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Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is caused due to the infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and it can infect the various parts of the human body. The disease is highly prevalent and is the second most common cause of death worldwide after COVID-19. Apart from sputum specimen, it is exceedingly difficult to diagnose due to its paucibacillary nature. The current study was intended to evaluate the accuracy of Smart Sure™ MTB and multidrug-resistant-TB (MDR-TB) kits (Genetix Biotech Asia Pvt. Ltd., India) with Xpert ultra and Mycobacterium growth indicator tube (MGIT) culture on nonsputum specimens from TB suspects. Methods: A total of 205 nonsputum specimens were received between October 2023 and May 2024 at Intermediate Reference Laboratory, Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. Xpert ultra and Smart Sure™ MTB and MDR-TB tests were done directly on samples. However, processed specimens were used for MGIT culture and drug-susceptibility testing (DST). Invalid and MGIT contaminated specimens were excluded from the final calculation. Results: Overall, sensitivity and specificity of Smart Sure™ MTB screening kit was 71.59% and 98.28%, respectively, with Xpert ultra and 68.35% and 90.83%, respectively, with MGIT culture. While comparing with both Xpert ultra and MGIT-DST to detect rifampicin (RIF) resistant, Smart Sure™ MDR-TB kits showed sensitivity of 75.0% and 100% of specificity. However, for isoniazid (INH) resistance, Smart Sure™ MDR-TB kits showed 100% of sensitivity and specificity with MGIT-DST. Conclusion: For the detection of MTB and its drug-resistance patterns (RIF and INH) in the specimens other than sputum, Smart Sure™ MTB and MDR-TB kits could play a vital role in TB endemic countries. While comparing the set-ups and skilled staffs, it required almost same as compared with previously approved WHO diagnostics used in resource-limited countries.

Abstract Water bodies are highly pollution-prone areas in which mercury (Hg) is considered as a major menace to aquatic organisms. However, the information about the toxicity of mercuric chloride (HgCl2) in a vital organ such as the liver of fish is still inadequate. This study aimed to assess the impact of mercuric chloride (HgCl2) exposure on the liver of Channa punctata fish over 15, 30, and 45 days, at two different concentrations (0.039 mg/L and 0.078 mg/L). Mercury is known to be a significant threat to aquatic life, and yet, information regarding its effects on fish liver remains limited. The results of this study demonstrate that exposure to HgCl2 significantly increases oxidative stress markers, such as lipid peroxidation (LPO) and protein carbonyls (PC), as well as the levels of serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) in the fish. Additionally, the transcriptional and protein analysis of specific genes and molecules associated with necroptosis and inflammation, such as ABCG2, TNF α, Caspase 3, RIPK 3, IL-1β, Caspase-1, IL-18, and RIPK1, confirm the occurrence of necroptosis and inflammation in the liver. Histopathological and ultrastructural examinations of the liver tissue further reveal a significant presence of liver steatosis. Interestingly, the upregulation of PPARα suggests that the fish's body is actively responding to counteract the effects of liver steatosis. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of oxidative stress, biochemical changes, gene expression, protein profiles, and histological findings in the liver tissue of fish exposed to mercury pollution in freshwater environments.

Abstract Both developed and developing countries carry a large burden of pediatric intussusception. Sentinel site surveillance-based studies have highlighted the difference in the regional incidence of intussusception. The objectives of this manuscript were to geospatially map the locations of hospital-confirmed childhood intussusception cases reported from sentinel hospitals, identify clustering and dispersion, and reveal the potential causes of the underlying pattern. Geospatial analysis revealed positive clustering patterns, i.e., a Moran’s I of 0.071 at a statistically significant (p value

Introduction: Cardiovascular and respiratory causes account for the major chunks in sudden death cases in various Western studies. Overall, a very limited number of studies have been conducted on respiratory system changes in cases investigated as sudden and unknown death in India. Pathological respiratory findings are said to be common in the autopsy population; however, their nature and prevalence are not well documented. Aim: To document the morphologic changes in lungs (both gross and microscopic) in cases of sudden death. Materials and Methods: The present study was a cross-sectional, prospective, and observational study conducted over a period of 12 months from 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011. It was conducted on autopsy lung specimens received in the Department of Pathology, RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. For the purpose of present study, sudden death was defined as death occurring within 24 hours of the onset of the terminal symptoms. Unidentified subjects who were declared “Brought Dead” at the emergency room were also included in the study. The lungs were fixed in 10% formalin, weighed, and dimensions measured. Grossly, the lungs were examined for colour, volume, consistency, presence of any pathological changes, the status of bronchi and pleura, and findings were recorded. After routine processing and paraffin embedding, histological sections were stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stain and special stains as and when necessary. All the histological sections were examined microscopically, and findings were recorded. The obtained data were subjected to appropriate statistical analysis by entering the data in Microsoft (MS) excel 2010. Results: There were 46 males (88.46%) and 6 females (11.54%). The age range was 26-86 years, with a mean age of 51.02 years. Among the 52 cases, significant pulmonary pathology was found in 26 cases (50%), excluding postmortem changes. Extensive fibrocaseous pulmonary Tuberculosis (TB) 15 (28.85%) was the most common pulmonary lesion found, present in all age groups. The other major pathological lesions encountered were lobar pneumonia 4 (7.69%), emphysema 3 (5.77%), bronchopneumonia 2 (3.85%), etc. Conclusion: A significant number of cases with pathological lesions in the lung were detected during the histopathological examination of sudden death cases. All the lesions may or may not have contributed to death in a direct or indirect way. The undetected lung pathologies emphasise the importance of autopsy in cases of sudden death.

