A study of prevalence of tobacco use and related factors among medical students as per the Global Health Professions Student Survey protocol

Background: Physicians who smoke are less likely to ask patients about their smoking and initiate cessation interventions. Hence it is important to study the prevalence of tobacco use, attitude and training of health professional students. Objectives were to study prevalence and attitudes towards tobacco use and training related to tobacco cessation.Methods: Armed Forces Medical college-based cross-sectional survey by anonymous, self-administered questionnaire as per Global Health Professions Student Survey (GHPSS) was conducted. Data was compiled and analyzed for various variables as per the GHPSS questionnaire.Results: Forty-two percent of the students had ever smoked cigarettes and 24% were current smokers. Nearly one in five had tried their first cigarette before 20 years of age. Male gender was associated with smoking. There is a significant association between not smoking and support for smoking ban in public places. Almost all the respondents (98.1%) thought smoking should be banned in all enclosed public places. In light of 20.6% of all respondents who smoked in college buildings during past this year indicated a gap between their knowledge, attitude and behavior. There was a strong desire to quit smoking but only 42% reported receiving help/ advice to stop smoking. Only one in ten reported receiving formal training in smoking cessation techniques.Conclusions: The fight against tobacco can get a boost through interventions aimed at health care professional students. Active Interventions should be made to address smoking issues among medical students. Skill based medical school curriculum should incorporate and emphasize on acquiring effective smoking cessation skills.

Root coverage using epithelial embossed connective tissue graft.

In periodontal practice, root coverage after marginal soft tissue recession requires daily clinical decisions. Numerous longitudinal human studies have been presented to support the efficacy and predictability of different mucogingival surgical techniques for root coverage. Over the years, root coverage procedure using the subepithelial connective tissue graft with variations has emerged as the favorite surgical technique. In the case presented in this report, subepithelial connective tissue graft with embossed epithelium was used to cover Miller's class II gingival recession in the upper right canine. The design is such that embossed epithelium exactly fits the recession site and the connective tissue portion is tucked below the gingival margin of the recipient site. In this technique, coronal advancement of flap is not needed. Wider zone of attached gingiva at the recipient site was achieved by this technique.

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.

Subepithelial connective tissue grafts for the coverage of denuded root surfaces: a clinical report.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of subepithelial connective tissue grafts (SCTG) in the coverage of denuded roots. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 16 sites with > or =2 mm of recession height were included in the study for treatment with SCTG. The clinical parameters, such as recession height, recession width, width of keratinized gingiva, probing pocket depth, and clinical attachment level were measured at the baseline, third month, and at the end of the study [sixth month]. The defects were treated with a coronally positioned pedicle graft combined with connective tissue graft. RESULTS: Out of 16 sites treated with SCTG, 11 sites showed complete (100%) root coverage; the mean root coverage obtained was 87.5%. There was a statistically significant reduction in recession height, recession width, and probing pocket depth. There was also a statistically significant increase in the width of keratinized gingiva and also a gain in clinical attachment level. The postoperative results were both clinically and statistically significant ( P 0.05). CONCLUSION: From this study, it may be concluded that SCTG is a safe and effective method for the coverage of denuded roots.

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.

Principles of gene therapy.

Genes are specific sequences of bases that encode instructions to make proteins. When genes are altered so that encoded proteins are unable to carry out their normal functions, genetic disorders can result. Gene therapy is designed to introduce genetic material into cells to compensate for abnormal genes or to make a beneficial protein. This article reviews the fundamentals in gene therapy and its various modes of administration with an insight into the role of gene therapy in Periodontics and future percepts and the technical and ethical issues of using gene therapy.

Atrial entrapment of flow directed pulmonary artery catheter-a technique for non-surgical removal.

A 43 year old patient who underwent mitral valve replacement had pulmonary artery catheter inserted before induction of anaesthesia. The catheter could no be removed postoperatively by routine manoeuvres in the intensive care unit. Fluoroscopy in the cardiac catheterization revealed a straight course of the catheter indicating the probability of its inclusion in the left atrial suture line. The pulmonary artery catheter was successfully removed percutaneously in the cardiac catheterization laborartory. The procedure is described.

Antigenic relationship between reactivity to hepatitis B e antigen and 19 kDa protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among the Tibetan settlers in Karnataka.

