Molecular Interplay between Vitamin D and Immunity can Aid Antitubercular Treatment Vitamin D in Immunomodulation of TB

Tuberculosis (TB) causes maximum mortality and morbidity worldwide. 25 per cent of the global population harbour Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and therefore are at risk of developing active disease. Of late, the disseminated diseases of TB are on the increase. Nearly one-third of all TB infections can be classified as extrapulmonary-TB (EPTB). TB can spread to the bone, brain, intestine, peritoneum, genitourinary system, and female genital sites leading to problems of conception. Therefore undoubtedly, TB has turned out to be a tremendous public health problem globally. The emergence of drug-resistant bacteria calls for new anti-tuberculous drugs to enhance response to antimicrobial therapy for active TB. However, discoveries of very effective anti-TB new medicines have not materialised yet. Thus, nutritional anti-TB intervention is highly important. In the pre-antibiotic era, Vitamin D was used for the treatment of TB. Its active component 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 was shown to display anti-TB activity in vitro. Vitamin D deficient humans display greater susceptibility to TB. Vitamin D deficiency induces worse disease progression in TB cases as observed in many clinical trials. The efficacy of the addition of vitamin D supplements in TB treatment has also been estimated. Thus, by now, the role of vitamin D in TB prevention and treatment is well established. Knowledge of the molecular mechanism of vitamin D is crucially vital for new anti-TB drug design. This review article discusses the recent advancement regarding the molecular mechanism of vitamin D-related anti-TB action. Further elucidation of this area may help novel anti-TB drug development

Representing and Querying Uncertain Data

There has been a longstanding interest in building systems that can handle uncertain data. Traditional database systems inherently assume exact data and harbour fundamental limitations when it comes to handling uncertain data. In this dissertation, we present a probabilistic database model that can compactly represent uncertainty models in full generality. Our representation is associated with precise and intuitive semantics and we show that the answer to every user-submitted query can be obtained by performing probabilistic inference. To query large-scale probabilistic databases, we propose a number of techniques that help scale probabilistic inference. Foremost among these techniques is a novel lifted inference algorithm that determines and exploits symmetries in the uncertainty model to speed up query evaluation. For cases when the uncertainty model stored in the database does not contain symmetries, we propose a number of techniques that perform approximate lifted inference. Our techniques for approximate lifted inference have the added advantage of allowing the user to control the degree of approximation through a handful of tunable parameters. Besides scaling probabilistic inference, we also develop techniques that alter the structure of inference required to evaluate a query. More specifically, we show that for a restricted model of our probabilistic database, if each result tuple can be represented by a boolean formula with special characteristics, i.e., it is a read-once function, then the complexity of inference can be drastically reduced. We conclude the dissertation with a listing of directions for future work. To Mummy, Baba and Shiny

Cocktail Impression Technique: A New Approach to Atwood’s Order VI Mandibular Ridge Deformity

The management of highly resorbed ridge has always posed a challenge to the prosthodontist for years. Obtaining consistent mandibular denture stability has long been a challenge for dental profession. In particular, Atwood’s Order V and Order VI pattern of bone resorption is associated with difficulties in providing successful dentures. Stability of lower denture in such cases is usually the distinguishing factor between success and failure. This article outlines a combination of different impression techniques to improve mandibular denture stability in an atrophic mandibular ridge, keeping in mind the prevention of further ridge resorption