Predictors of unfavorable responses to therapy in rifampicin-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis using an integrated approach of radiological presentation and sputum mycobacterial burden.

Introduction: Despite the exalted status of sputum mycobacterial load for gauging pulmonary tuberculosis treatment and progress, Chest X-rays supplement valuable information for taking instantaneous therapeutic decisions, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though literature on individual parameters is overwhelming, few studies have explored the interaction between radiographic parameters denoting severity with mycobacterial burden signifying infectivity. By using a sophisticated approach of integrating Chest X-ray parameters with sputum mycobacterial characteristics, evaluated at all the three crucial time points of TB treatment namely pre-treatment, end of intensive phase and completion of treatment, utilizing the interactive Cox Proportional Hazards model, we aimed to precisely deduce predictors of unfavorable response to TB treatment.

Cost-Effective, Integrated In Vitro Phantoms for Cardiac MRI.

To provide lab scale in vitro phantom solutions for cardiac MR (CMR) studies that can be used for imaging structure and function as well as calorimetric measurements. The phantoms were purposed to accept user inputs such as beats per minute (BPM) and flow rate. We developed two generations of phantoms.

Microleakage patterns of glass ionomer cement at cement-band and cement-enamel interfaces in primary teeth.

Context: In-vitro studies of microleakage are an initial screening method to assess the maximum theoretical loss of sealing ability in-vivo.

Aims: Our objective was to determine and compare microleakage patterns of conventional glass ionomer cement (GIC) and resin-modified GIC (RMGIC) for band cementation.

Methods: Forty caries-free second primary molars were randomly divided into two groups of 20 teeth each.

Rapid Prototyping of Two-Dimensional Non-Cartesian K-Space Trajectories (ROCKET) Using Pulseq and Graphical Programming Interface.

Magnetic resonance imaging is a well-established method for diagnostics and/or prognostics of various pathological conditions. Cartesian k-space trajectory-based acquisition is the popular choice in clinical magnetic resonance imaging, owing to its simple acquisition, reconstruction schemes, and well-understood artifacts. However, non-Cartesian trajectories are relatively more time efficient, with involved methods for image reconstruction.

Comparative Evaluation of Plaque Removal Effectiveness of Manual and Chewable Toothbrushes in Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: In children, manual dexterity poses a problem with the use of manual tooth brushes (MB), resulting in inefficient plaque removal. Recently, novel chewable brushes (CB) have been introduced which could overcome this problem but are less researched in children. The objective of this study is to assess and compare the plaque removal effectiveness of CB with that of MB.

Evaluation of serotypes , and in saliva samples of 6-12-year-old school children before and after a short-term daily intake of the probiotic lozenge.

Aim: The aim of this study is to assess the variations in the levels of Streptococcus mutans in saliva before and after short-term daily intake of the probiotic lozenge. To estimate the prevalence of S. mutans serotypes e, f, and k and its variations in salivary levels before and after short-term daily intake of the probiotic lozenge.

Assessment of Coronal Leakage with Two Intracanal Medicaments After Exposure to Human Saliva-An Study.

Introduction: One among the various reasons for root canal failure in endodontics is the leakage of an intracanal medicament due to improper coronal sealing.

Aim: To assess the coronal leakage of two intracanal medicaments sealed with two different temporary filling materials.

Materials And Methods: An study was done on 55 teeth where they were divided into three groups with two root canal medicaments namely calcium hydroxide + 0.

Multiband fMRI as a plausible, time-saving technique for resting-state data acquisition: Study on functional connectivity mapping using graph theoretical measures.

Background And Objectives: Ensuring patient comfort and compliance by emphasizing reduced time frame for image acquisition, without compromising image quality is the key aspect with functional MRI examination. Multiband resting state fMRI (MB-rsfMRI) is a fairly new technique that potentially shortens MR image acquisition time by providing increased number of time points. The study aims to compare signal characteristics as well as the functional connectivity using conventional resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) with that of MB-rsfMRI technique.

Evaluating the Efficacy of Xylitol Wipes on Cariogenic Bacteria in 19- to 35-month-old Children: A Double-blind Randomized Controlled Trial.

Introduction: Dental caries is an infectious disease with as the main cariogenic bacteria. Children with early S. colonization have a higher risk of developing dental caries than those with later colonization.

Pulseq-Graphical Programming Interface: Open source visual environment for prototyping pulse sequences and integrated magnetic resonance imaging algorithm development.

Purpose: To provide a single open-source platform for comprehensive MR algorithm development inclusive of simulations, pulse sequence design and deployment, reconstruction, and image analysis.

Methods: We integrated the "Pulseq" platform for vendor-independent pulse programming with Graphical Programming Interface (GPI), a scientific development environment based on Python. Our integrated platform, Pulseq-GPI, permits sequences to be defined visually and exported to the Pulseq file format for execution on an MR scanner.

Colour Preference to Emotions in Relation to the Anxiety Level among School Children in Puducherry - A Cross-Sectional Study.

Introduction: Dental setting plays an important role in child's behavior and cooperation to the planned dental treatment. Adding attractive colours to the dental environment and by incorporating colourful equipments can make the child feel good and be at ease. This study tries to convey the relationship between colours and dental anxiety among children.

Psychosocial Effects of Fractured Anterior Teeth among Rural Children.

Aim: The aim of the study is to determine how rural children view children with visible incisor fracture.

Materials And Methods: Class 7 (aged 11-12 years) and class 10 (aged 14-15 years) schoolchildren (the participants) were invited to make a social judgment about the color photograph of two children (the subjects). Participants were randomly allocated either (i) pictures of children without incisor fracture or (ii) pictures of the same children whose photographs had been digitally modified to visible incisor fracture.

Compressed sensing MRI: a review.

Compressed sensing (CS) is a mathematical framework that reconstructs data from highly undersampled measurements. To gain acceleration in acquisition time, CS has been applied to MRI and has been demonstrated on diverse MRI methods. This review discusses the important requirements to qualify MRI to become an optimal application of CS, namely, sparsity, pseudo-random undersampling, and nonlinear reconstruction.

Volumetric fat-water separated T2-weighted MRI.

Background: Pediatric body MRI exams often cover multiple body parts, making the development of broadly applicable protocols and obtaining uniform fat suppression a challenge. Volumetric T2 imaging with Dixon-type fat-water separation might address this challenge, but it is a lengthy process.

Objective: We develop and evaluate a faster two-echo approach to volumetric T2 imaging with fat-water separation.

ANTHEM: anatomically tailored hexagonal MRI.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the use of anatomically tailored hexagonal sampling for scan-time and error reduction in MRI.

Materials And Methods: Anatomically tailored hexagonal MRI (ANTHEM), a method that combines hexagonal sampling with specific symmetry in anatomical geometry, is proposed. By using hexagonal sampling, aliasing artifacts are moved to regions where, due to the nature of the anatomy, aliasing is inconsequential.

Diffusion-weighted EPI with magnetization transfer contrast.

Capabilities of diffusion-weighted (DW) and magnetization transfer (MT) imaging are well established for tissue characterization in various pathologies individually. However, the effect of suppression of macromolecules on applying MT pulse on signals associated with DW imaging and resulting change in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of water molecules has not been demonstrated previously. In the present study, we have performed DW echo planar imaging (EPI) with and without MT preparation pulse to see the effect of macromolecular signal suppression on ADC.