CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TRANSPORT MEDIA FOR AVULSED TEETH: AN UPDATE

Dental avulsion is one of the common types of trauma that results in the complete displacement of tooth from the alveolar socket. Although the ideal treatment would be the immediate reimplantation of the tooth at the site where the trauma took place, this may not be practically possible in every case. Hence, the avulsed tooth may have to be placed in an appropriate storage or transport medium until it is reimplanted. The biological properties of the storage medium have a significant impact on the success of reimplantation, as it must be capable of preserving the vitality, clonogenic, and mitogenic ability of the periodontal ligament cells for successful reimplantation.Keywords: Dental trauma, Avulsed teeth, Storage media, Periodontal ligament cell viability, Transport media

Correlation of serum lithium levels and thyroid function tests in subjects of bipolar affective disorder: a prospective hospital-based study

Background: Lithium is used in the prophylaxis of long-term therapy of bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) as a mood-stabilizing agent. Thyroid function abnormality is very commonly seen adverse effect, more common in females than males. This study aimed to correlate lithium levels and thyroid function abnormalities associated with it.Methods: Evaluation of medical records of 150 patients in Father Muller Medical College with BPAD, who were treated for 6 months with lithium, carried out from February, 12 2014 to July, 20 2014. Serum lithium levels done by ion selective electrode method in ilyte analyzer and thyroid function test (TFT) by electrochemiluminescence. Data are analyzed by Karl Pearson correlation coefficient.Results: Correlation of lithium levels and TFT in BPAD patients according to Karl Pearson correlation coefficient was negative with significant p<0.002. Among 150 enrolled candidates, 52 (34.67%) were females and 98 (65.4%) were males, 4% (6) patients (3 males and 3 females) had thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) value <0.27 with an average lithium value of 1.35 mEq/L, 6% (9) patients (5 males and 4 females) had TSH value >4.2 with an average lithium levels of 0.44 mEq/L and 90% of the patients with an average lithium levels 0.66 mEq/L had no thyroid function abnormalities.Conclusions: As already known, Lithium is a drug of narrow therapeutic index and females are more prone for thyroid function abnormalities. Appropriate monitoring of serum lithium levels will aid in necessary dose adjustment and ensure proper utilization of drug

Study to compare the blood sugar profile of the patients on risperidone and olanzapine with divalproex sodium as the common base

Background: Bipolar Affective Disorder which previously was called as manic depressive disorder represents the sixth leading cause of disability. Several preliminary studies suggest that antipsychotic monotherapy or in combination with mood stabiliser have a better prognosis. This study was conducted to compare the blood sugar profile of the patients who are on risperidone and olanzapine with divalproex sodium as the common base.Methods: It was a prospective, comparative, observational, hospital-based clinical study conducted between November 2013 to March 2015. 41 BPAD patients on Risperidone and 38 BPAD patients on Olanzapine were included. A brief history and examination were carried out and the data was entered in a proforma sheet. The investigations carried out were noted. Patients were followed up for a period of 12 weeks i.e. 2,4,8 and 12th = week and the data analysed using SPSS software. Adverse drug events if any were recorded.Results: Our study included 79 treatment-naive patients among whom 17 (21.5%) were women and 62 (78.5%) were men. The polarity of the disease of the majority of the patients was mania at the time of diagnosis. The mean blood sugar levels in risperidone and olanzapine group at the time of diagnosis were 137mg% and 111mg% respectively and weights 62kg and 63.5kg respectively. There was a gradual increase in blood sugar levels and weight from 4th week. At the end of the 12th week, the mean blood sugar levels were 152mg% and 164mg%, weights 65.5kg and 69.5kg in risperidone and olanzapine group respectively.Conclusions: Olanzapine was found to have higher incidence and rapid increase in blood sugar levels which can easily be treated by switching over to another drug. It has been suggested that at least a baseline survey should be undertaken on the prevalence of diabetes in Indian population among patients exposed to antipsychotic drugs

Trauma from Occlusion: Practical Management Guidelines

Occlusal trauma is trauma to the periodontium from functional or parafunctional force’s causing damage to the teeth and its attachment apparatus by exceeding its adaptive and reparative capacities. Occlusal instability is a common cause for trauma from occlusion, resulting in numerous complications. It often leads to interference which reflexively shifts or slides the jaw forward on one or both the side to find a spot where most teeth come together. This action protects the teeth from injury caused by chewing on just one tooth. Overtime, this shift can cause a whole host of problems from TMJ pain, post restorative complications, headache, tooth sensitivity, recession, broken and loss of teeth and orofacial pain. These occlusal interferences and bite discrepancies are treatable with minimally invasive dentistry. Occlusal equilibration is a therapy that is used when the cause of trauma is due to occlusal instability. This involves the reshaping of the teeth where the improper biting surfaces are located. The key lies in decoding the cause, but often treatment is only directed towards the effects. Only a thorough evaluation and occlusal analysis will lead to a definitive diagnosis that will help in better anticipation of the damages

