Correlation between dental caries experience and mutans streptococci counts using saliva and plaque as microbial risk indicators in 3-8 year old children. A cross Sectional study

Objectives: Determination of the relative amounts of mutans streptococcus in both saliva and plaque and to study its correlation with dental caries in children. Study Design: The study comprised of 60 children aged 3-8 years divided into 2 groups (30 children in each): Group A- Children with more than 4 carious teeth and Group B- Children without caries. Saliva and plaque was collected from children of both the groups with the help of Dentocult SM strip test kit (Orion Diagnostic). Following incubation, mutans streptococcus scores (from 0 to 3) in each individual was evaluated and compared between both the groups. Results: On comparing the two groups, mean ± SD of saliva score and plaque score was 2.40 ± 0.675 and 2.40 ± 0.621 respectively in group A, whereas it was 0.60 ± 0.498 and 0.83 ± 0.531 in children of group B showing a significant correlation ( p = < 0.001) between mutans streptococci scores in both saliva and plaque and dental caries experience. Conclusions: There is a direct and strong co-relation between the salivary and plaque mutans streptococcus counts and caries activity in children aged 3-8 years

Beyond the Hoax: A Response to Emily A. Schultz

I am grateful to the editors of Reviews in Anthropology for giving me the opportunity to respond to Emily Schultz’s review (2010) of my book Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture (2008). I shall begin by briefly correcting several of Schultz’s misrepresentations of my ideas. I shall then endeavor to address the intellectually interesting issues that she raises

Restoring the Real: Rethinking Social Constructivist Theories of Science

This essay offers a critical exposition of some of the most influential sociological and feminist theories that purport to see the natural world, experimental evidence, scientific facts and objectivity as social constructs. I will call constructivist any theory of science that includes in its purview 'the very content and nature of scientific knowledge...[and] not just the circumstances surrounding its production. While the earlier structural-functional tradition of Karl Mannheim and Robert Merton only studied the social conditioning of the agenda of science (the foci of interest and the rate of advance), the newer socio-cultural theories aim to explain the technical content of science in terms of social variables (class, gender and or professional interests, among other things). Although they differ in emphasis, the various schools within the constructivist stream adhere to three tenets. First, what makes a belief true is not correspondence with an element of reality, but its adoption and authentication by the relevant community of inquirers. Thus, there is no hard and fast philosophical difference between a society's fund of knowledge and the beliefs currently held and disseminated by certified authorities. Second, science is a socially located praxis that creates the reality it describes, rather than a detached description of a pre-existing reality external to its own practice. Science not just describes 'facts', but actually constructs them through the active, culturally and socially situated choices scientists make in the laboratory. Third, the constructivist theories examined here admit of no analytical distinctions between knowledge and society, the cognitive dimension and the socio-cultural dimension: people's knowledge of the world and their organization of life in the world constitute each other, the two are 'co-produced.' From the obviously true and undeniable premise that science is done in definite socially located institutions by socialized individuals, constructivist theorists tend to deny any meaningful distinction between what is inside and outside of science and between things natural and social

Epistemology

“The day the Enlightenment went out”, is how Gary Wills described the re-election of President George W. Bush in an op-ed column in the New York Times (November 4, 2004). Reflecting upon the conservative religious vote that put Bush back in the White House, Wills wondered if there was any connection between the fact that many mor

Eleanor Roosevelt Augmented Reality

26 pagesFor this project, we chose to focus on the absence of Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) at Four Freedoms Park (FFP) in New York City, despite her active political participation during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. Our goal was to communicate this participation using Augmented Reality (AR) and the power of dance. We conducted various forms of research in order to determine the best way to approach this and found that an interactive mobile AR app was the best way to do this so that each user was able to have their own experience. Our experimentation with AR also helped assess the limitations of what can be implemented within this time frame

Phosphine-free avenue to Co2P nanoparticle encapsulated N,P co-doped CNTs: a novel non-enzymatic glucose sensor and an efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

A novel one-step, one-pot strategy to synthesize Co2P encapsulated N, P dual doped carbon nanotubes (Co2P/NPCNTs) is developed via a g-C3N4 intermediated approach. The method uses readily available, inexpensive precursors without involving toxic phosphine gas (PH3) during the phosphidation process. Moreover, the CNTs are synthesized and doped in situ without the aid of any external carbon additives. The morphology and structure were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The as-prepared Co2P/NPCNTs were then for the first time demonstrated to be an electrochemical sensor for the enzymeless detection of glucose. The Co2P/NPCNTmodified electrode exhibits a quick response and good linearity (R-2 = 0.997) up to 7 mM with a high sensitivity and a low detection limit (LOD) of 338.8 mu A mM -1 cm-2 and 0.88 M, respectively, towards glucose, selectively in the presence of various endogenous interfering agents such as D-sucrose, D-mannose, L-cysteine, urea etc. with a good long-term stability. When applied as an electrocatalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), Co2P/ NPCNT delivers a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) at an overpotential of 370 mV with a Tafel slope of only 53 mV dec(-1), outperforming even the state-of-the-art RuO2 while maintaining excellent long-term durability

Do Medical Students Assess the Credibility of Online or Downloadable Medical Reference Resources?

This study was designed to elucidate how medical students assess the credibility of online resources and downloadable applications as well as describing trends in resource usage. Methods: 72 students participated in the study and completed an equestionnaire. This was based on a framework by Kapoun which summarises steps that users of online resources should take to ensure credibility using key domains; accuracy, authority, objectivity (where the reader questions the provenance of the material), currency and coverage (questioning appearance, reliability and accessibility of a document). Results: There were variations in the reported use of parameters of credibility with objectivity and currency being the most used widely used credibility measures. The study group were significantly influenced by the cost of resources using free resources if possible. Responses revealed that most of the study group were using open-access sites over commercially-based peer review resources. Conclusion: The widespread availability of mtechnology has increased the accessibility of online medical resources. Medical schools should review what information is provided to students and consider equipping students with the skills to successfully evaluate resource credibility as part of their core curricula.</p