RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERIODONTAL DISEASE AND ABO BLOOD GROUP PHENOTYPES-A CROSS SECTIONAL RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Objective: Numerous epidemiological studies have been carried out to assess the association of ABO blood typing and systemic diseases. However, the research is still at the infancy stage with regards to the dental field. Periodontitis, being one of the most prevalent diseases in the oral cavity can be supposed to be influenced by the blood grouping pattern among patients. The present cross-sectional study was carried out to asses the relationship between periodontal disease status and the ABO blood group.Methods: In a retrospective study of 2014, patients who reported to Saveetha Dental College and Hospital and diagnosed with chronic periodontitis, both localized and generalized forms were included. Demographic data, diagnostic and the ABO blood grouping information were procured from the case records of 410 subjects and then analysed.Results: Among the 410 individuals, 245 were diagnosed with localized chronic periodontitis whereas 165 subjects had suffered from generalized chronic periodontitis. A high fraction of the localized periodontitis population (20.97%) was of the blood group ‘B.' Similarly(12.92%) of the generalized periodontitis cases belonged to either ‘B' or ‘O' blood groups. The least affected blood group was ‘AB.'Conclusion: This cross-sectional study shows a definite relation between blood typing and periodontal disease. Further studies are required in order to validate the usage of blood groups as risk predictors for periodontitis.Â

പ്ലവകങ്ങൾ സൂക്ഷ്മലോകത്തെ അത്ഭുതജീവികൾ

പ്ലവകങ്ങൾ സൂക്ഷ്മലോകത്തെ അത്ഭുതജീവിക

First distributional report of Filinia camasecla Myers, 1938 (Rotifera: Eurotatoria: Monogononta) from peninsular India

This work reports the first distributional record of Filinia camasecla Myers, 1938 in south India from the Cochin backwaters on the northern stretch of Lake Vembanad. Earlier, the distribution of this species has been known from Oriental (South East-Asia) and Neotropical biogeographical realms. Though it comes under the oriental endemics no previous records of this species were available from this area or other parts of Vembanad backwaters. The occurrence of F. camasecla in this additional geographic region highlights the range extension of the species

An overview of anti-diabetic plants used in Gabon: Pharmacology and Toxicology

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Ethnopharmacological relevance: The management of diabetes mellitus management in African communities, especially in Gabon, is not well established as more than 60% of population rely on traditional treatments as primary healthcare. The aim of this review was to collect and present the scientific evidence for the use of medicinal plants that are in currect by Gabonese traditional healers to manage diabetes or hyperglycaemia based here on the pharmacological and toxicological profiles of plants with anti-diabetic activity. There are presented in order to promote their therapeutic value, ensure a safer use by population and provide some bases for further study on high potential plants reviewed. Materials and methods: Ethnobotanical studies were sourced using databases such as Online Wiley library, Pubmed, Google Scholar, PROTA, books and unpublished data including Ph.D. and Master thesis, African and Asian journals. Keywords including ‘Diabetes’ ‘Gabon’ ‘Toxicity’ ‘Constituents’ ‘hyperglycaemia’ were used. Results: A total of 69 plants currently used in Gabon with potential anti-diabetic activity have been identified in the literature, all of which have been used in in vivo or in vitro studies. Most of the plants have been studied in human or animal models for their ability to reduce blood glucose, stimulate insulin secretion or inhibit carbohydrates enzymes. Active substances have been identified in 12 out of 69 plants outlined in this review, these include Allium cepa and Tabernanthe iboga. Only eight plants have their active substances tested for anti-diabetic activity and are suitables for further investigation. Toxicological data is scarce and is dose-related to the functional parameters of major organs such as kidney and liver. Conclusion: An in-depth understanding on the pharmacology and toxicology of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is lacking yet there is a great scope for new treatments. With further research, the use of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is important to ensure the safety of the diabetic patients in Gabon.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Fishery for cephalopods using Fish Aggregating Device off Blangad in Kerala

Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) is being deployed off Blangad a small coastal village in Chavakkad, Thrissur district of Kerala, for catching squids and cuttlefishes. The FADs are made up of coconut spadix (locally known as Kolanjil), plastic bottles, nylon ropes, pieces of fishing nets and sacks containing large quantities of sand. This structure is locally known as Norumbu and fishermen from Colachel and Kanyakumari are mainly involved with this activity. The coconut spadix tied with nylon ropes and plastic bottles as float have sacks filled with sand as anchors (Figs. 1 & 2). This structure errected in the sea in identified sites at a distance of 20-44 km from shore and having 30-50 fathom depth, acts as an aggregating device, especially for cephalopods. The fishers record its position on their Global Position System (GPS) unit and after 5 days arrive to operate hooks & lines (Fig.3). Fishing season is from October-May and during the peak season, around 200 fibre boats are operating from Blangad. Most of the boats are fitted with 2 numbers of 9 hp outboard engines. A tractor is used for hauling the boat to the beac

Diversity of zooplankton along the northern part of Vembanad lake, Kerala, India

Zooplankton samples collected from six stations, along the Kollam Kottappuram waterway (National Waterway 3) on the northern part of Lake Vembanad on monthly intervals during October 2018 to September 2019 formed the basis of this study. The samples were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively by adopting standard methods. 23 groups of zooplankton were recorded from the study area. Out of these, a maximum of 18 groups were recorded from station 1 (Cochin bar mouth) and a minimum of 9 groups from station 6 (Kottappuram). Overall average density of zooplankton in the study area was 3044 numbers per 100 m3 . Station-wise studies indicated that the average zooplankton density was maximum (4882 per 100 m3 ) at station 2 (Kadamakudy) and minimum (1649 per 100 m3 ) at station 5 (Azhikode bar mouth). Among the different groups of zooplankton in the study area, a maximum of 79% was contributed by copepods, 14% by rotifers while the remaining groups contributed less than 2% each. Month-wise analysis indicated the maximum density during September and the minimum during January. Biodiversity analyses were carried out by Primer v. 6 software. From the cluster analysis and Bray-Curtis similarity matrix, July and August months showed the maximum similarity of species composition compared to all other months

