Prevalence of Voice Problems and Associated Risk Factors in Islamic Religious Orators.

Islamic leadership is a diverse profession and previous research has highlighted the increased risk of voice problems among Islamic leaders. The prevalence and risk factors for voice problems among Malayalam-speaking Islamic religious orators have not been adequately investigated. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of self-reported voice problems among Islamic religious orators who recite the Adhaan and those who do not and to examine the impact of age and associated risk factors.

Visual interpretation of clinical images among dental students using eye-tracking technology.

Background: Tele-consultations are increasingly used for screening and diagnosis. Only a few studies have assessed dental students' visual attention to clinical images.

Aim: To (i) determine dental students' gaze behavior, visual fixations, and diagnostic competence while viewing clinical images, and (ii) explore potential opportunities to strengthen the teaching-learning approaches.

Comparative evaluation of subgingival microbiome in healthy periodontium and gingivitis using next-generation sequencing technology: A case-control study.

Background: Human dental plaque is a complex microbial community containing millions of species. Gingivitis is a dysregulated immune-inflammatory response induced by dysbiotic plaque biofilm that interrupts symbiosis. The emergence of next-generation sequencing with 16S rRNA gene has greatly contributed in understanding the complexity of microbiota.

Biocompatible Films of Collagen-Procyanidin for Wound Healing Applications.

The study investigated the effect of polyphenols present in Cassia auriculata (CA) leaves in enhancing the stability of the collagen protein and the wound healing potential of collagen films. The crude ethanol extract of CA was analyzed for the presence of phytochemicals and purified by column chromatography using solvents with increasing polarity. The ethanol eluted active fractions (EEAF) that precipitated gelatin was characterized using HP-TLC, FTIR spectroscopy, ESI-FT-MS/MS, and H NMR spectroscopy.

Visual interpretation of panoramic radiographs in dental students using eye-tracking technology.

Purpose: While eye-tracking technology is a validated tool in the field of education it is still in its infancy in the field of Pediatric Dentistry. The primary aim of this study was to determine dental undergraduates' search patterns and visual fixations while viewing panoramic radiographs (PR) using an eye-tracker. The secondary aim was to decide on the potential opportunities to enhance teaching-learning strategies when studying these radiographs.

Crown dimensions of primary teeth-A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Odontometrics, also known as metric traits, includes mesiodistal, buccolingual dimensions, and crown height. The purpose of this study was to assess pancontinental odontometric variations in the crown dimensions of primary teeth. Ten electronic databases were searched to identify studies that measured crown dimensions of primary teeth, published in English language, without year restriction up to July 2020.

Prevalence of the Cusp of Carabelli: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Context: The Cusp of Carabelli (CoC) is the most commonly occurring dental morphological trait.

Objective: To provide a pancontinental overview on the prevalence of the CoC in primary maxillary second molars and permanent maxillary molars.

Methods: An electronic search was conducted on ten databases without year restrictions up to July 2020.

Knowledge, attitude, and health seeking behavior on leprosy among urban adults in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu: A Community-based cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Although various measures are taken to create awareness about the epidemiological features of leprosy and encourage health-seeking behavior, they have seldom been able to tackle the high incidence of new leprosy cases in India.

Objective: To determine Leprosy-related knowledge, attitude, and health seeking behavior among the urban population in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu.

Materials And Methods: This community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample size of 640 people above 18 years of age residing in the study area, selected by multistage random sampling.

Morphological variations and prevalence of aberrant traits of primary molars.

Background: Morphological variations in tooth structure exhibit as metric and non-metric traits which play an important role in dental anthropology.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of morphometric traits and mean crown dimensions of primary molars in children.

Subjects And Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 4256 sectional dye casts of caries-free children aged 2.

Insights into substrate specificity of proteases for screening efficient dehairing enzymes.

Though numerous proteases have been isolated and screened for the dehairing purpose, their use in the leather industry is limited mainly due to high cost, the need for expertise, and control during unit operation and alterations in the quality of leather due to lack of the right kind of substrate specificity of the enzymes used. This paper deals with the comparative specificity and dehairing efficiency of proteases isolated from Bacillus cereus VITSP01 (PE2) and Brevibacterium luteolum VITSP02 (PE). PE2 and PE were found to be trypsin-like and elastase-like serine proteases respectively.

Prevalence of Cusp of Carabelli and its caries susceptibility - an ambidirectional cohort study.

