A Non-Classical Presentation of Oral Pyogenic Granuloma with Actinomycosis

Introduction: Pyogenic granuloma is a rather confusing reactive lesion of the oral mucosa, considering it is neither a bacterial infection nor does it produce any pus. In fact, even histologically, there is no formation of granulomas to substantiate the name. Intraoral actinomycosis is another interesting lesion due to its unique ability to masquerade itself as a swelling, abscess, or even a neoplasm. The occurrence of the two lesions separately is common in the oral cavity, however, their co-existence is extremely rare. Case Presentation: A 65-year-old female patient was referred from a private dental clinic with the chief complaint of a growth on her left posterior region of mouth, at the occlusal level of 15, 18 tooth regions for past 1 month. Conclusion: Clinicians should be aware about the occurrence of such rare combination of intraoral lesions, in order to make an accurate diagnosis and in turn, tailor a correct treatment protocol for these patients.

Effect of intermittent fasting on physiology and gut microbiota in presenium rats / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect of intermittent fasting on metabolize and gut microbiota in obese presenium rats fed with high-fat-sugar-diet.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We fed the Wistar rats with high-fat and high-sugar diet to induce adiposity, and the rats for intermittent fasting were selected base on their body weight. The rats were subjected to fasting for 72 h every 2 weeks for 18 weeks. OGTT test was performed and fasting blood samples and fecal samples were collected for measurement of TC, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C and sequence analysis of fecal 16S rRNA V4 tags using Illumina. Gut microbial community structure was analyzed with QIIME and LEfSe.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After the intervention, the body weight of the fasting rats was significantly lower than that in high-fat diet group (P<0.01). OGTT results suggested impairment of sugar tolerance in the fasting group, which showed a significantly larger AUC than compared with the high-fat diet group (P<0.05). Intermittent fasting significantly reduced blood HDL-C and LDL-C levels (P<0.05) and partially restored liver steatosis, and improved the gut microbiota by increasing the abundance of YS2, RF32 and Helicobacteraceae and reducing Lactobacillus, Roseburia, Erysipelotrichaceae and Ralstonia. Bradyrhizobiaceae was found to be positively correlated with CHOL and HDL-C, and RF39 was inversely correlated with the weight of the rats.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Intermittent fasting can decrease the body weight and blood lipid levels and restore normal gut microbiota but can cause impairment of glucose metabolism in obese presenium rats.</p>

Weed hosts of cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae).

The exotic cotton mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) invaded India during 2006, and caused widespread infestation across all nine cotton growing states. P. solenopsis also infested weeds that aided its faster spread and increased severity across cotton fields. Two year survey carried out to document host plants of P. solenopsis between 2008 and 2010 revealed 27, 83, 59 and 108 weeds belonging to 8, 18, 10 and 32 families serving as alternate hosts at North, Central, South and All India cotton growing zones, respectively. Plant species of four families viz., Asteraceae, Amaranthaceae, Malvaceae and Lamiaceae constituted almost 50% of the weed hosts. While 39 weed species supported P. solenopsis multiplication during the cotton season, 37 were hosts during off season. Higher number of weeds as off season hosts (17) outnumbering cotton season (13) at Central over other zones indicated the strong carryover of the pest aided by weeds between two cotton seasons. Six, two and seven weed hosts had the extreme severity of Grade 4 during cotton, off and cotton + off seasons, respectively. Higher number of weed hosts of P. solenopsis were located at roadside: South (12) > Central (8) > North (3) zones. Commonality of weed hosts was higher between C+S zones, while no weed host was common between N+S zones. Paper furnishes the wide range of weed hosts of P. solenopsis, discusses their significance, and formulated general and specific cultural management strategies for nationwide implementation to prevent its outbreaks.

Production, purification and characterization of L-asparaginase from Streptomyces gulbargensis

L-asparaginase is an anti-neoplastic agent used in the lymphoblastic leukaemia chemotherapy. In the present study a novel strain, Streptomyces gulbargensis was explored for the production of extra-cellular L-asparaginase using groundnut cake extract. The optimum pH, temperature, inoculum size and agitation speed for enzyme production were pH 8.5, 40ºC, 1x10(8)spores/ml and 200 rev/min respectively. Maltose (0.5 percent) and L-asparagine (0.5 percent) proved to be the best carbon and nitrogen sources respectively. The enzyme was purified 82.12 fold and the apparent molecular weight of the enzyme was found to be 85 kDa. The optima pH and temperature for the enzyme were 9.0 and 40ºC respectively. The enzyme was more stable at the alkaline pH than at the acidic one and it retained 55 percent of the activity at 80ºC for 60 min.

