Access to Dental Services for Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) have poorer oral health than the general population. Evidence shows these children are at a disadvantage in accessing dental services due to barriers that include physical inaccessibility of the service, lack of awareness of importance of oral health, costs incurred by carers and difficulties in making appointments. Further barriers are associated with dental practitioners lacking understanding of communication difficulties, behavioural issues and concomitant disabilities of these children, and their limited training and experience, giving rise to little confidence and effective management of children with IDD. Though not specific to IDD, Australian dental practice policies address full participation of children with disability in services. Despite these policies, children with IDD continue to face barriers in accessing dental services

Histopathological profile of ovarian tumors in a tertiary care center- a descriptive study

Background: Ovarian neoplasms are a heterogeneous group of tumors with varied clinical, morphological and histological features. Ovarian cancer accounts for about 3% of all cancer in females and is the 5th most common cause of death due to cancer because most ovarian tumors spread beyond ovary by the time of diagnosis. The objective of the study was to document the histological pattern and prevalence of ovarian tumors in specimens received at department of pathology government medical college Alappuzha.Methods: This was a prospective study of 18 months duration which comprised of 245 cases of ovariectomy and ovariotomy specimens received in the department of pathology, govt. T.D medical college Alappuzha, Kerala. After detailed and thorough gross examination of the specimens, bits from representative areas were routinely processed and stained with H and E. Tumors were classified as per WHO classification. Appropriate immunohistochemical studies were performed wherever required.Results: Out of 245 cases studied, majority were benign tumors (78.36%), followed by malignant tumors (15. 11%). Borderline tumors comprised (6.53%) of the total cases. Age groups studied ranged from 11-70 years. Epithelial tumors were the most common (76.32%) followed by germ cell tumors (17.55%), sex cord stromal tumors (5.03%) and carcinoma arising in germ cell tumors (0.81%). Serous cystadenoma was found to be the commonest benign tumor and serous cystadenocarcinoma was the commonest malignant ovarian neoplasm.Conclusions: Surface epithelial tumors were the most common ovarian tumors. The maximum number of tumors were noted in the age group 21-40 years. Malignant tumors were common above 40 years.

An observational study on musculoskeletal manifestations in type 2 Diabetes mellitus in rural population of Himachal Pradesh, India

Background: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing at an alarming rate throughout world. Diabetes is mostly known for vascular and neurological complications. Musculoskeletal manifestations though not as serious as neurovascular complications can be very disabling. These may involve, the upper as well as the lower limb. This study was performed with am to find out the prevalence of musculoskeletal manifestations in type 2 diabetics in a far-flung district of Himachal Pradesh, India.Methods: Total 350 patients with type 2 DM were included in the study. All patients underwent screening for any musculoskeletal abnormalities. The patients with musculoskeletal abnormalities were further assessed to find the exact diagnosis according to predefined criteria.Results: The shoulder was the most commonly involved joint 21.7% of the patients followed by hand in 16.28% patients and knee in 13.18% patients. Foot was involved in 12% and hand in 7% of the patients. The commonest manifestation in upper limb was adhesive capsulitis in 19.1% and in lower limb was symptomatic knee osteoarthritis in 14.57% patients.Conclusions: Author observed high prevalence of musculoskeletal complications in type 2 diabetics in this study

Comparitive evaluation of loop mediated isothermal amplification in the diagnosis of mycobacterium tuberculosis with culture and fluorescent microscopy.

TB is a common disease and leading causes of mortality due to communicable diseases. Research has been going to find the nature of the disease as well to find new technique that could give us a leading edge in cracking this disease in an early stage.recently a number of nucleic acid amplification assays have been employed to detect the mycobacterium tuberculosis in clinical specimens, among these loop mediated isothermal amplification posess superior reaction characteristics in the present study we evaluate a LAMP method to identify the MTB specific IS6110 gene among 50 sputum samples collected from patients suspected of tuberculosis in tirunelveli medical college and compare them with gold standard “culture on lowenstein jenson media” for 8 weeks .the study showed the LAMP method has an excellent sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 79% which shows that this method in conjunction with smear microscopy can be a powerful tool in the early detection of TB

Linearizing techniques for sensor output

Sensors are fundamental part of circuit performing measurement as well as control in various fields. They present the measured quantity in analog electrical signal which is processed to perfonn the desired operation. Most of the signal processing nowadays is in digital domain due to advantages like noise-insensitivity, more robustness, better production yield, reliability and testability. To bring all these merits into real world applications, it is desirable to convert analogue signals output of sensor into digital domain representation. But due to non-linearity of the sensor output the digital approximation of actual physical signal is erroneous and does not correspond to the actual measured quantity. This chapter discuss about various methods for linearizing the output of the sensors