Detection of dengue-4 virus in pune, western india after an absence of 30 years - its association with two severe cases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Difference in severity of dengue outbreaks has been related to virus serotype, genotype and clades within genotypes. Till the 1980 s, India and Sri Lanka reported low number of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) cases despite circulation of all four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV). Since the 1990 s the occurrence of DHF has increased. The increase has been attributed to changes in virus lineage especially with regard to DENV-2 and DENV-3. DENV-1 has been associated with dengue fever (DF) outbreaks and DENV-4 reports have been rare. The emergence of DENV-4 was reported recently in 2003 in Delhi and in 2007 in Hyderabad. The last report of DENV-4 from Maharashtra was in 1975 from Amalner.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report on the detection of DENV-4 in Pune, Maharashtra after an absence of almost 30 years. Two cases were detected in 2009-10, serotyped by multiplex reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Both the cases were recorded as severe dengue (Category 3) requiring intensive care unit (ICU) level of treatment. Depending on the hemagglutination inhibiting (HI) antibody titres the 2009 case was characterized as a primary infection and the 2010 case as a secondary infection. Both the cases presented plasma leakage and neither showed any kind of haemorrhage. The 2009 case survived while the 2010 case was fatal. An isolate was obtained from the 2009 case. Based on envelope (E) gene sequence analysis, the virus belonged to genotype I of DENV-4, and clustered with isolates from India and Sri Lanka and was distant from the isolates from Thailand. The nucleotide and amino acid diversity of the E gene of the Indian isolates increased from 1996 to 2007 to 2009 in context of the E gene sequences of other isolates belonging to genotype I.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The increasing diversity in the circulating DENV-4 calls for close monitoring of the DENV-4 serotype.</p

Survey on functionally diverse bacterial strains from marine finfishes and crustaceans

Prokaryotic microorganisms compromise a large portion of the organic biomass of the world’s ocean and play an important role in the biogeochemical cycles and food webs of this ecosystem. Surface colonization by microorganisms is ubiquitous in marine systems with a large proportion of microbes occurring as complex communities. Despite their importance, comparatively little is known about the phylogenetic composition of this complex microbial population and the functional roles of their members. Living surfaces are ideal to explore colonization by microorganisms because eukaryotes are subject to a constant bombardment from the millions of microbial cells typically found in a millilitre of seawater

Analysis of Xq27-28 linkage in the international consortium for prostate cancer genetics (ICPCG) families.

BACKGROUND: Genetic variants are likely to contribute to a portion of prostate cancer risk. Full elucidation of the genetic etiology of prostate cancer is difficult because of incomplete penetrance and genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity. Current evidence suggests that genetic linkage to prostate cancer has been found on several chromosomes including the X; however, identification of causative genes has been elusive. METHODS: Parametric and non-parametric linkage analyses were performed using 26 microsatellite markers in each of 11 groups of multiple-case prostate cancer families from the International Consortium for Prostate Cancer Genetics (ICPCG). Meta-analyses of the resultant family-specific linkage statistics across the entire 1,323 families and in several predefined subsets were then performed. RESULTS: Meta-analyses of linkage statistics resulted in a maximum parametric heterogeneity lod score (HLOD) of 1.28, and an allele-sharing lod score (LOD) of 2.0 in favor of linkage to Xq27-q28 at 138 cM. In subset analyses, families with average age at onset less than 65 years exhibited a maximum HLOD of 1.8 (at 138 cM) versus a maximum regional HLOD of only 0.32 in families with average age at onset of 65 years or older. Surprisingly, the subset of families with only 2-3 affected men and some evidence of male-to-male transmission of prostate cancer gave the strongest evidence of linkage to the region (HLOD = 3.24, 134 cM). For this subset, the HLOD was slightly increased (HLOD = 3.47 at 134 cM) when families used in the original published report of linkage to Xq27-28 were excluded. CONCLUSIONS: Although there was not strong support for linkage to the Xq27-28 region in the complete set of families, the subset of families with earlier age at onset exhibited more evidence of linkage than families with later onset of disease. A subset of families with 2-3 affected individuals and with some evidence of male to male disease transmission showed stronger linkage signals. Our results suggest that the genetic basis for prostate cancer in our families is much more complex than a single susceptibility locus on the X chromosome, and that future explorations of the Xq27-28 region should focus on the subset of families identified here with the strongest evidence of linkage to this region.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

IR, Raman and SERS spectra of 2-(methoxycarbonylmethylsulfanyl)-3,5-dinitrobenzene carboxylic acid

2-(Methoxycarbonylmethylsulfanyl)-3,5-dinitrobenzenecarboxylic acid was prepared by nucleophilic substitution. FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of 2-(methoxycarbonylmethylsulfanyl)-3,5-dinitrobenzenecarboxylic acid were recorded and analyzed. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectrum was recorded on a silver colloid. The vibrational wavenumbers were computed by density functional theoretical (DFT) computations at the B3LYP/6-31G* level and they were found to be in good agreement with the experimental values. Significant metal-molecule interaction has been substantiated by the appearance of intense Ag-O mode in the SERS spectrum and this is indicative of the nearness of nitro and carbonyl group to the silver surface. SERS studies suggest a tilted orientation of the molecule at the metal surface