Miswak: A periodontist's perspective.

Meticulous plaque control on a daily routine basis is the single most important step to achieve good oral health. Herbal chewing sticks, commonly known as Miswak, are among the ancient and traditional oral hygiene aids popular in India, Pakistan, most of the Arabian countries, and several African countries. But nowadays, because of low cost, free availability, unique chemical composition, and spiritual beliefs, miswak is being used worldwide. A large number of studies have proved that miswak is as effective as, or even superior to the present day’s most common oral hygiene aid, i.e., toothbrush. The aim of this review article is to discuss various pharmacological and therapeutic aspects of miswak and also to compare the effectiveness of miswak with modern toothbrushes in terms of oral hygiene practice.

Reattachment of fractured fragments of maxillary central incisors--report of a case.

Reattachment of the original tooth fragment to the fractured tooth helps in maintaining the tooth's colour, wear resistance, morphology and translucency in the restoration. This paper describes the reattachment of fractured fragments using metallic post and core in case of a 12 year old patients who suffered a complicated facture of maxillary central incisors.

Pleiotropic morphological and abiotic stress resistance phenotypes of the hyper-abscisic acid producing Abo- mutant in the periwinkle Catharanthus roseus.

The pleiotropic properties of a abo abo (Abo-) gamma-ray induced mutant of Catharanthus roseus cv. Nirmal, selected among the M2 generation seeds for ability to germinate at 45 degrees C, are described. The mutant produced seeds possessing tricotyledonous embryos, unlike the typically dicotyledonous embryos present in the wild type Abo+ seeds. In comparison to Abo+ adults, the mutant plants had short stature and lanceolate leaves. The vascular bundles in the leaves and stem were poorly developed. Leaf surfaces were highly trichomatous, epidermal, cortex and mesophyll cells were small sized and a large majority of stomata were closed. Besides high temperature, the mutant was salinity and water-stress tolerant. The abscisic acid (ABA) content in the leaves was about 500-fold higher. The genetic lesion abo responsible for the above pleiotropy was recessive and inherited in Mendelian fashion. The seedlings and adult plants of the mutant accumulated higher proline than Abo+ plants. The phenotypes of abo abo mutants permitted the conclusions that (i) the mutant synthesizes ABA constitutively, (ii) both ABA-dependent and ABA independent pathways for proline and betaine accumulation are functional in the mutant, and (iii) cell division, elongation and differentiation processes in embryo and adult plant stages are affected in the mutant

Enzymology of indole alkaloid biosynthesis in Catharanthus roseus.

Indole alkaloids in Catharanthus roseus have been in focus because of their medicinal value. These alkaloids consist of an indole moiety provided by tryptamine and a terpenoid portion provided by the secologanin. The most important catharanthus alkaloids are vinblastine (VLB), vincristine (VCR) and ajmalicine. VLB and VCR are clinically useful anticancer agents whereas ajmalicine is used for the treatment of circulatory diseases. VCR and VLB are the most expensive because of their low abundance in the plant, and are formed by the coupling of monomeric indole alkaloids vindoline and catharanthine, catalysed by peroxidases. The pathway that lead to monomeric indole alkaloids involves more than 20 enzymes of which 16 enzymes have been isolated and characterized biochemically, and only three at the molecular level. The present state of knowledge on enzymes and genes involved in indole alkaloid biosynthesis and various aspects of their regulation has been discussed.