McGlynn and her co-workers have reported that among the Vietnamese refugees in Philadelphia and among Alaskan natives who are hepatitis B carriers, there is a statistically significant association between a negative tuberculin test and the presence of hepatitis B e antigen. A repetition of this work among the population of Bangalore did not yield any significant results because of the very low incidence of hepatitis found among this population. However, on the basis of available data that hepatitis B infection is more prevalent among the Mongolian population than among people of other populations, the work was repeated among Tibetans who had settled down in Karnataka. This set of experiments showed that, contrary to the report of McGlynn et al, there is a statistically significant association between a positive tuberculin test and the presence of hepatitis B e antigen and that those individuals who showed the presence of hepatitis B e antigen exhibited less severe form of the disease than those who were negative to this antigen. These findings suggested that immunity to tuberculosis and hepatitis B infections may have a common underlying principle. Data bank search revealed a stretch of amino acid sequences which is common to hepatitis B e antigen and 19 kDa antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The significance of these results is discussed.

Evaluation of mutagenicity of the antitubercular naphthylglycine hydrazides in Salmonella typhimurium.

N-(2-naphthyl)glycine hydrazide and N-methyl-N-(2-naphthyl) glycine hydrazide, which inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37 RV and show activity against experimental tuberculosis, were evaluated for their mutagenic potential in Salmonella typhimurium. Both the compounds at concentration ranges from 0·1 μg/plate to 1000 μg/plate failed to induce mutations at the histidine locus either directly or after treatment with rat liver homogenate fraction- "S-9". N-(2-naphthyl)glycine hydrazide and its N-methyl derivative elicited toxicity at concentrations of 500 μg/plate and 1000 μg/plate. However, in the presence of the liver homogenate system, reduction in toxicity was noticed probably due to detoxification and/ or conjugation of the compounds. Under the assay conditions employed, standard mutagens like 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide, 9-aminoacridine and benzo(a)pyrene were positive. The nonmutagenic nature of N-(2-naphthyl)glycine hydrazide and N-methyl-N-(2-naphthyl)glycine hydrazide should enhance their potential for inclusion in treatment protocols for management of tuberculosis.

Modified bases in transfer RNA.

Transfer RNA is uniquely enriched with modified bases. A large body of information has accumulated about the occurrence, nature and distribution of modified bases in tRNA. But similar investigations on the enzymes involved in this post-transcriptional modification have been hampered by the instability of the enzymes and lack of suitable substrates. The present review summarises briefly, the occurrence and methods of detection of modified bases, the enzymes involved in their formation and also certain suggestive evidence for the role of modification in cellular metabolism.

Studies on the effects of in vitro methyiation on aminoacylation of transfer RNA.

In vitro methyiation of Escherichia coli transfer ribonucleic acid by cell free extracts of Mycobacterium smegmatis leads exclusively to the formation of 1-methyl adenine [Vani, B. R., Ramakrishnan, T., Taya, Y., Noguchi, S., Yamaiuzumi, Z. and Nishimura, S. (1978) J. Bact., 137,1085]. We have studied the effect of this modification on aminoacylation of Escherichia coli tRNA by mycobacterial enzymes. Aminoacylation with total algal protein hydrolysate as well as several individual aminoacids like methionine, valine, tyrosine, aspartic acid and lysine were monitored. In all the cases methyiation had a positive effect on the extent of aminoacylation by mycobacterial enzymes. Decreased aminoacylation in vitro was observed when hypomethylated transfer RNA from ethionine treated cells was used as the substrate for aminoacylation.

Effect of phytohormones on nuclear RNA synthesis in germinating seeds of Trigonella foenumgraeceum and its callus.

Treatment of Trigonella foenumgraeceum (fenugreek) seedlings with naphthalene acetic acid plus gibberellic acid enhanced the RNA synthesising capacity of nuclei isolated from the hypocotyl and cotyledonary regions. This increase was more pronounced in the nuclei from the hypocotyl region than from the cotyledonary region. In vitro addition of these phytohormones did not stimulate RNA synthesis by nuclei. The RNA synthesis by mitochondria was not affected by preincubating the seedlings with the hormones. The nuclei isolated from callus cultures of fenugreek hypocotyl treated with the hormone also showed increased RNA synthesis.

Characterisation of rinderpest virus RNA and the action of actinomycin D on its replication.

RNA extracted from purified rinderpest virus was characterised by sucrose gradient sedimentation and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The predominant virion RNA species had a sedimentation constant of 46S and its estimated molecular weight was 4·8 × 106 daltons. Consistently high amounts of UMP and AMP were detected. The melting-temperature profile of the virion RNA suggested absence of secondary structure. The effect of actionomycin D on the replication of rinderpest virus in Vero cells was studied by following the viral RNA synthesis using labelled uridine as well as by infectivity titration. The viral RNA synthesis was not affected until 12 h following infection and was inhibited thereafter between 18 and 48 h to an extent of 25% at 5 and 10 μg levels of the drug. A 100 to 1000-fold reduction in the infectivity titres was observed in the presence of the drug. These results suggest that actinomycin D inhibits rinderpest viral RNA replication. Sedimentation analysis of viral RNA extracted from drug-treated cultures showed inhibition of the genome RNA of rinderpest virus.