Clinicopathological profile of carcinoma of oesophagus at Aligarh.

Forty-seven patients with oesophageal carcinoma were managed in 6 years' time. Average duration of illness was 5.5 months. History of chronic smoking and/or tobacco chewing was present in 80.85% of patients. Carcinoma included squamous cell variety (80.85%) and adenocarcinoma (19.15%). Thirty-one patients were in stage III while 16 patients were in stage II. Surgery included oesophagogastrectomy/oesophagogastrostomy (16 patients), feeding gastrostomy (11 patients), Mousseau-Barbin tube insertion (10 patients), only 10 patients were subjected to palliative radiotherapy. All patients after palliative treatment died within one year whereas 3-year and 5-year survivals after oesophagogastrectomy/oesophagogastrostomy were 68.75% and 31.25% respectively. Local lymph node metastasis adversely affected the 5-year survival rate.     

Copy-milled all-ceramic restorations: case reports.

When all-ceramic systems are used, a respect for biocompatibility, an understanding of the patient's esthetic demands, and a justifiable reliance on the strength of the selected system are integral to success. Severely damaged molar teeth in two patients were restored with all-ceramic onlays that were prepared with a copy-milling system for ceramics. The onlay patterns were fabricated directly in the mouth with autopolymerizing resin. For these patients, the use of biologic, all-ceramic, copy-milled restorations resulted in clinical success as well as recovered function and esthetics.     

Comparison of efficacy and safety of intralesional triamcinolone and combination of triamcinolone with 5-fluorouracil in the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars: Randomised control trial

The treatment of keloid and hypertrophic scar is challenging with no universally accepted mode for permanent ablation. Conventional therapies yield unpredictable results, significant complications and require elaborate hardware.

Dye functionalized cryogel columns for reversible lysozyme adsorption

In this study, poly (methyl methacrylate–glycidyl methacrylate) [poly(MMA-GMA)] cryogels were prepared by radical cryocopolymerization of MMA with GMA as a functional comonomer. Reactive Green 19 dye was then attached to the cryogel by nucleophilic substitution reaction, and this dye-attached cryogel column was used for lysozyme adsorption. Characterization of the cryogel was performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, environmental scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Pore size of the cryogels was 15–30?μm and pores were interconnected structure. Attached amount of Reactive Green 19 to cryogel support was calculated as 106.25?μmol/g cryogel. Lysozyme adsorption studies were carried out by using a continuous system. It was found that the maximum amount of lysozyme adsorption (32?mg/g cryogel) obtained from experimental results was found to be approximately same with the calculated Langmuir adsorption capacity (33?mg/g cryogel). Desorption of adsorbed lysozyme was carried out by using 1.5?M NaCl in pH 4.5 acetate buffer, and desorption yield was found to be 97.4%. Cryogels were very stable, and it was found that there was no remarkable reduction in the adsorption capacity at the end of ten adsorption–desorption cycles. As a result, Reactive Green 19-attached cryogels have great advantages such as easy preparation, rapid adsorption, and desorption, being economic and allowing the direct separation of proteins.     

Irritable bowel syndrome: in search of an etiology: role of Blastocystis hominis

This study was designed to examine stool specimens of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients for Blastocystis hominis, a common intestinal parasite. One hundred fifty patients were enrolled, 95 IBS cases and 55 controls. These patients provided a medical history, and underwent physical and laboratory evaluations that included stool microscopy and culture for B. hominis and colonoscopy. The 95 cases (51 males and 44 females) had a mean +/- SD age of 37.8 +/- 13.2 years. Stool microscopy was positive for B. hominis in 32% (30 of 95) of the cases and 7% (4 of 55) of the controls (P = 0.001). Stool culture was positive in 46% (44 of 95) of the cases and 7% (4 of 55) of the controls (P < 0.001). Stool culture for B. hominis in IBS was more sensitive than microscopy (P < 0.001). Blastocystis hominis was frequently demonstrated in the stool samples of IBS patients; however, its significance in IBS still needs to be investigated. Stool culture has a higher positive yield for B. hominis than stool microscopy.     

Immobilization of amyloglucosidase onto macroporous cryogels for continuous glucose production from starch

Poly(methyl methacrylate-glycidyl methacrylate) [Poly(MMA-GMA)] cryogels were synthesized using monomers of methylmethacrylic acid and epoxy group bearing GMA via radical cryopolymerization technique. Synthesized cryogels were used for the immobilization of amyloglucosidase to the cryogel surface using epoxy chemistry. Characterizations of the free and immobilized amyloglucosidase were carried out by comparing the optimum and kinetic parameters of enzymes. For this, pH and temperature profiles of free and immobilized preparation were studied and, it was found that, optimum pH of enzyme was not change upon immobilization (pH 5.0), while optimum temperature of the enzyme shifted 10 °C to warmer region after immobilization (optimum temperatures for free and immobilized enzyme were 55 and 65 °C, respectively). Kinetic parameters of free and immobilized enzyme were also investigated and K_m values of free and immobilized amyloglucosidase were found to be 2.743 and 0.865 mg/mL, respectively. V_max of immobilized amyloglucosidase was found to be (0.496 µmol/min) about four times less than that of free enzyme (2.020 µmol/min). Storage and operational stabilities of immobilized amyloglucosidase were also studied and it was showed that immobilized preparation had much more stability than free preparation. In the present work, amyloglucosidase immobilized poly(MMA-GMA) cryogels were used for continuous glucose syrup production from starch for the first time. Efficiency of immobilized enzyme was investigated and released amount of glucose was found to be 2.54 mg/mL at the end of the 5 min of hydrolysis. The results indicate that the epoxy functionalized cryogels offer a good alternative for amyloglucosidase immobilization applications with increased operational and thermal stability, and reusability. Also, these cryogels can be used for immobilization of other industrially valuable enzymes beyond amyloglucosidase.     

Molecularly imprinted polymeric coatings for sensitive and selective gravimetric detection of artemether

Monitoring antimalarial drugs is necessary for clinical assays, human health, and routine quality control practices in pharmaceutical industries. Herein, we present the development of sensor coatings based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) combined with quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) for sensitive and selective gravimetric detection of an antimalarial drug: artemether. The MIP coatings are synthesized by using artemether as the template in a poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) matrix. Artemether-MIP and the non-imprinted polymer (NIP) control or reference layers are deposited on 10 MHz dual-electrode QCM by spin coating (187 ± 9 nm layer thickness after optimization). The coatings are characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy that reveal marked differences among the MIP and NIP. The MIP-QCM sensor exhibits high sensitivity (0.51 Hz ppm⁻¹) with sub-10 ppm detection and quantification limits. The MIP-QCM sensor also exhibits a 6-fold higher sensitivity compared to the NIP-QCM, and a dynamic working range of 30–100 ppm. The response time of MIP-QCM devices for a single cycle of analyte adsorption, signal saturation, and MIP regeneration is less than 2.5 min. The sensor also demonstrates selectivity factors of artemether-MIP of 2.2 and 4.1 compared to artemisinin and lumefantrine, respectively. Reversibility tests reveal less than 5% variation in sensor responses over three cycles of measurements at each tested concentration. The MIP-QCM showed lower detection limits than conventional HPLC-UV, and faster response time compared to HPLC-UV and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS).

Chemical structures of the antimalarial drugs: artemisinin, artemether (a methyl ether derivative of artemisinin), and lumefantrine.