Repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic on municipal solid waste management: Challenges and opportunities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused global emergency and has raised social and economic concerns which will also spill over to environmental issues. Amid this natural experiment, current study evaluates prevailing municipal solid waste (MSW) management practices, with the emphasis on MSW treatment and disposal facilities in select developed and developing countries. The data and information used in this paper is collected from several scientific research papers from different disciplines, publications from governments and multilateral agencies and media reports. Despite limited literature on MSW management during such pandemics, this article presets a global backdrop of MSW management during COVID-19 outbreak and examines various aspects of MSW management. Discussion includes identifying parameters of disease transmission through solid waste handling, consequences of medical waste surge on current municipal waste treatment and disposal systems. Further, based on previous pandemic and disaster waste management studies, this study also presents challenges and opportunities in the aftermath of the ongoing pandemic. The paper recommends alternatives approaches for MSW treatment and disposal and outlines the future scope of work to achieve sustainable waste management during and aftermath of the pandemics.

Restoration of a vertical tooth fracture and a badly mutilated tooth using canal projection.

Management of vertically fractured tooth or a perforation frequently poses problem during endodontic management. Such teeth often need a pre-endodontic restoration prior to initiation of root canal therapy to aid in the placement of rubber dam clamp. This paper describes a simple method of placement of a pre-endodontic restoration using the canal projection technique using hollow metallic needles as sleeves.

MB2 in maxillary second molar.

Occurrence of the second mesiobuccal canal (MB2) is a frequent finding. Literary reports have shown it to be found more in the cases of the maxillary first molar. However the maxillary second molars have also been found with this variation in a number of canals. This paper presents a case report on the occurrence of a second mesiobuccal canal or the MB2 in the maxillary second molar.

Lipopolysaccharide-induced paw edema model for detection of cytokine modulating anti-inflammatory agents.

Cytokines are critical to pathogenesis of inflammatory disorders. So inhibition of their action provides therapeutic benefits in various diseases. Although inhibition of inflammation caused by intraperitoneally administered LPS can identify cytokine modulators, this inflammatory test-agent does not allow one to determine overall anti-inflammatory potential. Functional characteristics of Carrageenan (Cara)-induced edema were valuable for identification of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Hence, the potential of LPS-induced paw inflammation was investigated and compared to that by Cara. Stimulation of isolated rat peritoneal exudates cells (PEC) with 10 ng/ml LPS, but not Cara, induced IL-6 (3.04+/-0.2 ng/ml) and TNFalpha (1.030.09 ng/ml). At least 100 mg/ml Cara was necessary for detection of IL-6 (2.03+/-0.1 ng/ml) and TNFalpha (0.6+0.09 ng/ml) in PEC. Similar to Cara, subplantar administration of LPS-induced inflammatory paw edema in rats. LPS, but not Cara, induced TNFalpha (2.14+/-0.6 ng/ml) and IL-6 (2.9+/-0.5 ng/ml) in serum at 1 and 3 h, respectively, which returned to basal levels by 5 h. LPS-induced serum TNFalpha (sTNFalpha) levels closely paralleled paw swelling and its neutralization by anti-TNFalpha antibody or inhibition by pentoxifylline and nimesulide correlated with inhibition of inflammation. Similar to earlier reports, rofecoxib induced sTNFalpha at 30 mg/kg and exhibited pro-inflammatory effect by enhancing paw swelling. LPS-induced edema provides a useful functional model for identification of cytokine modulating anti-inflammatory agents.