Publications by authors named "Nambiar S"

Background: Residual symptoms in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) in remission are common, and they contribute to significant functional impairment and distress. The incomplete efficacy of pharmacological treatments and improvements in psychotherapeutic approaches has led to renewed interest in psychotherapy for this disorder. However, there are fewer studies addressing the same.

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Polymer photonics is receiving significant attention due to its potential for a wide range of integrated photonic applications and wide wavelength transparency. Wafer-scale testing is challenging due to low-index contrast in polymer waveguides. In this Letter, we demonstrate an amorphous silicon based out-of-plane polymer waveguide grating coupler.

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  • Upper abdominal surgeries often lead to intense postoperative pain, and this study compares the effectiveness of an external oblique intercostal (EOI) block versus a traditional subcostal transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block for pain management.
  • Fifty patients scheduled for upper abdominal surgery received either EOI or TAP block and their postoperative pain management was monitored using a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump.
  • Results showed that the EOI block significantly increased the time to activate PCA, reduced opioid consumption, and improved patient satisfaction compared to the TAP block, indicating that EOI block is a more effective option for pain relief after upper abdominal surgery.
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Responsive feeding practices are crucial for developing healthy eating behaviours in children. However, chaotic households and financial stress may disrupt these practices. This cross-sectional study aimed to characterise feeding practices among Australian parents experiencing financial hardship.

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Introduction: Any significant changes in the growth and development of any aspect of life will ultimately affect the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of children with nephrotic syndrome. Various factors can influence treatment adherence, which can promote or decline the child's quality of life (QOL). Objective: To assess the quality of life and adherence to treatment regimen and to identify the predictors of QOL and adherence to treatment regimen among children with nephrotic syndrome.

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Background: Orthodontics is a speciality of dentistry that uses a plethora of devices made from myriad materials to manage various malocclusions. Prolonged contact of orthodontic appliances with oral tissues can lead to cellular damage, highlighting the need for biocompatible materials to mitigate health risks.

Objectives: To analyze the genotoxicity and cytotoxicity produced by metal brackets and coated metallic brackets with polymeric and nanoparticle coatings in oral mucosal cells.

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  • * Researchers used a new mouse model of HCV-related infection to explore the timing and necessity of CD4+ T cell assistance for the activation and effectiveness of CD8+ T cells in fighting the virus.
  • * Findings indicate that early help from CD4+ T cells is critical for the development of effective CD8+ T cell responses and viral clearance, with specific subsets of CD8+ T cells being essential for this process.
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  • The study explores how ingredients in toothpaste, particularly fluorides, can negatively affect living plants, specifically money plants.
  • Four money plants were tested: three received 100 mg of toothpaste over two weeks, while one was kept as a control with no toothpaste.
  • The results showed that the treated plants experienced discoloration and withering, whereas the control plant thrived, indicating the toxicity of common toothpaste ingredients.
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  • The study aimed to evaluate and compare the stability of buccal shelf mini-screws using two different placement techniques: self-drilling and pre-drilling.
  • A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 7 patients where screws were placed in one quadrant with each technique and their stability measured over four months using the Resonance Frequency Analysis method.
  • Results showed that pre-drilling resulted in significantly higher stability for the screws than self-drilling, underscoring the importance of insertion techniques for orthodontic clinicians.
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Endometrial cancer is one of the major cancers in women throughout the world. If diagnosed early, these cancers are treatable and the prognosis is usually good. However, one major problem in treating endometrial cancer is accurate diagnosis and staging.

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  • Surface modification methods like acid etching, sandblasting, and polydopamine coating were used on titanium disks to explore their effects on bioactivity and cell adhesion.
  • Research focused on the physical characteristics (such as surface roughness and wettability) and biological effects using human gingival fibroblast cells.
  • Results indicated that polydopamine-coated disks showed the best properties for promoting cell adhesion, suggesting they are a suitable option for implants in living organisms.
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Fungal secondary metabolites have a long history of contributing to pharmaceuticals, notably in the development of antibiotics and immunosuppressants. Harnessing their potent bioactivities, these compounds are now being explored for cancer therapy, by targeting and disrupting the genes that induce cancer progression. The current study explores the anticancer potential of gliotoxin, a fungal secondary metabolite, which encompasses a multi-faceted approach integrating computational predictions, molecular dynamics simulations, and comprehensive experimental validations.

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There is an unmet need for developing drugs for the treatment of gonorrhea, due to rapidly evolving resistance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae against antimicrobial drugs used for empiric therapy, an increase in globally reported multidrug resistant cases, and the limited available therapeutic options. Furthermore, few drugs are under development. Development of antimicrobials is hampered by challenges in clinical trial design, limitations of available diagnostics, changes in and varying standards of care, lack of robust animal models, and clinically relevant pharmacodynamic targets.

