Assessment of quality of life outcomes with the Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory following cochlear implantation in children.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated health-related quality of life outcomes for children with cochlear implants in India using the Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory questionnaire. Cochlear implantation is associated with improved language outcomes. Some studies show this gives higher quality of life after implantation. Previous research demonstrates that India presents unique circumstances that impact perspectives regarding cochlear implantation. METHOD: Children (aged under 18 years) who had undergone cochlear implantation were recruited from Vani Pradan Kendra, an organisation for individuals with hearing loss based in Bangalore, India. Demographic data including age, sex, duration of hearing loss and age at implant were collected, and the children's parents or caregivers completed the Glasgow Children's Benefit Inventory questionnaire. RESULTS: Sixty-nine children (mean age: 8.0 ± 3.89 years) were recruited, and all reported improved quality of life after cochlear implantation. There was no effect of age, gender or education on reported benefits. However, a younger age at implant and longer experience with an implant were associated with greater quality of life improvements. CONCLUSION: Cochlear implantation leads to improved quality of life, with greater improvements associated with earlier implantation. This supports early intervention in children with profound hearing loss.

Blood pressure levels and hypertension prevalence in a high selenium environment: results from a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Recent human and laboratory studies have suggested the possibility that selenium overexposure may increase blood pressure. We sought to ascertain whether adults living in a seleniferous area exhibit an association between selenium exposure and both blood pressure levels as well as prevalence of hypertension. METHODS AND RESULTS: We measured selenium levels in blood (serum), hair and nail samples obtained from 680 adult volunteers (267 men and 413 women), living in seven Punjabi villages in a seleniferous area and related them to health outcomes, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure and presence of hypertension. In a multivariable restricted cubic spline regression model, adjusted for age, sex and history of hypertension, we found a positive association between systolic blood pressure and both serum (P = 0.004) and hair (P = 0.058) selenium levels, but not with nail selenium content. Little association emerged between the three selenium biomarkers and diastolic blood pressure. Hypertension prevalence was positively associated with the three exposure indicators (P < 0.001). The associations we found were generally stronger in women than in men. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these findings suggest that chronic overexposure to environmental selenium may increase blood pressure, though there were inconsistencies for this association according to the choice of exposure indicator, the study endpoint and the sex.

Botulinum toxin in the treatment of muscle specific Oro-facial pain: a literature review.

Facial pain associated with temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and surrounding structures has been a challenge to clinicians as far as diagnosis and management is concerned. Complexity of anatomical structures within a small area, function of teeth and surrounding periodontal ligament, action of muscles, pathologies, lack of diagnostic investigations, all these complicate specific diagnosis of TMJ disorders. Various classifications have been designed and studied to help diagnose and treat TMJ related disorders, of which the simplest one is pain from TMJ proper and surrounding muscles. Many treatment modalities to treat pain arising from muscles around TMJ like splints, mouth restriction exercises, injection of sclerosing agents etc. have been used with various degrees of success. Botulinum toxin has been shown to be effective in the treatment of oro-facial pain due to muscular disorders and the same is discussed in detail in this review literature.

Validation of a Kannada version of the Impact of Events Scale (IES).

BACKGROUND: This study presents a Kannada translation and validation of the Impact of Event Scale in a population of men and women exposed to maxillofacial trauma and orthopedic/ general trauma. MATERIALS & METHODS: A total of 96 study subjects from multi modal trauma centers in Bangalore city completed the Kannada translated questionnaire at the time of discharge, the first post- operative month and the sixth month of follow up. RESULTS: The Kannada IES is reliable when analyzed with the students T-test, it has good internal consistency with Cronbach's α-coefficients ranging from .970 to .974, the test-retest reliability with Karl Pearson's correlation of the scale at all three time intervals showed significant correlation. A principal component analysis was conducted to ascertain the validity and two components were derived from the 15 questions which were able to explain 88% of the variation and the two were retained (intrusion and avoidance). CONCLUSION: The Kannada version of the IES has satisfactory reliability, internal validity, test-retest reliability and the factor structure was similar to the proposed theoretical structure of the IES. How to cite this article: Tavane PN, Raghuveer HP, Kumar RD, Shobha ES, Rangan V, Dutt CS. Validation of a Kannada version of the Impact of Events Scale (IES). J Int Oral Health 2013; 5(5):38-47.

Continuous, non-invasive measurement of the haemodynamic response to submaximal exercise in patients with diabetes mellitus: evidence of impaired cardiac reserve and peripheral vascular response.

BACKGROUND: Reduced exercise capacity in diabetics has been attributed to limitations in cardiac function and microvascular dysfunction leading to impaired oxygen supply and nutritive perfusion to exercising muscles. OBJECTIVE: To study changes in cardiac function and microvascular utilisation during exercise in diabetic individuals compared to age-matched controls. METHODS: Diabetics with glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA(1c)) < 8 (n = 31), diabetics with HbA(1c) > or = 8 (n = 38) and age-matched non-diabetic controls (n = 32) performed exercise at 50 W for 10 minutes followed by recovery, with continuous monitoring of cardiac function by impedance cardiography and regional flow and oxygen saturation by laser Doppler and white light spectroscopy. RESULTS: In the diabetics, cardiac reserve during exercise and cardiac overshoot during recovery are significantly reduced because of reduction in capacity to increase stroke volume. Regional flow to the exercising muscle is reduced and there is also disproportionately greater desaturation of the regional flow. Abnormalities in cardiac function and regional perfusion are related to the severity of diabetes. CONCLUSION: Cardiac response to exercise is attenuated significantly in diabetic individuals. Simultaneously, there is impairment in the regional distribution. These changes could be the harbinger of reduced exercise capacity in diabetics.

