Recent advances in periodontal drug delivery systems.

Periodontitis, a disease involving supportive structures of the teeth prevails in all groups, ethnicities, races and both genders. The relationship between bacterial plaque and the development of periodontal disease and caries is well established. Antibacterial agents have been used effectively in the management of periodontal infection. The effectiveness of mechanical debridement of plaque and repeated topical and systemic administration of antibacterial agents are limited due to the lack of accessibility to periodontopathic organisms in the periodontal pocket. Systemic administration of drugs leads to therapeutic concentrations at the site of infection, but for short periods of time, forcing repeated dosing for longer periods. Local delivery of antimicrobials has been investigated for the possibility of overcoming the limitations of conventional therapy. The use of sustained release formulations to deliver antibacterials to the site of infection (periodontal pocket) has recently gained interest. These products provide a long-term, effective treatment at the site of infection at much smaller doses. Biodegradable polymers are extensively employed in periodontal drug delivery devices because of their abundant source, lack of toxicity, and high tissue compatibility. A major advantage of natural polymers is that they do not affect periodontal tissue regeneration. Amongst various natural polymers, chitosan, a deacetylated product of chitin is widely used in drug delivery devices. Since it exhibits favourable biological properties such as non-toxicity, biocompatibility, biodegradability and wound healing traits, it has attracted great attention in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. The conventional treatment consists of tooth surface mechanical cleaning and root planning, associated or not to the systemic use of high concentrations of antibiotics, but with reduced effectiveness, and adverse effects. The patient compliance to the therapeutic is committed too. In the last decades, the treatment has been optimized for the use of drug delivery systems to the periodontal pocket, with the advantage of delivering the drug in the specific site, sustaining and/or controlling the drug concentration. Recently, the use of new drug delivery systems has been receiving great interest. This review approaches the main delivery systems for the administration of drugs to the periodontal pocket, their usefulness, as well as the advancement of these systems effectiveness in the periodontal therapy. Keywords : Periodontal diseases; Periodontal pocket; Delivery systems; Periodontal pocket deliver

Recent advances in periodontal drug delivery systems.

Periodontitis, a disease involving supportive structures of the teeth prevails in all groups, ethnicities, races and both genders. The relationship between bacterial plaque and the development of periodontal disease and caries is well established. Antibacterial agents have been used effectively in the management of periodontal infection. The effectiveness of mechanical debridement of plaque and repeated topical and systemic administration of antibacterial agents are limited due to the lack of accessibility to periodontopathic organisms in the periodontal pocket. Systemic administration of drugs leads to therapeutic concentrations at the site of infection, but for short periods of time, forcing repeated dosing for longer periods. Local delivery of antimicrobials has been investigated for the possibility of overcoming the limitations of conventional therapy. The use of sustained release formulations to deliver antibacterials to the site of infection (periodontal pocket) has recently gained interest. These products provide a long-term, effective treatment at the site of infection at much smaller doses. Biodegradable polymers are extensively employed in periodontal drug delivery devices because of their abundant source, lack of toxicity, and high tissue compatibility. A major advantage of natural polymers is that they do not affect periodontal tissue regeneration. Amongst various natural polymers, chitosan, a deacetylated product of chitin is widely used in drug delivery devices. Since it exhibits favourable biological properties such as non-toxicity, biocompatibility, biodegradability and wound healing traits, it has attracted great attention in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. The conventional treatment consists of tooth surface mechanical cleaning and root planning, associated or not to the systemic use of high concentrations of antibiotics, but with reduced effectiveness, and adverse effects. The patient compliance to the therapeutic is committed too. In the last decades, the treatment has been optimized for the use of drug delivery systems to the periodontal pocket, with the advantage of delivering the drug in the specific site, sustaining and/or controlling the drug concentration. Recently, the use of new drug delivery systems has been receiving great interest. This review approaches the main delivery systems for the administration of drugs to the periodontal pocket, their usefulness, as well as the advancement of these systems effectiveness in the periodontal therapy. Keywords : Periodontal diseases; Periodontal pocket; Delivery systems; Periodontal pocket deliver

Signaling logic of activity-triggered dendritic protein synthesis: an mTOR gate but not a feedback switch

Changes in synaptic efficacy are believed to form the cellular basis for memory. Protein synthesis in dendrites is needed to consolidate long-term synaptic changes. Many signals converge to regulate dendritic protein synthesis, including synaptic and cellular activity, and growth factors. The coordination of these multiple inputs is especially intriguing because the synthetic and control pathways themselves are among the synthesized proteins. We have modeled this system to study its molecular logic and to understand how runaway feedback is avoided. We show that growth factors such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gate activity-triggered protein synthesis via mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). We also show that bistability is unlikely to arise from the major protein synthesis pathways in our model, even though these include several positive feedback loops. We propose that these gating and stability properties may serve to suppress runaway activation of the pathway, while preserving the key role of responsiveness to multiple sources of input

Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus: a rare case of acute polyneuropathy

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease which presents most commonly in middle aged females and affects multiple organ systems. Amongst the many systems involved, the nervous system generally gets affected later in the course of the disease. We report a case of a male patient who developed quadriparesis as the initial presentation of SLE who progressed to lupus nephritis. The patient was started on methylprednisolone, and later planned on IVIg when he did not respond to the initial treatment. Unfortunately, the patient developed diaphragmatic paralysis and succumbed to the illness

Pheochromocytoma presenting as intra-cerebral hemorrhage in a young male

A male in his late teens presented with sudden onset left-sided hemiparesis and right-sided facial weakness. The patient had a history of persistent pulsatile headache for 1 year with the blurring of vision. He also had a history of diaphoresis and palpitations. The patient was diagnosed as a case of hypertension 1 year back. On examination, Right-sided upper motor neuron type facial palsy was present, and power was 0/5 in the left upper and lower limbs; BP was 220/120 mm Hg and was controlled using prazosin and nifedipine. A non-contrast computed-tomography scan (NCCT) of the brain revealed an intracerebral hemorrhage in the right ganglio-capsular region. Abdominal CT scan findings revealed a right suprarenal mass. 24-hour urinary normetanephrine was elevated, suggesting a diagnosis of pheochromocytoma. The surgical resection of the mass was delayed as the patient had developed Dengue shock syndrome, and he died of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome

In vitro effect of polyethylene glycol and sorbitol on two banana varieties viz. Grand naine and Nalla bontha to study drought stress

Water stress is one of the foremost categories of stress damaging plants’ overall growth and development. The aim of the present study was to explore and demonstrate stress-induced drought to calibrate changes in stress parameters of two banana plant varieties viz. Grand naine (G9)  and Nalla bontha were cultured in Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) media supplemented with stress inducers -Poly ethylene glycol (PEG)  and sorbitol. The different concentrations of inducers were used to induce drought stress in two varieties of banana with contrasting characters for drought condition. The study indicated that PEG contrived mild to moderate osmotic stress and so does the alditol i.e. sorbitol on in vitro banana plants.  The different concentrations of PEG and sorbitol produced significant effects on various parameters. The maximum decrease in shoot length was prominent in G9(52%) as compared to Nalla bontha (11%). When treated with 3% w/v sorbitol, even average root length showed the same level of damage with G9(59%) while in case of Nalla bontha there  was  a 17% decrease. The banana plantlet produced in vitro was estimated at one and two weeks after inoculation, respectively. Proline content tended to increase as the concentration of osmotic inducers increased (-44 % in G9 at 3% w/v sorbitol), whereas RWC (8.9% in G9 at 3% w/v Peg) showed an opposite effect. It was concluded that quantitative and qualitative changes in physiological (shoot and root length) and biochemical (Proline and relative water content, RWC) parameters played an important role in plants under drought stress conditions. This pattern varied from species to species. This work has been attempted for the first time in banana, especially Grand naine varieties with contrasting characters under induced drought stress.

Role of serum folic acid and vitamin B12 levels in abruptio placentae and the fetomaternal outcome

Background: Over the course of pregnancy, there is a steady decline in maternal plasma folate concentration and vitamin B12 concentration about 50%of non pregnant levels. Insufficient folate and vitamin B12 status has been associated with many reproductive complications including abruption, IUGR, pre eclampsia, early pregnancy loss. The aim of the study was to determine the role of serum folic acid and vitamin B12levels in patients with abruptio placentae and to study the feto-maternal outcome in these patients. Feto maternal outcome is seen in terms of mode of delivery whether vaginal or caesarean, period of gestation whether term or preterm, need of blood transfusion, stillbirths. Methods: In this prospective observational study conducted in a tertiary hospital from 2018-2020, 50 pregnant women with abruptio placentae were included and their serum folic acid and vitamin B12 levels were measured by ELIZA method using commercially available kits. Results: Serum folic acid levels were not low in the cases of placental abruption with range= 25 ng/ml to 80.5 ng/ml. Mean folic acid level ±SD is 47.98±13.15 ng/ml and median is 48 ng/ml. In this study vitamin B12 levels were low in the cases, range 14 pg/ml to 70 pg/ml. Mean vitamin B12 value ±SD is 27.15±11.63 pg/ml and median is 25 pg/ml.The rate of caesarean section was 44%, preterm delivery was 64% and stillbirth was 38% in these cases with mean folic acid levels of 48.7±15.4 ng/ml, 46.94±13.85 ng/ml and 46.03±8.13 ng/ml respectively and mean vitamin B12 levels of 23.34±6.74 pg/ml, 28.73±13.44 pg/ml and 28.32±11.75 pg/ml respectively. There was a significant association (p=0.006) between vitamin B12 and mode of delivery. No other significant association was seen between serum folic acid and vitamin B12 levels and the different fetomaternal outcome. Conclusions: Low levels of vitamin B12 is seen in cases with abruptio placentae. The rate of caesarean section, preterm delivery, stillbirth and need of blood transfusion is high but no significant association is seen

