Sealing ability of mineral trioxide aggregate and Biodentine as the root end filling material, using two different retro preparation techniques - An in vitro study

 Aim: The purpose of this study is compare sealing ability of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and Biodentine as root end filling material, and also to compare the effect of different retro preparation techniques i.e. conventional bur v/s ultrasonic tips on sealing ability of both the root end filling materials. Materials and Methods: Totally, 40 extracted human single rooted teeth were decoronated, and root canal treatment was performed. Teeth were stored in saline for 1 week. Following which, root ends were apically resected at 90° angle to a long axis of the root and prepared. The samples were randomly divided into two groups of 20 specimens each. Group I: MTA, Group II: Biodentine as the root end filling. Each group was subdivided as A - round bur preparation and B - ultrasonic tip root end preparation. Samples were stored in saline for 48 h and then immersed in 0.5% rhodamine B dye for 24 h, sectioned and evaluated for leakage under confocal laser scanning microscope. Results: Statistical analysis of readings was done using factorial ANOVA. Biodentine and ultrasonic preparations showed significantly less microleakage than MTA and bur preparations. Conclusion: Biodentine can be used as a replacement for MTA, as a root end filling material

The United States COVID-19 Forecast Hub dataset

Academic researchers, government agencies, industry groups, and individuals have produced forecasts at an unprecedented scale during the COVID-19 pandemic. To leverage these forecasts, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnered with an academic research lab at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create the US COVID-19 Forecast Hub. Launched in April 2020, the Forecast Hub is a dataset with point and probabilistic forecasts of incident cases, incident hospitalizations, incident deaths, and cumulative deaths due to COVID-19 at county, state, and national, levels in the United States. Included forecasts represent a variety of modeling approaches, data sources, and assumptions regarding the spread of COVID-19. The goal of this dataset is to establish a standardized and comparable set of short-term forecasts from modeling teams. These data can be used to develop ensemble models, communicate forecasts to the public, create visualizations, compare models, and inform policies regarding COVID-19 mitigation. These open-source data are available via download from GitHub, through an online API, and through R packages

Albiglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Harmony Outcomes): a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial

Background: Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists differ in chemical structure, duration of action, and in their effects on clinical outcomes. The cardiovascular effects of once-weekly albiglutide in type 2 diabetes are unknown. We aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of albiglutide in preventing cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Methods: We did a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 610 sites across 28 countries. We randomly assigned patients aged 40 years and older with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (at a 1:1 ratio) to groups that either received a subcutaneous injection of albiglutide (30–50 mg, based on glycaemic response and tolerability) or of a matched volume of placebo once a week, in addition to their standard care. Investigators used an interactive voice or web response system to obtain treatment assignment, and patients and all study investigators were masked to their treatment allocation. We hypothesised that albiglutide would be non-inferior to placebo for the primary outcome of the first occurrence of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, which was assessed in the intention-to-treat population. If non-inferiority was confirmed by an upper limit of the 95% CI for a hazard ratio of less than 1·30, closed testing for superiority was prespecified. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02465515. Findings: Patients were screened between July 1, 2015, and Nov 24, 2016. 10 793 patients were screened and 9463 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to groups: 4731 patients were assigned to receive albiglutide and 4732 patients to receive placebo. On Nov 8, 2017, it was determined that 611 primary endpoints and a median follow-up of at least 1·5 years had accrued, and participants returned for a final visit and discontinuation from study treatment; the last patient visit was on March 12, 2018. These 9463 patients, the intention-to-treat population, were evaluated for a median duration of 1·6 years and were assessed for the primary outcome. The primary composite outcome occurred in 338 (7%) of 4731 patients at an incidence rate of 4·6 events per 100 person-years in the albiglutide group and in 428 (9%) of 4732 patients at an incidence rate of 5·9 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·78, 95% CI 0·68–0·90), which indicated that albiglutide was superior to placebo (p<0·0001 for non-inferiority; p=0·0006 for superiority). The incidence of acute pancreatitis (ten patients in the albiglutide group and seven patients in the placebo group), pancreatic cancer (six patients in the albiglutide group and five patients in the placebo group), medullary thyroid carcinoma (zero patients in both groups), and other serious adverse events did not differ between the two groups. There were three (<1%) deaths in the placebo group that were assessed by investigators, who were masked to study drug assignment, to be treatment-related and two (<1%) deaths in the albiglutide group. Interpretation: In patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, albiglutide was superior to placebo with respect to major adverse cardiovascular events. Evidence-based glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists should therefore be considered as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes. Funding: GlaxoSmithKline

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Urogenital atrophy in 40–75 years women assessed with different scoring systems at tertiary care hospital of India

Objective: The present study was conducted to assess the validity of symptom score and Genital Health Clinical Evaluation (GHCE) score as diagnostic tools for urogenital atrophy in females of 40–75 years of age group. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study including 600 females in the age group of 40–75 years attending gynecology outpatient department was conducted. They were given a symptom score based on their history. GHCE score and smears for vaginal maturation index (VMI) were taken and percentages of superficial cells were counted. Statistical tests of significance such as Karl Pearson's coefficient of correlation were applied. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy of GHCE score, and symptom score with VMI score were calculated. Results: The prevalence of urogenital atrophy in females of 40–75 years of age group using VMI scoring was 38.1%. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of total symptom score for diagnosing urogenital atrophy were 66.4%, 75.3%, 56.3%, 82.4%, and 72.5%, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of GHCE score for diagnosing urogenital atrophy were 43.4%, 80.7%, 75.3%, 51.3%, and 59.3%, respectively. Conclusion: Both symptom score and GHCE score can be used as valid alternatives to VMI as diagnostic tools for urogenital atrophy in females of 40–75 years of age group at least in resource-poor settings

