Subject Index Research Articles

Comparison of different plaque indices with regard to sensitivity and specificity for the quantification of plaque during orthodontic therapy

To compare four plaque indices used in orthodontics. An objective, quantitative plaque index and three subjective conventional plaque indices were analyzed. The study included n = 50 photographs of n = 50 subjects with a multibracket appliance (MB) in the maxilla and mandible. Photographs were taken using Digital Plaque Imaging Analysis (DPIA) and the Percentage Plaque Index (PPI) was calculated. The conventional plaque indices, a modified version of the Turesky-modification of the Quigley & Hein Index (TQH index), Attin index, and modified bonded bracket index (mBB index) were collected from n = 14 evaluators using the DPIA photographs. The evaluators had different levels of orthodontic experience: n = 4 evaluators had little orthodontic experience, n = 5 evaluators had moderate orthodontic experience, and n = 5 evaluators had a lot of orthodontic experience. Plaque accumulation was assessed differently with the plaque indices. Thus, the plaque indices are not interchangeable. We recommend DPIA as an objective, quantitative and sensitive method for plaque determination in scientific studies. The simple statistical evaluation offers a great advantage over conventional plaque indices.

Efficacy of Fu's Subcutaneous Needling in Treating Soft Tissue Pain of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Fu's subcutaneous needling (FSN) is a new acupuncture technique that produces a long-lasting effect in soft-tissue injuries. In patients with degenerative knee osteoarthritis (OA), myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) are common in the lower-limb muscles. In this randomized clinical trial, we evaluated the immediate, 1-week and 2-week effectiveness of FSN therapy in the treatment of degenerative knee OA. We randomly divided 32 patients with knee OA into the FSN group (mean age: 65.73 ± 6.79 years) or the transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) group (mean age: 62.81 ± 5.72 years). The pressure pain threshold (PPT) and tissue hardness (TH) of the muscle and tendon attachment sites, knee range of motion, and physical ability (average walking speed) were measured. The subjective pain intensity index, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA Index (WOMAC), and Lequesne index were used to determine the efficacy of FSN on MTrP-induced soft-tissue pain compared with that of TENS. A significantly greater improvement in pain qualities in the VAS (p < 0.05) was found in the FSN group. Moreover, in muscle and tendon qualities (including PPT and TH), a significant difference in the PPT of the quadriceps muscle (p < 0.05) was also observed among the immediate treatments in the FSN group. As for the functional index questionnaire assessment, the FSN group exhibited significant improvements among the immediate, 1-week and 2-week efficacies in terms of WOMAC (p < 0.05) and Lequesne index scores (p < 0.05). FSN was effective in treating soft-tissue pain in degenerative knee OA in terms of alleviating pain, strengthening walking ability, and improving overall functional performance. Pain relief was the primary benefit of FSN and a significant correlation between pain relief and knee joint mobility improvement was found. ClinicalTrials.gov Protocol Registration and Results System (registration number: NCT04356651).

Subject and Author Index.

Subject and Author Index.

Subject and Drug Indexes to Adverse Drug Reaction Bulletin: Nos 332–337 February 2022 – December 2022

Subject and Drug Indexes to Adverse Drug Reaction Bulletin: Nos 332–337 February 2022 – December 2022

Relationship of Body Mass Index (BMI) with the Incidence of Inguinal Hernia

The inguinal wall hernia is the communal hernia of the abdominal wall. It is a communal disorder that affects both males and females from the past long duration. Objective: To assess the incidence of unilateral or bilateral inguinal hernia with low body mass index (BMI) and normal BMI subjects. Methods: This study was performed in the Surgical unit 1 of Khairpur Medical College and civil Hospital Khairpur Mirs for one-year duration from July 2021 to June 2022. Using an appropriate non-probability sampling technique, this cross-sectional study was held at the surgical unit-1 of Khairpur Medical College and civil Hospital Khairpur Mirs. A total of 90 patients, 80 men and 10 women, were selected for the study. Inclusion criteria were defined as patients over 35 years of age with clinical signs such as reducible swelling in the groin area and clinical signs such as overweight and weight lifting. Results: A total of 90 individuals were identified as having an inguinal hernia; their mean age was 26.18± 18.20 years old, and they have 62.78 ± 4.75 inches height. 65.85 ± 5.19 was the patients mean weight and 22.35 ± 3.26 kg/m2 was the mean BMI. BMI was low in 18 (20%) cases and normal in 72 (80%). Conclusion: According to our analysis, a significant number of inguinal hernias on either the right or left side had normal BMIs.

Index to Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Volume 16, 2022

Index to Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Volume 16, 2022, includes titles, authors, botanical names and subject index, and new names and new combinations.

