Evaluation of the antibacterial effect of nickel oxide nanoparticles against bacteria involved in dental caries

Tooth decay is one of the most common diseases in the oral cavity and is one of the most widespread diseases in the human population. This study aimed to determine the antibacterial effect of nickel oxide nanoparticles against bacteria involved in tooth decay. In this study, the disk diffusion method was used to determine the antibiotic susceptibility and the microdilution broth method was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Nanoparticles were also synthesized in two molecular size (A: 8.1 and B: 12 nm) by the sol-gel method. The MIC of the first nanoparticle for Streptococcus sanguinis and Streptococcus mutans was 31.25 and 125 μg/ml, respectively. The MIC of the second nanoparticle for S. sanguinis was 125 μg/ml. In the case of S. mutans up to a concentration of 500 μg/ml, no growth inhibition was observed. The results showed that nickel oxide nanoparticles have acceptable antibacterial properties against S. mutans and S. sanguinis, which can be used in dental materials to prevent dental caries. However, this requires the determination of cellular toxicity and its side effects in future studies.

Research Synthesis Methods in an Age of Globalized Risks: Lessons from the Global Burden of Foodborne Disease Expert Elicitation

We live in an age that increasingly calls for national or regional management of global risks. This article discusses the contributions that expert elicitation can bring to efforts to manage global risks and identifies challenges faced in conducting expert elicitation at this scale. In doing so it draws on lessons learned from conducting an expert elicitation as part of the World Health Organizations (WHO) initiative to estimate the global burden of foodborne disease; a study commissioned by the Foodborne Disease Epidemiology Reference Group (FERG). Expert elicitation is designed to fill gaps in data and research using structured, transparent methods. Such gaps are a significant challenge for global risk modeling. Experience with the WHO FERG expert elicitation shows that it is feasible to conduct an expert elicitation at a global scale, but that challenges do arise, including: defining an informative, yet feasible geographical structure for the elicitation; defining what constitutes expertise in a global setting; structuring international, multidisciplinary expert panels; and managing demands on experts' time in the elicitation. This article was written as part of a workshop, Methods for Research Synthesis: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach held at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis on October 13, 2013

Healthcare Access and Quality Index based on mortality from causes amenable to personal health care in 195 countries and territories, 1990-2015 : a novel analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background National levels of personal health-care access and quality can be approximated by measuring mortality rates from causes that should not be fatal in the presence of effective medical care (ie, amenable mortality). Previous analyses of mortality amenable to health care only focused on high-income countries and faced several methodological challenges. In the present analysis, we use the highly standardised cause of death and risk factor estimates generated through the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) to improve and expand the quantification of personal health-care access and quality for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2015. Methods We mapped the most widely used list of causes amenable to personal health care developed by Nolte and McKee to 32 GBD causes. We accounted for variations in cause of death certification and misclassifications through the extensive data standardisation processes and redistribution algorithms developed for GBD. To isolate the effects of personal health-care access and quality, we risk-standardised cause-specific mortality rates for each geography-year by removing the joint effects of local environmental and behavioural risks, and adding back the global levels of risk exposure as estimated for GBD 2015. We employed principal component analysis to create a single, interpretable summary measure-the Healthcare Quality and Access (HAQ) Index-on a scale of 0 to 100. The HAQ Index showed strong convergence validity as compared with other health-system indicators, including health expenditure per capita (r= 0.88), an index of 11 universal health coverage interventions (r= 0.83), and human resources for health per 1000 (r= 0.77). We used free disposal hull analysis with bootstrapping to produce a frontier based on the relationship between the HAQ Index and the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a measure of overall development consisting of income per capita, average years of education, and total fertility rates. This frontier allowed us to better quantify the maximum levels of personal health-care access and quality achieved across the development spectrum, and pinpoint geographies where gaps between observed and potential levels have narrowed or widened over time. Findings Between 1990 and 2015, nearly all countries and territories saw their HAQ Index values improve; nonetheless, the difference between the highest and lowest observed HAQ Index was larger in 2015 than in 1990, ranging from 28.6 to 94.6. Of 195 geographies, 167 had statistically significant increases in HAQ Index levels since 1990, with South Korea, Turkey, Peru, China, and the Maldives recording among the largest gains by 2015. Performance on the HAQ Index and individual causes showed distinct patterns by region and level of development, yet substantial heterogeneities emerged for several causes, including cancers in highest-SDI countries; chronic kidney disease, diabetes, diarrhoeal diseases, and lower respiratory infections among middle-SDI countries; and measles and tetanus among lowest-SDI countries. While the global HAQ Index average rose from 40.7 (95% uncertainty interval, 39.0-42.8) in 1990 to 53.7 (52.2-55.4) in 2015, far less progress occurred in narrowing the gap between observed HAQ Index values and maximum levels achieved; at the global level, the difference between the observed and frontier HAQ Index only decreased from 21.2 in 1990 to 20.1 in 2015. If every country and territory had achieved the highest observed HAQ Index by their corresponding level of SDI, the global average would have been 73.8 in 2015. Several countries, particularly in eastern and western sub-Saharan Africa, reached HAQ Index values similar to or beyond their development levels, whereas others, namely in southern sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and south Asia, lagged behind what geographies of similar development attained between 1990 and 2015. Interpretation This novel extension of the GBD Study shows the untapped potential for personal health-care access and quality improvement across the development spectrum. Amid substantive advances in personal health care at the national level, heterogeneous patterns for individual causes in given countries or territories suggest that few places have consistently achieved optimal health-care access and quality across health-system functions and therapeutic areas. This is especially evident in middle-SDI countries, many of which have recently undergone or are currently experiencing epidemiological transitions. The HAQ Index, if paired with other measures of health-systemcharacteristics such as intervention coverage, could provide a robust avenue for tracking progress on universal health coverage and identifying local priorities for strengthening personal health-care quality and access throughout the world. Copyright (C) The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

