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Esophageal respiratory fistula represents a connection between esophagus and the respiratory system. Esophageal tracheal and esophageal bronchial fistulas are common whereas esophageal pulmonary fistula is rarely seen. We report a case of esophageal pulmonary fistula in a middle aged African American male with a history of bronchoesophageal fistula who presented with pneumonia. The diagnosis was confirmed with fluoroscopy esophagram. Management with endoscopic stent placement was planned however the patient refused treatment. A diagnosis of esophageal pulmonary fistula should be kept in mind for patients with pulmonary symptoms and dysphagia. Early diagnosis and treatment are required to prevent complications and improve quality of life in these patients. J Med Cases. 2021;12(9):347-350 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc3746

BACKGROUND The complex anatomy of root canal makes it very difficult to clean and shape to eliminate the bacteria in the canal. Multiple root canal medicaments and irrigants are used to eliminate the canal microbials. Many of the pathogens have undergone resistance to the medicaments and the irrigants used. Thus, antibacterial nanoparticles have been introduced to overcome this problem. Nano dentistry mainly infers the use of nanomaterials and dental nanorobots in the field of diagnosis and treatment, aiming improvement in complete oral health. The use of nanoparticles is extending in many oral health–related issues such as management of dentin hypersensitivity, elimination of bacterial biofilm, diagnosing as well as treating oral cancers, bone replacement and so on. It possesses a unique physical and chemical property. The usage of nanoparticles in different forms like solutions for irrigation, as intracanal medication, in conjunction with sealers or restorative materials aimed at evaluating and mainly improving the antimicrobial efficacy in endodontic and conservative treatments. These nanoparticles act on the bacteria through various mechanisms. The bactericidal effect of the nanoparticles has been investigated in many in vitro studies. In the field of endodontics, nanomaterials are inculcated mainly focusing on strategies improving antimicrobial efficacy, mechanical integrity of already diseased dentinal matrix, regeneration of the tissues and many more. Recently, many more new technologies are in process to be tested in the field, keeping an eye on overcoming the microbial challenge. This review intended to give a look on the literature available, uses, applications and advantages of the nanoparticles in endodontics. KEY WORDS Nanotechnology, Nanoparticles, Antibacterial Efficacy, Endodontics

Success of root canal treatment depends upon five major steps. Among them, biomechanical preparation is most important. Root canal system shows various anatomical variations. These variations will help microorganism to harbour themselves. In order to disinfect the root canal, various irrigating solutions are used. These chemical solutions may change the surface characteristics of root dentin. Hence, this study was carried out with an aim- to determine the failure mode of sealer after obturation using the various irrigating solution. The study was carried out using 40 extracted premolars. Biomechanical preparation was done using the crown down technique. Various irrigating solutions, namely, 5.25% sodium hypochlorite. 2% chlorhexidine gluconate, QMIX 2 in1, 17% EDTA liquid were used for irrigation. Later obturation was done using AH plus sealer and cold condensation technique. A section of 5mm root was obtained at the middle one third. Push out bond strength was evaluated and the mode of failure of the sealer was noted. The maximum number of mixed failure mode (n=7) in Qmix 2 in1as well as in 2% CHX. Similarly, in 5.25% NaOCl, 8 samples showed Mixed failure mode. However, in 17% EDTA, the equal number of the sample had Adhesive and Mixed type of failure mode (n=5). Use of EDTA + CHX or QMix during final irrigation significantly improved sealer penetratin resulting in impervious seal to the obturation. Thus contributing to the success of endodontic treatment.

The outbreak of COVID- 19 disease has taken the world by surprise. The disease mainly affects the respiratory system and is caused by a strain of coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2. Due to its high recombination rates the virus has an immense potential to spread rapidly. Within months of the first case being reported in Wuhan China, the disease has turned rapidly into a pandemic. The world health experts are already actively looking for a definite cure or vaccine for the disease, but till that many of the countries across the globe are looking up onto mass quarantine measures as a method to control its spread. This article is an attempt to review the effectiveness of these measures and the possible adverse effects of the same. Other possible modes of prevention and controlling the spread of the disease have also been reviewed in the article.