SUBJECT INDEX

SUBJECT INDEX

Addiction potential of combustible menthol cigarette alternatives: a randomised cross-over trial

IntroductionThe Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued proposed product standards banning menthol as a characterising flavour in cigarettes and cigars. The public health benefits of these product standards may...

Subject Index to Volume 35

Subject Index to Volume 35

Author Index and Subject Index

Author Index and Subject Index

Current Status of Open Access Journals in India: A Bird’s Eye View

ABSTRACT The present study aims to determine the current status of open access journals published in India in terms of numbers, yearly growth, funding organizations, major subject area, indexing, and abstracting status, publication charges, and open access licensing models of such journals. The study used the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) as the source database and retrieved the bibliographic records of selected 306 Open Access (OA) journals published in India from 2003 to May 20, 2021. Further, the study referred to other web sources such as Web of Science, and Scopus to examine the indexing status of 306 open access journals and Journal Citation Report (JCR) database was referred to know the impact factor (IF) status of these journals. As per DOAJ database records, India ranks 16th as an OA journal publishing country across the globe. The yearly growth of open access journals in India was found to be 22.36%. Among these 306 open access journals, about 44.11% of journals are indexed in Scopus, 34.96% of journals are indexed in Web of Science, and 7.18% of journals with impact factor (IF) are indexed in JCR. Almost 74% of open access journals published in India do not charge Article Processing Charges (APC). The quality and quantity of OA journals published in India will surely attract authors, researchers, and academicians to rethink open access journals and their extensive use will boost the impact of research in India.

Effect of music intervention on subjective scores, heart rate variability, and prefrontal hemodynamics in patients with chronic pain.

Music interventions have been proposed in recent years as a treatment for chronic pain. However, the mechanisms by which music relieves pain are unclear, and the effects of music intervention on physiological indicators in patients with chronic pain remain to be explored. This study aimed to explore whether a music intervention would have effects on subjective pain ratings, heart rate variability, and functional connectivity of the cerebral cortex in patients with chronic pain. A randomized controlled study was conducted on 37 pain patients aged 18-65 years, with the control group receiving usual care, and the intervention group receiving music intervention (8-150 Hz, 50-70 dB) for 30 min before bedtime for 7 days on top of usual care. Pain visual analog scale and heart rate variability were used as subjective and objective physiological indices before and after the music intervention, respectively. Changes in oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations in the cerebral cortex were measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and whole-brain correlation analysis was used to quantify the connectivity of prefrontal brain regions associated with the pain response. Results showed that patients with chronic pain in the intervention group had significantly lower visual assessment scale scores, as well as significantly lower overall voluntary mobility during pain episodes, resulting in relatively higher vagal innervation compared to the control group. In addition, connections between the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA9, BA46) and frontal areas (BA10) were significantly higher in the intervention group. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the combined application of music interventions with usual care in reducing pain levels in patients with chronic pain and provides insight into the pathological mechanisms of music interventions for analgesia, providing direction for new baseline indicators for quantitative clinical assessment of pain. The study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (No. ChiCTR2100052993). [https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=136268], identifier [ChiCTR2100052993].

Cap-assisted endoscopic sclerotherapy is effective for rectal mucosal prolapse associated outlet obstructive constipation

Background and study aimsOutlet obstructive constipation (OOC) is a common type of chronic constipation that is usually caused by internal hemorrhoids (IH) and rectal mucosal prolapse (RMP). Cap-assisted endoscopic sclerotherapy (CAES) was demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of IH and RMP. This study explored the efficacy of CAES in treating OOC associated with IH and RMP. MethodsThirty-one patients (15 males and 16 females) were diagnosed with OOC after colonoscopy and anorectal manometry (AM). CAES was used to treat IH and RMP. The self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale (SDS), and Wexner constipation score (WCS) were used to assess patients at baseline and at the end of follow-up. AM tests were performed before and after CAES. ResultsThe mean age of patients was 56.19 ± 7.969 years, and the follow-up time was 2.875 ± 3.703 months. After CAES treatment, subjective indices, including frequency of bowel movements (p < 0.05), defecation time (p < 0.05), SAS (p < 0.05), SDS (p < 0.05), and WCS (p < 0.05), were significantly improved. AM showed that the anal relaxation rate (p < 0.05), maximum squeeze pressure (p < 0.05), and rectal residual pressure (p < 0.05) were significantly improved. The ratio of Bristol stool form scale typeIII–Vincreased from 12.5 % to 56.25 % (p < 0.05). ConclusionsCAES is effective for treating OOC caused by IH and RMP. The relief of OOC symptoms could improve anxiety and depression symptoms associated with the disease.

