13 research outputs found
E- Help Desk
Ehelpdesk is a system which helps in solving the complaints systematically and efficiently. The objectives are to provide a good customer service for an organization and provide responsive services on time. Moto of implementing this system is to make complaints easier to handle and monitor and can also track the status of complaints and history of complaints. Ehelpdesk is a complaint management system in which lodged complaints would be solved according to the priority also analyze the complaints and can generate reports respectively as per needs
Literature Review of Omicron: A Grim Reality Amidst COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first emerged in Wuhan city in December 2019, and became a grave global concern due to its highly infectious nature. The Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus-2, with its predecessors (i.e., MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV) belong to the family of Coronaviridae. Reportedly, COVID-19 has infected 344,710,576 people around the globe and killed nearly 5,598,511 persons in the short span of two years. On November 24, 2021, B.1.1.529 strain, later named Omicron, was classified as a Variant of Concern (VOC). SARS-CoV-2 has continuously undergone a series of unprecedented mutations and evolved to exhibit varying characteristics. These mutations have largely occurred in the spike (S) protein (site for antibody binding), which attribute high infectivity and transmissibility characteristics to the Omicron strain. Although many studies have attempted to understand this new challenge in the COVID-19 strains race, there is still a lot to be demystified. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to summarize the structural or virologic characteristics, burden, and epidemiology of the Omicron variant and its potential to evade the immune response
Assessing the Compliance of Dental Clinicians towards Regulatory Infection Control Guidelines Using a Newly Developed Survey Tool: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study in India
Adherence to the dental practice regulatory guidelines instituted during the COVID- 19 pandemic is essential to minimize the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 strains. Given the lack of a valid and reliable survey tool to assess the adherence to dental practice guidelines, this study aims to develop, validate, and test a survey tool on a pilot sample of dental clinicians practicing in India. A survey tool was developed/validated through a sequential phasic approach: Phase Ideveloping survey using conceptual and literature framework; Phase II: ascertaining its validity and reliability; Phase III: pilot testing; and Phase IV: assessing construct validity by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the responses collected in Spring 2021. The EFA was achieved using a traditional unweighted least squares extraction method through a varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization. A six-factor solution with 18 items (with the global reliability of 86%) related to screening, regular infection prevention measures, infection control inside the dental operatory, disinfection of the dental unit, disposal, and other COVID-19-specific preventive measures were extracted. Our sample had higher compliance with regard to providing alcohol-based hand scrubs, providing protective gear to attendees, collecting travel/medical history, and screening patients for COVID-19 symptoms. In contrast, less compliance was observed regarding the use of paperless forms of practice and rubber dams in the operatory. The use of a validated survey tool ensures the collection of reliable and valid data, which can serve as baseline data to measure the uptake and effectiveness of dental practice regulatory guidelines in a clinical setting and community dental health clinics
Comparative Evaluation of Gingival Crevicular Fluid Interleukin-17, 18 and 21 in Different Stages of Periodontal Health and Disease
Background and Objectives: The elicitation of a host’s immune–inflammatory responses to overcome oral bacterial biofilm challenges is mediated by numerous cytokines. We explored the role of three such cytokines, viz. interleukin (IL)-17, 18 and 21, by measuring their levels in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) of Indian individuals with healthy gingiva, chronic gingivitis, or chronic periodontitis. Materials and Method: Ninety systemically healthy individuals were enrolled in the study on the basis of predefined criteria and were categorized into three groups of 30 participants each. Groups A, B and C were composed of a control group with healthy gingiva, subjects with chronic gingivitis and subjects with chronic periodontitis, respectively. The periodontal disease status was assessed on the basis of a subject’s gingival index, probing pocket depth, clinical attachment loss and radiographic evidence of bone loss. After the complete history-taking and identification of gingival sulcus/pocket depth areas for GCF collection, a sample was collected from each subject in all groups for an estimation of the cytokine levels using ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS v 21.0. Intergroup comparisons were conducted using a post hoc Tukey’s test. A value of p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: The mean IL-17, 18 and 21 concentrations in pg/mL was the greatest for Group C (99.67 ± 18.85, 144.61 ± 20.83 and 69.67 ± 12.46, respectively), followed by Group B (19.27 ± 2.78, 22.27 ± 2.43 and 22.74 ± 1.43, respectively) and finally by Group A (healthy control; 11.56 ± 0.99, 17.94 ± 1.24 and 12.83 ± 1.21 respectively). A statistically significant difference in the mean concentrations of two interleukins (IL-17 and IL-18) was observed between Groups A and C and also between Groups B and C. A statistically significant difference in the mean concentrations of IL-21 was observed between Groups B and C. Conclusions: Within the limitations of the present study, the findings revealed that the GCF levels of IL-17, IL-18 and IL-21 rose and correlated well with the severity of the disease. Thus, these cytokines present in GCF have the potential to be considered as biomarkers for periodontal tissue destruction. IL-21 in particular appears to be a promising biomarker for differentiating between gingivitis and periodontitis
Changing epidemiology of poisoning in Central India: shifting poles from male farmers to young house wives
Introduction: Acute self infliction of poisoning is very common among young in developing countries. The epidemiology of poisoning changes time to time and varies region to region. In south India, organophosphorus compound poisoning has been more common as compared to Aluminium phosphide poisoning in north India. All over India males are more commonly reported to poison themselves. Poisoning in farmers has been reported more commonly than in any other profession. Madhya Pradesh is situated in central part of India, where agriculture is the predominant source of income. There is a knowledge gap in epidemiology of poisoning in this region.
