Unraveling the Web of Delusional Parasitosis: A Case Report.

Delusional parasitosis (DP) is a psychiatric condition characterized by the false belief of skin infestation. However, the coexistence of medical conditions, such as iron deficiency anemia, may complicate the clinical presentation and treatment approach. The present case provides an overview of the challenges faced with the diagnosis and management of DP in a patient with a co-morbid medical condition. It highlights the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration in achieving a favorable outcome. Through this case, we shed light on the possible multifactorial origins of DP and emphasize the importance of a comprehensive approach to care for patients with this condition. It also underscores the need for timely recognition and appropriate treatment to improve the quality of life for individuals affected by this debilitating psychiatric condition.

Evaluation of Apically Extruded Debris During Retreatment Procedures Using Various File Systems in Teeth With Simulated Apical Root Resorption: An In Vitro Study.

Aim The aim of this study was to compare the amount of debris produced apically during the removal of root canal obturating material by using various files in extracted teeth with simulated apical root resorption. Materials and methods An in vitro study was conducted in the root canals of 90 extracted mandibular premolar teeth that were prepared with a ProTaper Gold rotary file (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) and filled with gutta-percha and an AH Plus sealer (Dentsply Maillefer, Ballaigues, Switzerland) using a cold lateral compaction technique. A total of 45 mandibular premolar teeth were randomly assigned to three control groups (i.e., the ProTaper Universal retreatment file (Dentsply Maillefer), the Reciproc Blue file (VDW, Munich, Germany), and the HyFlex Remover file (Coltene/Whaledent, Altstatten, Switzerland) for the removal of root canal filling material, whereas the remaining 45 teeth were treated as the experimental group and their apical portion was modified to simulate apical root resorption. The teeth of this experimental group were randomly divided into three subgroups according to the same three techniques used with the control groups for the removal of root canal filling materials. The apically extruded debris was collected into pre-weighed borosilicate glass tubes and then dried. The mean weight of the apically extruded debris was assessed using an analytical balance to an accuracy of 10-4 g. Further, the data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Tukey's post hoc test. Results In the simulated apical root resorption groups, all file systems were associated with significantly more debris extrusion than the groups without simulated root resorption (a < 0.05). In both the control groups and experimental groups, the ProTaper Universal retreatment file was associated with the least weight of the apically extruded debris (a < 0.05), followed by the Reciproc Blue file and the HyFlex Remover file. Conclusion The amount of debris extruded apically was significantly greater in the teeth with simulated apical root resorption than in those without it. Further, during the removal of the root canal filling materials, HyFlex Remover was associated with significantly more apically extruded debris in all groups.

An efficient and secure compression technique for data protection using burrows-wheeler transform algorithm.

Data stored on physical storage devices and transmitted over communication channels often have a lot of redundant information, which can be reduced through compression techniques to conserve space and reduce the time it takes to transmit the data. The need for adequate security measures, such as secret key control in specific techniques, raises concerns about data exposure to potential attacks. Encryption plays a vital role in safeguarding information and maintaining its confidentiality by utilizing a secret key to make the data unreadable and unalterable. The focus of this paper is to tackle the challenge of simultaneously compressing and encrypting data without affecting the efficacy of either process. The authors propose an efficient and secure compression method incorporating a secret key to accomplish this goal. Encoding input data involves scrambling it with a generated key and then transforming it through the Burrows-Wheeler Transform (BWT). Subsequently, the output from the BWT is compressed through both Move-To-Front Transform and Run-Length Encoding. This method blends the cryptographic principles of confusion and diffusion into the compression process, enhancing its performance. The proposed technique is geared towards providing robust encryption and sufficient compression. Experimentation results show that it outperforms other techniques in terms of compression ratio. A security analysis of the technique has determined that it is susceptible to the secret key and plaintext, as measured by the unicity distance. Additionally, the results of the proposed technique showed a significant improvement with a compression ratio close to 90% after passing all the test text files.

Effect of Various Surface Treatments on the Push-Out Bond Strength of Fiber Posts to Root Dentin.

