As Covid-19 devastates India, deaths go undercounted.

Fatalities have been overlooked or downplayed, understating the human toll of the country’s outbreak, which accounts for nearly half of all new cases in a global surge.Fatalities have been overlooked or downplayed, understating the human toll of the country’s outbreak, which accounts for nearly half of all new cases in a global surge

Effect of different disinfecting procedures on the hardness and color stability of two maxillofacial elastomers over time

Objective Disinfection procedures often cause deterioration in a maxillofacial prosthesis. Color and hardness alterations could lead to a replacement of the prosthesis. Material and Methods An experimental chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) and a commercial polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) sample were treated with four different disinfection procedures for a period which simulates 1 year of clinical service. The applied disinfection procedures included microwave exposure and immersion in three solutions, sodium hypochlorite, neutral soap and a commercial disinfecting soap. Shore A hardness (∆H) and color differences (∆E) were determined before and after each procedure. All data were analyzed by Two Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's post hoc tests at a level of α=0.05. Results The samples presented significant alterations in color and hardness after the different disinfection treatments. The color differences (∆E) were at least eye detectable in all cases and clinically unacceptable in most of the cases, with values ranging from 1.51 to 4.15 and from 1.54 to 5.92 for the PDMS and CPE material, respectively. Hardness was decreased after all the disinfection procedures in the PDMS, while for the CPE, a decrement was observed after disinfection with sodium hypochlorite and neutral soap and an increment after microwave exposure and the disinfection with a commercial antimicrobial agent. The PDMS samples presented greater alterations in color and hardness after disinfection with sodium hypochlorite solution, while the microwave exposure caused negligible effects. The CPE samples were affected most after disinfection when treated with neutral soap, and more slightly when disinfected with sodium hypochlorite solution. Conclusions The disinfection procedures caused alterations in color and hardness of the examined materials. The most suitable disinfection procedure for the PDMS material is microwave exposure, while disinfection with sodium hypochlorite solution is not recommended. The CPE material is suggested to be disinfected with sodium hypochlorite solution and the use of neutral soap is not recommended. Comparing the two materials, the PDMS material is most color stable, while the CPE material presented fewer changes in hardness

Playing on the boundaries: a childhood across cultural and geographical lines

This is not a conventional paper. It is a personal narrative. It is subjective not only to its author but to the child-self of the author. It is not a detached academic look at a personal history. In fact it could be described more as ‘archaeological’ than historical; an examination of what appears to be a random collection of fragments of a personal history, found in memory and artefacts of a childhood. The telling of the story is an attempt to understand the development and trajectory of an individual identity across geographical, cultural, and religious boundaries. It is not the whole story, but it gives the writer and the reader a few selected pieces of the full picture

Materials Science

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67251/2/10.1177_00220345830620051601.pd

Rape with Extreme Violence: The New Pathology in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo

Cathy Nangini and Denis Mukwege describe their work at the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which treats women victims of rape with extreme violence that are often perpetrated at the hands of armed groups