Most of the currently used medications for the treatment of oral ulcers focus primarily on providing symptomatic relief and preventing secondary infections. Not much attention has been paid in the past on agents that can promote healing of these lesions. In the current study, we have tested and compared the efficacy of such wound healing promoting agents i.e. Propolis (product obtained from Bees) and a newly developed herbal ointment (containing extracts of Azadirachta indica (Neem), Linum usitatissimum L.(Linseed) oil, and resin of Shorea robusta) in experimental rabbits. Methodology: Traumatic oral ulcers were inflicted in experimental rabbits (New Zealand white) with the help of a punch biopsy instrument. The animals were then divided into three groups each group consisted of 12 animals (n = 12), Group I was the untreated control group and Group II was topically treated with nonalcohol extract of propolis and Group III was treated with newly developed herbal ointment. Histological healing scores of the ulcers were evaluated on day 7 and day 14. Data were statistically analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistic methods. Results: In Group III treated with newly developed herbal ointment, significantly higher healing scores, in comparison to the untreated control group (Group I) and propolis (Group II) was observed on day 7 and 14. Improved healing scores in prapolis-treated group were observed than the untreated control group. However, the difference was not statistically significant on both day 7 and day 14. Conclusion: With the newly developed herbal ointment, superior healing of traumatic oral ulcers was observed.

Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection can be a life-threatening disease, which has emerged as a public health hazard. Thrombotic events have been reported in hospitalized patients with severe disease however scarce data is available regarding the screening of thromboembolic disease and pulmonary embolism in those with mild or asymptomatic infection. Herein, we describe the development of pulmonary embolism in two asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 and suggest the need for close monitoring and anticoagulation to prevent this life-threatening complication.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease that is characterized by an aberrant immune response leading to immune-mediated damage to tissues. Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a life-threatening condition, consists of a constellation of symptoms caused by excessive immune activation and cytokine storm. HLH is categorized into the primary and secondary form. The secondary form is often referred to as the macrophage activation syndrome. HLH in the background of SLE is a rare and potentially fatal entity. It is often seen in the context of disease flare and is rarely associated with the initial diagnosis of SLE. Severe infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes a cytokine storm characterized by marked elevation of inflammatory markers including ferritin. Here, we describe the case of a young female with an inaugural diagnosis of SLE and features of HLH after a recent SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The novel coronavirus 2019, a disease associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality across the globe. In the United States, influenza has been one of the leading causes of hospitalization during the winter season. To date, the co-infection of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus has created a unique challenge for healthcare workers, especially during the cold season. Both viruses have similar clinical presentation and transmission characteristics. Many reports are available for either SARS-CoV-2 and influenza individual infections, but limited data are available for the co-infection. Herein, we present a case series of five cases of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza co-infection as well as their clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, management, and outcome.

Background Currently, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) serology is recommended only for seroprevalence. We think it could be useful in differentiating coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stages, which could in terms of helping improve our therapeutic interventions. Methods The medical records of adult patients admitted to the hospital with probable COVID-19 were extracted and analyzed. We excluded patients with no serology and no clear outcome at the end of data collection. Patient demographics, medical history, and biochemical and clinical data were retrieved. Results A total of 202 patients were included; 57% were males, the majority were Hispanic (45%), followed by African Americans (22%). Hypertension is the most common comorbidity, followed by diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease. We classified them into three groups based on their serology: subacute stage (47 patients) with both immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG negative; acute stage (116 patients) with IgM positive and late-stage (39 patients) with IgM negative and IgG positive. We found that elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and ferritin were present in the IgM+ and IgM-/IgG+ subgroups (p-value of 0.0061 and p-value 0.0013, respectively) while C-reactive protein (CRP) and D-dimer were more elevated in the IgM-/IgG- and IgM+ subgroups (P

