Socio-demographics, Oral Health Behavior, and Physical Activity: Factors in Caries Experience Among 19–59 Years Old Adults in a Malaysian Population

Dental caries is one of the common diseases that are attributed by many factors. Many from the adult population are afflicted with dental caries. This study aimed to determine the predictors of developing dental caries among adults. Three hundred and thirty four adults participated in this study. Information gathered includes their socio-demographic backgrounds, oral health behaviour, physical activity level, body mass index, body fat percentages, visceral fat level, and dental missing filled extracted teeth (DMFX) index. All standard protocols were observed and DMFX was examined using the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Prevalence of dental caries was 87.4%, inclusive of 61.3% of female respondents with caries experience. Most of the study participants were overweight. Only the consumption of high sugar food (p=0.03) was found to be connected between dental caries and oral health behaviours. Regression analysis (p<0.001) showed that older age (p<0.001), regular visits to dental clinic per year (p=0.012), lower education level (p=0.025), and lower physical activity (p=0.008) were significant factors in developing dental caries among this study population. Older aged adults, frequent appointment with the dentist, lower education in oral health, and lower physical activity were possible factors for dental caries presence

Evaluation of antioxidant and antimutagenic potential of Justicia adhatoda leaves extract

In this study, the ethanolic extract of Justicia adhatoda (Acanthaceae) leaves was prepared by successive extraction procedure in increasing polarity order. Moreover, there are no antimutagenic evaluation reports found. In the present study our aim was to determine the antioxidant and antimutagenic potential of different fractions of ethanolic extract of J. adhatoda. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) analysis revealed the presence of polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids which might be responsible for bioprotective activity. Among the five fractions (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and aqueous), n-butanol and ethyl acetate exhibited significant antioxidant activity with minimum IC50 value (< 105.33 μg/ml) whereas, hexane, chloroform and aqueous fractions exhibits excellent antimutagenic potential against 2-aminofluorine for S. typhimurium TA98 and TA100 strains in the presence of S9 mix. These results indicate that these fractions need further research into its potential chemoprevention effects.Key words: Justicia adhatoda, antioxidant, antimutagenic, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC), IC50 value

Formulation and characterization of chewable tablets of paracetamol and metoclopramide hydrochloride

The present study was aimed to formulate and characterized chewable tablets of Paracetamol and Metoclopramide hydrochloride. Paracetamol and Metoclopramide hydrochloride is an oral fixed dose combination for the preparation of chewable tablets used to treat the symptoms of migraine as it comply with physicochemical properties require to improve the effectiveness of therapeutic agent, better bioavailability, improved patient acceptance (especially pediatrics) through pleasant taste, patient convenience; need no water for swallowing, fasten the absorption of drug and for rapid onset of action. The investigation was carried out to study the effect of different proportion of Avicel 101, Avicel 102 and moringa gum, which are superdisintegrating agents. The chewable tablets of Paracetamol and Metoclopramide hydrochloride were prepared by wet granulation method. Several physicochemical parameters like thickness, diameter, hardness, %weight variation, %loss in weight, drug content, disintegration time, in vitro dissolution studies, kinetics of drug release and stability studies for all the formulations were studied and were found within the acceptance limits. Formulation F7 (containing moringa gum 1%) showed the best cumulative drug release and disintegration time of 56 secs

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Status of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections and Evaluation of PVL Producing Strains in Belgaum, South India