In this research, efforts have been made to tailor the surface of Agave americana fibre by utilising a sequence of chemical techniques and their subsequent utilisation as adsorbents to remove methylene blue dye from wastewater. The surface modification of Agave americana cellulosic fibre was carried out by utilising a polydopamine (PDA) coating agent, which was subsequently graft copolymerized with vinyl monomer acrylic acid (AAc), and finally doped with silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) to synthesise nanocomposites. Different characterisation techniques, such as SEM, FTIR and XRD were used to characterise the samples and UV-visible spectroscopy was utilised to assess their potential for the removal of dye from wastewater. The grafting of polydopamine, polyacrylic acid, and silver nanoparticles onto the cellulosic fibre resulted in morphological changes and the formation of new bonds, as confirmed by SEM images and FTIR spectra of the grafted samples, respectively. Further, during the dye adsorption/degradation study, among different surface-modified fibres, silver nanoparticles-doped Agave americana fibres graft copolymerized samples showed a maximum of 94.40% dye adsorption/degradation tendency and 85.20 mg/g adsorption capacity. Further, the adsorption was found to be close to Langmuir adsorption.

Abstract Background Capsicum or chilli is an important crop in India which exhibits immense structural and genetic variations reflecting their intra- and inter-specific relationships. The aim of this study was to establish relationships amongst 54 Capsicum accessions through analysis of genetic and population structure using ISSR markers. Results Out of 19, successful DNA amplifications were shown by 7 ISSR primers and a total of 80 bands were identified ranging between 8 and 14 with an average of 11.43 bands/primer. A significant degree of polymorphic information content (PIC), discriminating power (DP), resolving power (RP), effective multiplex ratio (EMR), and marker index (MI) were identified as 0.39, 0.70, 6.40, 5.88, and 2.30, respectively, using ISSR markers in chillies. The cross-transferability ranged from 8.0 to 72.15% with an average of 52.63% among chillies. Amongst genetic information, grand mean values were 0.264, 0.180, 0.376, 0.296, and 0.180, which correspond to Shannon’s information index (I), expected heterozygosity (He), Nei’s gene diversity, total diversity among species (Ht), diversity within species (Hs), respectively. Further, the coefficients of gene differentiation (Gst) and gene flow (Nm) were 0.393 and 0.773, representing higher genetic variation among the population which was confirmed by analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). Conclusion ISSR markers represented a potent system for the estimation of relationships or variation studies and generated information useful for planning crop management and improvement strategies in chilli breeding.

Summary: Developing materials for controlled hydrogen production through water splitting is one of the most promising ways to meet current energy demand. Here, we demonstrate spontaneous and green production of hydrogen at high evolution rate using gadolinium telluride (GdTe) under ambient conditions. The spent materials can be reused after melting, which regain the original activity of the pristine sample. The phase formation and reusability are supported by the thermodynamics calculations. The theoretical calculation reveals ultralow activation energy for hydrogen production using GdTe caused by charge transfer from Te to Gd. Production of highly pure and instantaneous hydrogen by GdTe could accelerate green and sustainable energy conversion technologies.

Polyaniline films are under extensive consideration for applications in sensors, memory devices, displays, biomedicals, etc., owing to their unique optical and electronic functional states that are switchable in response to external stimuli. The application arena of these materials could be enhanced by creating active, adaptive, and autonomous systems with preprogramable spatiotemporal control over the functional states. Here, we present a simple approach to achieve autonomous temporal regulation of polyaniline films’ optical and electrical states by integrating enzyme-catalyzed biochemical reaction. The enzymatic reaction produces a feedback-induced transient pH profile, and correspondingly, the functional states of polyaniline films give rise to a similar switching profile, whose lifetime could be preprogrammed via enzyme concentration. This autonomous, temporally regulated polymer film system represents an advancement to the existing switchable materials that operate at equilibrium.

