Gradient-adaptive Nonlinear Sharpening for Dental Radiographs

Unsharp Masking is a popular image processing technique used for improving the sharpness of structures on dental radiographs. However, it produces overshoot artefact and intolerably amplifies noise. On radiographs, the overshoot artefact often resembles the indications of prosthesis misfit, pathosis, and pathological features associated with restorations. A noise- robust alternative to the Unsharp Masking algorithm, termed Gradient-adaptive Nonlinear Sharpening (GNS) which is free from overshoot and discontinuity artefacts, is proposed in this paper. In GNS, the product of the arbitrary scalar termed as ‘scale’ and the difference between the output of the Adaptive Edge Smoothing Filter (AESF) and the input image, weighted by the normalized gradient magnitude is added to the input image. AESF is a locally-adaptive 2D Gaussian smoothing kernel whose variance is directly proportional to the local value of the gradient magnitude. The dataset employed in this paper is downloaded from the Mendeley data repository having annotated panoramic dental radiographs of 116 patients. On 116 dental radiographs, the values of Saturation Evaluation Index (SEI), Sharpness of Ridges (SOR), Edge Model Based Contrast Metric (EMBCM), and Visual Information Fidelity (VIF) exhibited by the Unsharp Masking are 0.0048 ± 0.0021, 4.4 × 1013 ± 3.8 × 1013, 0.2634 ± 0.2732 and 0.9898 ± 0.0122. The values of these quality metrics corresponding to the GNS are 0.0042 ± 0.0017, 2.2 × 1013 ± 1.8 × 1013, 0.5224 ± 0.1825, and 1.0094 ± 0.0094. GNS exhibited lower values of SEI and SOR and higher values of EMBCM and VIF, compared to the Unsharp Masking. Lower values of SEI and SOR, respectively indicate that GNS is free from overshoot artefact and saturation and the quality of edges in the output images of GNS is less affected by noise. Higher values of EMBCM and VIF, respectively confirm that GNS is free from haloes as it produces thin and sharp edges and the sharpened images are of good information fidelity

Whole Genomes of Chandipura Virus Isolates and Comparative Analysis with Other Rhabdoviruses

The Chandipura virus (CHPV) belonging to the Vesiculovirus genus and Rhabdoviridae family, has recently been associated with a number of encephalitis epidemics, with high mortality in children, in different parts of India. No full length genome sequences of CHPV isolates were available in GenBank and little is known about the molecular markers for pathogenesis. In the present study, we provide the complete genomic sequences of four isolates from epidemics during 2003–2007. These sequences along with the deduced sequence of the prototype isolate of 1965 were analysed using phylogeny, motif search, homology modeling and epitope prediction methods. Comparison with other rhaboviruses was also done for functional extrapolations. All CHPV isolates clustered with the Isfahan virus and maintained several functional motifs of other rhabdoviruses. A notable difference with the prototype vesiculovirus, Vesicular Stomatitis Virus was in the L-domain flanking sequences of the M protein that are known to be crucial for interaction with host proteins. With respect to the prototype isolate, significant additional mutations were acquired in the 2003–2007 isolates. Several mutations in G mapped onto probable antigenic sites. A mutation in N mapped onto regions crucial for N-N interaction and a putative T-cell epitope. A mutation in the Casein kinase II phosphorylation site in P may attribute to increased rates of phosphorylation. Gene junction comparison revealed changes in the M-G junction of all the epidemic isolates that may have implications on read-through and gene transcription levels. The study can form the basis for further experimental verification and provide additional insights into the virulence determinants of the CHPV

Causes of Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes and the Role of Maternal Periodontal Status – A Review of the Literature

Preterm (PT) and Low birth weight (LBW) are considered to be the most relevant biological determinants of newborn infants survival, both in developed and in developing countries. Numerous risk factors for PT and LBW have been defined in the literature. Infections of the genitourinary tract infections along with various biological and genetic factors are considered to be the most common etiological factors for PT/LBW deliveries. However, evidence suggests that sub-clinical infection sites that are also distant from the genitor-urinary tract may be an important cause for PT/LBW deliveries. Maternal periodontal status has also been reported by many authors as a possible risk factor for PT and LBW, though not all of the actual data support such hypothesis. The aim of this paper is to review the evidence from various published literature on the association between the maternal periodontal status and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Although this review found a consistent association between periodontitis and PT/LBW, this finding should be treated with great caution until the sources of heterogeneity can be explained

Design and Characterization of Nanostructure Lipid Carrier for Transdermal Delivery of Pioglitazone

Nanostructure Lipid Carrier (NLC) is one of the lipid-based drug delivery systems that are used as carrier for delivery of drugs. NLC are composed of mixture of solid lipid and liquid lipid, which form imperfect type of lipid matrix with improved drug loading capacity, drug release profile and stability. The aim of the present study was to develop and characterize nanostructure lipid carrier for transdermal delivery of pioglitazone (PZ) to overcome the problems related with oral route of administration and to improve systemic availability. NLC’s were prepared by high-speed homogenization method. Optimized NLC formulation was evaluated for particle size, percentage entrapment efficiency, surface morphology, DSC analysis, in-vitro drug release etc. The optimized NLC formulation was formulated as a transdermal patch and evaluated for in vitro drug release study and primary skin irritation study. In vivo hypoglycaemic activity of pioglitazone -NLC loaded transdermal patch was studied in comparison with its orally administered suspension. PZ- NLC loaded transdermal patch was found to be non-irritant and showed reduction in blood glucose level in a controlled manner up to 24 hrs.    </jats:p