Oral Hygiene Practices: Ancient Historical Review

The ancient history of the world’s fascination with oral health is a long and illustrious one. Numerous dental epidemiological studies indicate that people are keeping their teeth longer than over before in this century. Neolithic age and prehistoric age people used agents and devices that have evolved, by custom, myth, beliefs and by research, to enable people, withprofessional assistance, to maintain good oral health. The first mentions of teeth and dental hygiene were found in inscriptions from Mesopotamian clay tablets, so called ‘oral hygieneproducts’ including toothpicks, chewing sticks, tooth powders and mouthwashes, dating back to 5,000 years ago. The Egyptians, Mesopotamians’, Greco-Romans, Hindus and Chinese discovered variety of dental treatments and intricate surgical operations. The profession has met the challenge by developing and perfecting a myriad of devices and agents tothwart these pathogenic factors since ages. We certainly eat well, speak well, look fine and ‘smell fresh’–but we also have plaque, gingivitis and dental caries. The reader can determinehow much our ancestors thought, invented and practiced oral hygiene long long ago and which gave raise to later inventions

Functional outcome following arthroscopic single row repair in degenerative rotator cuff tear

Background: Rotator cuff disease encompasses a wide range of pathology from minimal bursal or articular side irritation and tendonitis to severe degenerative rotator cuff arthropathy. Rotator cuff pathology affects adults of all ages and other shoulder afflictions must be ruled out by careful history and physical examination. Arthroscopic surgery allows for a shorter recovery time and predictably less pain following procedure than any open surgery. Materials and methods: We did a prospective study on 32 patients of age more than 40 years of age with degenerative rotator cuff tear, who met the inclusion criteria and were operated using single row technique of arthroscopic rotator cuff repair and were followed up at 1 month, 3 months and 6 months and pain, function, muscle power and range of movements were assessed by ASES and UCLA scoring system. Results: The mean age of the patients was found to be 54.94 years. The Male: Female ratio in our study was found to be 3:1. The average ASES score in the pre-operative and post-operative period was found to be 22.66 and 89.53 respectively. The average UCLA score in the pre-operative and post-operative period was found to be 8.97 and 29.13 respectively. Conclusion: Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with single row repair provides early pain relief and improves mobility, strength as well as patient satisfaction post operatively

Functional and radiological outcome following proximal fibular osteotomy in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a prospective study

Background: Osteoarthritis of knee is a common joint disease, with a prevalence of about 30 percent of individuals older than 60 years of age. Medial compartmental OA Knee, is by far the most prevalent variant of degenerative tibio-femoral joint disease and makes upto 90% of uni-compartment knee OA. Proximal Fibular Osteotomy (PFO), which essentially is resection of upper fibular diaphysis, had become increasingly adopted for the surgical intervention in the last decade. Aim: To Assess the functional and radiological Outcome In Patients Who Had Medial Compartment Knee Arthritis following Proximal Fibular Osteotomy. Materials and methods: The study was done in the Department of Orthopaedics, at Chettinad Hospital & Research institute, Tamil Nadu. The study population included total 22 cases with knee medial compartmental osteoarthritis and underwent Proximal Fibular Osteotomy. Results: In our study, mean age group of cases was 52.51 years. The mean post-operative VAS was 1.4 which was significantly lesser than pre-operative value. Significant improvement in the functional and clinical outcome, was observed. The post-operative medial joint space and knee joint ratio, were significantly enhanced.Conclusion: PFO is a suitable option for pain relief, as well as to achieve a painless knee ROM to benefit activities of daily life in patients with medial compartment osteoarthritis

Functional Outcome of Arthroscopic Reconstruction of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries Using Semitendinosis-Gracilis Graft

