Comparison and Evaluation of Prefabricated Mouthguards and Replaced Customized Mouthguards in Children of Bhopal

To assess the change in perspective, when prefabricated mouthguards were replaced with customized mouthguards among children in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Materials and Method: This survey was conducted among children between 8 to 18 years age in two phases. The first phase included a 10 item questionnaire to be filled by athletes participating in different sports which consisted of three sections a) mouthguard awareness b) reasons for not wearing a mouthguard and the third section consisted of c) evaluating the level of acceptance of customised mouthguards. The latter part of the survey was completed after 25 randomly selected participants who were made to use customised mouthguards to evaluate the acceptability for the same. The statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS (21.0 version; Inc., Chicago IL, USA) for descriptive and multivariate analysis, and the level of statistical significance used in this study was at P < 0.005 Results: Use of contact mouthguard was more significant (P-value was 0.0001.) when the use of mouthguards were compared with  non contact sports. It was found that custom made mouthguards are more comfortable than prefabricated one with significant difference (P= 0.051). Conclusion: Custom made mouthguards can prevent dental and orofacial injuries better than the preformed mouthguards. So considering the high level of willingness to wear mouthguards efforts should be made towards increasing the awareness on its benefits. The players were comfortable with custom made mouthguards so it can be proposed to the government officials to make their use mandatory with some subsidy to decrease the number of accident

Evaluation of Phytochemical, Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of Selected Medicinal Plants

Medicinal plants are important reservoirs of bioactive compounds that need to be explored systematically. Because of their chemical diversity, natural products provide limitless possibilities for new drug discovery. This study aimed to investigate the biochemical properties of crude extracts from fifteen Nepalese medicinal plants. The total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoid contents (TFC), and antioxidant activity were evaluated through a colorimetric approach while the antibacterial activities were studied through the measurement of the zone of inhibition (ZoI) by agar well diffusion method along with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) by broth dilution method. The methanolic extracts of Acacia catechu and Eupoterium adenophorum showed the highest TPC (55.21 ± 11.09 mg GAE/gm) and TFC (10.23 ± 1.07 mg QE/gm) among the studied plant extracts. Acacia catechu showed effective antioxidant properties with an IC50 value of 1.3 μg/mL, followed by extracts of Myrica esculenta, Syzygium cumini, and Mangifera indica. Morus australis exhibited antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae (ZoI: 25mm, MIC: 0.012 mg/mL), Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 (ZoI: 22 mm, MIC: 0.012 mg/mL), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ZoI; 20 mm, MIC: 0.05 mg/mL), and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (ZoI: 19 mm, MIC: 0.19 mg/mL). Morus australis extract showed a broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, followed by Eclipta prostrata, and Hypericum cordifolium. Future study is recommended to explore secondary metabolites of those medicinal plants to uncover further clinical efficacy

Digital learning Initiatives, Challenges and Achievement in Higher Education in Nepal Amidst COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide and reshaped the existing educational system. Due to travel constraints and physical separation, there has been a global shift toward distance learning, and Nepal is no exception. This research intends to assess the practicality of online education by evaluating learners' experiences amidst COVID-19. A cross-sectional study was directed among HEIs students in Nepal using self-structured questionnaires. Our study revealed that 64.6% of the respondents were unsatisfied with online classes. More than half of the respondents (53.4%) use cell phones for online studies. Online education was reported to be unappealing to 28.8% of respondents. Variables such as age group (p = 0.05), enjoying class (p < 0.001), hours spent for an online class in a day (p = 0.05), and period for educational work using an electronic device (p = 0.1) were found significant with satisfaction level using both bivariate test and inferential test of univariate binary logistics regression. The challenges and opportunities encountered among students and faculties are highlighted along with the recommendations for fortifying communication in online-based teaching/learning

Test Your Knowledge

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Comparison of mean total ridge count and mean ATD angle in OSMF and oral Leukoplakia patients

Introduction: Palm prints formed once does not change throughout life and is not influenced by environment. Palmar Dermatoglyphics can indicate the development of potentially malignant and malignant lesions and help in identifying persons at high risk of developing Oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) and Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSSC). Materials and Methods: Dermatoglyphic patterns were collected from randomly selected 120 patients using 3M™ CSD200i. Single-digit Optical Scanner (3M™, Canada, 2015) with automatic capture mechanism was applied to capture finger prints of all the 10 fingers of patients, who were divided in control and test group with respective subgroups of leukoplakia and OSMF. Mean total ridge count and ATD angle were measured in all patients and comparison was done between control group and patients with OSMF and leukoplakia. Results: The collected data was subjected to analysis using Chi-square test for comparison between the groups. The mean ATD angle in patints with osmf is 43.38, leukoplakia is 43.53, patients without lesion but with habit is 44.78, and patients without habit is 45.65

