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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a mystified cryptic virus has challenged the mankind that has brought life to a standstill. Catastrophic loss of life, perplexed healthcare system and the downfall of global economy are some of the outcomes of this pandemic. Humans are raging a war with an unknown enemy. Infections, irrespective of age and gender, and more so in comorbidities are escalating at an alarming rate. Cardiovascular diseases, are the leading cause of death globally with an estimate of 31% of deaths worldwide out of which nearly 85% are due to heart attacks and stroke. Theoretically and practically, researchers have observed that persons with pre-existing cardiovascular conditions are comparatively more vulnerable to the COVID-19 infection. Moreover, they have studied the data between less severe and more severe cases, survivors and non survivors, intensive care unit (ICU) patients and non ICU patients, to analyse the relationship and the influence of COVID-19 on cardiovascular health of an individual, further the risk of susceptibility to submit to the virus. This review aims to provide a comprehensive particular on the possible effects, either direct or indirect, of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular heath of an individual.

Background Tinospora cordifolia (Thunb.) Miers (Giloy) has been applied successfully as an anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and even as an anti-cancer agent. Yet, to date, the application of Giloy has not been explored concerning oral cancer. Objectives To assess the effect of T cordifolia (Thunb.) Miers (Giloy) extract (TcE) on an oral cancer cell line. Methods AW13516 (oral cancer cell line) cells were treated with the prepared aqueous extract of TcE for 24 h at various concentrations ranging between 5 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml and compared with control (cells without treatment). Thee effect of the extracts on apoptosis was assessed by through Annexin V flow cytometry assay and Luminometry based assessment of Caspase 8, 9 and caspase 3/7 activity. RNA was isolated from treated cells and gene expression of selected metastatic genes (MMP1, MMP10, and CXCL8); epithelial-mesenchymal stem cell genes (TWIST1, SNAIL, ZEB1, Oct4) and stemness related genses (Nanog, Sox2) were analyzed by using a quantitative real-time PCR system. The experiments were performed in triplicates. Results Aqueous extract of TcE was found to induce apoptosis inducer in AW13516 cells in a concentration-dependent manner and was potent even at a low concentration of 5 μg/ml. The apoptosis induction was confirmed with the caspase activity assay. Treatment of the cells with the extract for 24 h exhibited a significant decrease in the expression of EMT genes in a dose-dependent manner without an effect on the metastatic genes. Conclusion Aqueous extract of TcE induces apoptosis-mediated cell death in the oral cancer cell line AW13516 while attenuating its potential for epithelial mesenchymal transition.

Background and Objectives: Oral cancer is the 6th most common cancer in the world and oral leukoplakia is an oral potentially malignant disorder that could develop into oral cancer. This systematic review focusses on randomized clinical trials for recombinant adenovirus p-53 (rAD-p53) therapy for the treatment of oral leukoplakia and cancer. Materials and Methods: We searched for research articles on various databases such as Pubmed/Medline, Embase, CNKI (China National Knowledge Infra-structure), Springerlink, cochrane and Web of sciences from 2003 to 2020. MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms were used for the search. Inclusion criteria included original research, randomized clinical trials and articles only in English language. Exclusion criteria were any articles that were not research articles, not randomized trials, non-human studies, etc. The articles were further graded on the Jadad scale. Results: 578 articles were assessed from various databases; only 3 articles were found to be appropriate for this review. Thus, meta-analysis was not performed because of heterogeneity and lack of data. In the three studies, whether rAD-p53 was used as a standalone therapy or with other therapies, there was a beneficial effect of the therapy. Furthermore, there were no serious adverse events and the only adverse events reported were fever, pain at the local injection site, flu-like symptoms and lowered WBC count. Conclusions: Thus, we can conclude that this therapy has a potential for beneficial therapeutic effects and further clinical trials with more patients need to be performed to get better understanding of the effect of rAD-p53 therapy, which probably will pave the way to its approval in other parts of the world.