Abnormalities in the oral cavity of infants are not uncommon, but most are innocuous and resolve with age in the absence of treatment. Some of the most prevalent oral findings are oral inclusion cysts, vascular lesions, natal and neonatal teeth. The American Academy of Paediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recognises that perinatal and infant oral health are the basics upon which preventive education and dental care must be built to enhance the opportunity for a child to have a lifetime free from preventable oral disease This report describes the clinical presentation, diagnosis and suggestive management for a 32-day-old male child patient reported with neonatal teeth, Bohn’s nodules and further at the age of 18 months, with eruption haematoma in the maxillary alveolar region. “Bohn’s nodules” are keratin-filled cysts with prevalence of 47.4% with no gender predilection. Natal and neonatal teeth considered as critically important conditions as their presence can lead to numerous complications such as ulceration on the ventral surface of the tongue caused by the sharp incisal edge of the tooth and condition known as Riga-Fede disease or syndrome. “Eruption haematoma” is circumcoronal cystic cavity which contains blood usually associated with an erupting primary or permanent tooth which is in its soft tissue eruption phase. Therefore, a thorough clinical examination and knowledge of the various lesions is essential for precise diagnosis, management, as well as parental counselling.

Background and Aims: Conscious sedation plays a significant role in in-office pharmacological behavior management for short-term procedures in children and apprehensive adults. The advantage conscious sedation provides is by improving quality of care provided by decreasing pain and anxiety while maintaining a patent airway and adequate spontaneous ventilation. Methodology: Present review was conducted to evaluate recent trends regarding use of in-office pharmacological sedation agents in India. A rigorous search was conducted through five electronic databases namely PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Database, and CTRI (Clinical Trial Registry – India). The search period was defined to be last 5 years, that is, from 1st January 2014 to 31st July 2019. Terminologies “Conscious Sedation,” “In-office Sedation,” “Midazolam,” “Nitrous Oxide,” “India” were included in the search. The Boolean Operation “OR” and “AND” were applied to combine the terminologies. Results: A total of 20 studies were identified following strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. The included studies were evaluated for study design, speciality involved, number of individuals and their age groups, drugs compared along with route and dosage, procedures undertaken, place of study and results. Dental fraternity (13) had more number of trials conducted as compared to medical fraternity (7) in the stimulated period, with South Indian region having maximum trials registered or published. Conclusion: Midazolam was observed to the drug of choice for in-office sedation procedures in Indian Scenario. The limitation of study is that the published clinical studies are limited to a few states of India.

The 3D Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) are used in this study to analyze and characterize Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. This technique consists of three stages: ECG signal preprocessing, feature extraction, and ECG signal order. The 3D wavelet transform is a signal preprocessing technique, de-noising, along with wavelet coefficient extraction. • SVM is used to categorize the ECG through each of the nine heartbeat types recognized by the various classifiers. For this work, around 6400 ECG beats were looked at over the China Physiological Signal Challenge (CPSC) 2018 arrhythmia dataset. • The best degree of exactness was acquired when level 4 rough constants with Symlet-8 (Sym8) channel were utilized for arrangement. Utilizing the ECG signals from CPSC 2018 data set, the SVM classifier has a normal precision of 99.02%, which is much better than complex support vector machine (CSVM) 98.5%, and weighted support vector machine (WSVM) 99%. • The suggested approach is far superior to others in terms of accuracy, and classification of several diseases of arrhythmia.

Mulberry (Morus alba L.) is having numerous natural phytocompounds, which possess nutritional and pharmaceutical value. Due to its perishable nature and limited availability, it is not yet much explored except for its value addition. However, the wholesomeness in terms of shape has been always ignored. Therefore, the aim of present study was to optimize the processing conditions for production of osmo-dehydrated (OD) mulberry and retaining the shape of the fruit. The effect of three process variables i.e., blanching time (0 to 180 s), syrup concentration (45 to 75 obrix) and drying temperature (45–60 °C) was evaluated on the quality attributes of OD mulberry. All the phytochemicals were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) affected during processing conditions. The optimized conditions for the development of OD mulberry were 170 s blanching time, 66.52°brix syrup concentration and 53.48 °C drying temperature with 0.84 desirability. All the variables possess an important role in the quality of mulberry as revealed during cluster analysis. The optimized sample had more nutritional and phytochemical potential as confirmed during the qualitative analysis. In a nutshell, it is concluded that optimized conditions can be used to produce OD mulberry along with maintenance of original shape and to make it available at off places and during off seasons.