Tuberculosis of lower cervical spine--a prospective study.

Tuberculosis was a leading cause of mortality in the beginning of the twentieth century. Tuberculosis of the spine is one of the oldest diseases afflicting humans. A prospective study was carried out among 45 cases of tuberculosis of lower cervical spine and an attempt was made to highlight some of its features. Pain and stiffness were important and dominant complaints. Commonest level affected was C5-C6 vertebrae. The overall incidence of cord compression was 37.8 per cent. The commonest modality of treatment was antituberculous drugs, anterior excision of diseased bone and tricortical bone grafting. This regime rapidly relieves pain, compressive respiratory symptoms due to large abscess and neurological deficit.

Role of free radicals and antioxidants in tuberculosis patients.

Background: Severe oxidative stress has been reported in TB patients because of malnutrition and poor immunity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the serum lipid peroxidation products and important free radical scavenging enzymes i.e. superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase and antioxidant glutathione levels and total antioxidant status in TB patients. Methodology: The subjects for this study comprised of normal human volunteers (NHV,n=25), TB patients (n=100) – including untreated (TB1, n=55), under treatment (TB2, n=30) and after treatment (TB3, n = 15) with anti-tuberculosis therapy (ATT). Results: The levels of lipid peroxidation products malondialdehyde (MDA) were increased significantly in TB1 & TB2 (P<0.001) and also in TB3 (P<0.01); these levels gradually decreased with clinical improvement with ATT. SOD, catalase, glutathione levels and total antioxidant status were decreased significantly in TB1 & TB2 (P<0.001), TB3 (P<0.01) patients in comparison with NHV, these levels gradually increased with clinical improvement with ATT. Oxidative stress was observed in all the TB patients (TB1, TB2, TB3), irrespective of treatment status. Conclusions: The study showed that in TB patients free radical activity is quite high and antioxidant levels are low. A suitable antioxidant therapy may prove beneficial and nutritional antioxidant supplementation may represent a novel approach to fast recovery.

Oxidative stress and anti-oxidant status in leprosy patients.

Severe oxidative stress has been reported in leprosy patients because of malnutrition and poor immunity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the serum lipid peroxidation products, serum LDH and important free radical scavenging enzymes, i.e. superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase and anti-oxidant glutathione levels and total anti-oxidant status, in different types of leprosy patients. The subjects for this study were normal human volunteers (NHVs, n=14), paucibacillary leprosy patients (PB, n=18), untreated MB patients (MB1, n=18), MB patients under treatment (MB2, n=19), and MB patients released from treatment (RFT) (MB3, n=28). The levels of lipid peroxidation product, malondialdehyde (MDA), and LDH increased significantly (p<0.001) in MB (MB1, MB2, MB3) patients, and both gradually decreased with clinical improvement following MDT. The levels of SOD, catalase and glutathione, and the total anti-oxidant status decreased significantly in MB (MB1, MB2, MB3) patients (p<0.001), in comparison with NHVs. They gradually increased with clinical improvement with MDT. There was no significant variation of these parameters in PB leprosy patients in comparison with healthy volunteers. High free radical activity and low anti-oxidant levels observed in MB (MB1, MB2, MB3) leprosy patients indicate that there is an oxidative stress in MB cases, irrespective of the treatment status and suggest a suitable anti-oxidant therapy to prevent possible tissue injury.

Assessment of portal hemodynamics by ultrasound color Doppler and laser Doppler velocimetry in liver cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND: Color Doppler is a noninvasive method for assessing portal hemodynamics. Laser Doppler velocimetry is useful in assessment of microcirculatory abnormalities in portal hypertensive gastropathy (PHG). AIMS: To study portal hemodynamics by color Doppler and gastric mucosal blood flow (GMBF) by laser Doppler velocimetry in patients with cirrhosis. METHODS: Twenty-eight patients with cirrhosis of liver (24 men) and 10 healthy subjects (7 men) were studied. Portal venous blood flow (PVBF) and portal flow velocity (PFV) were assessed by color Doppler at the level where the hepatic artery crosses the portal vein, and GMBF was measured by laser Doppler velocimetry. RESULTS: PVBF (379.5 [102.9] mL/min), PFV (5.3 [1.1] cm/sec) and GMBF (3.5 [0.8] volts) were significantly lower in patients with cirrhosis than in controls. PVBF and PFV were significantly lower in patients in Child class B and C than those in class A. Patients with ascites had significantly lower PVBF, PFV and GMBF than those without; values were also lower in patients with PHG than in those without. History of bleeding had no relation with PVBF and PFV. GMBF showed good correlation with PVBF (r=0.58, p<0.001) and with PFV (r=0.48, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In cirrhosis of liver, PVBF, PFV and GMBF are significantly lower, and the changes increase with increasing severity of liver disease.

