Porphyromonas gingivalis and Treponema denticola Mixed Microbial Infection in a Rat Model of Periodontal Disease

Porphyromonas gingivalis and Treponema denticola are periodontal pathogens that express virulence factors associated with the pathogenesis of periodontitis. In this paper we tested the hypothesis that P. gingivalis and T. denticola are synergistic in terms of virulence; using a model of mixed microbial infection in rats. Groups of rats were orally infected with either P. gingivalis or T. denticola or mixed microbial infections for 7 and 12 weeks. P. gingivalis genomic DNA was detected more frequently by PCR than T. denticola. Both bacteria induced significantly high IgG, IgG2b, IgG1, IgG2a antibody levels indicating a stimulation of Th1 and Th2 immune response. Radiographic and morphometric measurements demonstrated that rats infected with the mixed infection exhibited significantly more alveolar bone loss than shaminfected control rats. Histology revealed apical migration of junctional epithelium, rete ridge elongation, and crestal alveolar bone resorption; resembling periodontal disease lesion. These results showed that P. gingivalis and T. denticola exhibit no synergistic virulence in a rat model of periodontal disease

A Survey Based Feedback Analysis of the Current Medical Teaching Methodology and Trends in Medical Research Practice in a South Indian Medical Institute

oai:ojs.www.ijms.info:article/3Background: The spine of a good healthcare system is the medical education received by its doctors. As medicine is evolving, the same can be inferred regarding the delivery of medical education. This study was conducted among 541 students in a prestigious medical college in India. The aim of the study was to find out lapses in our current medical education system and steps to improve it.  Methods: A total of 541 medical students were included in this study. The only inclusion criteria being that they should be in their 2nd year MBBS or above. A questionnaire of 20 questions was given to each student and they were asked to mark the answers they felt was most appropriate. The questionnaire dealt with issues faced in our current education system regarding teaching methodology, clinical postings, research, evidence based medicine and steps to improve the healthcare system. Data was collected, analysed and statistically evaluated using Microsoft Excel and SPS version 21.0.  Results: Majority of the students felt that classroom strength should not be more than a hundred students. They felt that more innovative teaching methods and discussions should be included. Students laid emphasis on research, clinical skills training and evidence based medicine. They felt that the healthcare system also needs tweaking in terms of funding and practicing evidence based medicine to be on par with healthcare systems across the world.  Conclusion: The results in this study, resonates with the results of various other studies regarding delivery of medical education. It also takes into..

A rare sessile variant of osteochondroma presenting at an unusual site of the iliac wing in a 15-year-old boy

Osteochondromas rarely grow from flat bones such as scapula and pelvis. These tumors grow in sync with the growth of the child. They usually involve the growing ends of long bones, more commonly the distal end of the femur. We report a 15-year-old boy presenting to us with an osteochondroma of the iliac wing. It was a rare sessile variant. The tumor was causing him extreme pain and mechanical block to squatting, sitting cross-legged, and walking. The tumor was surgically removed by extraperiosteal resection. The patient was followed up for 1 year. He did not suffer from a recurrence or symptoms of pain or weakness after 1 year. Pelvis forms an unusual site of presentation for an osteochondroma. These tumors, should they arise from the pelvis, are notoriously dangerous as they may cause compression of lumbar nerve roots. Complete removal of these tumors extraperiosteally gives a drastic relief to the patient's symptoms. The patient should be followed up carefully to look for recurrence of this tumor

Dragon Plant Biology Explorer. A Text-Mining Tool for Integrating Associations between Genetic and Biochemical Entities with Genome Annotation and Biochemical Terms Lists

We introduce a tool for text mining, Dragon Plant Biology Explorer (DPBE) that integrates information on Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genes with their functions, based on gene ontologies and biochemical entity vocabularies, and presents the associations as interactive networks. The associations are based on (1) user-provided PubMed abstracts; (2) a list of Arabidopsis genes compiled by The Arabidopsis Information Resource; (3) user-defined combinations of four vocabulary lists based on the ones developed by the general, plant, and Arabidopsis GO consortia; and (4) three lists developed here based on metabolic pathways, enzymes, and metabolites derived from AraCyc, BRENDA, and other metabolism databases. We demonstrate how various combinations can be applied to fields of (1) gene function and gene interaction analyses, (2) plant development, (3) biochemistry and metabolism, and (4) pharmacology of bioactive compounds. Furthermore, we show the suitability of DPBE for systems approaches by integration with “omics” platform outputs. Using a list of abiotic stress-related genes identified by microarray experiments, we show how this tool can be used to rapidly build an information base on the previously reported relationships. This tool complements the existing biological resources for systems biology by identifying potentially novel associations using text analysis between cellular entities based on genome annotation terms. Thus, it allows researchers to efficiently summarize existing information for a group of genes or pathways, so as to make better informed choices for designing validation experiments. Last, DPBE can be helpful for beginning researchers and graduate students to summarize vast information in an unfamiliar area. DPBE is freely available for academic and nonprofit users at http://research.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/DRAGON/ME2/