Comparative evaluation of nutritional status of elderly dentulous and completely edentulous patients wearing complete dentures

Introduction: The scientific progress has reached a level where nutritional interventions may play a part in the prevention of degenerative conditions of age, improvement of quality of life and impact on health care burden and resources. Moreover a timely intervention can stop weight loss in elderly at risk of malnutrition or undernourished. Evaluation of nutritional status is important for any nutrition or dietary modification. We therefore did a comparative study of evaluation of nutritional status of elderly dentulous and completely edentulous patients wearing complete dentures. Rationale: To evaluate nutritional status in dentulous and edentulous denture wearing elderly patient. To evaluate any relationship between edentulous denture wearer patient and malnutrition. To determine if the recommended dietary allowance is met by elderly dentulous and completely edentulous patients wearing complete dentures. To find out the need of nutritional supplement for edentulous complete denture wearer patients. Objectives: The objectives were to evaluate nutritional status in dentulous and edentulous denture wearing elderly patients and to find out any relationship between edentulous denture wearer patients and malnutrition. We also tried to find out the need of nutritional supplement for edentulous denture wearer patients. Material & Method: A total of 100  healthy Male and Female  patients  between the age of 60  to 80 years attending the OPD of Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dental Sciences, Dharmsinh Desai University, Nadiad, Gujarat were selected and divided into two sample groups dentulous and edentulous. Subjects with no natural teeth who reported wearing complete maxillary and   mandibular dentures for at least 6 months were taken as the edentulous sample and subjects with at least 24 teeth who did not wear dentures were taken as dentulous sample. Mini Nutrition Assesment Tool, 24 Hour Diet Recall & Food Frequency Form were used to evaluate the nutritional status of the subjects. The data on food consumption was converted to the calorie content of the diet and the percentage of recommended dietary allowance (RDA) was calculated for the subject according to the age, gender and activity level. Statistical analysis was done using the Chi square P value test. No investigation or intervention was conducted on patients, humans or other animals hence, ethical consideration was not applicable in this study. Null hypothesis: “There is no difference in the nutritional intake of the dentulous patients and edentulous patients wearing complete dentures”. Result: It was observed in this study that only 62% of the edentulous subjects were taking fruits frequently against 88% of dentulous subjects. In the same way, while 54% of dentulous subjects were consuming nuts and oil seeds, only 36% of edentulous subjects consumed them & the result is statistically significant. There was a direct relationship between edentulousness and malnutrition. 94% of the dentulous subjects in our study were well nourished according to MNA having score from 24 to 30 against 62% of edentulous subjects. The risk of malnutrition was eight times higher in edentulous as compared to dentulous subjects, 34% & 4% respectively which is highly significant statistically. Only negligible portion was malnourished that was 2% for dentulous and 4% for edentulous subjects. Further, there was a positive correlation between the MNA score and calorie intake per day in percentage of RDA. All the subjects detected to be malnourished were taking less than 75% of RDA calorie intake. Amongst 17 edentulous subjects (34%) at risk of malnutrition, more than half (n=10) were consuming less than 75% of RDA. Even though statistically insignificant, maximum subjects in both the categories belonged to >25kg/m2 (over weight) that is total 60% of dentulous and 44% of edentulous subjects. On further division, 38% of dentulous and 28% of edentulous subjects were preobese while those belonging to obese category were 22% and 16% respectively. Conclusion: Undernutrition as well as obesity were common health hazards in our geriatric population. Early management by nutritional intervention, combined with oral health care, is of great importance for the improvement of nutritional parameters and the prognosis of prosthetic treatmen

High frequency homogenisation for elastic lattices

A complete methodology, based on a two-scale asymptotic approach, that enables the homogenisation of elastic lattices at non-zero frequencies is developed. Elastic lattices are distinguished from scalar lattices in that two or more types of coupled waves exist, even at low frequencies. Such a theory enables the determination of effective material properties at both low and high frequencies. The theoretical framework is developed for the propagation of waves through lattices of arbitrary geometry and dimension. The asymptotic approach provides a method through which the dispersive properties of lattices at frequencies near standing waves can be described; the theory accurately describes both the dispersion curves and the response of the lattice near the edges of the Brillouin zone. The leading order solution is expressed as a product between the standing wave solution and long-scale envelope functions that are eigensolutions of the homogenised partial differential equation. The general theory is supplemented by a pair of illustrative examples for two archetypal classes of two-dimensional elastic lattices. The efficiency of the asymptotic approach in accurately describing several interesting phenomena is demonstrated, including dynamic anisotropy and Dirac cones.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

Geometrically navigating topological platonic modes around gentle and sharp bends

Predictive theory to geometrically engineer devices and materials in continuum systems to have desired topological-like effects is developed here by bridging the gap between quantum and continuum mechanical descriptions. A structured elastic plate, a bosoniclike system in the language of quantum mechanics, is shown to exhibit topological valley modes despite the system having no direct physical connection to quantum effects. We emphasize a predictive, first-principles, approach, the strength of which is demonstrated by the ability to design well-defined broadband edge states, resistant to backscatter, using geometric differences; the mechanism underlying energy transfer around gentle and sharp corners is described. Using perturbation methods and group theory, several distinct cases of symmetry-induced Dirac cones, which when gapped yield nontrivial band gaps, are identified and classified. The propagative behavior of the edge states around gentle or sharp bends depends strongly upon the symmetry class of the bulk media and we illustrate this via numerical simulations

Characterization of rat gastric myogenic contractions and modulation by oxytocin and arginine-vasopressin.

