Evaluation of Stress among Dental Undergraduates and Postgraduates Using Salivary Cortisol as a

Background: Stress is a non?specific response of the body to any demand. Professional education has a certain level of stress inherent in it. Dental students have been reported in the literature to experience more stress than medical students. Objective: To evaluate the stress levels of dental students: first?year undergraduates, house surgeons, and final?year postgraduates, using salivary cortisol as a stress biomarker. Materials and Methods: Dental students above 18 years of age and without any systemic illness were included in the study. Those students with a drug history of corticosteroids, anti?depressants, and oral contraceptives were excluded from the study. Female participants experiencing pre?menstrual symptoms, pregnancy, and familial stressor issues were excluded from the study. First?year undergraduates, house surgeons, and final?year postgraduates were enrolled in the study. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected in the morning and evening between 9:00 and 10:00 am and between 3:00 and 4:00 pm. Salivary cortisol levels were assessed by chemiluminescence immuno?assay (CLIA). Results: Paired sample t?test was used to compare the diurnal variation among morning and afternoon samples within the groups. The salivary cortisol levels were found to be significant within the groups. One?way ANOVA was used to compare the salivary cortisol levels between the groups. The salivary cortisol levels within the groups were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Salivary cortisol is a non?invasive biomarker of stress. Postgraduates had higher salivary cortisol levels than other study groups.

Biomass production of multipopulation microalgae in open air pond for biofuel potential.

Biodiesel gains attention as it is made from renewable resources and has considerable environmental benefits. The present investigation has focused on large scale cultivation of multipopulation microalgae in open air pond using natural sea water without any additional nutritive supplements for low cost biomass production as a possible source of biofuel in large scale. Open air algal pond attained average chlorophyll concentration of 11.01 µg/L with the maximum of 43.65 µg/L as well as a higher lipid concentration of 18 % (w/w) with lipid content 9.3 mg/L on the 10th day of the culture; and maximum biomass of 0.36 g/L on the 7th day of the culture. Composition analysis of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) was performed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GCMS). Multipopulation of algal biomass had 18% of total lipid content with 55% of total saturated fatty acids (SFA), 35.3% of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and 9.7% of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), revealing a potential source of biofuel production at low cost.

Allergic Contact Stomatitis: A Case Report and Review of Literature.

Allergic contact stomatitis is a well-recognized entity, which may be easily overlooked by the clinician since its signs and symptoms are similar to various other oral lesions. Accurate diagnosis warrants adequate treatment that will help in providing prompt relief and will also prevent further recurrences. We present a case report of a 27-year-old South Indian male student, who presented with multiple erythematous erosions involving much of the nonkeratinized oral mucosa. History revealed that there was a previous episode of a similar lesion, associated with intake of food with flavoring agents. Based on the history and clinical features, we arrived at a diagnosis of allergic contact stomatitis and successfully treated the lesions with topical and systemic antihistamines.

Prevalence and correlates of tobacco use among urban adult men in India: A comparison of slum dwellers vs non-slum dwellers.

Background: Tobacco use is reported to be rampant in urban slums in developing countries. Demographical variations in tobacco use between males living in urban slums vs those living in non-slum areas in India has not been reported, and this study was undertaken to address this issue. Materials and Methods: Secondary data analysis of National Family Health Survey-3 (NFHS-3) was undertaken to study demographical variations in tobacco use between urban slum dwellers and non-slum dwellers in eight Indian cities. Demographic determinants for use of smoking and chewing forms of tobacco in the two groups were analyzed. SPSS® version 16.0 (SPSS Inc., IL, USA) was used for statistical analysis. Result: The study population comprised 6887 (41.8%) males from slum areas and 9588 (58.2%) from non-slum areas of eight urban cities. Cigarette/beedi smoking was the commonest form of tobacco use among the study population. Pan masala use was the least common form of smokeless tobacco use, next only to snuff. There was a high statistical significance observed within the various demographic parameter studied in both the slum and non-slum dwelling males in study population. However, on studying the differences between the two groups, it was observed that statistical significance of P≤.001 was observed with age (15-49), secondary education, religion, household structure and marital status. The difference between the two groups in the mean number of cigarettes/beedis smoked was not statistically significant (P=.598). Discussion and Conclusion: Male slum dwellers are a distinct urban population, whose health needs assessment requires a different approach than that for non-slum dwellers who often can afford the services that an urban Indian city can offer.

Concepts in sample size determination.