Background: Panton Valentine Leukocidin (PVL) toxin, responsible for increased virulence and more severe infections can be found in both Methicillin-sensitive and Methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA and MRSA). Aims & Objectives: To generate baseline data on the extent of MRSA infections and to estimate the frequency of PVL-positive S.aureus in Belgaum, South India. Material & Methods: 70 clinical isolates of S.aureus were obtained from various laboratories in Belgaum city. Theseisolates were identified, phenotypically characterized as MRSA/MSSA by disc diffusion method using oxacillin discs (1 µg) and genetically by multiplex PCR for mecA and fem B genes. PCR was subsequently carried out on all isolates to detect LukS-PV and LukF-PV genes, the markers for potential producers of PVL toxin. Results: 27 out of 70 isolates (38.6%) were confirmed as MRSA by PCR formecA. The prevalence of PVL gene was 85.1% and 48.8% in MRSA and MSSA respectively. The overall prevalence of PVL positive S.aureuswas 62.85%. Conclusion: Our study showed high percentage of PVL positive MRSA and MSSA, higher than the most reports worldwide. In the backdrop of bacterial strains gaining multiple drug resistance, our study warrants further epidemiological studies in hospitals and community levels in the region

High-redshift blazars through nustar eyes

The most powerful sources among the blazar family are MeV blazars. Often detected at $z>2$, they usually display high X- and \gm-ray luminosities, larger-than-average jet powers and black hole masses $\gtrsim 10^9 M_{\odot}$. In the present work we perform a multiwavelength study of three high redshift blazars: 3FGL J0325.5+2223 ($z=2.06$), 3FGL J0449.0+1121 ($z= 2.15$), and 3FGL J0453.2$-$2808 ($z=2.56$), analysing quasi simultaneous data from GROND, \swift-UVOT and XRT, \nustar, and \fermi-LAT. Our main focus is on the hard X-ray band recently unveiled by \nustar~(3$-$79 keV) where these objects show a hard spectrum which enables us to constrain the inverse Compton peak and the jet power. We found that all three targets resemble the most powerful blazars, with the synchrotron peak located in the sub-millimeter range and the inverse Compton peak in the MeV range, and therefore belong to the MeV blazar class. Using a simple one zone leptonic emission model to reproduce the spectral energy distributions, we conclude that a simple combination of synchrotron and accretion disk emission reproduces the infrared-optical spectra while the X-ray to \gm-ray part is well reproduced by the inverse Compton scattering of low energy photons supplied by the broad line region. The black hole masses for each of the three sources are calculated to be $\gtrsim 4 \times 10^{8} M_{\odot}$. The three studied sources have jet power at the level of, or beyond, the accretion luminosity.Comment: 4 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

Memory effect in weakly anchored surfaces of deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystals

A wide-range memory effect in deformed helix ferroelectric liquid crystals (DHFLCs) has been investigated by electro-optical and textural methods. A comparative study has been performed on strongly and weakly anchored surfaces of DHFLC cells. The saturation voltage has been compared in both types of cells by studying the variation of tilt angle and spontaneous polarization with applied voltage. The long-lasting memory effect has been observed in untreated (weakly anchored) cells. It has been proposed that perfect memory in DHFLC cells without any surface treatment is due to the possibility of the absence of depolarization and ionic charges over the surfaces of the cells

Magnetothermodynamics: Measurements Of The Thermodynamic Properties In A Relaxed Magnetohydrodynamic Plasma

We have explored the thermodynamics of compressed magnetized plasmas in laboratory experiments and we call these studies ‘magnetothermodynamics’. The experiments are carried out in the Swarthmore Spheromak eXperiment device. In this device, a magnetized plasma source is located at one end and at the other end, a closed conducting can is installed. We generate parcels of magnetized plasma and observe their compression against the end wall of the conducting cylinder. The plasma parameters such as plasma density, temperature and magnetic field are measured during compression using HeNe laser interferometry, ion Doppler spectroscopy and a linear dot{B} probe array, respectively. To identify the instances of ion heating during compression, a PV diagram is constructed using measured density, temperature and a proxy for the volume of the magnetized plasma. Different equations of state are analysed to evaluate the adiabatic nature of the compressed plasma. A three-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic code (NIMROD) is employed to simulate the twisted Taylor states and shows stagnation against the end wall of the closed conducting can. The simulation results are consistent to what we observe in our experiments