Methods: This is a hospital based observational type cross sectional study over nearly 2 years.
Results: Out of the 550 number of study participants about 90% were younger than 40 years. Females were more common than males in all age groups. Poisoning was more common in married population in both the genders. House wives followed by unemployed students were the most vulnerable populations. Farmers constituted only about 10% of total cases. Organophosphorus compounds were the most common type of poisoning contributing to almost one fourth of the total cases followed by Zinc phosphide, Aluminium phosphide, oleander and ethylene dibromide poisoning in decreasing order. The overall mortality was 9.8% (n=54). The case fatality rates of various agro-chemicals in decreasing order were Aluminum phosphide (44.7%), ethylene dibromide (17.6%), and organophosphorus (7%). These 3 poisonings contributed to 92.5% of all deaths. Death was more common when the time lag to hospitalization was > 6 hours.
Conclusion: Younger age group, female sex and housewives were the most vulnerable group. The case fatality rate of various poisonings in decreasing order were Aluminum phosphide (Celphos) poisoning followed by EDB and OPC
Phytochemical Screening, GCMS, FTIR profile of Bioactive Natural Products in the methanolic extracts of Cuminum cyminum seeds and oil
Seeds of cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) are widely used as a spice for their distinctive aroma. C. cyminum have been used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of diseases. Literature presents ample evidence for biomedical activities of cumin which is attributed to its bioactive secondary metabolites - terpenes, phenols, and flavonoids. Besides, health effects of cumin seeds have been experimentally validated through phytochemical analysis depicting the presence of a wide array of bioactive secondary metabolites (BASMs) viz., alkaloid, coumarin, anthraquinone, flavonoid, glycoside, protein, resin, saponin, tannin and steroid. Pharmacological studies indicate that BASMs in seeds of C. cyminum exert antimicrobial, insecticidal, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-platelet-aggregation, hypotensive, bronchodilatory, immunological, contraceptive, anti-amyloidogenic, anti-osteoporotic, aldose reductase, α-glucosidase and tyrosinase inhibitory effects. In the present study phytochemical screening, GCMS, FTIR profile of bioactive natural products from C. cyminum has been envisaged. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, anthraquinones, carbohydrates, coumarins, flavonoids, glycosides, proteins, quinones, saponins, steroids, tannins and terpenoids. GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of 21 compounds, of which Cuminaldehyde was prominent. FTIR analysis showed the presence of a strong peak value for 15 compounds and medium peak value for 6 compounds. Many of the compounds in the list could be ADMET bioprospected for biomedical applications as natural drug leads.