Introduction: Mast cells are found in areas rich in connective tissues and beneath epithelial surfaces. Mast cells have been extensively studied for their orchestration of allergic reactions and autoimmunity. Mast cells infiltrate various prostatic lesions in varying concentrations. Autopsy specimens had not been investigated extensively in the previous literature. Aim: To find out a quantitative estimation of mast cells and the association of the number of mast cells in various prostatic lesions that included both inflammatory and neoplastic lesions in autopsy cases. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, analytical study was carried out in the Department of Pathology, R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, India from April 2017 to March 2018. Sixty autopsy specimens of the prostate were dissected from the deceased males above 30 years of age. Four to six paraffin embedded sections from different lobes and peri-urethral areas were taken. Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained sections for histopathological diagnosis and toluidine-blue stain after water mounting to demonstrate mast cells by its metachromasia were performed. Mast cell densities were estimated by a light microscope under high power magnification (400X) on an average of 100 fields. Gross and microscopic findings were recorded. Data analysis correlation was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 18.0. Mean and standard deviations were determined for different prostatic lesions. Group means were compared using the student’s t-test. For statistical significance p-value of less than 0.05 was considered. Results: A total of 60 autopsy specimens of the prostate were studied comprising 8 (13.5%) specimens of normal prostate, which acted as a control, 6 (10%) specimens of prostatitis, 27 (45%) specimens of Benign Hypertrophy of Prostate (BHP), 12 (20%) specimens of BHP with Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (PIN), 3 (5%) specimens of prostatitis with focal PIN and 4 (6.5%) specimens of prostatic adenocarcinoma. Mast Cell Density (MCD) was higher in prostatitis {6-8 per High Power Fields (HPF)}, compared to normal (1-3/HPF) and BHP (3-5/HPF), lowest in adenocarcinoma (1-2/HPF) and intermediate in PIN (2-4/HPF). Conclusion: Mast cell density was the lowest in prostatic adenocarcinoma and significantly higher in prostatitis, probably due to a lack of antitumour immunity in higher grades, whereas it was significantly higher in chronic non specific prostatitis possibly because of inflammatory response.

Introduction: Apoptosis plays a major role in maintaining the balance between cellular proliferation and cell death in the skin. Blockage of apoptosis has been implicated as one of the contributing factors in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. P53 has a role in induction of cell cycle arrest, apoptosis as well as regulation of cell proliferation, bcl-2 is anti-apoptotic protein. Previous studies have reported controversial results relating to their expression in psoriatic skin. Aim: To evaluate the immunohistochemical expression of p53 and bcl-2 in the epidermis, basal cells and lymphocytes of psoriatic skin and compare it with the adjacent perilesional skin. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Hind Institute of Medical Sciences, Safedabad, Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, India from June 2016 to December 2017. Fifty cases of psoriasis were included and punch skin biopsies including a small part of perilesional skin was taken. The sections were studied for the presence of immunohistochemical expression of p53 and bcl-2 using scoring systems. The perilesional part of the biopsy was used for comparing the histopathological and immunohistochemical expressions. The student t-test was used for comparison of groups using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 program and a p-value of

Global warming negatively affects plant growth due to the detrimental effects of high temperature-induced heat stress. Rhizobium inoculation (RI) and exogenous melatonin (MT) have shown a positive role in resisting abiotic stress. However, their synergistic effect on avoiding heat-induced damages in Medicago truncatula has not been studied yet. Hence, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of these amendments (RI and MT) to ameliorate the heat damages in Medicago truncatula. The study was comprised of two factors: (1) heat-induced stress: (i) optimum temperature (26 ± 1°C): (23 ± 1°C) (day: night), (ii) moderate heat (35 ± 1°C): (28 ± 1°C), and (iii) severe heat (41 ± 1°C): (35 ± 1°C) for 72 h, and (2) amendments: (i) no RI + no MT (NRI + NMT), (ii) Rhizobium inoculation (RI), (iii) 60 μM melatonin (MT), and (iii) RI + MT. Results showed that the combined application of RI and MT was better than their individual applications, as it prevented heat-induced membrane damages by declining the hydrogen peroxide (34.22% and 29.78%), superoxide anion radical (29.49% and 26.71%), malondialdehyde contents (26.43% and 21.96%), and lipoxygenase activity (44.75% and 25.51%) at both heat stress levels as compared to NRI + NMT. Moreover, RI + MT treated plants showed higher antioxidative and methylglyoxal detoxification enzymes (Gly I and Gly II) activities under heat stress. While, NRI + NMT treated plants showed a higher level of methylglyoxal contents (47.99% and 46.71%) under both levels of heat stress. Relative to NRI + NMT plants, RI + MT pretreated plants exhibited improved heat tolerance as indicated by higher chlorophyll (37.42% and 43.52%), carotenoid contents (32.41% and 47.08%), and photosynthetic rate (42.62% and 64.63%), under moderate and severe heat stress, respectively. Furthermore, RI + MT pretreated plants had considerably higher indole-3 acetic acid and abscisic acid concentrations under moderate (54.02% and 53.92%) and severe (68.36% and 64.61%) heat stress conditions. Similarly, plant dry biomass, NPK uptake, nitric oxide, and nitrate reductase activity were high in RI + MT treated plants, under both levels of stress. Therefore, this study advocates the positive synergistic effect of RI and MT pretreatment against moderate and severe heat-induced stress and for possible maintenance of plant growth under changing scenarios of global warming.

