Efficacy of benzocaine and lidocaine bioadhesive patches in various minor oral surgical procedures in children - An evaluative study.

Context: The key to successful management of a child in the dental clinic depends greatly on providing painless anaesthesia. Topical anaesthesia using bioadhesive patches may be a breakthrough in this field. Aims: The purpose of the study was to compare the efficacy of Benzocaine and Lidocaine bioadhesive patches in reducing pain associated with various minor oral surgical procedures in children. Methods and Materials: Hundred subjects, aged 6-9 years, requiring various minor oral surgical procedures such as extractions of primary teeth, nerve blocks, mucocele excision or drainage of abscesses were divided equally into Groups 1 and 2. In Group 1, custom fabricated Benzocaine patches were placed for 5 minutes at the target site prior to the procedure, and in Group 2, Lidocaine patches were used in the same manner. Each subject completed a visual analogue scale (VAS) and Wong-Baker Faces pain scale (FPS) after each procedure. Pulse rate and saturation of peripheral oxygen were assessed using pulse oximeter. The duration of the study was from September 2014 to September 2015. Statistical Analysis Used: The statistical analysis was done using paired t test, ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc analysis. P value less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: A significant difference in pain scores was observed favouring the use of Benzocaine over Lidocaine patches (P < 0.05). However, no significant differences in pulse oximeter readings were observed. Conclusions: A statistically significant reduction in pain rating scores was observed in the Benzocaine group after a five-minute application of the patch.

A Deep Learning Architecture for Meningioma Brain Tumor Detection and Segmentation.

The meningioma brain tumor detection and segmentation method is a complex process due to its low intensity pixel profile. In this article, the meningioma brain tumor images were detected and tumor regions were segmented using a convolutional neural network (CNN) classification approach. The source brain MRI images were decomposed using the discrete wavelet transform and these decomposed sub bands were fused using an arithmetic fusion technique. The fused image was data augmented in order to increase the sample size. The data augmented images were classified into either healthy or malignant using a CNN classifier. Then, the tumor region in the classified meningioma brain image was segmented using an connection component analysis algorithm. The tumor region segmented meningioma brain image was compressed using a lossless compression technique. The proposed method stated in this article was experimentally tested with the sets of meningioma brain images from an open access dataset. The experimental results were compared with existing methods in terms of sensitivity, specificity and tumor segmentation accuracy.

Ceftriaxone-induced encephalopathy in a patient with multicentric glioma.

Background: Ceftriaxone is a commonly used antibiotic in a wide range of local and systemic infections. Encephalopathy is a rare complication of ceftriaxone, often seen in older adults and those with renal insufficiency. Case Description: A 73-year-old lady with prior history of hypertension and dyslipidemia presented with the complaints of slurred speech, gait imbalance, nocturnal vomiting, and progressively worsening headache. A magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed two intracerebral lesions involving the right frontal and temporal lobes, suggestive of multicentric glioma. She underwent craniotomy and excision of these lesions. The biopsy was reported as intra-axial tumors with features suggestive of the WHO Grade IV glioma. Postoperatively, she did not wake up. An electroencephalogram demonstrated triphasic waves suggestive of encephalopathy. The probable diagnosis of ceftriaxone-induced encephalopathy was made after ruling out other causes of delayed awakening after surgery. Ceftriaxone was discontinued and the patient improved within 2 days of withdrawal of ceftriaxone. Conclusion: Drug-induced encephalopathy should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with delayed awakening after surgery. Discontinuation of the drug leads to the recovery of these patients.

Social media fatigue: Causes and concerns.

BACKGROUND: Social Media Fatigue (SMF) has seen a significant increase through the COVID-19 pandemic. It refers to high levels of information overload experienced due to extensive usage of social media. AIM: To understand the causes and consequences for mitigating social media fatigue. METHODS: PRISMA model was followed, and 20 papers were consolidated from the years 2014 to 2021. Seven papers were screened out due to duplication and exclusion criteria. RESULTS: The studies found implicated the existence of four umbrella factors, like Cognitive Factors, Self and Personality Factors, Environmental Factors and Social Factors. Self and Personality Factors include personal and intrinsic factors that make one susceptible to developing SMF more easily, whereas aspects like increased boredom and information overload include cognitive factors that increase susceptibility to SMF. Environmental and Social Factors include aspects like parenting and social media role conflict respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings have implications to promote research to assess the levels of social media fatigue among the individuals and to evolve psychotherapeutic interventions and digital literacy programs to manage social media fatigue among the community.