Background/aim: To investigate the susceptibility of Cusp of Carabelli (CoC) to caries in 3- to 4-year-old children.

Methods: The prevalence of CoC was obtained, by two calibrated examiners using 2128 maxillary posterior sectional die models of 1064 caries-free children (that were prepared 8 months back). Four months after recording the CoC, prospective clinical examination of above-mentioned children was carried out by a calibrated third examiner.

Synthesis, antiproliferative and apoptosis induction potential activities of novel bis(indolyl)hydrazide-hydrazone derivatives.

In recent years, indole-indazolyl hydrazide-hydrazone derivatives with strong cell growth inhibition and apoptosis induction characteristics are being strongly screened for their cancer chemo-preventive potential. In the present study, N-methyl and N,N-dimethyl bis(indolyl)hydrazide-hydrazone analog derivatives were designed, synthesized and allowed to evaluate for their anti-proliferative and apoptosis induction potential against cervical (HeLa), breast (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) and lung (A549) cancer cell lines relative to normal HEK293 cells. The MTT assay in conjunction with mitochondrial potential assays and the trypan blue dye exclusion were employed to ascertain the effects of the derivatives on the cancer cells.

Enzymatic dehairing: A comprehensive review on the mechanistic aspects with emphasis on enzyme specificity.

Enzymatic dehairing as a part of the efforts for greener leather processing has reached progressive advancement with the tradition-bound tanning industry being now more receptive to cleaner processing methods due to increasing pressure from environmental groups. The dehairing mechanism is vaguely understood at present from the point of view of the enzyme specificity, which is needed for consistent and satisfactory hair removal without deleterious effect on the leather quality. Gaining insight into the dehairing specificity would help in designing efficient dehairing process.

Synthesis, Surface Active Properties and Cytotoxicity of Sodium N-Acyl Prolines.

Sodium N-acyl prolines (NaNAPro) were synthesized using mixture of fatty acids obtained from coconut, palm, karanja, Sterculia foetida and high oleic sunflower oils via Schotten-Baumann reaction in 58-75% yields to study the synergetic effect of mixture of hydrophobic fatty acyl functionalities like saturation, unsaturation and cyclopropene fatty acids with different chain lengths and aliphatic hetero cyclic proline head group on their surface and cytotoxicity activities. The products were characterized by chromatographic and spectral techniques. The synthesized products were evaluated for their surface active properties such as surface tension, wetting power, foaming characteristics, emulsion stability, calcium tolerance, critical micelle concentration (CMC) and thermodynamic properties.

Synthesis of novel chromeno-annulated cis-fused pyrano[3,4-c]benzopyran and naphtho pyran derivatives via domino aldol-type/hetero Diels-Alder reaction and their cytotoxicity evaluation.

New chromeno-annulated cis-fused pyrano[3,4-c]benzopyran and naphtho pyran derivatives have been synthesized by domino aldol-type reaction/hetero Diels-Alder reaction generated from o-quinone methide in situ from 7-O-prenyl derivatives of 8-formyl-2,3-disubstituted chromenones with resorcinols/naphthols in the presence of 20 mol% ethylenediamine diacetate (EDDA), triethylamine (2 mL) as co-catalyst in CH3CN under reflux conditions in good yields. The structures were established based on spectroscopic data, and further confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The results showed that compounds 4h and 4j exhibited very potent cytotoxicity against human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa).

Green synthesis of Kocuran-functionalized silver glyconanoparticles for use as antibiofilm coatings on silicone urethral catheters.

Microbial infections due to biofilm formation on medical implants are serious complications arising after surgery which can be prevented by using antimicrobial coatings on biomaterial surfaces. We developed a simple, rapid and green chemistry approach for synthesis of silver glyconanoparticles (AgNPs) using Kocuran, an exopolysaccharide produced by Kocuria rosea strain BS-1. Kocuran-capped AgNPs exhibited a characteristic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak around 435 nm.

Kocuran, an exopolysaccharide isolated from Kocuria rosea strain BS-1 and evaluation of its in vitro immunosuppression activities.

In an ongoing survey for bioactive potential of microorganisms from different biosphere zones of India, a promising Kocuria rosea strain BS-1 was identified which produced an exopolysaccharide (designated as Kocuran) exhibiting in vitro antioxidant and immunosuppression properties. Kocuran was characterized as a heteropolysaccharide with repeating monosaccharide residues of glucose, galactose, mannose and glucuronic acid with an average molecular mass of 51.2 kDa.

