Association of periodontal health with physical and emotional well-being among pre and postmenopausal women in Bangalore: a cross sectional study

Background: Menopausal transition is frequently accompanied by physical, emotional as well as periodontal health changes in pre and postmenopausal women due to the decline in circulating blood oestrogen levels. Aim was to investigate the association of periodontal health with physical and emotional well-being among pre and postmenopausal women aged 35-65 years. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 150 pre and 150 postmenopausal women in Bangalore urban district Women Health Questionnaire was used to assess physical and emotional well-being. WHO Oral Health Assessment form for adults 2013 along with plaque and gingival indexes were used to assess the periodontal health status. Descriptive, bivariate, multiple linear regression analysis were carried out. A p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age among pre and postmenopausal women were 40.09±2.24 years and 55.42±5.7 (p<0.001). The mean scores of depression/anxiety mood; somatic symptoms; memory/concentration; vasomotor symptoms; sleep problem was significantly higher in postmenopausal compared to premenopausal group (p<0.001). The mean number of teeth with gingival bleeding (12.93±8.0 and 6.94±5.68); deep periodontal pocket (2.05±1.61 and 0.44±0.97) were higher in postmenopausal group in comparison to the other group respectively (p<0.001). Depression was significantly associated with periodontal health of women in both the groups. Conclusions: Women after menopause experienced more physical and emotional changes. Periodontal health status was found to be poor among postmenopausal women compared to premenopausal women

Termite and Ecosystem Processes: A Study from Western Ghats, South India

Termites are undoubtedly key soil organisms in tropical and subtropical soils. They greatly influence the physical, chemical, biological properties of soils and, consequently, water dynamics hence well known as “soil engineers”. Their effect on the ecosystem can be appreciated only if we have the detailed knowledge about the process and functions carried out by them in the tropical soil. Some studies from Africa and Vietnam gave a glimpse of services provided by the termite and under that particular vegetation but under Indian context, no such studies were conducted as result we don’t have much data regarding their effect on soil properties, water infiltration and vice versa. Hence, field studies were carried out to understand the effect of termite activity and the ecological benefits derived in terms of soil dynamics and water infiltration.The study was conducted at Uttara Kannada district located at the lavishing western ghat. Mound building termite species Odontotermes obesus, was considered as study species as it is the widespread and dominant termite species of the Indo-oriental region. Numerical density, mound height and soil properties of O. obesus mounds were only analysed along with the neighbouring soil without termite activity in forest areas. To assess the influence of the vegetation on termite mound properties, the forest types were classified into plantations, evergreen, semi-evergreen or deciduous. In the forest, termite active sites, as well as sites devoid of termite activity, were selected and the rate of water infiltration in these sites was also measured using Beerkan method. Bulk density and water humidity were measured. Data obtained were analysed. Results revealed that the amount of rainfall defined termite mound abundance, and it has a remarkable influence on the density/height of termite mounds. In terms of soil properties, clay and C content in the soil which is known to bring the stability to the termite mounds did not show any significant relationship with density or height of the termite mound. But a positive linear relationship was observed between clay content in termite mound walls and that in the surrounding topsoil. The result of water infiltration studies at the sites showed that there was a significant variation in the rate of water infiltration in the termite active sites. The study presented here is the important one as it aims towards the efficient determination of the functional influence of soil biodiversity (termites) in tropical ecosystem functioning and a better evaluation of their impacts on soil erosion and water dynamic at the local and global scale. Moreover, the link between soil biodiversity and ecosystem services, such as water availability and quality, is often mentioned but rarely demonstrated. This paper is therefore original in its approach and in it quantifies the importance of biodiversity on soil erosion, water dynamic and quality in tropical ecosystems. There is a clear lack of information on the functional impact of termites on ecosystem functioning in India, in comparison with Africa where most of the studies have been carried out. This study aims to counterbalance this trend through this paper.Keywords: Termites, Soil and water dynamics, Water infiltratio

ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF SYNTHESIZED SILVER NANOPARTICLES BY SIMAROUBAGLAUCA AGAINST PATHOGENIC BACTERIA