Background This study aimed to evaluate the effect of various surface treatments on the push-out bond strength of fiber posts to root dentin. Methodology A total of 96 single-rooted premolars were decoronated and obturated and post spaces were prepared for 9 mm. The canals were irrigated with 17% ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid followed by distilled water. The samples were divided into the two following groups based on the type of fiber posts used: Group I - glass fiber post (Reforpost size 1) and Group II: quartz fiber post (Quartzix Added Posts number 1). Further, each group was divided into four subgroups based on the surface treatments (A: no treatment (control); B: silanization; C: 4% titanium tetrafluoride (four minutes) followed by silanization; D: sandblasting followed by silanization). After surface treatments, posts were cemented using self-adhesive resin cement (RelyX U200). Three 2 mm thick slices were obtained and push-out tests were done. Failure modes were analyzed under a stereomicroscope. The surface morphology of the posts was analyzed with a scanning electron microscope. Data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance. Results Treating the posts with airborne particle abrasion (sandblasting) followed by silanization showed the highest bond strength. The coronal level of the root showed the highest bond strength compared to the middle and apical levels. Adhesive failures between the resin cement and dentin were found to be the highest. Conclusions Sandblasting followed by silanization produced the highest bond strength. The coronal level of the root showed the highest bond strength. Adhesive failures were the highest followed by mixed failures.

Antifungal potential of Azotobacter species and its metabolites against Fusarium verticillioides and biodegradation of fumonisin.

AIMS: In the study, seven Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) Azotobacter species were screened against three strains of Fusarium verticillioides to test its antifungal activity. Azotobacter strains were tested for the degradation of fumonisin produced by F. verticillioides. Secondary metabolites were isolated and characterized from the Azotobacter strains for the first time. METHODS AND RESULTS: Potential seven Azotobacter species antifungal activity was tested following the dual culture assay against three strains of Fusarium verticillioides namely FVM-42, FVM-86 and MTCC156 estimating the substantial zone of inhibition. Azotobacter species AZT-31 and AZT-50 strains significantly inhibited the growth of F. verticillioides recording drastic growth enhancement of maize under in-vitro conditions by calculating the infection incidence, vigour index and germination percentage. As confirmation, dereplication studies were conducted for the reconfirmation of Azotobacter strains by isolating from rhizoplane. Azotobacter strains played a key role in the degradation of fumonisin produced by F. verticillioides reporting 98% degradation at 2 h of incubation with the pathogen. Furthermore, in the study first time, we have tried to isolate and characterize the secondary metabolites from the Azotobacter strains exhibiting six compounds from the species AZT-31 (2) and AZT-50 (4). Preliminary in-vitro experiments were carried out using the compounds extracted to check the reduction of infection incidence (90%) and increase in germination percentage upto 50 to 70% when compared to the test pathogen. CONCLUSION: Azotobacter strains referred as PGPR on influencing the growth of plant by producing certain substances that act as stimulators on inhibiting the growth of the pathogen. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The future perspective would be the production of an active combination of carboxamide compound and Azotobacter species for preventively controlling the phytopathogenic fungi of plants and crops and also towards the treatment of seeds.

Exploring biotechnological and functional characteristics of probiotic yeasts: A review.

Probiotics are vital and beneficial organisms which offers the health benefits to the host organisms. The fungal probiotic field is one of the developing fields nowadays. Yeast has an enormous and diverse group of microorganisms that is attracting and expanding the attention from researchers and industries. Saccharomyces boulardii, the only patented strain belonging to yeast genera for the human use, has been broadly evaluated for its probiotic effect. Yeasts belonging to the genera Debaryomyces, Pichia, Yarrowia, Meyerozyma, Kluyveromyces etc.., have attained more interest because of their beneficial and probable probiotic features. These yeast probiotics produce VOCs (Volatile organic compounds), mycocins and antimicrobials which shows the antagonistic effect against pathogenic fungi and bacteria. Additionally, those yeasts have been recorded as good plant growth promoting microorganisms. Yeast has an important role in environmental applications such as bioremediation and removal of metals like chromium, mercury, lead etc., from waste water. Probiotic yeasts with their promising antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer properties, cholesterol assimilation and immunomodulatory effects can also be utilized as biotherapeutics. In this review article we have made an attempt to address important yeast probiotic attributes.

Towards applying internet of things and machine learning for the risk prediction of COVID-19 in pandemic situation using Naive Bayes classifier for improving accuracy.

Infections such as COVID-19 are affecting the entire world and measures such as social distancing can be done so that the contact among people is reduced. IoT devices usage keeps on increasing every day thereby connecting the environments physically. Among the current technologies, machine learning can be employed along with IoT devices. Predicting the risk related with COVID-19, a novel method employing machine learning is proposed. Random forest and Naive Bayes classifier are used for the prediction from the data collected with the help of sensors. Groups of people are recognized and the disease impact can be reduced for the particular group with more population. The accuracy of RF is 97% and for NB it is 99%.

