpin contemporary questions in malaria control: the entomological inoculation rate (PfEIR) and the basic reproductive number (PfR). Methods: annual parasite incidence data for 13,449 administrative units in 43 endemic countries were sourced to define the spatial limits of P. falciparum transmission in 2010 and 22,212 P. falciparum parasite rate (PfPR) surveys were used in a model-based geostatistical (MBG) prediction to create a continuous contemporary surface of malaria endemicity within these limits. A suite of transmission models were developed that link PfPR to PfEIR and PfR and these were fitted to field data. These models were combined with the PfPR map to create new global predictions of PfEIR and PfR. All output maps included measured uncertainty. Results: an estimated 1.13 and 1.44 billion people worldwide were at risk of unstable and stable P. falciparum malaria, respectively. The majority of the endemic world was predicted with a median PfEIR of less than one and a median PfRc of less than two. Values of either metric exceeding 10 were almost exclusive to Africa. The uncertainty described in both PfEIR and PfR was substantial in regions of intense transmission. Conclusions: the year 2010 has a particular significance as an evaluation milestone for malaria global health policy. The maps presented here contribute to a rational basis for control and elimination decisions and can serve as a baseline assessment as the global health community looks ahead to the next series of milestones targeted at 20

Estimating the Global Clinical Burden of Plasmodium falciparum Malaria in 2007

Simon Hay and colleagues derive contemporary estimates of the global clinical burden of Plasmodium falciparum malaria (the deadliest form of malaria) using cartography-based techniques