BACKGROUND: and purpose: Interstitial cells of Cajal generate slow wave gastric electrical activity, initiating spontaneous muscle contractions. This becomes dysrhythmic during nausea when [Arg8]-vasopressin (AVP) is also released. In human stomach AVP increased spontaneous contraction activity and muscle tone, not neuronally-mediated contractions. Rodents cannot vomit, releasing the related hormone, oxytocin (OT) instead. We hypothesised that rat stomach would behave differently. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Spontaneous and electrically-evoked (EFS) contractions were measured in rat forestomach and antrum circular muscle. Custom software defined spontaneous contractions by analysing eight motility parameters. RESULTS: The forestomach was quiescent. Irregular antrum contractions became regular adjacent to the pylorus (1.7 ± 0.4 mN; 1.2 ± 0.1 contractions/min, n = 12). These were unaffected by tetrodotoxin (10-6 M), atropine (10-6 M) and L-NAME (3 × 10-4 M). In both regions, AVP (pEC50∼9.0) and OT (∼0.5 log10-unit less potent) caused contraction (greater in antrum), competitively antagonized by, respectively, SR49059 (pKB∼9.5) and L371257 (pKB∼9.0), reduced by tetrodotoxin but unaffected by atropine. In the antrum, AVP and OT (∼2 log10-units less potent/efficacious) regularized and increased spontaneous contraction amplitude, frequency, rates of contraction/decay. In both regions, EFS-evoked contractions, abolished by atropine/tetrodotoxin, were reduced by AVP and OT, with AVP more potent and efficacious, particularly in forestomach. CONCLUSION: Irregular spontaneous contractions of gastric antrum suggest variable ICC-muscle coupling. AVP and less potently, OT, enhanced frequency and force of contractions via V1A and OT receptors. Compared with human, differences in contraction regularity, potency and ability of AVP/OT to affect neuronal function suggests caution when using rat stomach to model ICC functions and nauseagenic stimuli

Asymptotic approximations for Bloch waves and topological mode steering in a planar array of Neumann scatterers

We study the canonical problem of wave scattering by periodic arrays, either of infinite or finite extent, of Neumann scatterers in the plane; the characteristic lengthscale of the scatterers is considered small relative to the lattice period. We utilise the method of matched asymptotic expansions, together with Fourier series representations, to create an efficient and accurate numerical approach for finding the dispersion curves associated with Floquet-Bloch waves through an infinite array of scatterers. The approach also lends itself to direct scattering problems for finite arrays and we illustrate the flexibility of these asymptotic representations on some topical examples from topological wave physics

NumLin: Linear Types for Linear Algebra (Artifact)

The artifact package includes a Debian 9.7 Stretch VirtualBox virtual machine on which is the implementation of NumLin and the required OCaml platform and packages

Hybrid topological guiding mechanisms for photonic crystal fibers

We create hybrid topological-photonic localisation of light by introducing concepts from the field of topological matter to that of photonic crystal fiber arrays. S-polarized obliquely propagating electromagnetic waves are guided by hexagonal, and square, lattice topological systems along an array of infinitely conducting fibers. The theory utilises perfectly periodic arrays that, in frequency space, have gapped Dirac cones producing band gaps demarcated by pronounced valleys locally imbued with a nonzero local topological quantity. These broken symmetry-induced stop-bands allow for localised guidance of electromagnetic edge-waves along the crystal fiber axis. Finite element simulations, complemented by asymptotic techniques, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed designs for localising energy in finite arrays in a robust manner

Photocatalytic water disinfection by simple and low-cost monolithic and heterojunction ceramic wafers

In this work, the photocatalytic disinfection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) using dual layer ceramic wafers, prepared by a simple and low-cost technique, was investigated. Heterojunction wafers were prepared by pressing TiO2 and WO3 powders together into 2 layers within a single, self-supported monolith. Data modelling showed that the heterojunction wafers were able to sustain the formation of charged species (after an initial "charging" period). In comparison, a wafer made from pure TiO2 showed a less desirable bacterial inactivation profile in that the rate decreased with time (after being faster initially). The more favourable kinetics of the dual layer system was due to superior electron-hole vectorial charge separation and an accumulation of charges beyond the initial illumination period. The results demonstrate the potential for developing simplified photocatalytic devices for rapid water disinfection