Performance Assessment of Certain Machine Learning Models for Predicting the Major Depressive Disorder among IT Professionals during Pandemic times.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most common mental disorder in the present day as all individuals' lives, irrespective of being employed or unemployed, is going through the depression phase at least once in their lifetime. In simple terms, it is a mood disturbance that can persist for an individual for more than a few weeks to months. In MDD, in most cases, the individuals do not consult a professional, and even if being consulted, the results are not significant as the individuals find it challenging to identify whether they are depressed or not. Depression, most of the time, cooccurs with anxiety and leads to suicide in few cases, among the employees, who are about to handle the pressure at work and home and mostly unnoticing such problems. This is why this work aims to analyze the IT employees who are mostly working with targets. The artificial neural network, which is modeled loosely like the brain, has proved in recent days that it can perform better than most of the classification algorithms. This study has implemented the multilayered neural perceptron and experimented with the backpropagation technique over the data samples collected from IT professionals. This study aims to develop a model that can classify depressed individuals from those who are not depressed effectively with the data collected from them manually and through sensors. The results show that deep-MLP with backpropagation outperforms other machine learning-based models for effective classification.

Detecting COVID-19-Related Fake News Using Feature Extraction.

Since its emergence in December 2019, there have been numerous posts and news regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in social media, traditional print, and electronic media. These sources have information from both trusted and non-trusted medical sources. Furthermore, the news from these media are spread rapidly. Spreading a piece of deceptive information may lead to anxiety, unwanted exposure to medical remedies, tricks for digital marketing, and may lead to deadly factors. Therefore, a model for detecting fake news from the news pool is essential. In this work, the dataset which is a fusion of news related to COVID-19 that has been sourced from data from several social media and news sources is used for classification. In the first step, preprocessing is performed on the dataset to remove unwanted text, then tokenization is carried out to extract the tokens from the raw text data collected from various sources. Later, feature selection is performed to avoid the computational overhead incurred in processing all the features in the dataset. The linguistic and sentiment features are extracted for further processing. Finally, several state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms are trained to classify the COVID-19-related dataset. These algorithms are then evaluated using various metrics. The results show that the random forest classifier outperforms the other classifiers with an accuracy of 88.50%.

Sensors Driven AI-Based Agriculture Recommendation Model for Assessing Land Suitability.

The world population is expected to grow by another two billion in 2050, according to the survey taken by the Food and Agriculture Organization, while the arable area is likely to grow only by 5%. Therefore, smart and efficient farming techniques are necessary to improve agriculture productivity. Agriculture land suitability assessment is one of the essential tools for agriculture development. Several new technologies and innovations are being implemented in agriculture as an alternative to collect and process farm information. The rapid development of wireless sensor networks has triggered the design of low-cost and small sensor devices with the Internet of Things (IoT) empowered as a feasible tool for automating and decision-making in the domain of agriculture. This research proposes an expert system by integrating sensor networks with Artificial Intelligence systems such as neural networks and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) for the assessment of agriculture land suitability. This proposed system will help the farmers to assess the agriculture land for cultivation in terms of four decision classes, namely more suitable, suitable, moderately suitable, and unsuitable. This assessment is determined based on the input collected from the various sensor devices, which are used for training the system. The results obtained using MLP with four hidden layers is found to be effective for the multiclass classification system when compared to the other existing model. This trained model will be used for evaluating future assessments and classifying the land after every cultivation.

Exit-Site Infection: A Comparison of Classification Systems.

In general, in peritoneal dialysis (PD) practice in hospitals, Twardowski and Prowant's exit-site classification system is used, while the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis (ISPD) exit-site scoring system is practical to use in community visits with less experienced healthcare personnel. Nevertheless, when exit-site scoring is 3 points under the ISPD exit-site score system and it falls in the category of equivocal under the Twardowski and Prowant's exit-site classification, the physician should be vigilant about the possibility of developing peritonitis, and hence, patients need to be kept under periodic monitoring.

Morphological, pathological and mycotoxicological variations among Fusarium verticillioides isolated from cereals.

