Estimation of serum cortisol levels and its correlation with salivary cortisol levels in coronary artery disease patients with and without periodontitis: a cross sectional study

Background: Atherosclerosis refers to combination of changes in the intima of arteries, consisting of focal accumulation of lipids, complex carbohydrates, blood and blood products, fibrous tissue, calcium deposits and associated medical changes. Ischemic heart disease (IHD) refers to a group of closely related syndromes that is caused by an imbalance between myocardial oxygen demand and blood supply.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 63 patients, aged 30-65 years, with known coronary artery disease. Estimation of serum and salivary cortisol levels were assessed with specific ELISA kit for cortisol (R&D Systems) and their comparison was performed in patients with and without periodontitis. Statistical analysis was done using Mann-Whitney U test and Pearson Correlation test.Results: The clinical parameters showed statistically significant association (p<0.001) between coronary artery disease and periodontitis and comparative levels of serum and salivary cortisol displayed varying degrees of positive correlation.Conclusions:Saliva along with serum has great potential as a diagnostic fluid and it showed good correlation with cortisol levels in coronary artery disease patients with and without periodontitis.

Gelatin sponge mimicking left atrial clot in rheumatic mitral stenosis

SummaryWe report the case of a 23-year-old female who underwent balloon mitral valvotomy for severe symptomatic mitral stenosis. Following septal puncture, the patient developed cardiac tamponade, which warranted sternotomy to suture the rent in the inferior vena cava–right atrial junction. The postoperative echocardiogram revealed nonhomogenous irregular opacities within the left atrium suggesting the possibility of thrombus formation. As the patient was in sinus rhythm and peri-procedural activated clotting time was in therapeutic range, clot formation was unlikely. A review of operative notes revealed placement of absorbable hemostatic gelatin sponge within the pericardium, which was mimicking left atrial clot. This potential pitfall has to be recognized in echocardiograms, as it will avoid inappropriate anticoagulant therapy

Continuum limit of parton distribution functions from the pseudo-distribution approach on the lattice

Precise quantification of the structure of nucleons is one of the crucial aims of hadronic physics for the coming years. The expected progress related to ongoing and planned experiments should be accompanied by calculations of partonic distributions from lattice QCD. While key insights from the lattice are expected to come for distributions that are difficult to access experimentally, it is important that lattice QCD can reproduce the well-known unpolarized parton distribution functions (PDFs) with full control over systematic uncertainties. One of the novel methods for accessing the partonic $x$-dependence is the pseudo-distribution approach, which employs matrix elements of a spatially-extended nonlocal Wilson-line operator of length $z$. In this paper, we address the issue of discretization effects, related to the necessarily nonzero value of the lattice spacing $a$, which start at first order in $a$ as a result of the nonlocal operator. We use twisted mass fermions simulated at three values of the lattice spacing, at a pion mass of 370 MeV, and extract the continuum limit of isovector unpolarized PDFs. We also test, for the first time in the pseudo-distribution approach, the effects of the recently derived two-loop matching. Finally, we address the issue of the reliability of the extraction with respect to the maximal value of $z$.Comment: 31 pages, 20 figure

Continuum limit of parton distribution functions from the pseudo-distribution approach on the lattice

Precise exploration of the partonic structure of the nucleon is one of the most important aims of high-energy physics. In recent years, it has become possible to address this topic with first-principle lattice QCD investigations. In this talk, we focus on the so-called pseudo-distribution approach to determine the isovector unpolarized PDFs. In particular, we employ three lattice spacings to study discretization effects and extract the distributions in the continuum limit, at a pion mass of around 370 MeV. Also, for the first time with pseudo-PDFs, we explore effects of the 2-loop matching from pseudo- to light-cone distributions.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of the 39th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory LATTICE 2022, 8-13 August 2022, Bonn, German

Estimation of salivary glycoconjugates and salivary ros levels in chronic periodontitis: a clinico-biochemical study

Background: Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of periodontal tissue, characterized by persistent inflammation of the connective tissue and alveolar bone destruction. Patients with periodontal disease show the differences in the composition of saliva. Newer diagnostic tools based on analysis of body fluids such as saliva, GCF and serum are found to be useful for diagnosis as well as monitoring the disease activity. Thus, aim of the study was to estimate the concentration of salivary glycoconjugates (sialic acid, total protein) and salivary ROS in unstimulated whole saliva of subjects with chronic periodontitis and to compare the concentration with healthy/gingivitis subjects.Methods: The study sample consisted of 60 subjects (33 males and 27 females) with age ranging from 30-60 years. A detailed case history was taken from all the subjects and periodontal disease parameters (bleeding on probing, probing pocket depth and clinical attachment levels) were recorded at baseline and subjects were divided into 2 groups. Group I- control group (healthy/gingivitis subjects) and Group II -test group (chronic periodontitis). Saliva samples were collected from the subjects and stored at -700 ºC.  Periodate Resorcinol Assay was done to estimate the levels of sialic acid, Biuret test was done to assess the levels of total protein and  d-ROMs test was done to assess the level of ROS. Statistical analysis was done using students unpaired ‘t’ test and Pearsons correlation test. Results: It was found that the levels of salivary glycoconjugates and ROS are increased in subjects with chronic periodontitis when compared to healthy/gingivitis subjects. Thus it can reflect the clinical status of gingival and periodontal tissues.Conclusions: Estimation of the levels of glycoconjugates and ROS may be used as one of the reliable biomarkers to assess the severity of periodontal disease and to monitor the disease progression

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome while on lamotrigine and NSAID:A case report

Stevens-Johnson syndrome is a severe immune-mediated cutaneous reaction occurring due to exposure to certain drugs. Lamotrigine is an FDA approved drug used in the treatment of bipolar depression. When it is given concomitantly with sodium valproate, the risk of developing Stevens-Johnson syndrome increases. Here we present the report of a patient with bipolar depression who developed serious skin rashes while on lamotrigine and NSAID prescribed by a local doctor, who recovered after timely management. This case highlights the importance of following proper dosing, drug escalation regimen and managing drug interactions during lamotrigine therapy