Survival of periodontal ligament myofibroblasts after short-term mechanical strain in rats and in vitro: Could myofibroblasts contribute to orthodontic relapse?

Objectives: To investigate in vivo whether myofibroblasts formed in the PDL after exposure to short-term high experimental orthodontic forces in rats survive. To study in vitro whether human PDL fibroblasts can differentiate into myofibroblasts and survive when chemical or mechanical stimuli are removed.

Design: Nine 6-week-old male Wistar rats were used in this experiment.

Predictive Role of HE4 in Diagnosis of Ovarian Tumors.

Background: Approximately 20% of women develop an ovarian cyst or pelvic mass at some point in their lives. Due to high false positivity of CA-125, women with various benign ovarian tumors simulating malignant masses undergo extensive debulking surgery resulting in increased morbidity. Serum HE4 is a useful test for better discrimination of benign or malignant nature of pelvic masses in preoperative period.

Spatial distribution, source apportionment, and health risks assessment of trace elements in pre- and post-monsoon soils in the coal-mining region of North Karanpura basin, India.

Coal mining activities in the North Karanpura basin have significantly increased the trace element (TE) concentrations in the soil, resulting in soil pollution and potential health risks. To assess this, 113 soil samples, along with coal, shale, and overburden rocks, were collected from open-cast mining areas during pre-monsoon (Pre-M) and post-monsoon (Post-M) seasons. Seasonal analysis revealed higher TE concentrations in the Post-M period, especially in the SE direction, followed by NE and NW, likely due to surface runoff and deposition, demonstrating temporal variability in TE distribution which corroborated from the spatial distribution maps.

Antimicrobial activity of α/β hybrid peptides incorporating tBu-βAcc against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The incorporation of β-amino acids into peptides is a promising approach to develop proteolytically stable therapeutic agents. Short α/β hybrid peptides containing tBu-βAccː HN-Lys-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P1; HN-Orn-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P2; HN-Arg-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P3; LA-Lys-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P4; LA-Orn-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P5; LA-Arg-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P6; LA-Lys-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P7; LA-Orn-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P8; and LA-Arg-tBu-βAcc-PEA, P9 were prepared. The antimicrobial efficacies of all the peptides were evaluated against ESKAPE pathogens, along with a small panel of multi-drug resistant (MDR) clinical isolates of S.