To determine the functional outcome of arthroscopic ACL reconstruction using semitendinosis- gracilis graft, in patients with anterior cruciate ligament tears. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study, of the patients Aged >18 years to <55 years old, who underwent, Arthroscopic reconstruction of anterior cruciate ligament injuries using semitendinosis-gracilis graft, at Chettinad Hospital and Research Institute (CH&RI), during the period, 11/3/2020 to 15/4/2021(13 months). Follow up period till 15/10/2021. Patients satisfying the inclusion criteria, alone were included, in this study. Total 36 patients were included in this study. The patients, were followed up, at the end of the 3rd, 6th month, from the date of surgery. Results: The mean age of the patients of the study was 33.03 ± 8.89 years with minimum age of 20 years and maximum age of 55 years. In present study at 3 months, 66.67% of patients had fair lysholm score followed by 22.22% had poor score and 11.11% of cases had good score. The mean lysholm score at 3 months was 74.58 ± 8.12 with minimum score of 58 and maximum score of 86. At 6 months 63.89% of patients had good lysholm score followed by 30.56% of cases had excellent score and 5.56% of cases had fair score with mean lysholm score at 6 months was 91.47 ± 5.78 with minimum score of 78 and maximum score of 100. The mean knee society score of patients at 3 months was 76.83 ± 5.71 with minimum score of 61 and maximum score of 86. The mean knee society score at 6 months was 92.97 ± 5.58 with minimum score of 77 and maximum score of 100. The mean distance in single hop test was 81.39 ± 11.05cms with minimum distance of 51cms and maximum distance of 103cms. Conclusion: ACL reconstruction with semi-tendinosis and gracilis graft gives good functional outcomes which might be due to the advancements in the surgical techniques and fixation device

A prospective study in management of lumbar radiculopathy patients with selective nerve root block

Background: Prolapsed Intervertebral Disc (PID) was considered to be the commonest cause of sciatica among many others. Though the presentation of sciatica was paradoxical, in which, some people experienced sciatica without any disc prolapse on MRI/CT, whereas some people showed a prolapsed disc without experiencing any of the symptoms related to sciatica. This gave rise to different explanations that a disc prolapse in itself , is not enough to cause sciatica, and there might be some local chemical agents that might be the causative factor due to their insulting attitude on the nerve roots. Objectives: To study the functional outcome of patients with Posterior Lumbar Intervertebral disc prolapse (PLIVDP), Lumbar Canal Stenosis, and Lumbar radiculopathy after Selective Nerve Root Block at the corresponding level. Materials and Methods: A prospective cohort study on the functional outcome of patients with lumbar radiculopathy with Intervertebral disc prolapse or lumbar canal stenosis. Outcome measures used in this study are Owestry disability index score and Numerical rating scale. All patients had taken an MRI scan, which was classified according to the Michigan state university classification. After initial check up, pre-anaesthetic check up, selected patients were given Selective Nerve Root Block with Methyl Prednisolone and local anaesthetic Bupivacaine. Patients were scored at Immediate post Op, 3 weeks and 3 months after the injection was given and the data was collected. Results: A total of 127 patients were given Selective Nerve Root Block in the study period. Patients that were aged from 20-80 years were included. Average pre-injection ODI scores (in percent) were 75.24, at 1 month 20.52 and at 4 months 19.86, with a p value of <0.001. Mean NRS ratings pre injection were 8.73, Immediate post op were 1.89, at 4 weeks it was 1.48 and 4 months 1.27. Mean SLR (in degrees) Pre Injection was 48.3, Immediate was 80.00, at 4 weeks was 80.2 and at 4 months was 80.5. Conclusion: Selective Nerve Root Block is a good therapeutic procedure for pain management in the patients with Lumbar radiculopathy, and it can be used as a standard procedure, before advising the patient for any form of surger

Implications from a Network-Based Topological Analysis of Ubiquitin Unfolding Simulations

BACKGROUND: The architectural organization of protein structures has been the focus of intense research since it can hopefully lead to an understanding of how proteins fold. In earlier works we had attempted to identify the inherent structural organization in proteins through a study of protein topology. We obtained a modular partitioning of protein structures with the modules correlating well with experimental evidence of early folding units or "foldons". Residues that connect different modules were shown to be those that were protected during the transition phase of folding. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this work, we follow the topological path of ubiquitin through molecular dynamics unfolding simulations. We observed that the use of recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) could lead to the identification of the transition state during unfolding. Additionally, our earlier contention that the modules uncovered through our graph partitioning approach correlated well with early folding units was vindicated through our simulations. Moreover, residues identified from native structure as connector hubs and which had been shown to be those that were protected during the transition phase of folding were indeed more stable (less flexible) well beyond the transition state. Further analysis of the topological pathway suggests that the all pairs shortest path in a protein is minimized during folding. CONCLUSIONS: We observed that treating a protein native structure as a network by having amino acid residues as nodes and the non-covalent interactions among them as links allows for the rationalization of many aspects of the folding process. The possibility to derive this information directly from 3D structure opens the way to the prediction of important residues in proteins, while the confirmation of the minimization of APSP for folding allows for the establishment of a potentially useful proxy for kinetic optimality in the validation of sequence-structure predictions