Crack Detection Method for Engineered Bamboo Based on Super-Resolution Reconstruction and Generative Adversarial Network

Engineering bamboo is a type of cheap and good-quality, easy-to-process material, which is widely used in construction engineering, bridge engineering, water conservancy engineering and other fields; however, crack defects lead to reduced reliability of the engineered bamboo. Accurate identification of the crack tip position and crack propagation length can improve the reliability of the engineered bamboo. Digital image correlation technology and high-quality images have been used to measure the crack tip damage zone of engineered bamboo, but the improvement of image quality with more-advanced optical equipment is limited. In this paper, we studied an application based on deep learning providing a super-resolution reconstruction method in the field of engineered bamboo DIC technology. The attention-dense residual and generative adversarial network (ADRAGAN) model was trained using a comprehensive loss function, where network interpolation was used to balance the network parameters to suppress artifacts. Compared with the super resolution generative adversarial network (SRGAN),super resolution ResNet (SRResNet), and bicubic B-spline interpolation, the superiority of the ADRAGAN network in super-resolution reconstruction of engineered bamboo speckle images was verified through assessment of both objective evaluation indices (PSNR and SSIM) and a subjective evaluation index (MOS). Finally, the images generated by each algorithm were imported into the DIC analysis software, and the crack propagation length was calculated and compared. The obtained results indicate that the proposed ADRAGAN method can reconstruct engineered bamboo speckle images with high quality, obtaining a crack detection accuracy of 99.65%.

Abstract 11592: Real-World Performance of Heartlogic Index in Subjects With CRT and ICD Devices

Introduction: The HeartLogic heart failure (HF) diagnostic was developed from data in subjects implanted with CRT-D devices. Diagnostic performance in subjects with ICDs (without CRT) is less well characterized. Objective: Compare HeartLogic performance in ICD and CRT subgroups. Methods: Data from US post-market HeartLogic CRT/ICD devices were directly linked with Medicare claims and subjects with continuous Medicare Part A&amp;B fee-for-service coverage were analyzed. Claims HF events (HFE) were defined using primary HF diagnosis codes (DRG 291-3, I50.xx) and included acute inpatient events, and outpatient events with IV diuretic therapy. Baseline characteristics included patient demographics, implant data, and claims chronic conditions flags (CCFs). Diagnostic performance was defined as the sensitivity to detect HFEs and the false-positive alert rate (FPR), from which a modified receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was generated. Continuous variables were expressed as mean±SD and categorical variables as proportions. Two-sided 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for sensitivity (binomial distribution) and FPR (negative binomial model). Results: Out of 4190 subjects,1567 linked subjects were included in the analysis with an average follow-up of 1.4±0.5 years. The CRT group (N=1078, 69%) was more likely to be Caucasian (88% vs 82%), less likely to have de novo devices (62% vs 80%), more likely to have CCFs of AF (43% vs 33%) and congestive HF (89% vs 75%), and a HF hospitalization in the year prior to implant (23% vs 16%). CRT and ICD groups provided 296 and 139 HFEs for performance evaluation. HeartLogic ROCs were similar in both groups with no difference in the nominal sensitivity (83% [CI: 78, 87] vs 80% [72, 86%], p =0.41) or FPR (1.386 [CI: 1.337,1.511] vs 1.322 [1.238,1.488], p =0.41). Conclusions: HeartLogic diagnostic performance determined using real-world claims data was not different in subjects implanted with ICDs and CRT-Ds.

Abstract 10665: The Glycemic and Insulin Levels Contribute to the Sympathetic Response to Exercise in Individuals With and Without Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: Exaggerated responses in blood pressure (BP) and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) during exercise are suggested to contribute to adverse cardiovascular events. The risk of developing cardiovascular disease is elevated in patients suffering from diabetes mellitus (DM) and pre-DM; however, the relationship between the sympathetic responses to exercise and the glycemic and insulin indices in DM and non-DM remain unclear.Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the magnitude of MSNA response to exercise is related with glycemic and insulin indices in DM and Pre-DM subjects. Method: Eleven clinically diagnosed T2DM patients (54.0 ± 2.7 yrs) and 20 non-DM subjects (58.6 ± 2.3 yrs, 10 pre-DM [5.7% ≤ HbA1c &lt; 6.5%] and 10 healthy subjects) were examined. All non-DM subjects, including pre-DM subjects, had no noted diseases and were not on any medication. Five DM patients were on antihypertensive agents. The BP and glycemic control in the DM patients was relatively well managed with medications (HbA1c, 6.8 ± 0.3 %) and were without other cardiovascular complications. Beat-by-beat BP, heart rate, and MSNA were recorded simultaneously under a resting condition and during static handgrip exercise (HGe) at 30% maximal voluntary contraction until fatigue. Results: Resting MSNA in DM was lower than non-DM subjects (P &lt; 0.05). However, the MSNA response (i.e., the change) to HGe in DM was higher than non-DM (139% vs 75% increase, P &lt; 0.05). The MSNA response to HGe was significantly correlated (R = 0.59, P &lt; 0.05) with fasting blood glucose (FBG) across all subjects. Even in only pre-DM subjects, the MSNA response to HGe was significantly correlated with glucose/insulin indices (vs. FBG, R = 0.91, P &lt; 0.05; vs. blood insulin concentration, R = 0.84, P &lt; 0.05). Conclusion: In the present study, the MSNA response to exercise in T2DM patients was greater than that in non-DM subjects. Importantly, the MSNA response to exercise was correlated with glycemic/insulin indices over a broad range. This relationship was observed even before the development of DM. We speculate that the altered glycemic/insulin levels may contribute to the exaggerated sympathetic response to stress and in turn, contribute to the higher risk of cardiovascular diseases in these individuals.

