The location of the mental foramen in a selected Malay population

Knowledge of the position of the mental foramen is important both when administering regional anesthesia and performing periapical surgery in the mental region of the mandible. This study determines the position of the mental foramen in a selected Malay population. One hundred and sixty nine panoramic radiographs of Malay patients retrieved from a minor oral surgery waiting list were selected to identify the normal range for the position of the mental foramen. The foramen was not included in the study if there was any mandibular tooth missing between the lower left and right first molars (36-46). The findings indicated the most common position for the mental foramen was in line with the longitudinal axis of the second premolar (69.2) followed by a location between the first and second premolar (19.6). The right and left foramina were bilaterally symmetrical in three of six recorded positions in 67.7 patients. The mental foramen was most often in line with the second premolar

A Constructive Mathematic approach for Natural Language formal grammars

A mathematical description of natural language grammars has been proposed first by Leibniz. After the definition given by Frege of unsaturated expression and the foundation of a logical grammar by Husserl, the application of logic to treat natural language grammars in a computational way raised the interest of linguists, for example applying Lambek's categorial calculus. In recent years, the most consolidated formal grammars (e.g., Minimalism, HPSG, TAG, CCG, Dependency Grammars) began to show an interest in giving a strong psychological interpretation to the formalism and hence to natural language data on which they are applied. Nevertheless, no one seems to have paid much attention to cognitive linguistics, a branch of linguistics that actively uses concepts and results from cognitive sciences. Apparently unrelated, the study of computational concepts and formalisms has developed in pair with constructive formal systems, especially in the branch of logic called proof theory, see, e.g., the Curry-Howard isomorphism and the typed functional languages. In this paper, we want to bridge these worlds and thus present our natural language formalism, called Adpositional Grammars (AdGrams), that is founded over both cognitive linguistics and constructive mathematics

Antioxidant and Antimicrobial properties of Glycine Max-A review

Vegetable soybean is rich in phytochemicals beneficial to the human being and is therefore considered a neutraceutical or a functional food crop. Soybean as a “functional food” that reduces the risk of range of hazardous diseases like atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, various types of cancer (breast, uterus cancer, and prostrate) has attracted people’s attention across the globe. People in India are becoming increasingly aware about the health benefits of consuming soy food. Although isoflavones present in soy are believed to be major components responsible for the antioxidative activity, a recent study showed that anthocyanins present in black soybean had strong antioxidative potential. This review article focuses on both the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of Glycine max

Development of a Cost-Effective Database Software for Psychiatric Research: A Study From Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Background: Technological progression made drastic changes in health care. Still there is a growing concern about proper utilization of health information within hospitals for various research activities. Huge volumes of such health information in majority of hospitals are redundant due to lack of appropriate and cost-effective technological tools for retrieving relevant health information for research purpose. Objective: To develop a cost-effective and user-friendly computerized medical record database for psychiatry using available technology with the department. Methodology: Study performed at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Udupi district of South India. Various datasets from psychiatry medical records were utilized for the design and creation of database. A computerized database called PsyCase was developed with the help of technology available within the department. A 4612 patient’s data were entered into the PsyCase and subjected to various analyses. Results: Applications of PsyCase in various epidemiological studies were explored through performing numerous analyses with actual data. PsyCase was found effective in supporting psychiatric research as well as routine clinical and administrative activities. Conclusion: This study emphasizes need of appropriate use of technology available within a healthcare system to facilitate medical research in psychiatry and role of health information professional in such initiatives. Healthcare organization must focus on collective utilization of resources within the system to improve the utilization of health information for medical research

Studies on association of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi with gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus and its effect on improvement of sorghum bicolor (L.)

Considerable attention has been paid on endophytic diazotrophs in recent times, because of its of ability to fix and transfer fixed nitrogen to the host plant. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are ubiquitous and play a significant role in improving the growth of plants through better uptake of nutrients, especially phosphorus. Interaction between AM fungi and nitrogen fixing bacteria and its impact on the host plant has been studied in several instances. In the present study, an attempt has been made to know the combining ability of G.diazotrophicus with AM fungi on S.bicolor. Spores of ten species of AM fungi were isolated from the rhizosphere soils of S.bicolor from different localities of Madurai and Sivagangai districts of Tamil Nadu. G.diazotrophicus was isolated from stem tissues of sugarcane (Saccharrum officinarum L.) from Madurai districts. The AM fungi in association with G.diazotrophicus were evaluated on the basis of root colonization, fresh and drymatter yield, N, P, soluble sugars and photosynthetic pigments in leaves of S.bicolor. Fresh weight and dry weight was significantly higher in dual inoculated plants. The highest values were recorded with Glomus fasciculatum + G.diazotrophicus combination. AM fungal infection was significantly higher in dual inoculated plants. N concentration was significantly increased by G.diazotrophicus even more in association with the efficient fungal strains. Dual inoculated plants showed a significant increase in P, soluble sugars, photosynthetic pigments in leaves was observed in G.diazotrophicus + Glomus fasciculatum combination. Such morphological modification may enhance water and nutrient uptake. Our results confirm the importance of studying plant-microbial interrelationship to provide useful information for agricultural system management