Influence of rice bran oil on serum lipid peroxides and lipids in human subjects.

To study the effect of rice bran oil (RBO) on serum lipids and lipid peroxides in human volunteers. Nine healthy volunteers, aged between 42 to 57 years were given 75 ml of RBO thrice daily as the cooking medium with break fast, lunch and dinner for a period of 50 days. At the beginning and at the end of 50 days, 5 ml of blood were drawn from an ante cubital vein. Serum lipids and lipid peroxides levels were estimated from the blood sample. There was a significant decrease in the levels of lipid peroxides, triglycerides, LDL, VLDL, and total cholesterol in human volunteers who switched over to RBO. RBO has evidently antioxidant and antilipidemic activities in human subjects.

Management of root fracture of mandibular permanent lateral incisor in mixed dentition--a case report.

Management of root fracture of mandibular lateral incisors during mixed dentition with developing crowding in a ten year old boy by bilateral surgical extraction. Migration of permanent canine into the extracted region of lateral incisors was favourable with minimal spacing in between the rest of the teeth. The near normal parallel position of the roots of the permanent canines was achieved by early treatment planning of extraction of the lateral incisors instead of treating by other modalities which have a poor prognosis.

Characterization of leprosy based on the nasal lipid profile.

While extracting the M. leprae from the nasal flushings of leprosy patients it was found that these organisms were trapped in the waxy layer, between the aqueous and the chloroform layers. Thin layer chromotography (TLC) analysis of this layer, using chloroform-methanol-water system, revealed different spots when sprayed with acid alcohol and heated at 160 degrees C. The TLC profile of lipids of lepromatous and borderline (MB according to the WHO terminology) leprosy patients was distinctly different from that of tuberculoid leprosy patients and normal human volunteers. A simple, economical and fast procedure to characterize patients belonging to different spectra has been developed.

Disposition of rifampicin following intranasal and oral administration.

Leprosy is transmitted by dissemination of M.leprae which are lodged in the nose of the patients suffering from multibacillary (MB) type of the disease. Rifampicin, a potent bactericidal antileprotic drug is given orally to the patients with a view to make the infective cases non-infective. Earlier work by us has shown that intranasal administration of rifampicin helps in reducing the M.leprae load in the nose much faster than after conventional oral administration. In the present study, rifampicin concentrations in plasma/urine/nasal wash of healthy volunteers following oral and intranasal administration were determined. Following intranasal administration, rifampicin was not detectable in plasma and high concentrations were measured in the nasal wash. Following oral administration, rifampicin was not detectable in the nasal wash indicating that enough antibiotic levels are not available for clearing M.leprae from nose.

New approach to curb the transmission of leprosy

O efeito do tratamento local do nariz de paciente do tipo lepromatoso com diferentes formulaçöes de rifampicina em gotas ou "sprays" nasais, foi investigado em um grande número de pacientes. As preparaçöes foram ou aspergidas ou instiladas dentro das narinas depois de sua limpeza por jato com soluçäo salina normal a 37-C. Observou-se que 10 mg/ml de rifampicina eram eficazes na reduçäo do BI e do MI a zero no nariz em sete dias na maioria dos pacientes. Näo foi visto efeito desagradável em qualquer dos paciente. Sugere-se que "sprays"/gotas nasais possam prevenir a transmissäo da hanseníase, uma vez que o nariz é reconhecido ser uma importante porta de saida de M. leprae. Além disso a deformidade nasal pde ser prevenida quando a rifampicina "sprays"/gotas é usada täo logo o diagnóstico é feito. Acredita-se que o tratamento local juntamente com a terapia sistêmica contribuiriam muito no controle da transmissäo da hanseníase