TOPIC: Chest Infections TYPE: Original Investigations PURPOSE: The assessment of severity and prognosis of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection on admission is paramount to better triage the patient and predict the in-hospital mortality. Herein, we aim to evaluate the prognostic value of SOFA, qSOFA and mSOFA scores on the need of mechanical ventilation and outcome. We also hope to use the scoring system to better classify the different stages of disease in relation with the serology (IgM/IgG). METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study of patients with COVID-19 admitted to our hospital between 10/1/2020 to 2/28/2021. Inclusion criteria was a well defined clinical outcome i.e., survived or expired and available serology. Demographics, and lab data were reviewed. Simple t-test was used for continuous variables and chi-square test was used for categorical variables. Univariate analysis was used to identify the potential predictive value of SOFA, qSOFA and mSOFA for the need of mechanical ventilation and outcome. GraphPad PRISM was used for all analysis. RESULTS: A total of 202 patients were included during the study period. Majority were latinx and black. Diabetes and hypertension were the most common comorbidities. High SOFA, qSOFA and mSOFA score were significantly associated with risk of mechanical ventilation (Log-likelihood ratio of 31.15, 11.24 and 42.45 respectively with p-value of

Deep learning is a promising way to get relevant information from IoT service sensor data embedded in complex situations. Due to its multifaceted structure, deep learning is better suited to the nature of computer drag. So, in the course of this article, we start by introducing deep IoT metrics into the computer environment. Because there is a limited amount of available bandwidth, we are designing a separate load-filling strategy to optimize the performance of deep IoT learning systems using computers (World Health Organization Epilepsy, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs999/en/)

In 2020 COVID-19 made a major burden on health care system. The capacity of the healthcare system particularly emergency departments, ICU, hospital beds are insufficient to manage the increasing number of patients in cities and rural areas too. The primary health care centers and rural hospitals need preparedness for such disasters conditions. Novel and future oriented solutions are needed to effectively address the unprecedented pressure on the healthcare systems created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the lacunae in healthcare system at primary level, various challenges encountered during pandemic has been identified and training session in consortia with simulation based training program for the training of the doctors, nurses, attendants and other related healthcare staff of Primary Health Center and Rural Hospitals intending to prepare them for future challenges in ventilatory care of COVID-19 has been carried out. After these training session certain conclusions and recommendations were drawn which could be able our health care system to be prepared for more critical situations and we can take our primary health care system at new horizon.

The identification of Hate Speech in Social Media is of great importance and receives much attention in the text classification community. There is a huge demand for research for languages other than English. The HASOC track intends to stimulate development in Hate Speech for Hindi, German and English. Three datasets were developed from Twitter and Facebook and made available. Binary classification and more fine-grained subclasses were offered in 3 subtasks. For all subtasks, 321 experiments were submitted. The approaches used most often were LSTM networks processing word embedding input. The performance of the best system for identification of Hate Speech for English, Hindi, and German was a Marco-F1 score of 0.78, 0.81 and 0.61, respectively.

The use of EMG signals has been gaining prevalence in prosthetic control and gesture-control applications. This study aims to develop an EMG-based human machine interface system. A Myo Armband with eight electrode pairs is worn by a user to acquire and wirelessly transmit EMG data to a central controller. A pattern recognition algorithm is implemented on a central controller to recognize three different hand gesture commands. As a demonstration, a camera system equipped with servo motors is built. The recognized commands can remotely pan each camera and select one of multiple video feeds to display. The study demonstrates that the EMG-based pattern recognition could be a viable human machine interface option for a broad range of applications in industrial, medical, and consumer markets.