Developing a model for e-prints and open access journal content in UK further and higher education

A study carried out for the UK Joint Information Systems Committee examined models for the provision of access to material in institutional and subject-based archives and in open access journals. Their relative merits were considered, addressing not only technical concerns but also how e-print provision (by authors) can be achieved – an essential factor for an effective e-print delivery service (for users). A "harvesting" model is recommended, where the metadata of articles deposited in distributed archives are harvested, stored and enhanced by a national service. This model has major advantages over the alternatives of a national centralized service or a completely decentralized one. Options for the implementation of a service based on the harvesting model are presented

Determination and Correlation of Anticardiolipin Antibody with High Sensitivity C- reactive Proteins and its Role in Predicting Short Term Outcome in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

Anticardiolipin antibody (aCL) is considered to be an independent risk factor while high sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP) is an established marker for coronary artery disease. This study was conducted to determine levels of aCL antibodies and hsCRP, their correlation and role in predicting recurrence of events in patients presenting with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). Sixty patients admitted with Acute Coronary Syndrome were followed up for 7 days or until discharge. Patients were classified into two groups as those having experienced an ischemic event needing intervention within 7 days (Group I) and other having an event free recovery (Group II). aCL antibody and hsCRP levels were estimated and compared in these two groups. Twenty age and sex matched disease free persons served as controls. The levels of aCL were significantly higher in patients with ACS as compared to the controls (p=0.020). However the levels of aCL in Group I (13.39±9.46 GPL-U/ml) and Group II (13.51±9.93 GPL-U/ml) were not significantly different (p =0.838). The mean hsCRP levels were higher in cases with an event (23.30±10.68 mg/dl) than in cases without an event (20.60±11.45mg/dl) though it was not significant statistically (p=0.389). aCL and CRP were not found to be significantly correlated in causing the recurrence of events(p=0.178). Therefore anticardiolipin antibody is an independent risk factor which could be implicated in the pathogenesis of ACS. However it is not significantly associated with recurrence of short-term events in patients with ACS. Also, aCL antibody does not have significant correlation with hSCRP in causing recurrence of events in the patients of acute coronary syndrome

Corneal Dermoid

A 20 years old boy presented with left corneal mass. The mass involved entire cornea extending to the sclera. The mass had a skin like surface and protruded outside the palpebral aperture. The eye with the mass was excised .The histopathology report confirmed the diagnosis of corneal dermoid. This late presentation of huge corneal dermoid extending to sclera is first such report in the literature

Language discrimination by human newborns and by cotton-top tamarin monkeys

Humans, but no other animal, make meaningful use of spoken language. What is unclear, however, is whether this capacity depends on a unique constellation of perceptual and neurobiological mechanisms, or whether a subset of such mechanisms are shared with other organisms. To explore this problem, we conducted parallel experiments on human newborns and cotton-top tamarin monkeys to assess their ability to discriminate unfamiliar languages. Using a habituation-dishabituation procedure, we show that human newborns and tamarins can discriminate sentences from Dutch and Japanese, but not if the sentences are played backwards. Moreover, the cues for discrimination are not present in backward speech. This suggests that the human newborns' tuning to certain properties of speech relies on general processes of the primate auditory system

Modelling Socially Intelligent Agents

The perspective of modelling agents rather than using them for a specificed purpose entails a difference in approach. In particular an emphasis on veracity as opposed to efficiency. An approach using evolving populations of mental models is described that goes some way to meet these concerns. It is then argued that social intelligence is not merely intelligence plus interaction but should allow for individual relationships to develop between agents. This means that, at least, agents must be able to distinguish, identify, model and address other agents, either individually or in groups. In other words that purely homogeneous interaction is insufficient. Two example models are described that illustrate these concerns, the second in detail where agents act and communicate socially, where this is determined by the evolution of their mental models. Finally some problems that arise in the interpretation of such simulations is discussed