Shape description and matching using integral invariants on eccentricity transformed images

Matching occluded and noisy shapes is a problem frequently encountered in medical image analysis and more generally in computer vision. To keep track of changes inside the breast, for example, it is important for a computer aided detection system to establish correspondences between regions of interest. Shape transformations, computed both with integral invariants (II) and with geodesic distance, yield signatures that are invariant to isometric deformations, such as bending and articulations. Integral invariants describe the boundaries of planar shapes. However, they provide no information about where a particular feature lies on the boundary with regard to the overall shape structure. Conversely, eccentricity transforms (Ecc) can match shapes by signatures of geodesic distance histograms based on information from inside the shape; but they ignore the boundary information. We describe a method that combines the boundary signature of a shape obtained from II and structural information from the Ecc to yield results that improve on them separately

Astrocytes: biology and pathology

Astrocytes are specialized glial cells that outnumber neurons by over fivefold. They contiguously tile the entire central nervous system (CNS) and exert many essential complex functions in the healthy CNS. Astrocytes respond to all forms of CNS insults through a process referred to as reactive astrogliosis, which has become a pathological hallmark of CNS structural lesions. Substantial progress has been made recently in determining functions and mechanisms of reactive astrogliosis and in identifying roles of astrocytes in CNS disorders and pathologies. A vast molecular arsenal at the disposal of reactive astrocytes is being defined. Transgenic mouse models are dissecting specific aspects of reactive astrocytosis and glial scar formation in vivo. Astrocyte involvement in specific clinicopathological entities is being defined. It is now clear that reactive astrogliosis is not a simple all-or-none phenomenon but is a finely gradated continuum of changes that occur in context-dependent manners regulated by specific signaling events. These changes range from reversible alterations in gene expression and cell hypertrophy with preservation of cellular domains and tissue structure, to long-lasting scar formation with rearrangement of tissue structure. Increasing evidence points towards the potential of reactive astrogliosis to play either primary or contributing roles in CNS disorders via loss of normal astrocyte functions or gain of abnormal effects. This article reviews (1) astrocyte functions in healthy CNS, (2) mechanisms and functions of reactive astrogliosis and glial scar formation, and (3) ways in which reactive astrocytes may cause or contribute to specific CNS disorders and lesions

Multi-messenger observations of a binary neutron star merger

On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg2 at a luminosity distance of 40+8-8 Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 Mo. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at ~40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One- Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over ~10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient’s position ~9 and ~16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta

Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914

A gravitational-wave (GW) transient was identified in data recorded by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors on 2015 September 14. The event, initially designated G184098 and later given the name GW150914, is described in detail elsewhere. By prior arrangement, preliminary estimates of the time, significance, and sky location of the event were shared with 63 teams of observers covering radio, optical, near-infrared, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths with ground- and space-based facilities. In this Letter we describe the low-latency analysis of the GW data and present the sky localization of the first observed compact binary merger. We summarize the follow-up observations reported by 25 teams via private Gamma-ray Coordinates Network circulars, giving an overview of the participating facilities, the GW sky localization coverage, the timeline, and depth of the observations. As this event turned out to be a binary black hole merger, there is little expectation of a detectable electromagnetic (EM) signature. Nevertheless, this first broadband campaign to search for a counterpart of an Advanced LIGO source represents a milestone and highlights the broad capabilities of the transient astronomy community and the observing strategies that have been developed to pursue neutron star binary merger events. Detailed investigations of the EM data and results of the EM follow-up campaign are being disseminated in papers by the individual teams