Among the 194 Fusarium verticillioides isolates screened from 127 cereal samples, 176 were fumonisin producers and others were non-producers. Representative nine Fusarium verticillioides strains along with one reference standard strain MTCC156 were selected to study their morphological, pathological and mycotoxicological variations by conventional and molecular approaches. Fusarium verticillioides strains FVM86, FVM146, FV200 and FVS3 showed significant pathogenicity and also in pigmentation production but varied in fumonisin production. Fusarium verticillioides strain FVP19 recorded variations in all the assays. Fusarium verticillioides strain FVM42 showed drastic phenotypic variation and it also produced fumonisin. Genetic variation among the strains was independent of geographic area of origin but depended on their ability to produce fumonisin. The strains were independent in their cultural characteristics, pigmentation production, pathogenicity assays, fumonisin production and in their genetic variability without having any correlation.

Lactobacillus plantarum MYS6 Ameliorates Fumonisin B1-Induced Hepatorenal Damage in Broilers.

Fumonisin B1 (FB1), a mycotoxin produced by Fusarium species is a predominant Group 2B carcinogen occurring in maize and maize-based poultry feeds. It is shown to be nephrotoxic, hepatotoxic, neurotoxic, and immunosuppressing in animals. In this study, we report the ameliorating effects of a probiotic strain, Lactobacillus plantarum MYS6 on FB1-induced toxicity and oxidative damage in broilers. A 6-week dietary experiment consisting of 48 broilers was performed in six treatment groups. Probiotic treatment (109 cells/mL) involved pre-colonization of broilers with L. plantarum MYS6 while co-administration treatment involved supplementation of probiotic and FB1-contaminated diet (200 mg/Kg feed) simultaneously. At the end of the treatment period, growth performance, hematology, serum biochemistry, and markers of oxidative stress in serum and tissue homogenates were evaluated in all the broilers. The histopathological changes in hepatic and renal tissues were further studied. The results demonstrated that administration of L. plantarum MYS6 efficiently improved the feed intake, body weight and feed conversion ratio in broilers. It mitigated the altered levels of hematological indices such as complete blood count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit. Serum parameters such as serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, creatinine, cholesterol, triglycerides, and albumin were significantly restored after administering the probiotic in FB1-intoxicated broilers. Additionally, L. plantarum MYS6 alleviated the levels of oxidative stress markers in serum and tissue homogenate of liver. The histopathological data of liver and kidney further substantiated the overall protection offered by L. plantarum MYS6 against FB1-induced cellular toxicity and organ damage in broilers. Our results indicated that co-administration of probiotic along with the toxin had better effect in detoxification compared to its pre-colonization in broilers. Collectively, our study signifies the protective role of L. plantarum MYS6 in ameliorating the FB1-induced toxicity in the vital organs and subsequent oxidative stress in broilers. The probiotic L. plantarum MYS6 can further be formulated into a functional feed owing to its anti-fumonisin attributes and role in mitigating FB1-induced hepatorenal damage.

Evaluation of Push out Bond Strength of Fiber Post after Treating the Intra Radicular Post Space with Different Post Space Treatment Techniques: A Randomized Controlled In vitro Trial.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the push out bond strength after treating the post space with different irrigation procedures. STUDY DESIGN: The study sample comprised of 60 recently extracted premolars. These teeth were placed in 5.25% sodium hypochlorite solution for 5 min and then washed under tap water. De-coronated samples were biomechanically prepared until F3 ProTaper and obturated using AH-Plus and 30# (6%) gutta-percha. The specimens were allowed to set for 24 h and then post space was prepared. The teeth were randomly assigned into three experimental groups based on the treatment technique: Group A - control, Group B - sodium hypochlorite and ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) and Group C - diode laser and EDTA. The samples were sectioned horizontally and push out bond strength was evaluated. The stereomicroscopic examination was done for evaluating the failure mode. One-way ANOVA variance followed by Tukey's post-hoc test was used for statistical analysis using SPSS software. RESULTS: Use of diode laser does not enhance the bond strength of fiber post. CONCLUSION: Diode laser at a very low pulse can be used as an irrigant adjuvant to vaporize the cement residues. Using diode laser does not enhance the bond strength. EDTA as final irrigant increases the bond strength of fiber post.

Biological Rehabilitation of Complex Oblique Crown-root Fracture Segment Reattachment.

Dental trauma can predominantly affect the maxillary anteriors. Trauma can occur to any age group due to accidents, assaults, or leisure activities. The goal of the treatment for traumatically injured teeth is to return the teeth to acceptable function and form. In this case presentation, the endodontic and esthetic treatment approach of crown fracture is presented.