Background:BMS-986165 is an oral, selective inhibitor of tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) with a unique mode of binding to the pseudokinase domain of the enzyme rather than the active site within the kinase domain. This unique mode of binding provides high functional selectivity for TYK2 versus other tyrosine kinases (TYKs) in cellular and other in vitro assays.1This approach may provide robust efficacy with a differentiated safety profile due to decreased off-target activity on other kinases. In a 12-week, placebo-controlled Phase 2 trial in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,2BMS-986165 had a favorable safety profile, and 67%–75% of patients achieved Psoriasis Area and Severity Index 75 (PASI 75) after 12 weeks at doses ≥3 mg twice daily versus 7% with placebo. BMS-986165 is currently under investigation in multiple autoimmune disorders such as psoriatic arthritis, psoriasis, and systemic lupus erythematosus.Objectives:To understand the selectivity of BMS-986165 compared with JAK inhibitors, such as tofacitinib (Tofa), upadacitinib (Upa), and baricitinib (Bari), at clinically relevant doses and plasma concentrations.Methods:In vitro whole blood assays were developed to measure the activity of common pairings of JAKs (JAK 1/3, JAK2/2, and TYK2/JAK2) and concentrations providing half-maximal inhibition (IC50) for BMS-986165, Tofa, Upa, and Bari were determined. The whole blood IC50values were plotted against pharmacokinetic profiles of these agents at approved doses and/or doses evaluated in their respective Phase 2/3 trials. The time that concentrations were >IC50and projected average daily inhibition were evaluated.Results:At clinically relevant doses and exposures, BMS-986165 plasma concentrations were higher than the TYK2 whole blood IC50value for a considerable part of the dosing interval. Additionally, the maximal plasma concentration (Cmax) of BMS-986165 was approximately >9- to 18-fold lower than the JAK 1/3 whole blood IC50value and >52- to >109-fold lower than JAK2/2 whole blood IC50, indicating lack of meaningful inhibition of the JAK 1-3 pathways by BMS-986165 at therapeutic doses. At clinically relevant doses, projected Cmaxvalues of Tofa, Upa, and Bari were many-fold lower than TYK2 IC50, indicating minimal or no meaningful inhibition of the TYK2 pathway. As expected, Tofa, Upa, and Bari had varying degrees of inhibition against JAK1/3 (daily average inhibition range: 70%–94%) and JAK2/2 pathways (daily average inhibition range: 24%–67%) at clinically relevant doses and exposures.Conclusion:These results demonstrate the high TYK2 functional selectivity of BMS-986165 at clinically relevant doses and plasma concentrations compared with Tofa, Upa, and Bari and indicate that BMS-986165 is in a different class compared with JAK 1–3 inhibitors. Ongoing studies in psoriasis and other conditions may confirm the expected safety of BMS-986165 based on the above results. The daily average inhibition of JAK1 and JAK2 likely explains some common laboratory observations and adverse events reported for the JAK1–3 inhibitors.References:[1]Burke JR et al.Sci Transl Med. 2019 Jul 24;11(502); eaaw1736.[2]Papp K et al.N Engl J Med. 2018;379(14):1313-1321.Acknowledgments:This study was sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Editorial assistance was provided by Peloton Advantage, LLC, an OPEN Health company, Parsippany, NJ, and was funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb.Disclosure of Interests:Anjaneya Chimalakonda Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, James Burke Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lihong Cheng Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Joann Strnad Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ian Catlett Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Aditya Patel Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Jun Shen Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ihab Girgis Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Subhashis Banerjee Shareholder of: AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lily, Pfizer, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb (current); AbbVie, Lily, Pfizer (past), John Throup Shareholder of: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Employee of: Bristol-Myers Squibb

Nowadays, we have many remote data storage systems available which allow clients to store their data on remote server. But these systems possess many security problems like integrity, availability, and privacy. Unauthorized modification of files must not be possible, but this problem should be resolved. For this, one existing solution called Provable Data Possession (PDP) is available to eliminate integrity problem. This PDP works on public key infrastructure (PKI) and it generates large size keys and requires public key certificates to publish public keys. These characteristics of PDP introduce computation and management overhead on devices having limited computation power. A possible solution to these problems could be usage of Identity-based encryption instead of typical PKI. This solution will generate small-size public keys and eliminate the requirement of public key certificates to publish them.

has been an exponential growth of affordable mobile phones and tablets with significant processing power and memory storage. Having revolutionized the business world, the mobile technology is gradually making inroads into the scientific computing and helping researchers work more efficiently and productively. Mobile apps (software for mobile devices) running scientific applications continue to grow in number, diversity and capability. However, none of the apps currently available provides a mobile interface to one of the most widely used service in bioinformatics for sequence alignment and analysis called Basic Local Alignment Search Tool or BLAST. To address this need, a mobile app - MobSBlast was developed and implemented for the Android platform based mobile devices. In MobSBlast, global sequence alignment is based on Needleman-Wunsch algorithm, which runs locally on the device, while the BLAST algorithm uses the RESTful services to match the user query with the sequence databases at European Bioinformatics Institute. Given the high usage of mobile devices, such bioinformatics app would raise productivity of researchers and facilitate the analysis of sequence data.