Introduction: Cancer pain is known to be one of the Most severe pain anyone in life and is the primary reason for discontinuation of treatment. Sphenopalatine ganglion block (SPGB) can be useful in alleviating pain of carcinoma buccal mucosa. The study aims to analyze the effect of transnasal SPGB in pain management of patients suffering from carcinoma buccal mucosa. Materials and Methods: It was a hospital-based study done on 150 patients with carcinoma buccal mucosa using a prospective cross-sectional study design. To do statistical analysis, paired t-test was used having SPSS software. Results: On visual analogue scale, intensity of pain was found to be notably reduced from 7.42±2.02 to 3.45±1.21 (P < 0.0001), after first sitting. Preprocedure and postprocedure morphine requirement were 90.24 ± 30.24 and 60.42 ± 0.93 mg/day (P > 0.05) At the conclusion of study, the results were found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: Transnasal SPGB is beneficial in improving patient compliance and reducing pain scores and morphine requirement in patients suffering from carcinoma buccal mucosa.

Introduction: Antiepileptics and antidepressant medications are known for managing neuropathic pain. We aim to compare the effects of pregabalin with low-dose amitriptyline and gabapentin with low-dose amitriptyline in managing neuropathic pain in cancer patients undergoing palliative care. Materials and Methods: We conducted our study on 160 cancer patients who were having neuropathic pain and were undergoing palliative care treatment in our institute. It was a hospital-based, randomized, tertiary cancer center-based observational study. After taking approval from the institutional ethics committee and taking written informed consent from patients, the patients were divided into two groups and the effect of medicines on incidence of neuropathic pain was observed; the incidence of burning sensation and the incidence of adverse effects of medications were also analyzed. Statistical analysis was done using paired t-test and SPSS version 20 software. Results: The onset of relief in pain was earlier in the pregabalin group as compared to the gabapentin group. There was more reduction in a burning sensation in the pregabalin group as compared to the gabapentin group. The incidence of headaches was the same in both groups. Nausea and vomiting were more in the pregabalin group but the overall difference in adverse effects was not statistically significant (P > 0.05) Conclusions: In the management of neuropathic pain in cancer patients who are undergoing palliative care, a combination of pregabalin with amitriptyline was found to be more effective in pain relief than gabapentin with amitriptyline.

Introduction: In managing paediatric patients most common challenge is to encounter child’s fear and anxiety during dental procedures. In modern era smartphone dentist games can be used as a modification of Tell Show Do (TSD) technique. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of different behaviour modification techniques in paediatric patients at first dental visit and to compare conventional techniques: TSD, TSD+maternal presence, Mobile Dental Game (MG) and MG+maternal presence as behaviour modification techniques in preschool children. Materials and Methods: The present pilot study (a randomised parallel group clinical trial) was conducted in the Department of Paediatric and Preventive Dentistry of Faculty of Dental Sciences, SGT University, Gurugram, Haryana from July 2021 to December 2021 over a period of 6 months in 80 children between the age group of 4 to 6 years with deft (d=decayed, e=extracted due to caries, f=filled, t=teeth)

Multifarious plant growth-promoting Bacillus strains recovered from rhizospheric soils of the Indo Gangetic plains (IGPs) were identified as Bacillus licheniformis MNNITSR2 and Bacillus velezensis MNNITSR18 based on their biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA gene analysis. Both strains exhibited the ability to produce IAA, siderophores, ammonia, lytic enzymes, HCN production, and phosphate solubilization capability and strongly inhibited the growth of phytopathogens such as Rhizoctonia solani and Fusariun oxysporum in vitro. In addition, these strains are also able to grow at a high temperature of 50 °C and tolerate up to 10–15% NaCl and 25% PEG 6000. The results of the pot experiment showed that individual seed inoculation and the coinoculation of multifarious plant growth promoting (PGP) Bacillus strains (SR2 and SR18) in rice fields significantly enhanced plant height, root length volume, tiller numbers, dry weight, and yield compared to the untreated control. This indicates that these strains are potential candidates for use as PGP inoculants/biofertilizers to increase rice productivity under field conditions for IGPs in Uttar Pradesh, India.