Spectrum of hemoglobinopathies by high performance liquid chromatography with special reference to role of HbA2 levels at tertiary care centre

Background: The inherited disorders of blood include hemoglobinopathies as one of the major public health problems in India. This study indicates type of hemoglobinopathies in a tertiary care hospital over period of 2 years and 3 months.Methods: total of 500 suspected cases of haemolytic anaemia were studied during the period of July 2013 to Oct 2015 based on Complete Blood Count, Red cell indices and Peripheral blood smear examination. Sickling test, test for Hb quantitation by using cation exchange HPLC was done in all cases.Results: Out of all 500 cases of anaemia, 313 cases (62.6%) were confirmed to nonhemolytic anaemia whereas 187 cases (37.4%) had shown abnormal haemoglobin pattern on electrophoresis. Out of these 187 cases, 87 (46.52%) were Males and 100 (53.48%) were females. Most common haemoglobinopathy observed was Sickle cell trait 94 (18.8%) followed by beta-Thalassaemia Trait 33 (17.64%), sickle cell-thalassemia trait 27 (14.43%), beta thalassemia major 18 (9.62%) and 1 case of HbE thalassemia trait. The onset of disease was most prominent in Neonatal to paediatric age group (0-10 years) followed by reproductive age group (21-30 years). Few cases in old age were detected.Conclusions: Study provides data on the spectrum & pattern of Hemoglobinopathies in a tertiary care centre and importance of HbA2 levels in diagnosis of hemoglobinopathies and cases falling in borderline HbA2 levels. Screening of all anaemic patients should be done for Hemoglobinopathies and proper Genetic counselling must be given to all cases to prevent incidence of cases in future generation

Survey of X-rays from Massive Stars Observed at High Spectral Resolution with Chandra

Identifying trends between observational data and the range of physical parameters of massive stars is a critical step to the still-elusive full understanding of the source, structure, and evolution of X-ray emission from the stellar winds, requiring a substantial sample size and systematic analysis methods. The \emph{Chandra} data archive as of 2022 contains 37 high resolution spectra of O, B, and WR stars, observed with the \emph{Chandra}/HETGS and of sufficient quality to fit the continua and emission line profiles. Using a systematic approach to the data analysis, we explore morphological trends in the line profiles (i.e., O, Ne, Mg, Si) and find that the centroid offsets of resolved lines versus wavelength can be separated in three empirically-defined groups based on the amount of line broadening and centroid offset. Using \ion{Fe}{17} (15.01 \AA, 17.05 \AA) and \ion{Ne}{10} $\alpha$ (12.13 \AA) lines which are prevalent among the sample stars, we find a well-correlated linear trend of increasing Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) with faster wind terminal velocity. The H-like/He-like total line flux ratio for strong lines displays different trends with spectral class depending on ion species. Some of the sources in our sample have peculiar properties (e.g., magnetic and $\gamma$ Cas-analogue stars) and we find that these sources stand out as outliers from more regular trends. Finally, our spectral analysis is presented summarily in terms of X-ray spectral energy distributions in specific luminosity for each source, plus tables of line identifications and fluxes.Comment: 78 pages, 46 figures, 41 tables, Accepted for publication in Ap

Effects of built environment on healing the mental health of the people–literature review

Purpose – The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been reported to have a major impact on the mental health of an individual. Healing the mental stress, anxiety, depression and insomnia of an individual's immediate surroundings play a major role. Therefore, this study reviews how the built environment impacts the healing of an individual's state of mind. Design/methodology/approach – Various works of literature on healing environments were analysed to create frameworks that can facilitate psychological healing through architectural elements. Articles were selected from various journals like SAGE, PubMed, Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics (JACM), Routledge Taylor and Francis, Journal of Contemporary Urban Affairs (JCUA), ScienceDirect, and Emerald databases, news articles, official web pages, and magazines that have been referred. Findings – Indicators (spatial, sensory comfort, safety, security, privacy and social comfort) are linked to sub-indicators (access, distractions and views) and design characteristics (indoor climate, interior view, outside view, privacy, communication, noise, daylighting, temperature) which help in better connection of the built environment with individual's mental health. From the above indicators, sub-indicators and design characteristics, the authors have come to a conclusion that a view to the outside with better social interaction has an in-depth effect on an individual's mental health. Research limitations/implications – This study predominantly talks about healing in hospitals but quarantining of COVID-19 patients happens in residences too. So, it is important to find the healing characteristics in residences and in which typology the recovery process is high. Originality/value – This paper has been written completely by the author and the co-authors and has not been copied from any other sources