The impact of early intervention on a child with vision loss in infancy - A parental perspective

Purpose: To assess the impact of early intervention services provided to children with visual loss and to report how parents perceive them in terms of a child’s development and the family dynamics. Methods: A qualitative descriptive study was conducted on a purposively selected sample of 15 children with severe visual impairment, availing early intervention services at a tertiary care facility in Pune, Maharashtra. Data were collected by conducting in?depth interviews of the parents with the help of a semi?structured interview topic guide. Participants were asked in detail about how and whether various components of the early intervention program (EIP) had an impact on their child. The interviews were audio?recorded, transcribed, and translated into English, and the resultant textual data were analyzed using the qualitative research software NVIVO 12 to identify themes and sub?themes under each domain. Results: A total of 15 children were included in the study, with ages ranging from 13 months to 5 years. All the children included in the study suffered from severe visual impairment in infancy (Vision 3/60 – PL). In the course of this EIP, the majority of the children showed consistent progress in various aspects of child development. According to the parents, the most beneficial components of EIP were visual stimulation exercises, an improvised teaching methodology, and counseling services. Conclusion: Almost all the parents included in the study reported a positive change in the behavior and development of the child as well as improved family dynamics after implementation of EIP

Comparative Evaluation Of Different Placement Techniques Of Composite Resin And Different Bonding Agents On Marginal Leakage In Class V Tooth Preparation: An In Vitro Study

An in vitro study was conducted to compare microleakage in nanohybrid composite restorations in Class V cavities using total etch and self-etch adhesives and two different horizontal layering techniques. Cavities were made on buccal and lingual surfaces of forty extracted premolar teeth and divided into groups A and B containing buccal surface cavities treated with total etch adhesive system and lingual surface cavities treated with Single step adhesive respectively. Cavities were restored using nanohybrid composite and randomly divided into four subgroups depending on incremental technique used. Specimens were then immersed in methylene blue dye for 24 hours and analysed under stereomicroscope for dye penetration. Results indicated microleakage with all groups with total etch group showing superior results than self etch group and group in which occlusal increment was placed first showing superior results than group with gingival increment placed first.

Circulating nucleic acids damage DNA of healthy cells by integrating into their genomes.

Whether nucleic acids that circulate in blood have any patho-physiological functions in the host have not been explored. We report here that far from being inert molecules, circulating nucleic acids have significant biological activities of their own that are deleterious to healthy cells of the body. Fragmented DNA and chromatin (DNAfs and Cfs) isolated from blood of cancer patients and healthy volunteers are readily taken up by a variety of cells in culture to be localized in their nuclei within a few minutes. The intra-nuclear DNAfs and Cfs associate themselves with host cell chromosomes to evoke a cellular DNAdamage- repair-response (DDR) followed by their incorporation into the host cell genomes. Whole genome sequencing detected the presence of tens of thousands of human sequence reads in the recipient mouse cells. Genomic incorporation of DNAfs and Cfs leads to dsDNA breaks and activation of apoptotic pathways in the treated cells. When injected intravenously into Balb/C mice, DNAfs and Cfs undergo genomic integration into cells of their vital organs resulting in activation of DDR and apoptotic proteins in the recipient cells. Cfs have significantly greater activity than DNAfs with respect to all parameters examined, while both DNAfs and Cfs isolated from cancer patients are more active than those from normal volunteers. All the above pathological actions of DNAfs and Cfs described above can be abrogated by concurrent treatment with DNase I and/or anti-histone antibody complexed nanoparticles both in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, our results suggest that circulating DNAfs and Cfs are physiological, continuously arising, endogenous DNA damaging agents with implications for ageing and a multitude of human pathologies including initiation of cancer.