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Objective: The 2x2 factorial design is an effective method that allows for multiple comparisons, especially in the context of interactions between different interventions, without substantially increasing the required sample size. In view of the considerable preclinical evidence for Curcumin and Metformin in preventing the development and progression of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), this study describes the protocol of the clinical trial towards applying the drug combination in prevention of second primary tumors.

Methods: We have applied the trial design to a large phase IIB/III double-blind, multi-centric, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial to determine the safety and efficacy of Metformin and Curcumin in the prevention of second primary tumours (SPT) of the aerodigestive tract following treatment of HNSCC (n=1,500) [Clinical Registry of India, CTRI/2018/03/012274].

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Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) is a highly treatable cancer. However, delayed diagnosis of BL contributes to high mortality in BL endemic regions of Africa. Lack of enough pathologists in the region is a major reason for delayed diagnosis.

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The reactivity of 4-hydroxy-2-chromene-2-thione is investigated with aryl aldehydes and 5,5-dimethylcylohexane-1,3-dione (dimedone) in the presence of 20 mol% L-proline in toluene at 90 °C. Instead of the expected linear product with a sulphur atom in the ring provided by 4-hydroxydithiocoumarin or an angular product obtained from 4-hydroxycoumarin, the hitherto unreported products, 12-aryl substituted chromeno[2,3-]chromenes (4), were obtained in good to excellent yields. The reaction proceeds through a three-component reaction Knoevenagel condensation between dimedone with an aromatic aldehyde followed by Michael addition with 4-hydroxy-2-chromene-2-thione.

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Background: Fathers play a pivotal role in parenting and child feeding, but they remain underrepresented in intervention studies, especially those focused on disadvantaged populations. A better understanding of fathers' experiences and needs regarding support access and child nutrition information in the context of disadvantage can inform future interventions engaging fathers.

Objective: This study aims to explore fathers' experiences; perceived enablers; and barriers to accessing support and information related to parenting, child feeding, and nutrition and to co-design principles for tailoring child nutrition interventions to engage fathers.

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Tools to evaluate and accelerate tuberculosis (TB) vaccine development are needed to advance global TB control strategies. Validated human infection studies for TB have the potential to facilitate breakthroughs in understanding disease pathogenesis, identify correlates of protection, develop diagnostic tools, and accelerate and de-risk vaccine and drug development. However, key challenges remain for realizing the clinical utility of these models, which require further discussion and alignment among key stakeholders.

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Background: Design thinking is an iterative process that innovates solutions through a person-centric approach and is increasingly used across health contexts. The person-centric approach lends itself to working with groups with complex needs. One such group is families experiencing economic hardship, who are vulnerable to food insecurity and face challenges with child feeding.

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Evidence from previous studies suggests a strong association between pediatric undernutrition and maternal stature. However, there's a scarcity of evidence regarding the relationship between maternal stature and pediatric coexisting forms of malnutrition (CFM). This study examined the prevalence and trends of CFM at the individual, household, and community levels, using data from the Demographic & Health Surveys (DHS) of Pakistan.

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Background: HIV testing remains an important tool in identifying people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). An early diagnosis of HIV can lead to a prolonged life expectancy if treatment is initiated promptly. Indicator conditions can be the first sign of an HIV infection and should therefore be recognised and consequently a HIV test should be carried out.

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Background: Desirability of outcome ranking (DOOR) is an innovative approach to clinical trial design and analysis that uses an ordinal ranking system to incorporate the overall risks and benefits of a therapeutic intervention into a single measurement. Here we derived and evaluated a disease-specific DOOR endpoint for registrational trials for hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP).

Methods: Through comprehensive examination of data from nearly 4000 participants enrolled in six registrational trials for HABP/VABP submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 2005 and 2022, we derived and applied a HABP/VABP specific endpoint.

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Predicting the protein-nucleic acid (PNA) binding affinity solely from their sequences is of paramount importance for the experimental design and analysis of PNA interactions (PNAIs). A large number of currently developed models for binding affinity prediction are limited to specific PNAIs while also relying on the sequence and structural information of the PNA complexes for both training and testing, and also as inputs. As the PNA complex structures available are scarce, this significantly limits the diversity and generalizability due to the small training data set.

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Background: Responsive feeding is a reciprocal process between caregiver and child that is primarily child-led. It is linked to the development of positive eating behaviors and food preferences. There is evidence that household chaos, family dynamics, the quality of mealtime routines, financial hardship, and food insecurity can impact the feeding relationship.

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