Background and Aim: Reconstruction of interdental papillae (IDP) is among the most difficult periodontal therapy. Papillary recession is multifactorial, and several surgical, nonsurgical, and minimally invasive techniques have been suggested. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical application of injectable hyaluronic acid (HA) gel for the reconstruction of IDP in Nordland and Tarnow's Class I and II papillary recession cases. Materials and Methods: In the present in vivo clinical trial, 7 patients (2 males, 5 females) with 25 defects were selected. A volume of 0.2 ml HA gel was injected at the respective areas and massaged for 2–3 min. Photographs were obtained, and the assessment of the data was performed clinically (CP-GM, interproximal width [IPW]) and by Image analysis software (black triangle height [BTH], black triangle width [BTW]). Comparison of mean values was performed using the analysis of variance, followed by Post hoc Bonferroni test. Value of P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Application of HA gel for the reconstruction of IDP was successful in 6 months. CP-GM, BTH, IPW, and BTW showed a statistically significant difference from baseline to 3 and 6 months interval (P = 0.01). Post hoc Bonferroni test for CP-GM, BTH, BTW, and IPW revealed a statistically significant difference from baseline to 3 months (P ≤ 0.05) and 6 months (P ≤ 0.05) and a nonsignificant difference at 3–6 months (P ≥ 0.05). Conclusion: Injectable HA gel is a promising minimally invasive therapy for enhancing papillary esthetics.

ABSTRACT Diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) using biomarkers in order to identify the risk of progressing to active TB and therefore predicting a preventive therapy has been the main bottleneck in eradication of tuberculosis. We compared two assays for the diagnosis of LTBI: transcript signatures and interferon gamma release assay (IGRA), among household contacts (HHCs) in a high tuberculosis-burden population. HHCs of active TB cases were recruited for our study; these were confirmed to be clinically negative for active TB disease. Eighty HHCs were screened by IGRA using QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) to identify LTBI and uninfected cohorts; further, quantitative levels of transcript for selected six genes (TNFRSF10C, ASUN, NEMF, FCGR1B, GBP1, and GBP5) were determined. Machine learning (ML) was used to construct models of different gene combinations, with a view to identify hidden but significant underlying patterns of their transcript levels. Forty-three HHCs were found to be IGRA positive (LTBI) and thirty-seven were IGRA negative (uninfected). FCGR1B, GBP1, and GBP5 transcripts differentiated LTBI from uninfected among HHCs using Livak method. ML and ROC (Receiver Operator Characteristic) analysis validated this transcript signature to have a specificity of 72.7%. In this study, we compared a quantitative transcript signature with IGRA to assess the diagnostic ability of the two, for detection of LTBI cases among HHCs of a high-TB burden population; we concluded that a three gene (FCGR1B, GBP1, and GBP5) transcript signature can be used as a biomarker for rapid screening. IMPORTANCE The study compares potential of transcript signature and IGRA to diagnose LTBI. It is first of its kind study to screen household contacts (HHCs) in high TB burden area of India. A transcript signature (FCGR1B, GBP1, & GBP5) is identified as potential biomarker for LTBI. These results can lead to development of point-of-care (POC) like device for LTBI screening in a high TB burdened area.

Plant-based synthesis of nanoparticles has generated worldwide interest because of cost-effectiveness, eco-friendly nature and plethora of applications. In the present investigation, antimicrobial potential of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of methanolic extract of Aegle marmelos fruit has been investigated. Agar well diffusion method was used for determining antimicrobial activity of solvent extracts (viz., petroleum ether, chloroform, acetone, methanol and aqueous), and AgNPs. Among these, methanolic extract of A. marmelos showed highest inhibitory activity against B. cereus (16.17 ± 0.50 mm) followed by P. aeruginosa (13.33 ± 0.62 mm) and E. coli. Phytochemical analysis of methanolic extract of A. marmelos revealed the presence of tannins, saponins, steroids, alkaloids, flavonoids, and glycosides. AgNPs synthesized using A. marmelos methanolic extract, characterized by UV–Visible spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and X-ray diffraction showed a peak at 436 nm and size ranged between 159 and 181 nm. Evaluation of the antimicrobial potential of green synthesized AgNPs recorded the highest inhibitory activity against B. cereus (19.25 ± 0.19 mm) followed by P. aeruginosa (16.50 ± 0.30 mm) and S. dysentriae. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of synthesized AgNPs was found to be in the range of 0.009875–0.0395 mg/100 μl which was quite lower than the MIC of crude extract i.e. 0.0781–0.3125 mg/100 μl. The results obtained indicated that the different crude extracts of A. marmelos plant as well as AgNPs have a strong and effective antimicrobial potential that provide a marvelous source for the development of new drug molecules of herbal origin which may be used for the welfare of humanity. Keywords: Antimicrobial potential, Crude extract, MIC, Nanoparticle, XRD, AFM

