Clinical and Radiological Evaluation of Franceschetti Syndrome (Treacher Collins Syndrome): A Rare Case Report

Franceschetti Syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder of craniofacial development with variable expressivity. It affects structures which are derivatives of the first and second brachial arches. It has a characteristic facial appearance as a result of hypoplasia of facial bones, accompanied by ear, eye and nose abnormalities and positive coloboma sign. This article describes clinical and radiographic features of this syndrome in a 22 year old male who reported to our department with the complaint of pain in his left upper back and right lower back tooth region showing incomplete clinical form of Franceschetti syndrome. Also pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, management are discussed

Prevalence and calcification of stylohyoid complex in North West part of India and its correlation with general and dental health condition

Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the variation and clinical significance of stylohyoid complex and to correlate it with general and dental health among different age groups and gender using panoramic radiographs. Materials and Methods: The study included 1,000 subjects indicated for panoramic radiographs. Styloid processes >30 mm were correlated age wise and gender wise. The morphology of the calcified stylohyoid complexes was allocated into 12 different patterns and their length was measured directly on the radiographs. Serum calcium levels and cholesterol levels were obtained from subjects with elongated styloid process and their heart rate, blood pressure measurement, weight, height, number of teeth present, and community periodontal index (CPI) was assessed. Results: Out of 978 detected styloid processes, 267 (27.3%) were more than 30 mm. The average length of the calcified styloid complex was 26.40 mm. The most common pattern of calcification was found to be E pattern, 64 (34.03%) in number which had statistically significant correlation with age (P value <0.001). Pearson's correlation coefficient association of body weight with elongated styloid process (left and right) was 0.163 (P value 0.162) and 0.300 (P value 0.001) respectively which was found to be statistically significant on right side. Twenty seven subjects who showed no elongation but evident calcification patterns according to gender and age on panoramic radiographs were also recorded and were called mineralized styloid termed as mineralization. Conclusion: Calcification of the styloid complex is commonly observed on panoramic radiographs and the present and previous studies indicate that the panoramic radiographs include information on general and dental health condition

A global prospective of medical devices and their regulations

Health of the public is one of the important factors which influence the wellbeing state of a human being. The diagnosis of any chronic disease or disorder &amp; to develop treatment for that particular diseased condition is only possible after the involvement of medical devices &amp; combination products which wasn’t possible in previous years. The detailed differentiation of medical devices is based majorly on the risk factor involved from low risk to that of high one. To get the better understanding regarding all the medical devices the regulations prevailing to particular device can be studied. The goal of developing medical device regulation systems is to protect public’s health while also ensuring their safety &amp; performance. These regulations of medical devices products are governed by FDA which also monitors the safety &amp; efficacy of all medical products. Innovation further leads to manufacture of new medical device. As the pharmaceutical sector &amp; engineering department work hand in hand which has played a vital role in the physiology of organs, better performance, &amp; better life span &amp; in complete replacement of that particular organ system.&nbsp

A Cross-Sectional Comparative Characterization of Hematological Changes in Patients with COVID-19 Infection, Non-COVID Influenza-like Illnesses and Healthy Controls

Introduction: Studies have documented the role of the “neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio” (NLR) in influenza virus infection. In addition, morphometric parameters derived from automated analyzers on the volume, scatter and conductivity of monocytes, neutrophils and lymphocytes in many viral etiologies have helped with their early differentiation. With this background, we aimed to characterize the hematological changes of coronavirus-positive cases and also compare them with the healthy controls and patients affected by non-COVID Influenza-like illnesses so that early isolation could be considered. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study carried out in the years 2020–2022. All cases with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 Influenza-like illnesses and healthy controls above 18 years were included. Cases were diagnosed according to the WHO guidelines. All samples were processed on a Unicel DxH 800 (Beckman Coulter, California, USA) automated hematology analyzer. The demographic, clinical and regular hematological parameters along with additional parameters such as volume, conductivity and scatter (VCS) of the three groups were compared. Results: The 169 COVID-19 cases were in the moderate to severe category. Compared with 140 healthy controls, the majority of the routine hematological values including the NLR (neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio) and PLR (platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio) showed statistically significant differences. A cutoff of an absolute neutrophil count of 4350 cell/cumm was found to have a sensitivity of 76% and specificity of 70% in differentiating moderate and severe COVID-19 cases from healthy controls. COVID-19 and the non-COVID-19 Influenza-like illnesses were similar statistically in all parameters except the PLR, mean neutrophilic and monocytic volume, scatter parameters in neutrophils, axial light loss in monocytes and NLR. Interestingly, there was a trend of higher mean volumes and scatter in neutrophils and monocytes in COVID-19 cases as compared to non-COVID-19 Influenza-like illnesses. Conclusion: We demonstrated morphological changes in neutrophils, monocytes and lymphocytes in COVID-19 infection and also non-COVID-19 Influenza-like illnesses with the help of VCS parameters. A cutoff for the absolute neutrophils count was able to differentiate COVID-19 infection requiring hospitalization from healthy controls and eosinopenia was a characteristic finding in cases with COVID-19 infection

Genome-wide identification and characterization of gene family for RWP-RK transcription factors in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

RWP-RKs represent a small family of transcription factors (TFs) that are unique to plants and function particularly under conditions of nitrogen starvation. These RWP-RKs have been classified in two sub-families, NLPs (NIN-like proteins) and RKDs (RWP-RK domain proteins). NLPs regulate tissue-specific expression of genes involved in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and RKDs regulate expression of genes involved in gametogenesis/embryogenesis. During the present study, using in silico approach, 37 wheat RWP-RK genes were identified, which included 18 TaNLPs (2865 to 7340 bp with 4/5 exons), distributed on 15 chromosomes from 5 homoeologous groups (with two genes each on 4B,4D and 5A) and 19 TaRKDs (1064 to 5768 bp with 1 to 6 exons) distributed on 12 chromosomes from 4 homoeologous groups (except groups 1, 4 and 5); 2-3 splice variants were also available in 9 of the 37 genes. Sixteen (16) of these genes also carried 24 SSRs (simple sequence repeats), while 11 genes had targets for 13 different miRNAs. At the protein level, MD simulation analysis suggested their interaction with nitrate-ions. Significant differences were observed in the expression of only two (TaNLP1 and TaNLP2) of the nine representative genes that were used for in silico expression analysis under varying levels of N at post-anthesis stage (data for other genes was not available for in silico expression analysis). Differences in expression were also observed during qRT-PCR, when expression of four representative genes (TaNLP2, TaNLP7, TaRKD6 and TaRKD9) was examined in roots and shoots of seedlings (under different conditions of N supply) in two contrasting genotypes which differed in NUE (C306 with low NUE and HUW468 with high NUE). These four genes for qRT-PCR were selected on the basis of previous literature, level of homology and the level of expression (in silico study). In particular, the TaNLP7 gene showed significant up-regulation in the roots and shoots of HUW468 (with higher NUE) during N-starvation; this gene has already been characterized in Arabidopsis and tobacco, and is known to be involved in nitrate-signal transduction pathway