Bilateral lateral geniculate body lesions causing reversible blindness in a patient with posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is a completely reversible neuroradiological entity caused by accelerated hypertension, eclampsia, certain cytotoxic drugs and acute renal failure. PRES involves posterior circulation of the brain resulting in various manifestations, hence the name. Acute vision loss is one of the manifestations that occurs owing to the involvement of the visual pathway. However, loss of vision due to a lesion involving the lateral geniculate body alone is unusual. We report one such case of a young female who developed acute bilateral painless loss of vision without any other symptom during postpartum period. MRI brain showed features of PRES involving bilateral lateral geniculate body, hippocampus and brainstem. There was no involvement of retrogeniculate visual pathway, i.e. parieto-occipital cortex. The patient improved with optimal blood pressure control and was discharged after 5 days

1-Naphthylazo derivatives of some 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds and their Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) complexes

The coupling of diazotized 1-aminonaphthalene with 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds (acetylacetone, methylacetoacetate and acetoacetanilide) yielded a new series of bidentate ligand systems (HL). Analytical, IR, 1H-NMR and mass spectral data indicate that the compounds exist in the intramolecularly hydrogen bonded keto-hydrazone form. With Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II), these potential monobasic bidentate ligands formed [ML2] type complexes. The IR, 1H-NMR and mass spectral data of the complexes are consistent with the replacement of the chelated hydrazone proton of the ligand by a metal ion, thus leading to a stable six-membered chelate ring involving the hydrazone nitrogen and the hydrogen bonded carbonyl oxygen. The Ni(II) and Zn(II) chelates are diamagnetic, while the Cu(II) complexes are paramagnetic. In the metal complexes of the naphthylazo derivatives of acetylacetone and methylacetoacetate, the acetyl carbonyl is involved in coordination, whereas in the chelates of the naphthylazo derivative of acetoacetanilide, the anilide carbonyl is bonded with the metal ion

Herpes zoster on the forehead masquerading as an abscess complication to look out for: a case report

Herpes zoster or shingles is caused by the reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection within the sensory ganglia. Primary VZV infection results in varicella (chickenpox) usually in childhood, characterized by vesicular lesions on the face, trunk, and extremities. Although herpes zoster can occur at any age, it is mainly a disease of adults over age 50 and/or immunocompromised individuals. Complications of herpes zoster include post herpetic neuralgia, herpes zoster ophthalmic us and less commonly acute retinal necrosis, aseptic meningitis, and encephalitis. Here we present the case of a 51-year-old female patient with Herpes Zoster infection involving the dermatome on the forehead, initially misdiagnosed, to alert clinicians to create awareness and minimize misdiagnosis of other patients with similar cases. It is unusual to find patients presenting with infection involving the dermatome of the forehead.

Comparative performance of Cerebral Perfusion Ratio as compared to MCA PI and UA PI in prediction of adverse perinatal outcomes in intra uterine growth restricted fetuses

Background: Intra uterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a common clinical sign seen due to chronic foetal hypoxemia and is considered a major contributor of perinatal morbidity and mortality. The aim of the present study was to determine and compare the sensitivity and specificity of umbilical artery pulsatility index (UA PI), middle cerebral artery (MCA) PI and cerebral perfusion ratio (CPR) in predicting adverse and poor perinatal outcomes in fetuses with IUGR.Methods: The study included 100 pregnant women with post 24 weeks of gestation with clinical history of IUGR.  Doppler examination parameters, including waveforms and measurements, of the umbilical artery, middle cerebral artery were recorded. The Cerebral Perfusion Ratio (CPR) was calculated from MCA PI and UA PI and a final comparison of accuracy of Doppler indices was done with perinatal outcome.Results: The sensitivity of the UA PI was higher (49.3%) than that of the MCA PI (43.6%) and the CPR (37.7%). The specificity of the CPR was higher (87.1%) than that of the MCA PI (83.9%) and the UA PI (74.2%).Conclusions: From the findings of the study, it can be concluded that UA PI is the most sensitive and CPR is the most specific parameter in predicting adverse perinatal outcomes in IUGR fetuses. Thus, in addition to pulsatility indices, CPR should be used as a tool for surveillance and included in the routine reporting formats of obstetric Doppler studies

Print Media Coverage of ISRO Missions/Launches: A Ten Year (2011-2020) Study of Selected English Dailies

The reporting of research and development is very important for any organisation as it is not only simple reporting to keep the general public updated on the developments but as it also involves critical evaluation of different programmes and activities. The present study is the quantitative analysis of 2382 unique news items, related to 59 ISRO missions launched during the period 2011-2020, retrieved from the Bangalore edition of four popular English print newspapers namely Deccan Herald, The Hindu, The New Indian Express, and The Times of India. The collected data was further categorised into different missions based on their applications for analysis. By applying one full credit for each mission covered in the news items, a total of 3729 news items were found. Of all the ISRO missions launched during the period of study, GSLV-MkIII-M1/Chandrayaan-2 had the highest news coverage with 742 (19.89 per cent) news items followed by PSLV-C25/Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) with 601 (16.12 per cent) news items. The study further observed that there is no uniformity in reporting and coverage among the selected newspapers