Classification models have proven useful for predicting clinical interventions and patient outcomes. One of the key issues that affect the predictive ability of supervised learning frameworks in the healthcare scenario is imbalance in data sets. In addition, non-uniform data collection processes in clinical scenarios lead to poor quality data sets. We designed a novel approach to predict Intensive Care Unit (ICU) transfers based on a weighted-similarity measure for patients outside of ICUs. The approach uses similarity between patient vital signs as input features for training the model. To address the data quality issues, we demonstrate the use of various up-sampling and down-sampling techniques to handle imbalanced data sets and train a classifier on a re-sampled data set. The data set used for testing the approach is derived from the MIMIC III database. We compare our results with the clinically accepted methodology to capture patient's health state, assisting in clinical decision making. Our model outperforms the standard methodology used in clinical decision making in standard scoring metrics such as F1-score, False Positive Rate and Mathew's Correlation Coefficient [MCC].

Citizens of India residing in large cities face several issues related to citizen services in their day to day lives due to rapid growth, congestion and unplanned development of cities (Mega/Metro cities). In this paper, we have studied the concept of smart city and identified various parameters/requirements for smart city (in context of Ahmedabad city) as envisioned by national level mission of Government of India for creation of 100 smart cities in India. Various ICT based information systems/software/mobile apps for providing state of the art citizen services used in top 5 smart cities of the world has been studied. Based on literature survey and data collection, major problems and issues faced by citizens of Ahmedabad city have been identified. To address the problems, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based model has been proposed. The paper also discusses related systems and Mobile Apps which can contribute towards making Ahmedabad, a smart city and provide better citizen services.

Identity theft, privacy invasion, loss of key information is the major reasons for which E-mail security is breached these days. Hence, it is very essential that effective security prevention measures are taken. This paper, proposes many such hacking prevention measures with approaches to recover a hacked account. It also puts forward a novel CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) based mechanism, which can protect the crucial information even if the account is hacked.

N-Acetylaspartylglutamate in human brain has been measured with difference editing at 7 T. The CH(2) proton resonances (∼ 2.5 ppm) of the aspartyl groups of N-acetylaspartylglutamate and N-acetylaspartate were difference edited (MEGA) using 20-msec gaussian radiofrequency pulses for selective 180 ° rotations of the coupling partners at 4.61 and 4.38 ppm, respectively. The echo time of the editing sequence, 108 msec, was obtained in phantom tests. Single-voxel localized in vivo measurements were conducted in the medial prefrontal and right frontal cortices of five healthy volunteers. The gray and white matter fractions within the voxels were obtained from T(1)-weighted image segmentation. Using linear regression of the metabolite concentration vs. fractional white matter contents within the voxels, the N-acetylaspartylglutamate-to-N-acetylaspartate concentration ratios in gray and white matter were estimated to be 0.13 and 0.28 by difference editing (95% confidence intervals 0.07-0.19 and 0.22-0.34), respectively, assuming identical relaxation effects between the metabolites.

E-learning is gaining widespread use and is being used as importance method of education, particularly in higher education. Manual program evaluation by the instructor or expert is a time consuming process and subject to manual variations and errors. The automatic assessment and grading of student’s answers/assignments plays an important role in improving e-learning and providing relief to instructors from the time consuming and lengthy task of manually evaluating student’s assignments/computer programs and grading them. To address this problem, we have proposed a model for automated evaluation and grading of Java programs submitted by students during term work submission or practical examination. This research work focuses on automated evaluation of Java program using various parameters like number of compilation errors, correct output, lines of code, use of coding and naming conventions, cyclomatic, time and space complexity. The experimental results obtained from the initial prototype implementation are encouraging and validates the effectiveness of the proposed model.

In current scenario, wired and wireless networks are widely used in educational organizations to meet the various needs of education institutions. New types of security threats and vulnerabilities are increasing day by day, making wired and wireless networks insecure and unreliable. In this case study paper, a survey of different types of security threats and security mechanisms in educational environment and ways to counteract them has been discussed. To address the security issue, we have proposed an integrated model for security in wired and wireless network. The model includes network topology and associated network security mechanisms. The network model incorporates the concept of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) with its security implications. The proposed model is generalized and holistic to fulfill the network requirements and address emerging security issues of any type of educational organization. The proposed model is implemented in our educational organization and initial encouraging results have been obtained.