Assessing forest canopy closure in a geospatial medium to address management concerns for tropical islands--Southeast Asia.

The present study outlines an approach to classify forest density and to estimate canopy closure of the forest of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. The vector layers generated for the study area using satellite data was validated with the field knowledge of the surveyed ground control points. The methodology adopted in this present analysis is three-tiered. First, the density stratification into five zones using visual interpretation for the complete archipelago. In the second step, we identified two island groups from the Andaman to investigate and compare the forest strata density. The third and final step involved more of a localised phytosociological module that focused on the North Andaman Islands. The results based on the analysis of the high-resolution satellite data show that more than 75% of the mangroves are under high- to very high-density canopy class. The framework developed would serve as a significant measure to forest health and evaluate management concerns whilst addressing issues such as gap identification, conservation prioritisation and disaster management--principally to the post-tsunami assessment and analysis.

Janibacter hoylei sp. nov., Bacillus isronensis sp. nov. and Bacillus aryabhattai sp. nov., isolated from cryotubes used for collecting air from the upper atmosphere.

Three novel bacterial strains, PVAS-1(T), B3W22(T) and B8W22(T), were isolated from cryotubes used to collect air samples at altitudes of between 27 and 41 km. Based on phenotypic characteristics, chemotaxonomic features, DNA-DNA hybridization with the nearest phylogenetic neighbours and phylogenetic analysis based on partial 16S rRNA gene sequences (PVAS-1(T), 1196 nt; B3W22(T), 1541 nt; B8W22(T), 1533 nt), the three strains were identified as representing novel species, and the names proposed are Janibacter hoylei sp. nov. (type strain PVAS-1(T) =MTCC 8307(T) =DSM 21601(T) =CCUG 56714(T)), Bacillus isronensis sp. nov. (type strain B3W22(T) =MTCC 7902(T) =JCM 13838(T)) and Bacillus aryabhattai sp. nov. (type strain B8W22(T) =MTCC 7755(T) =JCM 13839(T)).

Folklore medicinal plants of North Andaman Islands, India.

The rural folk of North Andaman, India use the traditional medicine for their primary health care. Folklore medicinal uses of 72 interesting medicinal plant species along with botanical name, local name, family, habit, part used, disease for which the drug is administrated, mode of administration are presented. These 72 plant species which provide the crude drugs pertain to 67 genera and 43 families of Magnoliophyta from tropical rainforests. These plants used to cure 40 ailments. Most remedies were taken orally, accounting for 76% of medicinal use. Most of the remedies were reported to have been from trees (55.6%) and herb (22.2%) species. The most widely sought after plant parts in the preparation of remedies in the areas are the stem bark (33.8%) and root (23.9%).

Bacillus aerius sp. nov., Bacillus aerophilus sp. nov., Bacillus stratosphericus sp. nov. and Bacillus altitudinis sp. nov., isolated from cryogenic tubes used for collecting air samples from high altitudes.

Four novel bacterial strains were isolated from cryogenic tubes used to collect air samples at altitudes of 24, 28 and 41 km. The four strains, 24K(T), 28K(T), 41KF2a(T) and 41KF2b(T), were identified as members of the genus Bacillus. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that three of the strains, 24K(T), 28K(T) and 41KF2a(T), are very similar to one another (>98 % sequence similarity) and show a similarity of 98-99 % with Bacillus licheniformis and 98 % with Bacillus sonorensis. DNA-DNA hybridization studies showed that strains 24K(T), 28K(T) and 41KF2a(T) exhibit <70 % similarity with each other and with B. licheniformis and B. sonorensis. Differences in phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics between the novel strains and B. licheniformis and B. sonorensis further confirmed that these three isolates are representatives of three separate novel species. Strain 41KF2b(T) showed 100 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to Bacillus pumilus, but differed from its nearest phylogenetic neighbour in a number of phenotypic and chemotaxonomic characteristics and showed only 55 % DNA-DNA relatedness. Therefore, the four isolates represent four novel species for which the names Bacillus aerius sp. nov. (type strain, 24K(T)=MTCC 7303(T)=JCM 13348(T)), Bacillus aerophilus sp. nov. (type strain, 28K(T)=MTCC 7304(T)=JCM 13347(T)), Bacillus stratosphericus sp. nov. (type strain, 41KF2a(T)=MTCC 7305(T)=JCM 13349(T)) and Bacillus altitudinis sp. nov. (type strain, 41KF2b(T)=MTCC 7306(T)=JCM 13350(T)) are proposed.

Immunohistopathologic features and therapy of conjunctival lichen planus.

Lichen planus is an autoimmune disease that typically involves skin and the mucosa of the genitalia and mouth. Conjunctival involvement is rare, and the microscopic abnormalities of affected conjunctivae are not well characterized. We treated two patients with cicatrizing conjunctivitis and extraocular conjunctival lichen planus confirmed by biopsy. We found irregular, thickened basement membrane with reduplications similar to the findings in oral mucosa affected by lichen planus. The absence of basement membrane immunoreactants excluded ocular cicatricial pemphigoid. Results of laboratory tests for collagen vascular diseases including sarcoidosis and lupus were also negative. Treatment with 2% cyclosporine eyedrops controlled inflammation and stopped cicatrization in one patient who was followed up for 12 months. The other patient, in whom lichen planus was recently diagnosed, responded favorably to topical cyclosporine. Lichen planus should be included in the differential diagnosis of cicatrizing conjunctivitis and its immunohistopathologic features should be studied in conjunctival biopsies. Topical cyclosporine may be used successfully for conjunctival lichen planus.