Minimally Invasive Approach for Full Mouth Rehabilitation Using Table-Tops in A Patient with Generalized Attrition

Currently A table-top is a conservative treatment approach limited to the thickness of the occlusal table with margins placed supragingivally for covering all the cusps of teeth. Its indications include patients with occlusal wear due to attrition or abrasion, teeth with cracks/fracture lines and endodontically treated teeth. The present case report demonstrates its potential in the field of prosthodontics to achieve full mouth rehabilitation through a minimally invasive approac

FAN1 Removes Triplet Repeat Extrusions via a PCNA- And RFC-Dependent Mechanism

Human genome-wide association studies have identified FAN1 and several DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes as modifiers of Huntington’s disease age of onset. In animal models, FAN1 prevents somatic expansion of CAG triplet repeats, whereas MMR proteins promote this process. To understand the molecular basis of these opposing effects, we evaluated FAN1 nuclease function on DNA extrahelical extrusions that represent key intermediates in triplet repeat expansion. Here, we describe a strand-directed, extrusion-provoked nuclease function of FAN1 that is activated by RFC, PCNA, and ATP at physiological ionic strength. Activation of FAN1 in this manner results in DNA cleavage in the vicinity of triplet repeat extrahelical extrusions thereby leading to their removal in human cell extracts. The role of PCNA and RFC is to confer strand directionality to the FAN1 nuclease, and this reaction requires a physical interaction between PCNA and FAN1. Using cell extracts, we show that FAN1-dependent CAG extrusion removal relies on a very short patch excision-repair mechanism that competes with MutSβ-dependent MMR which is characterized by longer excision tracts. These results provide a mechanistic basis for the role of FAN1 in preventing repeat expansion and could explain the antagonistic effects of MMR and FAN1 in disease onset/progression

QUANTUM CUTTING DOWN CONVERSION BY COOPERATIVE ENERGY TRANSFER FROM Tb3+ TO Yb3+ IN CeF3 NANOPHOSPHORS

status: publishe

Microbial remediation of mercury-contaminated soils

Microbial remediation is considered to be a green technology for in situ and ex situ remediation of contaminated environment. It helps in restoring the soil quality to its indigenous state. Increasing mercury emissions from various anthropogenic sources pose a serious health hazard and make mercury toxicity a global concern. Mercury is present in elemental, organic, and inorganic forms in the environment and has different routes to enter the human body. Mercury uptake through inhalation, dermal contact, and ingestion cause adverse health impacts such as neurotoxicity, respiratory failure, kidney and cardiovascular system damage. Mobility and transformation into various chemical forms cause mercury to transfer reversibly between soil, air, and water. In the terrestrial environment, inorganic mercury may be converted to the highly toxic organic mercury, which accumulates in the food chain. High amounts of mercury in soil can thus lead to future mobilization and contamination of aquatic environments, causing bioaccumulation and future human exposure. Additionally, contaminated soil can act as a source of mercury to the atmosphere, the emitted mercury being added to the global mercury pool and polluting downstream environments. Hence, it is desirable to treat (release from soil and capture within a controlled collection unit) soil contaminated with mercury. Treatment of mercury-contaminated soil can be performed by thermal decomposition, immobilization on bioadsorbents, containment using wetlands, phytoremediation, and microbial demethylation of organic mercury to inorganic mercury and subsequent reduction to elemental mercury which should be subsequently captured. Indigenous bacterial and fungal species have been used for microbial remediation of mercury-contaminated soils. Mercury-resistant fungal strains transport, absorb, and accumulate soil-mercury in the cells restricting mercury flow in the environment. Bacterial strains have the mer operon that reduces inorganic mercury to elemental mercury. Different classes of mer genes and gene products are involved in mercury tolerance and reduction. In some instances, plant growth-promoting bacteria present in the soil also assist in remediation indirectly by improving mercury mobility and bioavailability in soil leading to enhanced mercury uptake by plants; however, this should be performed ex situ to avoid uncontrolled losses. Microbial remediation, in general, is considered eco-friendly. This chapter reviews the current literature on applications of microbial remediation in treatment of mercury-contaminated soil, its limitations, and its potential for scale-up as a green technology. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Portable X-ray Fluorescence as a Rapid Determination Tool to Detect Parts per Million Levels of Ni, Zn, As, Se, and Pb in Human Toenails: A South India Case Study

Chronic exposure to inorganic pollutants adversely affects human health. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is the most common method used for trace metal(loid) analysis of human biomarkers. However, it leads to sample destruction, generation of secondary waste, and significant recurring costs. Portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instruments can rapidly and nondestructively determine low concentrations of metal(loid)s. In this work, we evaluated the applicability of portable XRF as a rapid method for analyzing trace metal(loid)s in toenail samples from three populations (n= 97) near the city of Chennai, India. A Passing-Bablok regression analysis of results from both methods revealed that there was no proportional bias among the two methods for nickel (measurement range ∼25 to 420 mg/kg), zinc (10 to 890 mg/kg), and lead (0.29 to 4.47 mg/kg). There was a small absolute bias between the two methods. There was a strong proportional bias (slope = 0.253, 95% CI: 0.027, 0.614) between the two methods for arsenic (below detection to 3.8 mg/kg) and for selenium when the concentrations were lower than 2 mg/kg. Limits of agreement between the two methods using Bland-Altman analysis were derived for nickel, zinc, and lead. Overall, a suitably calibrated and evaluated portable XRF shows promise in making high-throughput assessments at population scales. © 2021 American Chemical Societ

Health-status outcomes with invasive or conservative care in coronary disease

BACKGROUND In the ISCHEMIA trial, an invasive strategy with angiographic assessment and revascularization did not reduce clinical events among patients with stable ischemic heart disease and moderate or severe ischemia. A secondary objective of the trial was to assess angina-related health status among these patients. METHODS We assessed angina-related symptoms, function, and quality of life with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) at randomization, at months 1.5, 3, and 6, and every 6 months thereafter in participants who had been randomly assigned to an invasive treatment strategy (2295 participants) or a conservative strategy (2322). Mixed-effects cumulative probability models within a Bayesian framework were used to estimate differences between the treatment groups. The primary outcome of this health-status analysis was the SAQ summary score (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better health status). All analyses were performed in the overall population and according to baseline angina frequency. RESULTS At baseline, 35% of patients reported having no angina in the previous month. SAQ summary scores increased in both treatment groups, with increases at 3, 12, and 36 months that were 4.1 points (95% credible interval, 3.2 to 5.0), 4.2 points (95% credible interval, 3.3 to 5.1), and 2.9 points (95% credible interval, 2.2 to 3.7) higher with the invasive strategy than with the conservative strategy. Differences were larger among participants who had more frequent angina at baseline (8.5 vs. 0.1 points at 3 months and 5.3 vs. 1.2 points at 36 months among participants with daily or weekly angina as compared with no angina). CONCLUSIONS In the overall trial population with moderate or severe ischemia, which included 35% of participants without angina at baseline, patients randomly assigned to the invasive strategy had greater improvement in angina-related health status than those assigned to the conservative strategy. The modest mean differences favoring the invasive strategy in the overall group reflected minimal differences among asymptomatic patients and larger differences among patients who had had angina at baseline

Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease

BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used