The explosion of information systems, internet and web based applications, social networks, and new technologies have given rise to incomprehensibly large worlds of information, often described as “Big Data.” Many of the 1.5 billion users of social media send or receive messages or post or access new content every day. The personal, social, political and business implications of this volume of activity are profound. Extracting useful information from this activity presents a challenge for scientists, technologists and also scholars in other disciplines. Taking the data deluge from on-line social media, in its many forms, and transforming it into useful information (or knowledge) for strategic decision making is the essence of this paper. The paper proposes a model for doing customer analytics on social media using big data for improving target advertising and improved business decision making.

Invasive cervical resorption is entirely uncommon entities and the etiology is poorly understood. A 19 year old patient presented with fractured upper left central incisor and sinus tract opening on the distobuccal aspect in cervical region. Radiographic examination shows irregular radiolucency over the coronal one-third and it extended externally towards the external invasive resorption. After sectional obturation, the defect was accessed surgically. The resorption area was chemomechanically debrided using irrigant solution. Fibre post placement using flowable composite resin and Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) was used to fill the resorptive defect, and the coronal access was temporarily sealed. Composite restoration was subsequently replaced with ceramic crown after 4 years. Radiographs at 1 and 4 years showed adequate repair of the resorption and endodontic success. Clinically and radiographically the tooth was asymptomatic, and no periodontal pocket was found after a 4-year followup.

Current advances in wireless sensor networks have contributed to the development of multi-hop wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs). These networks, which are primarily comprised of low-power sensor nodes, provide long term health and physiological monitoring of patients without obstructing their normal activities. However, the time-varying nature of network resources poses a significant challenge to the high reliability of operations required of a body sensor network. In this paper, we address the problem of reliability optimization in multi-hop WBSNs, where the nodes co-operate with each other in maximizing system performance. We model our problem as a co-operative game which inherently induces a distributed mechanism that optimizes the reliability of network operations in a multi-hop WBSN supporting concurrent applications. By the term ‘reliability’, we imply the system utility generated when each sensor node (user) services its specific application. We denote the system utility as an instance of the vector of utilities of individual users, where each user's utility is a function of its allocated bandwidth. Our mechanism jointly accounts for the dynamistic nature of the wireless medium, application quality of service, user fairness in achieving the resources to service applications, and results in an optimal operating point (utility vector) at which the WBSN should operate. We arrive at the result that the Nash bargaining solution of the co-operative game gives us the optimal system operating point, i.e., the Nash bargaining solution optimizes the overall system reliability.

Aim: This in-vitro study was conducted with an aim to compare apical leakage between root canals filled with Resilon/Epiphany self-etch (SE) system, by using cold lateral condensation and warm vertical condensation obturation techniques. Materials and Methods: A total of 80 recently extracted human mandibular permanent premolars with straight roots with single canals were used in this study. Of 80 samples, 40 were randomly divided into two experimental groups of 20 teeth each ( n = 20). Samples in Group I were obturated with cold lateral condensation technique using Resilon/Epiphany SE sealer, in Group II were obturated with warm vertical condensation using Resilon and Epiphany SE sealer. 40 teeth saved as controls 20 positive ( n = 20) and 20 negative ( n = 20). Results: This in-vitro study showed statistically significant difference between sealing ability of two techniques. Conclusion: Warm vertical condensation obturation technique was better with less apical dye penetration.

Aim: This in vitro study was carried out to compare the effect of two different light curing systems i.e. LED and quartz tungsten halogen on polymerization and hardness of silorane based posterior composite resin. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 samples of silorane based composite Filtek P-90 measuring 2 mm thickness and 8 mm diameter were prepared using teflon moulds. Twenty of the samples were cured by LED curing system and 20 samples were cured by quartz-tungsten-halogen (QTH) curing system. The samples were polished and tested in Knoop Hardness tester using a 50 grams load and dwell time of 15 seconds on top and bottom surfaces. The percentage depth of cure was calculated and statistical analysis was performed using 2 way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test and student t - test. Results: Results showed that the LED showed higher statistically significant values for both the top and bottom surface hardness. Conclusion: LED showed greater hardness and depth of cure as compared to QTH in silorane based posterior composite resin.