Human beings are constantly exposed to radioactivity in the environment. As they are major sources of harmful radiation, radionuclides found in the atmosphere might result in a substantial potential risk to living beings. On the Earth's surface, the radioactive elements uranium and radium are naturally present, contributing to radon and thoron gases in the indoor as well as outdoor climate, soil and water. Radon is one of the most important toxins that, after cigarette smoking, is the second most common cause of generating lung cancer. Due to these health-related concerns, a lot of work has been undertaken by numerous research organizations to determine their levels at different locations throughout the world. This paper is an attempt to comprehensively report with different techniques all those studies being carried out in this part of India so that a current assessment of the indoor radon levels should be available for further work in this field. Six northern Indian states, viz. Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan , Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are considered for this examination. This study also provides data on exhalation rates and activity concentration of natural radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th, and 40K) present in these states.

Context: Major limitations of conventional radiography are overlapping and lack of 3D information. Surgical exposure, though being able to provide accurate information, provides very little time to plan-out the type of periodontal regeneration required during surgery. Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) has emerged as a feasible tool and found to be accurate. Unfortunately, in-vivo studies are still scarce. Aim: Aim of the present study was to assess the efficacy of CBCT in the detection of periodontal bony defects while determining its quantitative precision in the measurement of alveolar bone height as against the open flap debridement (OFD) procedure which is set as the gold standard. Setting and Design: Present study is a cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: The present study includes patients with Chronic Periodontitis indicated for periodontal surgeries. Bone defects were measured with the help of CBCT and with William's periodontal probe during surgical intervention and compared. Statistical Analysis: Measurements were compared with Student's t-test; unpaired t-test & correlation were tested with Pearson's correlation coefficient test. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean CBCT & surgical value of palatal/lingual & distal sites of anterior teeth showed statistically significant difference (P = 0.001). All the values for posterior teeth were statistically non-significant. Conclusion: Statistically CBCT & clinical measurement with OFD have similar potential of accuracy to access the bony topography but CBCT provides good accessibility to visualize the sites which are difficult to access during surgical interventions like palatal sites & the distal sites of the posterior teeth.

Hemifacial microsomia (HFM) is a congenital malformation in which there is hypoplasia of hard and soft tissues on one side of the face. It is considered the second most common congenital syndrome of the head-and-neck region. The hypoplasia manifests in all the structures derived from the first and second branchial arches and therefore, growth and development of these structures is affected in this condition. The present case is a variant of HFM in a 5-year-old Indian male child, which has been diagnosed based on clinical and radiological findings and managed successfully by surgical technique known as distraction osteogenesis.

Background: Six diverse Demographic Development and Environmental Surveillance System (DDESS) sites were established in urban slum, urban resettlement, peri-urban, rural, and tribal areas located in Northern, North-East, Eastern, and Southern regions of India from June 2020 to March 2022. Understanding the community dynamics and engaging people in the community is critically important in the process of establishing DDESS. We ascertained the barriers, challenges, and facilitators during the establishment of multiple DDESS sites across India. Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive mixed-methods study. Results: Multiple barriers and challenges encountered were reported in the process of community engagement (CE), such as geographical inaccessibility, language barriers, adverse weather, non-responsiveness due to perceived lack of individual benefit or financial gain, fear of contracting COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, etc. Facilitators in the CE process were pre-existing links with the community, constitution of community advisory boards, community need assessment, concomitant delivery of outreach health services, and skill-building facilities. Conclusion: Most community barriers in the development of DDESS sites in resource-limited settings can be overcome through a multipronged approach, including effective community engagement by focusing on demonstrating trust at the local level, enlisting community mobilization and support, utilizing pre-existing community linkages, initiating community diagnosis, and meeting perceived community health needs.

