Route of transmission might influence the clinical expression of periodontal lesions in "Human immunodeficiency virus" positive patients

Background: Various routes have been reported with respect to the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from one individual to another. But it is not clear whether they alter the clinical expression of the disease. This study was conducted to know whether there exists any difference in the occurrence of periodontal lesions among untreated HIV subjects who acquired the disease either through intravenous drug abuse or sexual contact and to correlate those lesions with immune suppression as indicated by CD 4 T lymphocyte counts.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study 213 HIV-positive subjects who had not started on Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy (HAART) were selected and divided into two groups intravenous drug users (IVDU) and non-IVDU (NIVDU). CD 4 T lymphocyte counts were evaluated and clinical examination was done to detect the presence of pathologic periodontal lesions.Results: Mean probing depth (PD) and clinical attachment level (CAL) are significantly higher in drug users than nondrug users. When periodontal lesions are compared with CD 4 cell counts, it is found that significant inverse relation exists between linear gingival erythema, necrotizing ulcerative periodontitis, and CD 4 counts, but only in nondrug users. Conclusion: An inverse correlation between linear gingival erythema, necrotizing ulcerative periodontitis, and CD 4 counts in NIVDU indicating their reliability as a marker for immune suppression. Periodontitis is more prevalent among drug users indicating some difference in disease expression among the groups

Ecology of Adolescence in India

The kaleidoscopic images of Indian adolescents are colored by variations and inequities in region, gender, caste, and social class. The contrast between the privileged and the under privileged makes them appear as belonging to different worlds marked by the “freedoms” of the ‘haves’ and the “unfreedoms” of the have-nots. What offers hope is the significant improvement seen in literacy during the past decade. Although we are far off the mark in universalization of primary education and the enforcement of the right to education, there is reason for optimism due to significant improvements in literacy over the past decade. Adolescent health and nutrition continue to remain grave concerns. Poor reproductive health, especially of young women at risk of early marriage and pregnancy, contributes to the cycle of poor nutrition, health and poor well-being. Enlightened policies offer hope while poor implementations of programs for adolescent welfare cause for despair. The nation stands at the crossroads of economic development with a large expanding pool of adolescent population who can become contributing members of the society in the coming decades. Investment in their education and health can pay rich dividends even as the failure to do so will bring with it a high social cost. The current paper addresses these issues in the light of available empirical data. (An earlier version of the present paper based on data from the Census of India (2001) was published in Saraswathi, T. S. (2012) Ecology of Adolescence (pp188–210) in M. Kapur, H.M. Koot &M. Lamb (Eds.) Developmental Psychology and Education. New Delhi: Manek Publications Pvt. Ltd for ICSSR, NOW and ESRC. The present paper has used updated statistics from the Census of India (2001) and other statistical data wherever possible.)

Electrochemical copolymerization of N-methylpyrrole and 2,2′-bithitiophene; characterization, micro-capacitor study, and equivalent circuit model evaluation

N-methylpyrrole (N-MPy) and 2,2'-bithiophene (BTh) were electrocopolymerized in 0 center dot 2 M acetonitrile-sodium perchlorate solvent-electrolyte couple on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by cyclic voltammetry (CV). The resulting homopolymers and copolymers in different initial feed ratios of [N-MPy](0)/[BTh](0) = 1/1, 1/2, 1/5 and 1/10 were characterized by CV, Fourier-transform infrared reflectance attenuated transmittance (FTIR-ATR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The capacitive behaviours of the modified electrodes were defined via Nyquist, Bode-magnitude, Bode-phase and admittance plots. The equivalent circuit model of R(C(R)(QR)(CR)) was performed to fit theoretical and experimental data. The highest low-frequency capacitance (C (LF)) were obtained as C (LF) = similar to 1 center dot 23 x 10 (-4) mF cm (-2) for P(N-MPy), C (LF) = similar to 2 center dot 09 x 10 (-4) mF cm(-2) for P(BTh) and C (LF) = similar to 5 center dot 54 x 10 (-4) mF cm(-2) for copolymer in the inital feed ratio of [N-MPy](0)/[BTh] (0) = 1/2.Research Foundation of Namik Kemal University, TurkeyNamik Kemal University [NKUBAP.00.10.YL.12.02]Financial support for this work by the Research Foundation of Namik Kemal University, Turkey, (project number: NKUBAP.00.10.YL.12.02), is gratefully acknowledged