Efficacy of Laser-assisted Periodontal Therapy vs. Conventional Scaling and Root Planing.

Background: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of laser-assisted periodontal therapy (LAPT) with conventional scaling and root planing (CSRP) in the treatment of periodontal disease. The objective was to assess the outcomes of these two treatments on a sample of 30 patients in each group.

Materials And Methods: In this study, a total of 60 patients diagnosed with periodontal disease were divided into two groups: the LAPT group and the CSRP group, with 30 patients in each group.

Hierarchically Structured Macro with Nested Mesoporous Zinc Indium Oxide Conducting Film.

Fabrication of homogeneously distributed (HD) macropores by breath figure process is an active research area. Adopting the process, for the first time, we report the fabrication of HD macro with nested meso (hierarchical) porous nanocrystalline zinc indium oxide conducting sol-gel thin film on glass by dip-coating at 45-50% room relative humidity (RH) from a solution in ethanol-2-butanol (1:1, w/w) medium with a 1:1, Zn:In ratio. In this process, solution composition and RH are found to play key roles on HD macropore generation.

Prophylactic effect of α-linolenic acid and α-eleostearic acid against MeHg induced oxidative stress, DNA damage and structural changes in RBC membrane.

The present study was undertaken to evaluate under in vivo condition the effects of α-linolenic acid and α-eleostearic acid against methyl mercury (MeHg) induced oxidative stress. Male albino rats were divided into six groups. Group 1 was under normal control and Group 2 was treated with methyl mercury chloride (MeHgCl; 5 mg/kgBW/day).

Relationship of methyl mercury accumulation with lipid and weight in two river cat fish species, Wallagoo attu and Mystus aor, from West Bengal, India.

This study focuses on mercury (Hg) bioaccumulation in Indian cat fish, Wallagoo attu and Mystus aor, from different rivers. Methyl mercury (MeHg) concentrations were determined in muscle tissue of two different parts, ventral and dorsal part, of each species and the levels of organic mercury were co-related with lipid content of each part. The MeHg concentrations increased in a linear fashion with both weight and age for these river species.

Studies on comparative efficacy of α-linolenic acid and α-eleostearic acid on prevention of organic mercury-induced oxidative stress in kidney and liver of rat.

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of α-linolenic acid and α-eleostearic acid, two isomers of linolenic acid, against oxidative stress induced by organic mercury in kidney and liver cells of rat. Male albino rats were divided into six groups. Groups 1, 2 were normal control and methyl mercury chloride (MeHgCl) treated (5 mg/kg BW/day) control, respectively.

Methyl mercury in fish--a case study on various samples collected from Ganges river at West Bengal.

This study investigated the presence of total mercury (Hg) and organic mercury levels in the muscle of 19 common fresh water fish species captured from river Ganges, West Bengal, India. The total mercury level found in our study may not cause any toxic effect, but the methyl mercury (MeHg) level in some freshwater fish species was surprisingly very high and toxically unacceptable. The results of mercury analysis in various specimens indicated that some fish muscles tended to accumulate high levels of Hg, and approximately 50-84% of Hg was organic mercury.

Surface-modified sulfur nanoparticles: an effective antifungal agent against Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum.

Surface-modified sulfur nanoparticles (SNPs) of two different sizes were prepared via a modified liquid-phase precipitation method, using sodium polysulfide and ammonium polysulfide as starting material and polyethylene glycol-400 (PEG-400) as the surface stabilizing agent. Surface topology, size distribution, surface modification of SNPs with PEG-400, quantitative analysis for the presence of sulfur in nanoformulations, and thermal stability of SNPs were determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) plus high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. A simultaneous study with micron-sized sulfur (S(0)) and SNPs was carried out to evaluate their fungicidal efficacy against Aspergillus niger and Fusarium oxysporum in terms of radial growth, sporulation, ultrastructural modifications, and phospholipid content of the fungal strains using a modified poisoned food technique, spore-germination slide bioassay, environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), and spectrometry.

Media optimization for biosurfactant production by Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 2794: artificial intelligence versus a statistical approach.

This paper entails a comprehensive study on production of a biosurfactant from Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 2794. Two optimization techniques--(1) artificial neural network (ANN) coupled with genetic algorithm (GA) and (2) response surface methodology (RSM)--were used for media optimization in order to enhance the biosurfactant yield by Rhodococcus erythropolis MTCC 2794. ANN and RSM models were developed, incorporating the quantity of four medium components (sucrose, yeast extract, meat peptone, and toluene) as independent input variables and biosurfactant yield [calculated in terms of percent emulsification index (% EI(24))] as output variable.