Sensitive quantification of dipicolinic acid from bacterial endospores in soils and sediments.

Endospore-forming bacteria make up an important and numerically significant component of microbial communities in a range of settings including soils, industry, hospitals and marine sediments extending into the deep subsurface. Bacterial endospores are non-reproductive structures that protect DNA and improve cell survival during periods unfavourable for bacterial growth. An important determinant of endospores withstanding extreme environmental conditions is 2,6-pyridine dicarboxylic acid (i.e. dipicolinic acid, or DPA), which contributes heat resistance. This study presents an improved HPLC-fluorescence method for DPA quantification using a single 10-min run with pre-column Tb3+ chelation. Relative to existing DPA quantification methods, specific improvements pertain to sensitivity, detection limit and range, as well as the development of new free DPA and spore-specific DPA proxies. The method distinguishes DPA from intact and recently germinated spores, enabling responses to germinants in natural samples or experiments to be assessed in a new way. DPA-based endospore quantification depends on accurate spore-specific DPA contents, in particular, thermophilic spores are shown to have a higher DPA content, meaning that marine sediments with plentiful thermophilic spores may require spore number estimates to be revisited. This method has a wide range of potential applications for more accurately quantifying bacterial endospores in diverse environmental samples.

Influence of social media on mental health: a systematic review.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Social media's role in a user's life has increased dramatically over the past decade. It is used increasingly as a leisure activity amongst young adults. The types of social media have also diversified with time and the ease of access is worrying. Aim of the current review is to find the effect of social media use on mental health. RECENT FINDINGS: Systematic search of articles was carried out from different database from 1991 to February 2020 across five databases. The PICO guidelines, PRISMA flow diagram and Rayyan software were used in identifying relevant studies which were assessed using the risk of bias. Cross-referencing was done with the co-authors. A total of 16 studies was finally included in the review. Social media role is far reaching both in terms of an individual's self-perception and mood but also on their social relationships. It is interesting to find its effect also in politics, organizations and even psychiatric illnesses. The 16 studies were divided into the positive, negative and neutral effects of social media. SUMMARY: Debate over social media's role on mental health will continue till a greater number of RCTs are conducted. Various variables amongst different age groups should be measured. It would also be beneficial if longitudinal research can be done.

Pathways of migration from gaming to gambling.

Gaming and gambling have been studied in terms of similarity of its manifestations. There is a dearth of empirical-based evidence for the exploration of pathways to understand the shift from gaming to gambling. A 23-year-old male from a nuclear family was assessed using clinical interview for the pathways for shifting from gaming to gambling. The pathways were personality predispositions, maladaptive coping, interpersonal distress, peer pressure, variable reward anticipation, addiction characteristics in the form of craving, loss of control and use despite having consequences. These findings suggest that there is a need to create awareness among young adults about these potential causes related to transition from gaming to gambling.

Gaming- a bane or a boon-a systematic review.

Recent trends show online/video games, have shifted from being just recreational in nature, to hazardous even resulting in the gamer's death like the blue whale game. The aim of the study is to examine associations between video/online gaming and its implication on the biopsychosocial domains of the user. Online databases were studied on gaming and its effect on behaviour, general and mental health from 1997-2017. The PICO guidelines, PRISMA flow diagram and the Rayyan software was used in identifying relevant studies. Cross referencing was done with the co-authors. A total of 41 studies were included in the final analysis. The choice of the video game is influenced by age, gender, parental mediation, as well as the players' and the game's characteristics. Excessive gaming affects both the individual himself and their interpersonal relationships, with 'internet addiction' being added as a diagnosis under DSM V. Despite its several negative consequences, over the past decade, researchers have now started to acknowledge the benefits of gamification in social, educational and even in the health sector, irrespective of the individual's age. There is a need to develop cross cultural database to understand the impact of addictive and/or promotive use of games on the biopsychosocial factors of the gamer.