Keywords: Cuminum cyminum; Cuminaldehyde; Bioactive Natural Products; GCMS; FTI
Literature Review of Omicron: A Grim Reality Amidst COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first emerged in Wuhan city in December 2019, and became a grave global concern due to its highly infectious nature. The Severe Acute Respiratory Coronavirus-2, with its predecessors (i.e., MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV) belong to the family of Coronaviridae. Reportedly, COVID-19 has infected 344,710,576 people around the globe and killed nearly 5,598,511 persons in the short span of two years. On November 24, 2021, B.1.1.529 strain, later named Omicron, was classified as a Variant of Concern (VOC). SARS-CoV-2 has continuously undergone a series of unprecedented mutations and evolved to exhibit varying characteristics. These mutations have largely occurred in the spike (S) protein (site for antibody binding), which attribute high infectivity and transmissibility characteristics to the Omicron strain. Although many studies have attempted to understand this new challenge in the COVID-19 strains race, there is still a lot to be demystified. Therefore, the purpose of this review was to summarize the structural or virologic characteristics, burden, and epidemiology of the Omicron variant and its potential to evade the immune response
Knowledge, perception, and acceptance toward the booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine among patients visiting dental clinics in Aseer region of KSA
Scientists have emerged with innovative research on non-human primates showing that the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine increases neutralizing antibody levels against all variants. The current cross-sectional survey was designed to evaluate the knowledge, perception, and acceptance of the booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine among the patients visiting the various dental clinics in Aseer region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A total of 609 dental patients were selected from various dental clinics by a simple random probability sampling method. The questionnaire was designed in multiple languages and categorized as demographic information, knowledge, perception, and acceptance of participants to a booster dose. An anonymous, self-administered, closed-ended online, and paper-based questionnaire was used to assess the above parameters. In the current survey, the majority of the participants were Saudis (80.8%) with an age mean of 37.7 ± 8.7 years. About 68.6% (418 out of 609) of participants had poor knowledge about the booster dose. Significant differences in the levels of knowledge were found in relation to gender, area of residency, education, nationality, and occupation. The distribution of level of perception of booster dose differs significantly among participants of different marital statuses and nationalities. Hesitation to booster was reported more in the rural than in the urban population. Despite a low level of knowledge, a higher level of good perception and acceptance of booster doses were reported among the studied population
Synergistic Effect of Plant Extracts on Endodontic Pathogens Isolated from Teeth with Root Canal Treatment Failure: An In Vitro Study
Background and objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the synergistic antimicrobial activity of extracts obtained from Salvadora persica (Miswak), Commiphora molmol (myrrh) and Azadirachta indica (neem) in combination with commercially available antimicrobial agents: penicillin, tetracycline, ofloxacin and fluconazole on endodontic pathogens such as Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus mitis,Actinomyces naeslundii and Candida albicans. Materials and Methods: Microbiological samples from the root canals of the teeth undergoing retreatment were taken using sterile paper points kept at full length in the canal for 30 s. The disc diffusion method was used to check the susceptibility of microbes to the plant extracts and antimicrobials by measuring the diameter of the inhibition zones. Against the microbes, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC)/minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of the plant extracts were assessed. The fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) was used to estimate the synergistic effect of plant extracts combined with antimicrobials against the resistant endodontic microbes. Results: The findings clearly indicate the effectiveness of all the three plant extracts, Commiphora molmol, Azadirachta indica, Salvadora persica, against all the experimental pathogenic microorganisms except for the ineffectiveness of Azadirachta indica, Salvadora persica against Candidaalbicans. Maximum antimicrobial activity was displayed by Azadirachta indica against Enterococcusfaecalis (MIC = 0.09 ± 1.2 mg/mL, MBC = 0.78 ± 1.25 mg/mL) and the minimum antimicrobial activity was displayed by Commiphora molmol against Actinomyces naeslundii (MIC = 12.5 ± 3.25 mg/mL, MBC = 100 ± 3.75 mg/mL). The best synergy was displayed by Commiphora molmol with fluconazole against Candidaalbicans (FICI = 0.45). Conclusions: The current study delineates the variable antimicrobial activity of plant extracts against the experimental endodontic pathogenic microorganisms. Plant extracts in conjunction with various antimicrobials can be valuable aids in combating relatively resistant endodontic microorganisms that have been the cause of worry in recent years, leading to failure even in treatment procedures following all required protocols
Assessing the Compliance of Dental Clinicians towards Regulatory Infection Control Guidelines Using a Newly Developed Survey Tool: A Pilot Cross-Sectional Study in India
Adherence to the dental practice regulatory guidelines instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic is essential to minimize the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 strains. Given the lack of a valid and reliable survey tool to assess the adherence to dental practice guidelines, this study aims to develop, validate, and test a survey tool on a pilot sample of dental clinicians practicing in India. A survey tool was developed/validated through a sequential phasic approach: Phase I- developing survey using conceptual and literature framework; Phase II: ascertaining its validity and reliability; Phase III: pilot testing; and Phase IV: assessing construct validity by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on the responses collected in Spring 2021. The EFA was achieved using a traditional unweighted least squares extraction method through a varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization. A six-factor solution with 18 items (with the global reliability of 86%) related to screening, regular infection prevention measures, infection control inside the dental operatory, disinfection of the dental unit, disposal, and other COVID-19-specific preventive measures were extracted. Our sample had higher compliance with regard to providing alcohol-based hand scrubs, providing protective gear to attendees, collecting travel/medical history, and screening patients for COVID-19 symptoms. In contrast, less compliance was observed regarding the use of paperless forms of practice and rubber dams in the operatory. The use of a validated survey tool ensures the collection of reliable and valid data, which can serve as baseline data to measure the uptake and effectiveness of dental practice regulatory guidelines in a clinical setting and community dental health clinics