Herbal oral care: an old concept or a new model?

Ayurveda, the oldest medical science originating from Indian subcontinent, has been practiced since the 12th century BC. Its objective is to accomplish physical, mental, social and spiritual well- being by adopting preventive, health promoting and holistic approach towards life. Ayurveda is the science that developed as humans evolved and has stood the test of time. Oral diseases are major health problems worldwide and are not limited to dental caries and periodontal diseases but to various autoimmune conditions. Oral health influences the general quality of life and poor oral health is linked to chronic conditions and systemic diseases. Recently there is renewed interest in use of various Ayurvedic drugs for oral and dental health.

Commitments Among Agents

Commitments are a powerful representation for modeling multiagent interactions. Previous approaches have considered the semantics of commitments and how to check compliance with them. However, these approaches do not capture some of the subtleties that arise in real-life applications such as e-commerce, in which contracts and institutions have implicit temporal references. In this column, we describe a rich representation for the temporal content of commitments that lets us capture realistic contracts and avoid ambiguities. Consequently, this approach lets us reason about whether, and at what point, a commitment is satisfied or breached, and whether it is or ever becomes unenforceable

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Specifying and resolving preferences among agent interaction patterns

A strength of commitment protocols is that they enable agents to act flexibly, thereby enabling them to accommodate varying local policies and respond to exceptions. A consequent weakness is that commitment protocols thus fail to distinguish between possible executions that are normal and those that may be allowed but are not ideal. This paper develops an approach for specifying preferences among executions that are allowed by a protocol. It captures sets of executions via an event constraint specification language and gives them a denotational characterization based on branching-time models. This paper develops algorithms for choosing the best execution path by considering the interplay between the preference specification of a protocol and local policies of agents interacting using the protocol, thereby giving the specifications a natural operational characterization. The value of the concepts developed is illustrated by its application to a recent practical framework for protocols called OWL-P. Further, the paper shows that the operational and denotational characterizations of preference specifications coincide

A semantic approach for designing e-business protocols

Abstract — Business processes involve interactions among autonomous partners. We propose that these interactions be specified modularly as protocols. Protocols can be published, enabling implementors to independently develop components that respect published protocols and yet serve diverse interests. A variety of business protocols would be needed to capture subtle business needs. We propose that the same kinds of conceptual abstractions be developed for protocols as for information models. Specifically, we consider (1) refinement: a subprotocol may satisfy the requirements of a superprotocol, but support additional properties; and (2) aggregation: a protocol may combine existing protocols. In support of the above, this paper develops a semantics of protocols and an operational characterization of them. This supports judgments about the potential subclass-superclass relations between protocols, which are a result of protocol refinement. It also enables protocol aggregation by splicing a protocol into another protocol. I

ABSTRACT Modeling Exceptions via Commitment Protocols ∗

This paper develops a model for exceptions and an approach for incorporating them in commitment protocols among autonomous agents. Modeling and handling exceptions is critical for successful applications of multiagent systems. Protocols help build multiagent systems, but traditional representations (such as finite state machines or Petri nets) inadequately model complex interactions and exceptions therein. Emerging commitment-based representations are promising, because they declaratively reflect the semantics of an interaction. However, current approaches lack a strong treatment of exceptions. This paper treats both expected and unexpected exceptions. A commitment protocol is modeled as a set of computations, each representing an allowed interaction and showing the evolving commitments of the participants. Exceptions are modeled via preference structures induced on these sets of computations. The preference structures statically show how expected exceptions are handled whereas the structures must be enhanced dynamically to handle unexpected exceptions. Our approach includes operators for composing protocols and exception handlers, whereby appropriate exception handlers can be dynamically introduced into a protocol as needed. The main contributions of this paper are (1) a framework for modeling and handling exceptions intelligently in commitment protocols and (2) a demonstration of the benefits of commitment protocols over traditional formalisms in handling exceptions

Comparative Spermatogenesis Activity of Eranda Moola (Ricinus Communis) Collected In Different Seasons as per Dravya Samgrahana Kaala: An Experimental Study

Introduction: Dravya sangrahana is one of the criteria where different seasons are indicated for collecting different parts of the plants. As per ancient drug collection practice roots are to be collected in Hemanth-Shishira (winter) or Greeshma rutu(summer). Eranda(Ricinus communis) is an important medicinal plant roots of which are particularly indicated as Vrishya (spermatogenic). Hence study has been planned to conduct a comparative spermatogenic activity of Ernadamoola collected in Greeshma rutu and Pravarat rutu and Shishsira ritu. Materials and methods: Roots of Eranda(Ricinus communis)  collected during Pravrut Ritu (EMP), Greeshma Ritu (EMG) and Shishira Ritu (EMS) shade dried separately, powdered. Spermatogenic activity study conducted on healthy albino rats divided among five groups. Testosterone was used as standard drug, whereas other three groups received sample collected in three different seasons for a period of 60 days. Next sperm analysis and histopathological study of prostate and seminal vesicle was conducted. Discussion and conclusion: Erandamoola(roots of Ricinus communis) has shown best spermatogenesis activity in experimental animals proving our ancient quotation as Vrishya. Also roots collected in different seasons have shown their difference among activity. Histopathological study of genital organs also shown positive result among spermatogenic activity.  Key words: Dravya sangrahana, Eranda(Ricinus communis), Vrishya, spermatogenesis activit

Modeling Exceptions via Commitment Protocols

This paper develops a model for exceptions and an approach for incorporating them in commitment protocols among autonomous agents. Modeling and handling exceptions is critical for successful applications of multiagent systems. Protocols help build multiagent systems, but traditional representations (such as finite state machines or Petri nets) inadequately model complex interactions and exceptions therein. Emerging commitment-based representations are promising, because they declaratively reflect the semantics of an interaction. However, current approaches lack a strong treatment of exceptions. This paper treats both expected and unexpected exceptions. A commitment protocol is modeled as a set of computations, each representing an allowed interaction and showing the evolving commitments of the participants. Exceptions are modeled via preference structures induced on these sets of computations. The preference structures statically show how expected exceptions are handled whereas the structures must be enhanced dynamically to handle unexpected exceptions. Our approach includes operators for composing protocols and exception handlers, whereby appropriate exception handlers can be dynamically introduced into a protocol as needed. The main contributions of this paper are (1) a framework for modeling and handling exceptions intelligently in commitment protocols and (2) a demonstration of the benefits of commitment protocols over traditional formalisms in handling exceptions

Resolving commitments among autonomous agents

Abstract. Commitments are a powerful representation for modeling multiagent interactions. Previous approaches have considered the semantics of commitments and how to check compliance with them. However, these approaches do not capture some of the subtleties that arise in real-life applications, e.g., e-commerce, where contracts and institutions have implicit temporal references. The present paper develops a rich representation for the temporal content of commitments. This enables us to capture realistic contracts and institutions rigorously, and avoid subtle ambiguities. Consequently, this approach enables us to reason about whether and when exactly a commitment is satisfied or breached and whether it is or ever becomes unenforceable.