Objective: The present study outline the plant-mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using leaf extract Simaroubaglauca, which act as both reducing and stabilizing agent.Methods: Formation of silver nanoparticles was confirmed by primarily by Ultraviolet/visible spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction studies revealed the crystallinity of the nanoparticles. The scanning electron microscopy was carried out to determine the mean particle size, as well as the morphology of the NPs and the composition of elements, was studied with Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS).Results: The silver nanoparticles were spherical in shape with a mean size of 23 nm. The EDS showed strong optical absorption peak at 3keV and it was confirmed the formation of AgNPs. The synthesised AgNPs further utilized for the evaluation of antibacterial activity and shown significant antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter and Klebsiella pneumonia at 50 µg/ml and 100µg/ml concentrations.Conclusion: The synthesised silver nanoparticles have been characterised by UV-vis, SEM-EDAX and XRD to determine the sizes and shapes of the silver nanoparticles

Flow-History-Dependent Behavior in Entangled Polymer Melt Flow with Multiscale Simulation

Polymer melts represent the flow-history-dependent behavior. To clearly show this behavior, we have investigated flow behavior of an entangled polymer melt around two cylinders placed in tandem along the flow direction in a two dimensional periodic system. In this system, the polymer states around a cylinder in downstream side are different from the ones around another cylinder in upstream side because the former ones have a memory of a strain experienced when passing around the cylinder in upstream side but the latter ones do not have the memory. Therefore, the shear stress distributions around two cylinders are found to be different from each other. Moreover, we have found that the averaged flow velocity decreases accordingly with increasing the distance between two cylinders while the applied external force is constant. While this behavior is consistent with that of the Newtonian fluid, the flow-history-dependent behavior enhances the reduction of the flow resistance.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of 5th International Mini-Symposium on Liquid

Perceptions regarding minimal intervention dentistry among dental interns in India: A cross-sectional survey

Purpose: Minimal intervention dentistry (MID) is a treatment philosophy that emphasizes protection of existing tooth structure. It has been incorporated in the dental curricula worldwide in the management of dental caries. There is limited evidence that whether the familiarity with MID principles imbibed through the curriculum is translated into clinical decision-making and practice. This study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and behavior of dental interns toward MID. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the year 2014 for a period of 2 months among dental interns of all the dental colleges in Bengaluru city using a self-administered validated questionnaire. In addition to the demographic profile, 25 questions focused on knowledge, attitude, practice and behavior toward MID. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: A total of 417 questionnaires were found to be legible with an overall response rate of 90%. The mean scores for knowledge (3.40 ± 0.85), attitude (18.74 ± 2.8), practice (27.55 ± 6.8), and behaviour (1.11 ± 0.9) showed that these interns had adequate knowledge and a positive attitude toward MID. However, their behavior toward MID was negative, and they did not practice MID very often. The mean attitude score showed a significant correlation with knowledge and practice. Conclusion: Interns exhibited adequate knowledge and positive attitude which they acquired through their undergraduate curriculum, but it failed to create positive behavior toward practicing MID. Hence, it can be suggested that there is need to instill positive behavior among students so that they practice MID routinely

Metabolite and enzyme profiles of glycogen metabolism in Methanococcoides methylutens

When a buffered anaerobic cell suspension of Methanococcoides methylutens was maintained under methanol-limited conditions, intracellular glycogen and hexose phosphates were consumed rapidly and a very small amount of methane formed at 4 h of a starvation period. When methanol was supplemented after a total of 20 h of starvation, a reverse pattern was observed: the glycogen level and the hexose phosphate pool increased, and formation of methane took place after a lag period of 90 min. A considerable amount of methane was formed in 120 min after its detection with a rate of 0.18 µmol mg-1 protein min-1. When methane formation decreased after 270 min of incubation and finally came to a halt, probably due to complete assimilation of supplemented methanol, the levels of glycogen and hexose monophosphates decreased once again. However fructose 1,6-diphosphate levels showed a continuous increase even after exhaustion of methane formation. In contrast to the hexose phosphate pool, levels of other metabolites showed a small increase after addition of methanol. The enzyme profile of glycogen metabolism showed relatively high levels of triose phosphate isomerase. Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase reacted with NADPH with a three-fold higher activity as compared to that with NADH