Effect of modified shelter arrangements on growth performance, stress and water usage of commercial broilers in hot and humid climate

The current research was conducted to study the effect of modified shelter arrangements on commercial broiler’s performance and water usage in hot and humid climatic regions. Ninety six commercial Vencobb broiler chicks of one week of age were segregated into four groups with three replicates having eight chicks per replicate, viz. TA (asbestos roof as control), TAG (asbestos roof with gunny bags screen), TH (modified asbestos with thatched roof), and THG (modified asbestos with thatched roof with gunny bags as the screen). The overall maximum temperature of the asbestos group’s experimental sheds throughout the trial period was substantially greater than that of the thatch group. Significantly, the highest THI was seen in the TAG shed. The cumulative body weight gain was significantly highest in TH shed. The cumulative FCR and performance indices of the thatched group were found to be significantly better than the asbestos group. The net profit/bird and net profit/kg were better in the TH group. According to behavioural studies, the panting rate rose with age in weeks but was much lower in the thatched group. Serum corticosterone levels were considerably lower in the TH and THG groups than in the asbestos roof groups. In hot and humid locations, modified asbestos with a thatched roof may be suitable for commercial broiler poultry

Immediate Effect of a Yoga Breathing Practice on Attention and Anxiety in Pre-Teen Children

Pre-teen children face stressors related to their transition from childhood to adolescence, with a simultaneous increase in academic pressure. The present study compared the immediate effects of 18 min of (i) high frequency yoga breathing with (ii) yoga-based breath awareness and (iii) sitting quietly, on (a) attention and (b) anxiety, in 61 pre-teen children (aged between 11 and 12 years; 25 girls). Attention was assessed using a six letter cancellation task and Spielberger’s State Trait Anxiety Inventory STAI-S was used to measure anxiety before and after the three practices, practiced on separate days. Repeated measures ANOVA, followed by Bonferroni adjusted post-hoc analyses showed an increase in total attempts and net scores after high frequency yoga breathing (p < 0.05), while wrong attempts increased after yoga based breath awareness (p < 0.05). Anxiety decreased comparably after all three interventions. The 25 girls in the group had the same trend of results as the whole group with respect to the attention-based cancellation task, while boys showed no, how since change. For both girls and boys, anxiety decreased after all three 18min interventions. The results suggest that high frequency yoga breathing could be a short, useful school based practice to improve attention and reduce anxiety

LC-HRMS-Based Profiling: Antibacterial and Lipase Inhibitory Activities of Some Medicinal Plants for the Remedy of Obesity

Globally, obesity is a serious health concern that causes numerous diseases, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, etc. Medicinal plants have been used to aid in weight loss since ancient times. Thus, this research is focused on the exploration of pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity and secondary metabolite profiling of Bergenia ciliata, Mimosa pudica, and Phyllanthus emblica, selected based on an ethnobotanical survey. The lipase inhibition was investigated using 4-nitrophenyl butyrate (p-NPB) as a substrate. To uncover further therapeutic potentials of these medicinal plants, antimicrobial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extracts were also determined. The ethyl acetate plant extracts showed higher antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, and Shigella sonnei. The MIC of ethyl acetate extracts of medicinal plants considered in this study ranges from 1.56 to 6.25 mg/mL. The hexane fraction of Mimosa pudica and Phyllanthus emblica showed a higher lipase inhibitory activity as compared to others, with IC50 values of 0.49 ± 0.02 and 2.45 ± 0.003 mg/mL, respectively. In the case of Bergenia ciliata, the methanolic extract inhibited lipase more effectively than others, with an IC50 value of 1.55 ± 0.02 mg/mL (IC50 value of orlistat was 179.70 ± 3.60 µg/mL). A mass spectrometry analysis of various solvent/solvent partition fractions (extracts) revealed 29 major secondary metabolites. The research offers a multitude of evidence for using medicinal plants as antiobesity and antimicrobial agents