A new strategy for the synthesis of crucigasterin A, and cytotoxic activity of this compound and its related analogues.

Stereoselective total synthesis of bioactive marine natural product crucigasterin A has been accomplished from commercially available and inexpensive L-(-)-malic acid as a starting material. Julia olefination and chelation controlled Grignard additions are the key steps involved in the present synthesis. Cytotoxic properties of crucigasterin A and its related analogues crucigasterins B and D have been evaluated.

Total synthesis and biological evaluation of clavaminol-G and its analogs.

The first total synthesis of clavaminol-G (1) and 1-aminoundecan-2-ol (2) has been achieved from 10-undecenoic acid using epoxidation, regioselective azidolysis and in situ detosylation and reduction reactions as key steps. The methodology is extended for the synthesis of 1-aminoundecan-2-ol derivatives; namely, methyl 11-amino-10-hydroxyundecanoate (3), 11-amino-10-hydroxyundecanoic acid (4) and 11-aminoundecan-1,10-diol (5). Among these, 1-aminoundecan-2-ol (2) exhibited good antimicrobial activity and promising cytotoxicity towards HeLa, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and A549 cell lines with IC50 values of 4.

Hsp90-targeted miRNA-liposomal formulation for systemic antitumor effect.

Chaperone protein Hsp90 maintains functional integrity and maturation of a large number of cellular proteins including transcription factors, kinases, etc. It is often over-expressed in cancer cells for simultaneous maintenance of many non-regulated and/or genetically mutated proteins. Small molecule-based regimens inhibiting over-expressing Hsp90 in cancer cells often plagued with improper targeting leading to non-specific toxicity.

Metabolite profiling and biological activities of bioactive compounds produced by Chrysosporium lobatum strain BK-3 isolated from Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India.

In an ongoing survey for bioactive potential of microorganisms from different biosphere zones of India, a new Chrysosporium lobatum strain BK-3 was isolated from soil sample collected from a biodiversity hotspot, Kaziranga National Park, Assam, India. Bioactivity-guided purification resulted in the isolation of two bioactive compounds whose chemical structures were elucidated by (1)H and (13)C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), 2D-NMR, Fourier Transform Infra-red (FT-IR) and mass spectroscopic techniques, and were identified as α, β-dehydrocurvularin and curvularin. Only curvularin exhibited 80% acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity.

Effect of amide-triazole linkers on the electrochemical and biological properties of ferrocene-carbohydrate conjugates.

Amide-triazole linker incorporated ferrocene-carbohydrate conjugates were prepared by adopting a regiospecific copper(II)-catalysed 1,3-cycloaddition of ferrocenoyl propargylamide and isopropylidene/acetyl protected carbohydrate azides. Hydrophilic ferrocene glycoside with an amide-triazole linker was synthesised by deacetylation of the hydroxyl groups. All the new compounds were characterised by UV-visible and electrochemical studies and they were found to be stable in organic solvents as well as in the buffer system under physiological conditions (pH = 7.

Evaluation of critical nutritional parameters and their significance in the production of rhamnolipid biosurfactants from Pseudomonas aeruginosa BS-161R.

Eleven biosurfactant producing bacteria were isolated from different petroleum-contaminated soil and sludge samples. Among these 11 isolates, two were identified as promising, as they reduced the surface tension of culture medium to values below 27 mN m(-1) . Besides biosurfactant production property, they exhibited good flocculating activity.

Synthesis, biological evaluation of 5-carbomethoxymethyl-7-hydroxy-2-pentylchromone, 5-carboethoxymethyl-4',7-dihydroxyflavone and their analogues.

In this letter, we describe the first synthesis of two recently isolated flavones 5-carbomethoxymethyl-7-hydroxy-2-pentylchromone (3a), 5-carboethoxymethyl-4',7-dihydroxyflavone (3b) and their derivatives (3c-t), evaluated for their antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer activities. Most of the synthesized compounds exhibited antimicrobial activity against the tested microbial strains and some of these compounds were found to be more potent as compared to the standard drugs like neomycin and luteolin. Interestingly, some of these synthesized compounds also showed moderate antioxidant property.

New bioactive macrocyclic diterpenoids from Jatropha multifida.

Two new macrocyclic diterpenoids, multifidanol (1) and multifidenol (2) along with several known compounds have been isolated from the stem of Jatropha multifida. The structures of the new compounds were established from the extensive studies of their 1D and 2D NMR spectra. The cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities of these two constituents were examined.