Combinatorial anticancer effects of curcumin and 5-fluorouracil loaded thiolated chitosan nanoparticles towards colon cancer treatment.

BACKGROUND: Evaluation of the combinatorial anticancer effects of curcumin/5-fluorouracil loaded thiolated chitosan nanoparticles (CRC-TCS-NPs/5-FU-TCS-NPs) on colon cancer cells and the analysis of pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of CRC-TCS-NPs/5-FU-TCS-NPs in a mouse model. METHODS: CRC-TCS-NPs/5-FU-TCS-NPs were developed by ionic cross-linking. The in vitro combinatorial anticancer effect of the nanomedicine was proven by different assays. Further the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution analyses were performed in Swiss Albino mouse using HPLC. RESULTS: The 5-FU-TCS-NPs (size: 150±40nm, zeta potential: +48.2±5mV) and CRC-TCS-NPs (size: 150±20nm, zeta potential: +35.7±3mV) were proven to be compatible with blood. The in vitro drug release studies at pH4.5 and 7.4 showed a sustained release profile over a period of 4 days, where both the systems exhibited a higher release in acidic pH. The in vitro combinatorial anticancer effects in colon cancer (HT29) cells using MTT, live/dead, mitochondrial membrane potential and cell cycle analysis measurements confirmed the enhanced anticancer effects (2.5 to 3 fold). The pharmacokinetic studies confirmed the improved plasma concentrations of 5-FU and CRC up to 72h, unlike bare CRC and 5-FU. CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, the combination of 5-FU-TCS-NPs and CRC-TCS-NPs showed enhanced anticancer effects on colon cancer cells in vitro and improved the bioavailability of the drugs in vivo. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE: The enhanced anticancer effects of combinatorial nanomedicine are advantageous in terms of reduction in the dosage of 5-FU, thereby improving the chemotherapeutic efficacy and patient compliance of colorectal cancer cases.

Curcumin-loaded N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan nanoparticles for cancer drug delivery.

Chitosan (CS) and its carboxymethyl derivatives are smart biopolymers that are non-toxic, biocompatible and biodegradable, and, hence, suitable for various biomedical applications, such as drug delivery, gene therapy and tissue engineering. Curcumin is a major chemotherapeutic agent with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, anticancer and antimicrobial effects. However, the potential of curcumin as a chemotherapeutic agent is limited by its hydrophobicity and poor bioavailability. In this work, we developed a nanoformulation of curcumin in a carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) derivative, N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan (N,O-CMC). The curcumin-loaded N,O-CMC (curcumin-N,O-CMC) nanoparticles were characterized using DLS, AFM, SEM, FT-IR and XRD. DLS studies revealed nanoparticles with a mean diameter of 150 ± 30 nm. AFM and SEM confirmed that the particles have a spherical morphology within the size range of 150 ± 30 nm. Curcumin was entrapped with in N,O-CMC nanopartcles with an efficiency of 80%. The in vitro drug-release profile was studied at different pH (7.4 and 4.5) at 37°C for different incubation periods with and without lysozyme. Cytotoxicity studies using MTT assay indicated that curcumin-N,O-CMC nanoparticles showed specific toxicity towards cancer cells and non-toxicity to normal cells. Cellular uptake of curcumin-N,O-CMC nanoparticles was analyzed by fluorescence microscopy and was reconfirmed by flow cytometry. Overall, these results indicate that like previously reported curcumin loaded O-CMC nanoparticles, N,O-CMC will also be an efficient nanocarrier for delivering curcumin to cancer cells.

Development of novel fibrinogen nanoparticles by two-step co-acervation method.

Fibrinogen is a natural protein involved in the coagulation cascade. In this study, fibrinogen nanoparticles were prepared by a two-step co-acervation method using calcium chloride as cross-linker. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermogravimetric (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies. The cytotoxicity was studied using NIH3T3, L929 and SKBR3 cell lines by MTT assay, which confirmed that the prepared nanoparticles were non-toxic. Fluorescence measurements revealed that the protein fluorescent band is the same for nanoformulation as bulk, which confirms the retention of protein structure in the nanoparticles. Cellular uptake of Rhodamine 123 conjugated fibrinogen nanoparticles by L929 cells monitored by fluorescent microscopy demonstrated significant internalization and retention of nanoparticles inside the cells. Our preliminary experiments suggest the prospective use of fibrinogen nanoparticles as a superior drug delivery carrier.