Introduction: Palatoscopy is the study of palatal rugae pattern to establish the identity of a person. The palatal rugae are permanent and unique to each person and can establish identity through discrimination (via casts, tracings, or digitized rugae patterns). In addition, rugae pattern may be specific to racial groups facilitating population identification (which may require postdisasters). Hence, they can be used in postmortem identification provided an antemortem record exists. Aim: To determine the palatal rugae pattern and to assess the predominant palatal rugae pattern in Indian and Tibetan (in Mundgod Taluka, Karnataka) populations. Materials and Methods: The impressions of the maxillary arch were made for a total of one hundred adults comprising fifty Indian and fifty Tibetan populations aged between 20 and 40 years, and the dental cast was made using dental stone. The rugae were highlighted by a sharp graphite pencil on the cast under adequate light and a magnification lens. Rugae patterns were assessed using Thomas and Kotze and Kapali et al. classification. Results: Total number of palatal rugae in Indian population (461) was more than Tibetan population (351). Moreover, Indian population showed predominantly wavy (43.60%) rugae pattern, whereas Tibetan showed curved (38.2%) rugae pattern. Conclusion: This suggests that there is a difference in the rugae pattern between Indian and Tibetan populations. Hence, palatal rugae pattern can be used as one of the methods in determining the ethnicity.

Background: Cytogenetic studies from past decades have shown that interphase cells of female cats contain a densely stained chromatin mass in their nuclei called as Barr bodies (BBs) named after the scientist Murray Barr. BBs are unique chromatin structures formed due to the condensation of the X-chromosome. Many psychopathic disorders originate from defective genes including the multiple X syndromes. Males with extra X-chromosome generally present with severe personality disorder. The present study was conducted to determine the presence of extra X-chromosome in male jail inmates through the detection of BB in peripheral blood and buccal smear. Materials and Methods: Study included 100 male subjects (fifty jail inmates and fifty controls), after obtaining the consent, peripheral blood smears (PBS) and buccal smears (BS) were prepared and stained using Leishman's and cresyl violet stain respectively. One hundred neutrophils in PBS and epithelial cells in BS were screened for detection of the BB; accumulated data were tabulated and statistically analyzed using t-test and Chi-square test. Results: 60% of cases in PBS and 36% in BS showed positivity for the presence of BB in jail inmates as compared to 14% of cases in PBS and none in BS were positive for BB in controls. Conclusion: Presence of BB in male suggests increased likelihood of criminal tendencies. Further studies are to be carried out to compare the results with karyotyping.

Objectives: Toll like receptors play an important role in innate and adaptive immune responses. Heat shock proteins play a significant role in cell proliferation, differentiation and oncogenesis. HSP70 acts as one of the ligands of TLR4 and binds to it in a CD14 dependent fashion to bring about proinflammatory cytokine production leading to an anti-tumor response. On the contrary, TLR4 has been implicated in carcinogenesis by secretion of anti-apoptotic proteins. Thus the aim of this study was to compare and correlate the association of HSP70 and TLR4 in various grades of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Study Design: Twenty-seven cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma were considered. Ten cases each of well-differentiated (WDSCC) and moderately differentiated (MDSCC), 7 cases of poorly differentiated carcinoma (PDSCC) were considered. Sections were stained for HSP70 and TLR4 and were evaluated for staining degree and intensity. Results and Conclusion: Positive expression of both HSP70 and TLR4 was found in all cases of WDSCC and MDSCC, whereas in PDSCC out of 7 cases only 6 showed positivity for TLR4 and 4 cases showed positivity for HSP70. Those cases that were positive for TLR4, also showed positivity for HSP70. HSP70 acts as a ligand and binds to TLR4 thus activating the My88 pathway resulting in production of proinflammatory cytokines, chemokines, growth factors etc., enhancing anti-cancer immunity in the early stages of disease. In later stages, TLRs expressed on cancer cells can produce anti-apoptotic proteins contributing to carcinogenesis and cancer cell proliferation.

Dental anatomy is the study of morphology of various teeth in human dentitions. The application of dental anatomy in clinical practice is important, and dentist should have a thorough knowledge regarding the morphology of the teeth. At times as a result of genetic variation, environmental factors, diet of an individual and race, variations in the morphology of the teeth can be observed. These variations have been extensively studied by the researcher in the field of anthropology to define a particular race. The most commonly observed changes include peg-shaped laterals, shovel-shaped incisors, and extra cusp on molar. Common variations documented with regard to maxillary and mandibular first premolars are the variation in the number of roots. But the variations with respect to crown morphology are few. We report a first documented unusual presentation of maxillary and mandibular first premolars with three-cusps pattern in a female patient.