the persian utopia in Safavid Iran

The future of any country depends on the strength or weakness Hrdvrh politicians and rulers of the country. customs prevalent among these people were brought up differently from other land in the form of government. The authoritarian government was led Iran ideal shape so that other countries in the Shdndkh authors describe the characteristics of their work. has been. In the meantime, writers such as Montesquieu and Voltaire's ability to read the travelogues of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that's ideal to portray in their work. In this paper, relying on evidence from the writings of foreign travelers such as Chardin, Tavernier, who have tried without bias, based on the influence of Montesquieu, a philosopher of the eighteenth century, and discuss the impact of these works on the theory of geographic and climatic conditions the formation of a government in which Montesquieu believed that, too. Also, to answer the question that Montesquieu relying on the evidence of Iran's authoritarian government Nshytgrfth the climate is hot and

The histone H2A variant macroH2A1 does not localize to the centrosome.

MacroH2A1 is a histone H2A variant which contains a large non-histone C-terminal region of largely unknown function. Within this region is a macro domain which can bind ADP-ribose and related molecules. Most studies of macroH2A1 focus on the involvement of this variant in transcriptional repression. Studies in mouse embryos and in embryonic stem cells suggested that during early development macroH2A can be found at the centrosome. Centrosomal localization of macroH2A was later reported in somatic cells. Here we provide data showing that macroH2A1 does not localize to the centrosome and that the centrosomal signal observed with antibodies directed against the macroH2A1 non-histone region may be the result of antibody cross-reactivity

Smart Traffic Light [glare reduction traffic light]

The Smart Traffic Light (STL) has the ability to sense fog and the intensity of ambient light, upon which it adjusts its lamp brightness accordingly, thereby consuming maximum power only when necessary. The STL will be largely compatible with current traffic light standards and will incorporate some existing glare prevention innovations. The STL also indicates the color of the illuminated lamp by displaying the symbol R for red, G for green, and A for amber. The color of the illuminated lamp is indicated in order to enable people who suffer from color deficiency to distinguish the state of the traffic light

Synergism between DNA methylation and

macroH2A1 occupancy in epigenetic silencing of the tumor suppressor gene p16(CDKN2A

Characterization of β-glucosidase of Lactobacillus plantarum FSO1 and Candida pelliculosa L18 isolated from traditional fermented green olive

Abstract Background Oleuropein, the main bitter phenolic glucoside responsible for green olive bitterness, may be degraded by the β-glucosidase enzyme to release glucose and phenolic compounds. Results Lactobacillus plantarum FSO1 and Candida pelliculosa L18 strains, isolated from natural fermented green olives, were tested for their β-glucosidase production and activity at different initial pH, NaCl concentrations, and temperature. The results showed that strains produced extracellular and induced β-glucosidase, with a molecular weight of 60 kD. The strains demonstrated their biodegradation capacity of oleuropein, associated with the accumulation of hydroxytyrosol and other phenolic compounds, resulting in antioxidant activity values significantly higher than that of ascorbic acid. The highest production value of β-glucosidase was 0.91 U/ml obtained at pH 5 and pH 6, respectively for L. plantarum FSO1 and C. pelliculosa L18. The increase of NaCl concentration, from 0 to 10% (w/v), inhibited the production of β-glucosidase for both strains. However, the β-glucosidase was activated with an increase of NaCl concentration, with a maximum activity obtained at 8% NaCl (w/v). The enzyme activity was optimal at pH 5 for both strains, while the optimum temperature was 45 °C for L. plantarum FSO1 and 35 °C for C. pelliculosa L18. Conclusions L. plantarum FSO1 and C. pelliculosa L18 strains showed their ability to produce an extracellular and induced β-glucosidase enzyme with promising traits for application in the biological processing of table olives