Solid pseudopapillary epithelial neoplasm: a rare cause of intractable abdominal pain in young women

Solid pseudopapillary epithelial neoplasms of the pancreas are extremely rare and usually affect young women. It distinguishes itself from other pancreatic neoplasms with its low malignant potential. These tumors have a long asymptomatic period and are usually detected when they have grown to a very large size. We report a case of a 16 year old female patient who presented with intractable abdominal pain since past 1 month. A provisional diagnosis of Solid Pseudopapillary Epithelial Neoplasm was made on CT scan and confirmed by biopsy and histopathology. Early preoperative recognition of this tumour and confirmation by histopathology is emphasized because complete resection usually results in cure

Insulinoma with seizures – a rare presentation of a rare tumour

Insulinoma is a rare pancreatic endocrine tumour with an incidence of 4 per million population per year and is typically sporadic, solitary and less than 2 cms in diameter. Fewer than 5% of insulinomas are larger than 3 cms and are more likely to be malignant. Here we report a case of insulinoma in a female patient aged 57 years with a rare presentation of recurrent attacks of seizures, syncope and sweating along with episodes of hypoglycemia since 5 years. CT scan localized the tumour to the head of the pancreas and histopathology proved the diagnosis

Singularity-free frame fields for line drawing vectorization

State-of-the-art methods for line drawing vectorization rely on generated frame fields for robust direction disambiguation, with each of the two axes aligning to different intersecting curve tangents around junctions. However, a common source of topological error for such methods are frame field singularities. To remedy this, we introduce the first frame field optimization framework guaranteed to produce singularity-free fields aligned to a line drawing. We first perform a convex solve for a roughly-aligned orthogonal frame field (cross field), and then comb away its internal singularities with an optimal transport–based matching. The resulting topology of the field is strictly maintained with the machinery of discrete trivial connections in a final, non-convex optimization that allows non-orthogonality of the field, improving smoothness and tangent alignment. Our frame fields can serve as a drop-in replacement for frame field optimizations used in previous work, improving the quality of the final vectorizations

Effect of finishing/polishing techniques and time on surface roughness of esthetic restorative materials

Background: Surface roughness associated with improper finishing/polishing of restorations can result in plaque accumulation, gingival irritation, surface staining, and poor esthetic of restored teeth. The study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of various finishing and polishing systems and time using various procedures on surface roughness of some esthetic restorative materials. Materials and Methods: In this in vitro study, samples of two composite materials, compomer and glass ionomer cement (GIC) materials, were fabricated. Finishing and polishing were done immediately (n = 40) and after 1 week (n = 40) using four systems (diamond bur + soflex discs; diamond bur + Astropol polishing brush; tungsten carbide bur + soflex discs; tungsten carbide bur + Astropol polishing brush). Surface roughness was measured using surface profilometer. Data were statistically analyzed by t-test (for each material and time period) and one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's post hoc (for finishing and polishing systems) at a significant level of P < 0.05. Results: Analysis of time period, irrespective of finishing and polishing system showed that Ra values were greater (P Z100 > Filtek P90 > Dyract AP, suggesting immediate polishing is better. Among the materials, Filtek P90 had the least Ra values indicating the smoothest surface among all materials, followed by Z100, Dyract AP, and GIC. Comparison of polishing and finishing systems irrespective of materials showed that Ra values were lower (P > 0.05) in diamond + Astropol combination whereas diamond + soflex had the greatest Ra values. Conclusion: It might be concluded that: (i) Filtek P90 showed least Ra values followed by < Z100 < Dyract < GIC; (ii) immediate (24 h) finishing/polishing of materials is better than delayed; and (iii) among all these polishing systems, diamond bur–Astropol and Astrobrush showed good surface finish

Survey of Melon Fruit Fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae (Coquillett) Infestation on Cucurbits in Dharwad and Haveri Districts of Karnataka, India

The roving survey was undertaken in and around Dharwad and Haveri districts, covering major cucurbits growing areas, during August and October, 2019 to assess the present status of melon fruit fly, Zeugodacus cucurbitae infestation on different cucurbits in farmer fields.&nbsp; It revealed that higher mean per cent infestation was recorded on bitter gourd (37.59 %) crop followed by ridge gourd (32.67 %), cucumber (28.84 %), and bottle gourd (20.48 %) during August in Dharwad district as compared to Haveri district. Further, in the month of October, the same trend was followed among the following cucurbits. Where, bitter gourd recorded the highest per cent infestation of at 35.30 per cent followed by ridge gourd (30.05 %), cucumber (27.02 %) and bottle gourd (18.65 %) in Dharwad as compared to Haveri district. Thus, results showed that higher melon fruit fly infestation was noticed in August over October in Dharwad as compared to Haveri district