Investigators involved in clinical, epidemiological or translational research, have the drive to publish their results so that they can extrapolate their findings to the population. This begins with the preliminary step of deciding the topic to be studied, the subjects and the type of study design. In this context, the researcher must determine how many subjects would be required for the proposed study. Thus, the number of individuals to be included in the study, i.e., the sample size is an important consideration in the design of many clinical studies. The sample size determination should be based on the difference in the outcome between the two groups studied as in an analytical study, as well as on the accepted p value for statistical significance and the required statistical power to test a hypothesis. The accepted risk of type I error or alpha value, which by convention is set at the 0.05 level in biomedical research defines the cutoff point at which the p value obtained in the study is judged as significant or not. The power in clinical research is the likelihood of finding a statistically significant result when it exists and is typically set to >80%. This is necessary since the most rigorously executed studies may fail to answer the research question if the sample size is too small. Alternatively, a study with too large a sample size will be difficult and will result in waste of time and resources. Thus, the goal of sample size planning is to estimate an appropriate number of subjects for a given study design. This article describes the concepts in estimating the sample size.

Sociodemographic correlates of male chewable smokeless tobacco users in India: A preliminary report of analysis of national family health survey, 2005-2006.

Objective : To estimate the prevalence, the socioeconomic and demographic correlates of chewable smokeless tobacco consumption among males in India. Design : A cross-sectional, nationally representative population-based household survey. Subjects : 74,369 males aged 15-54 years who were sampled in the National Family Health Survey-3 (2005-2006). Data on tobacco consumption were elicited from male members in households selected for the study. Materials and Methods : The prevalence of various smokeless tobacco use currently was used as outcome measures. Simple and two-way cross tabulations and univariate logistic regression analysis were the main analytical methods. Results : Thirty-four percent of the study population (15 years or older) used chewable smokeless tobacco. Smokeless tobacco consumption was significantly higher in poor, less educated, scheduled castes, and scheduled tribe populations. The prevalence of tobacco consumption showed variation with types. The prevalence of chewing also varied widely between different states and had a strong association with an individual's sociocultural characteristics. Conclusion : The findings of the study highlight that an agenda to improve the health outcomes among the poor in India must include effective interventions to control tobacco use. Failure to do so would most probably result in doubling the burden of diseases-both communicable and noncommunicable-among India's teeming poor. There is a need for periodical surveys using more consistent definitions of tobacco use and eliciting information on different types of tobacco consumed.

Ovarian sex cord tumour with annular tubules diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology--a case report.

Sex cord tumor with annular tubules (SCTAT) is a rare ovarian neoplasm with distinctive morphological features whose cytological features have rarely been described. We report a case of SCTAT diagnosed on fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) with a brief review of literature. A 35 year old female presented with recurrent abdominal mass. Fine needle aspiration was done under ultra sound guidance. Cytology smears showed three dimensional tubular structures, metachomatic hyaline masses and uniform neoplastic cells dispersed and in cohesive clusters. Cell block study showed the characteristic simple and complex tubules leading to the diagnosis. The cytological findings of a rare ovarian neoplasm are described, which is only the third such report in English literature. The cytologic features of ovarian SCTAT are as distinctive as its histologicfeatures. Cell block study brings out the distinctive architecture of the tumor and helps in differentiating it from other closely related tumors.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of antibody response in childhood tuberculosis against antigens of mycobacterium tuberculosis.

PURPOSE: Serodiagnosis of tuberculosis in children, using available crude antigens, has been difficult. The tests lack sufficient sensitivity and/or specificity. In this study, western blot analysis of M. tuberculosis H37Rv culture filtrate antigen (CFA) was carried out, to identify diagnostically useful antigens. In addition, the CFA was also used in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), to measure antibodies of multiple isotypes. METHODS: Specific IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies were estimated in the sera from 26 clinically/bacteriologically diagnosed cases of childhood tuberculosis (CTB) and 61 normal children (CNHS), using culture filtrate antigen. Western blot analysis with culture filtrate antigen was carried out to qualitatively compare the antibody profile among the CTB, with childhood normal controls and adult TB. RESULTS: IgG positivity was only 7.6% with culture filtrate antigen in the CTB group, while 3.2% among the controls were also positive. However, the results of IgA and IgM isotypes were better. By combination of all the three isotypes an increased sensitivity of 57.7% with a specificity of 93.5%, was obtained. Immunoblot analysis revealed marked difference among antibodies in the region of 16, 19, 38 and 45kDa between CTB and CNHS. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings point to a limited sensitivity of 57.7% in ELISA with culture filtrate antigen. However, antibodies around 16, 19, 38 and 45kDa region may be useful in differentiating the CTB patients from CNHS by immunoblot assay.

Sclerosing stromal tumour of the ovary.

Sclerosing stromal tumour (SST) of the ovary is a rare entity. It is a benign neoplasm which forms a distinct subgroup separate from the other ovarian stromal tumours, including thecomafibromas, by virtue of its unique histology. One such tumour in a 25-year old female is reported.