Does Fitzpatrick Score Predict Flap Loss? Microsurgical Breast Reconstruction Outcomes of Varying Skin Color.

This is a retrospective study conducted on patients who underwent any type of autologous flap breast reconstruction performed by the two senior authors at an academic center between January 2010 and December 2021. The sole primary outcome variable was flap loss. Patient skin tone was assessed using the Fitzpatrick scale on clinical photographs of patients. A total of 1115 pateints underwent autologous flap breast reconstruction, of which only 56 met both exclusion and inclusion criteria with 58 individual breasts being included in the final study population. The most common race of subjects was White (n = 33; 56.9%) while the most common Fitzpatrick score skin tone was type II (n = 22; 37.9%). The Cochran-Armitage test of trend showed a statistically significant linear trend, P = 0.006, with darker Fitzpatrick score skin tones associated with a higher proportion of flap loss in patients who had vascular compromise. A logistic regression showed that none of the predictor variables were significant. Patients with darker Fitzpatrick skin tones were associated with flap loss after vascular compromise. To prevent flap loss in patients who have darker Fitzpatrick score skin tones, more aggressive flap monitoring should be taken into consideration in the immediate postoperative setting.

Lamina cribrosa curvature index: A reliable parameter to screen diabetic patients for glaucoma.

To compare the translaminar pressure difference (TLPD), anterior lamina cribrosa surface depth (ALCSD), lamina cribrosa thickness (LCT), lamina cribrosa curvature index (LCCI) and peripapillary vascular density (pVD) in diabetic and healthy subjects. Two hundred and eighty eyes of 140 patients (79 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) without diabetic retinopathy (DR) and 61 healthy subjects) were enrolled in this study. Full ophthalmological examination, as well as optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCT-A) images, were analyzed. The ALCSD, LCT, LCCI were measured by enhanced depth imaging (EDI) OCT and the pVD by OCT-A. The TLPD values and relationships between TLPD and lamina cribrosa features and pVD were investigated in all subjects. The ALCSD and LCT were significantly shallower and thinner in diabetic patients when compared to healthy subjects (p <0.001). There was no significant difference in the LCCI in diabetics 13.717 (5.74-33.91) vs healthy subjects 13.118 (5.53-27.05) (p = 0.181). OCT-A revealed that the pVD in the diabetic group was significantly lower than in the non-diabetic group (p <0.001). TLPD was significantly lower in diabetic patients compared to healthy controls. There are early changes in pVD and peripapillary vessel morphology in patients with DM. ALCSD and LCT were shallower and thinner in diabetic patients whereas the LCCI did not differ significantly. LCCI may be more valuable in assessing the lamina cribrosa (LC) of diabetic patients. The TLPD was found to be lower in diabetic patients compared to normal controls.

Effect Of Addition Of L-Ascorbic Acid To Wheat Bread Dough On Blood Glucose Response, Glycemic Index And Glycemic Load In Normal Subject

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) as improver in bread on blood glucose response (BGR), Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) in healthy subjects. Three concentration of ascorbic acid namely, 5ppm, 10ppm and 15 ppm concentration were added to Ab-Graib wheat flour of 72 and 90% extraction in making local flat bread. Chemical composition of flour and produced bread and sensory properties were determined in order to assess the quantity of bread intake by Volunteers (Undergraduate and Graduate students in collage of Agriculture and forestry, University of Mosul) with BMI between 20-24 Kg/m2. Results show that bread samples which fortified by ascorbic acid had good and acceptable sensory properties. Both GI and GL were reduced in both 72 and 90% wheat flour extraction rate. The effect of addition of ascorbic acid in decreasing GI and GL was more in bread made from 90% flour extraction than bread made from 72% flour extraction, and this may be because of the more dietary fibers that 90% flour extraction contained. It was concluded that addition of ascorbic acid in précised quantity resulted in decreasing GI of bread made of 72 and 90% flour extractions with minimal increasing in higher concentrations.

Author and Subject Index.

Author and Subject Index.