The application of nanomaterials for water treatment has gained impetus in recent years. Nano-adsorbents offer significant decontamination potential due to their unique characteristics. Present study deals with synthesis and application of alumina nanoparticles for removal of an anionic dye, Orange G (OG) from aqueous solutions. The properties of synthesized nanoparticles were investigated by FTIR, TG/DTA, XRD, TEM, SEM, EDX and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques. The effect of various important parameters on dye removal was examined and adsorption was found to be highly pH dependent and maximum removal of 98.4% was observed at pH 2.5. The presence of interfering anions such as SO42−, PO43−, and C2O42− was found to be limiting factor of the adsorption process. The kinetic results demonstrated that the sorption process was described by pseudo-second-order model. Mechanism of adsorption process was also interpreted with the help of diffusion models and the results exhibited that external diffusion governed the overall sorption process. The Langmuir model yielded a good fit for the experimental data with high adsorption capacity (93.3 mg/g at 303 K). The evaluated thermodynamic parameters ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS°, proposed that adsorption of OG was spontaneous, feasible, and exothermic under investigated conditions. Desorption experiments confirmed that the exhausted adsorbent can be successfully regenerated and can be effectively reused up to four successive cycles with almost the same sorption capacity resulting in reducing cost of treatment. The adsorption performance of alumina nanoparticles was also tested by using real wastewater and results indicated that nano alumina is proficient for the treatment of multi-solute system also. Keywords: Alumina nanoparticles, Isotherm, Kinetics, N2 adsorption-desorption, Regeneration, TGA/DTA

An investigation was carried out using three different finger millet crosses belonging to different maturity groups to compare their response in terms of the genetic potential transferred from F4 to F5 generation. The heritability in standard units or intergeneration correlation was found to be significant for plant height and finger length. Narrow sense heritability was found to be low (

Temporal control over self-assembly processes is a desirable trait for discovering adaptable and controllable materials. Here the authors show that a chemical fuel driven system can not only self-assemble in a controlled manner, but can also result in precise control over the assembly and disassembly kinetics.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the utilization of various agro-industrial wastes such as wheat bran, wheat husk, wheat straw, peanut powder, pomace, corn cobs, rice straw, sawdust and sugarcane bagasse for the cost-effective production of xylanase by Bacillus safensis XPS7 using the one-variable-at-a-time approach. A number of bacterial strains were isolated from different locations in the cold desert region of Himachal Pradesh, India. Among these, the hyperproducing strain designated as XPS7 was selected for optimized production of xylanase and identified as B. safensis based on 16S rDNA gene analysis. B. safensis XPS7 produced the maximum xylanase (141.28 U/mL) at 45 °C, pH 9, 24 h incubation time, 2% (w/v) wheat straw and wheat bran mixture as carbon source and 1.5% (w/v) ammonium nitrate as the nitrogen source in modified Riviere’s medium. The results showed that the combination of wheat straw and wheat bran proved to be a cheap and abundant source for the hyper production of xylanase and can be used as an inexpensive base (carbon source) for large scale industrial production of enzymes. In addition, the use of waste for the economic production of enzymes will also help to minimize the environmental problems associated with the disposal of agro-industrial waste.

Introduction: Caries pattern is multifactorial in context to the type of diet, tooth structure, time of insult, microflora and salivary contents (salivary pH, buffering action, salivary flow, etc.). Craniofacial relationship may be a contributing factor in the site of occurrence of caries i.e., mesial, distal, occlusal, palatal/lingual and buccal surfaces of primary and permanent molars. Aim: The aim of the study was to find out the effect of the type of malocclusion in primary dentition and mixed dentition period on the surface distribution of caries with respect to their molars along with overall DMFT (decayed, missing and filled teeth index) of the patient. Materials and Methods: A pilot study was conducted in Government and Private schools of district Gurugram, Haryana. Hundred children between 3-5 years of age with primary dentition and 8-10 years of age in mixed dentition period as per inclusion and exclusion criteria were included. Type of terminal plane relationship, according to Baume’s classification, i.e., Flush terminal/mesial step/distal step and affected carious site in all primary molars were examined in 3-5-year-old children. Similarly in 8-10-year-old, type of malocclusion according to Angle’s Classification and its association with carious sites in permanent first molar were examined. Decayed, missing and filled teeth index, DMFT/dmft (i.e., dmft=0-1, 1-2, ≤3 and DMFT+dmft (DMFT+dmft=0-1, 1-2, ≤3) was analysed in both groups, respectively. Results: The mesial step molar relationship was the most common malocclusion (93%) in primary dentition whereas in mixed dentition Angle’s Class I was the most common (84%) malocclusion. Caries occurrence was more in maxillary molars as compared to mandibular molars. The order of caries occurrence in primary and permanent dentition was occlusal surfaces>mesial surfaces>distal surfaces>buccal surfaces>palatal/lingual surfaces. The caries occurrence according to dmft index in primary dentition was not associated with any type of malocclusion, though it was more in mesial step molar relationship. Angle’s Class II malocclusion contributed significantly high DMFT+dmft index with p-value of 0.020. Conclusion: Type of malocclusion does not affect with surface pattern of caries on molars in primary and mixed dentition period. Decayed, missing and filled caries index may be significantly associated with Angle’s Class II malocclusion according to the present study.