Analysis of the linear oscillation dynamics of Fluidyne engines.

A Fluidyne engine is a liquid piston Stirling engine that uses thermally induced self-sustained oscillations of water and air that are filled in a looped tube and tuning column. It presents high potential for use as a low-temperature-difference Stirling engine with a simple structure. This study analyzes the linear oscillation dynamics of the Fluidyne from a thermoacoustic point of view, with particular emphasis on the local specific acoustic impedance of the working gas, which is given by the ratio of the complex amplitudes of the pressure and velocity oscillations in the regenerator of the Fluidyne.

Rising incidence of oral cancer in Ahmedabad city.

Context: In 1999, an increase in mouth cancer incidence among young men (< 50 years) in urban Ahmedabad was reported to be occurring along with decreasing mouth cancer incidence in older age groups and increasing oral submucous fibrosis incidence associated with areca nut consumption among young men in Gujarat. The aim was to investigate whether the increase in the incidence mouth cancer that had started among young men in the 1990 s was continuing.

Settings And Design: Ahmedabad urban population, comparison of reported mouth cancer cases in the population across four time period.

Medical problems among dental patients at the school of dentistry, the university of the West Indies.

This study ascertained demographic information and prevalence rates of medical problems among 571 new and consecutive dental patients attending the emergency clinic of the School of Dentistry, The University of the West Indies. Patients were interviewed by specially trained and calibrated dental students and interns. Various medical problems of patients were recorded in individual open-ended case sheets, maintaining their privacy and confidentiality.

Accidental implantation of a bur tip in the elbow of a dentist. A possible pathway for inoculation with deadly infectious agent.

The most common source of occupational injury to dentists is percutaneous puncture of the hands from "sharps". We report a percutaneous injury involving a dentist where the tip of a dental bur became implanted in his elbow. The dentist had been vaccinated against Hepatitis B and both the patient and dentist were Hiv and Hepatitis B seronegative immediately after the incident.

Facial swelling and gingival enlargement in a patient with sickle cell disease.

Sickle cell anemia is a frequent hemoglobinopathy in the Caribbean. While vaso-occlusion induced tissue injury in sickle cell anemia is common in various organs, orofacial lesions are rare. A 14-year-old Afro-Trinidadian boy suffering from sickle cell anemia developed an acute facial swelling, mimicking facial cellulitis of dental origin, which was caused by sickle cell-related hemorrhage.

An epidemiological study of tori among 667 dental outpatients in Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies.

Aim: To study the prevalence of tori amongst dental outpatients, the ethnic and sex variations in their distribution, and their clinical features.

Setting: The School of Dentistry, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago.

Metastasis of breast carcinoma to mandibular gingiva.

Metastatic tumours to the oral region are rare but more often involve the jaws rather than the oral soft tissues. In this report, an infiltrative ductal carcinoma of the breast that metastasised to the mandibular gingiva is presented. The patient consulted her dentist for what she thought was a dental abscess in the bicuspid region of the lower left jaw.

Development and testing of a quantitative food frequency questionnaire for use in Kerala, India.

Objective: To develop and test a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) for use in rural areas of Kerala, India.

Design: Based on food use and market surveys of the study area, a quantitative 81-item interviewer-administered FFQ was developed. A validation study was conducted consisting of 24-h diet recalls (24HR) administered on 8 days randomly selected over an entire year and two administrations of the FFQ, one at the beginning of the 1-year period and the other at the end.

Influence of dietary factors on oral precancerous lesions in a population-based case-control study in Kerala, India.

Background: Although tobacco is the primary etiologic factor for oral precancerous lesions in India, evidence from other sources indicates that diet may modify risk. This case-control study was designed to minimize a variety of biases in its attempt to investigate the relation between diet and oral precancerous lesions.

Methods: In a house-to-house survey of 5056 tobacco users in a rural area of Ernakulam district in Kerala, India, 226 individuals (44 females and 182 males) were found to have precancerous lesions (cases), which in 4 cases proved to be cancer.

p53 expression in oral precancer as a marker for malignant potential.

The potential of p53 protein expression as a marker for determining which oral precancerous lesions may transform to malignancy with time was assessed. We compared the p53 expression in archival formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from 22 baseline biopsies of precancerous lesions that transformed to cancer in 4-25 years against that in 68 similar lesions that did not transform over the same time period. Twenty-nine percent of precancers that transformed were p53-positive at baseline, compared to 31% of the biopsies that did not transform to malignancy.

Effects of storage, time, temperature, and composition of containers on biologic components of human milk.

Effects of steel and glass storage containers, duration of storage up to seven hours, and storage temperature on the concentration of humoral and cellular factors in 357 samples of human breastmilk were examined. Leukocytic functions were estimated by E-rosetting of sheep RBCs by T-lymphocytes and phagocytosis of S. cerevisieae by phagocytes.