Document Clustering for Authorship Analysis

Abstract: The widespread use of computers and the advent of the internet has made it easier to plagiarize the work of others. Most cases of plagiarism are found in academia where documents are typically essays or reports. Detection of plagiarism can be manual or software assisted. Software assisted detection and analysis allows vast collections of documents to be compared to each other making accurate and successful detection.Document clustering is the application of cluster analysis to textual documents. It has applications in automatic document organization, topic extraction and fast information retrieval.In technical publishing authorship of a work is claimed by those making intellectual contributions to the completion of the research described in the work. Analysis of this work is termed as authorship analysis.The methods include data collection, extracting features, document clustering, cluster evaluation Rand inde

Effect of probiotic mouthwashes in comparison to chlorhexidine on periodontal health: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Aim: To evaluate and compare the efficacy of Chlorhexidine and Probiotic mouthwashes in reducing plaque accumulation and gingivitis. Materials and methods: PubMed, Ovid SP, Embase, and Google Scholar databases were searched from years 1980 upto April 2020 for potential papers using relevant MeSH terms and pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria by two independent reviewers. Studies comparing Probiotics and Chlorhexidine in mouthwash form were included and evaluated for outcomes such as plaque score, gingival score. Results: A total of eleven articles were included for qualitative analysis, among them seven studies qualified for quantitative analysis. Random effects model was carried out to perform meta-analysis, basing on heterogeneity. Plaque index (PI): Significant reduction of plaque scores post-intervention were found when compared to baseline in both Probiotic mouthwash group [p=0.00001, MD: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.41 to 1.33] and chlorhexidine mouthwash groups [p=0.00001, MD: 0.97, 95% CI: 0.66 to 1.28]. No significant intergroup difference was found between Chlorhexidine and Probiotic mouthwash groups (p= 0.73). Gingival index (GI): Significant reduction of gingival index scores post-intervention were found when compared to baseline in both Probiotic mouthwash group [p=0.001, MD: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.77] and chlorhexidine mouthwash groups [p=0.0001, MD: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.23 to 0.68]

Correlation of fetal anterior abdominal wall thickness and other standard biometric ultrasound measurements to predict fetal macrosomia in gestational diabetes

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the most common medical conditions affecting pregnancy and significantly increasing the risk for maternal and perinatal complications. The aim of the present study is to study the correlation of fetal anterior abdominal wall thickness (FAAWT) and other standard fetal biometric parameters measured by ultrasound between 36 and 39 weeks of gestation with neonatal birth weight in pregnancies complicated by GDM. Methods: Prospective cohort study in a tertiary care center including 100 singleton pregnancies with GDM were subjected to ultrasound between 36 and 39 weeks of gestation. Standard fetal biometry (Biparietal diameter, Head Circumference, Abdominal circumference [AC], and Femur Length) and estimated fetal weight were calculated. FAAWT was measured at AC section and actual neonatal birth weights were recorded after delivery. Macrosomia was defined as an absolute birth weight more than 4000 g regardless of the gestational age. Statistical analysis was done and 95% confidence level was considered significant. Results: Among 100 neonates, 16 were macrosomic (16%) and third trimester mean FAAWT was significantly higher in macrosomic babies (6.36 ± 0.5 mm) as compared to nonmacrosomic babies (5.54 ± 0.61 mm) (P 6 mm (Receiver operating characteristic curve derived) provided a sensitivity of 87.5%, specificity of 75%, positive predictive value of 40%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 96.9% for prediction of macrosomia. While other standard fetal biometric parameters did not correlate well with actual birth weight in macrosomic neonates, only FAAWT was found to have statistically significant correlation (correlation coefficient of 0.626, P = 0.009). Conclusion: The FAAWT was the only sonographic parameter to have a significant correlation with neonatal birth weight in macrosomic neonates of GDM mothers. We found a high sensitivity (87.5%), specificity (75%), and NPV (96.9%) suggesting that FAAWT < 6 mm can rule out macrosomia in pregnancies with GDM

Children’s SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Their Vaccination

SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus, causes respiratory tract infections and other complications in affected individuals, and has resulted in numerous deaths worldwide. The unprecedented pace of its transmission worldwide, and the resultant heavy burden on healthcare systems everywhere, prompted efforts to have effective therapeutic strategies and vaccination candidates available to the global population. While aged and immunocompromised individuals form a high-risk group for COVID-19 and have severe disease outcome, the rate of infections among children has also increased with the emergence of the Omicron variant. In addition, recent reports of threatening SARS-CoV-2-associated complications in children have brought to the forefront an urgent necessity for vaccination. In this article, we discuss the current scenario of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children with a special focus on the differences in their immune system response as compared to adults. Further, we describe the various available COVID-19 vaccines, including the recent bivalent vaccines for children, in detail, intending to increase willingness for their acceptance

Role of miR-944/MMP10/AXL- axis in lymph node metastasis in tongue cancer

MMP10, which is upregulated in 86% of primary tongue tumors with lymph node metastases, is negatively regulated by miR-944 and promotes nodal metastasis in an orthotopic tongue cancer mouse model through the AXL signaling pathway