The relevance of "Nonsmoking-associated lung cancer" in India: A single-centre experience.

Background: Lung cancer remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, accounting for more deaths than any other cancer cause. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical profile and the epidemiological trends in lung cancer patients from a single centre with an emphasis on the smoking practices. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of 258 consecutive hospital in-patients with a proven diagnosis of lung cancer at a tertiary care oncology centre between 2003 and 2007. Results: The median age of patients in our study was 56 years; the male to female ratio was approximately 3.5:1. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was the predominant histology in 224 patients; the histology in the remaining 34 patients was small-cell carcinoma. Within NSCLC, the most common histology was adenocarcinoma followed by squamous cell carcinoma. One hundred and two patients were never-smokers as compared to 156 patients who were ever-smokers. Among the smokers, the majority of them were found to be cigarette smokers compared to 28.2% bidi smokers. There was a very significant correlation found with adenocarcinoma among nonsmokers, and with squamous cell carcinoma among the smokers compared to non-smokers. Conclusions: Our study suggests that the epidemiology of lung cancer in India is possibly changing, with close to 40% of our lung cancer patients being nonsmokers. More importantly, our study reflects the global trend of rise in adenocarcinoma histology. These observations need to be substantiated in similar studies of larger magnitude, preferably population-based.

Genetic polymorphisms in periodontal diseases: An overview.

Periodontitis is a multi-factorial disease; several risk and susceptibility factors are proposed in its natural history. Genetics is considered a susceptibility factor in relation to periodontitis. This article is a nonsystematic review of literature and focuses on the role of genetic polymorphisms in periodontal diseases.

Effect of three commercial mouth rinses on cultured human gingival fibroblast: an in vitro study.

AIM: To examine the effect of three commercial mouth rinses (Hexidine 0.2%, Listerine Cool Mint, Betadine 1%) upon cultured human gingival fibroblast proliferation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Human gingival fibroblasts were cultured and incubated in Dulbecco's Minimum Eagle's Medium containing Chlorhexidine, Listerine, Povidone-Iodine at varying concentrations (1%, 2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 100% of the given solution) at 37 degrees C for 1, 5 and 15 min. Control cells received an equal volume of Dulbecco's Minimum Eagle's Medium without adding mouth rinses, for similar duration of exposure at 37 degrees C. Following incubation the media were removed, cells were washed twice with medium, supplemented with 10% Fetal Bovine Serum, and fibroblasts in the test and control group were allowed to recover in the same media for 24 h. RESULTS: In all the three groups, the proliferation inhibition was dependent on the concentration of solublized mouth rinses in the cell culture but independent of the duration of exposure to all three mouth rinses. The results showed that all three solutions were toxic to cultured human gingival fibroblasts, Chlorhexidine being the most cytotoxic. It was seen that at dilute concentrations (1% and 2% of given solutions) Listerine was more cytotoxic than Chlorhexidine and Povidone-Iodine. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that Chlorhexidine, Listerine and Povidone-Iodine are capable of inducing a dose-dependent reduction in cellular proliferation of fibroblasts. The results presented are interesting, but to know the clinical significance, further studies are needed.

Nanotechnology in dentistry.

Nanotechnology is manipulating matter at nanometer level and the application of the same to medicine is called nanomedicine. Nanotechnology holds promise for advanced diagnostics, targeted drug delivery, and biosensors. In the long-term, medical nanorobots will allow instant pathogen diagnosis and extermination, individual cell surgery in vivo, and improvement of natural physiological function. Current research is focusing on fabrication of nanostructures, nanoactuators, and nanomotors, along with means to assemble them into larger systems, economically and in great numbers.