Epidemiology of cancer by tobacco products and the significance of TSNA.

Globally, oral cancer is one of the ten common cancers. In some parts of the world, including the Indian subcontinent, oral cancer is a major cancer problem. Tobacco use is the most important risk factor for oral cancer.

Etiology of oral submucous fibrosis with special reference to the role of areca nut chewing.

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a high risk precancerous condition, predominantly affecting Indians. Consumption of chilli was hypothesized as an etiologic factor on the basis of ecological observations and a solitary animal experimental study. Subsequent epidemiologic studies that included case-series reports, large cross-sectional surveys, case-control studies, cohort and intervention studies have identified areca nut as the major etiologic agent.

Effect of cessation of tobacco use on the incidence of oral mucosal lesions in a 10-yr follow-up study of 12,212 users.

Objective: To study the effect of cessation of tobacco use on the incidence of lichen planus, leukoplakia and other oral mucosal lesions.

Design: A 10-yr cohort study in a rural population of Ernakulam district, Kerala, India.

Material And Methods: Some 12,212 tobacco users were interviewed and examined in a baseline survey and re-examined annually for 10 years.

Case reports of chromomycosis.

Two cases of chromomycosis were diagnosed in B.Y.L.

Serological characterisation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae by co-agglutination technique.

Antibiotic susceptibility pattern in cases of acute gonococcal urethritis, was studied by single disc diffusion technique and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) by agar dilution technique were determined for 5 antibiotics, viz penicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, gentamicin and norfloxacin. All the penicillinase producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG) and non-PPNG strains were sensitive to norfloxacin. 72% of the isolates belonged to serogroup WII/WIII by co-agglutination technique.

Primary prevention trial of oral cancer in india: a 10-year follow-up study.

Oral cancer is caused by chewing and smoking of tobacco. To assess the feasibility of primary prevention of oral cancer, two cohorts were studied in base-line surveys and then followed up annually for 10-yr in Ernakulam district of Kerala state. The intervention cohort consisted of 12212 tobacco users aged 15 yr and over, who were exposed to a concentrated program of education against tobacco use.

Hepatitis C virus infection in chronic liver disease in Bombay.

To find out the prevalence of antibody of hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) in patients with chronic liver disease in Bombay, sera from 126 patients (93 men, 33 women; aged 9-70 years, mean 39.7) with chronic liver disease (cirrhosis 103, cirrhosis with hepatocellular carcinoma 3, chronic active hepatitis 20) were tested for HBsAg and anti-HCV antibody. HBsAg positive sera were tested for anti-delta antibody and IgM anti-HBc.

HIV infection in patients of liver cirrhosis.

A total of 130 patients of liver cirrhosis (97 males, 33 females; aged 9-70 yr) of various etiologies were subjected to anti HIV antibodies testing by ELISA and supplementary Western Blot (WB) tests. Eleven patients were positive by ELISA. Of these 11 patients, 5 were WB positive, 4 were WB negative and 2 were indeterminate.

Frequency of hepatitis B, C and D and human immunodeficiency virus infections in multi-transfused thalassemics.

Of forty multi-transfused thalassemia patients (26 males, 14 females; mean age 8.1 +/- 5.3 years, range 1-35) with no clinical or biochemical evidence of liver disease, HBsAg, anti-hepatitis C virus and anti-human immunodeficiency virus antibodies were present in 18 (45%), 7 (17.

Prevalence of delta virus infection in high risk population and hepatitis B virus related liver diseases.

Two hundred and fifty four high risk persons or patients with hepatitis B virus related liver disease (209 men, 45 women; age range 1-78 years) were tested for anti-delta antibody and IgM anti-HBc to determine the prevalence of delta agent coinfection and superinfection. The prevalence of delta infection was as follows: acute viral hepatitis 23/148 (16%) and chronic liver disease 17/92 (19%), and asymptomatic HBsAg carriers 1/6 (17%). In the high risk population, the delta antibody prevalence was as follows: multiple transfusion recipients 3/8 (38%), patients with chronic renal failure 1/5 (20%) and medical professionals 2/7 (29%).

Mono and dual therapy for Helicobacter pylori associated gastritis.

Sixty patients with Helicobacter Pylori positive non ulcer dyspepsia were randomly allocated to one of the following treatment groups: Group I--norfloxacin 400 mg bid for 10 days, Group II--amoxycillin 500 mg bid plus tinidazole 500 mg bid for 15 days, Group III--colloidal bismuth subcitrate (CBS) 240 mg bid for 4 weeks. H pylori elimination was achieved in 14%, 81%, and 62% in Groups I, II and III respectively. Eradication of H pylori was not observed in Groups I and II, but was achieved in 25% of patients in Group III.