Aim : The aim of this study was to determine the association between IL-1B (+3954) gene polymorphism and chronic periodontitis in a sample of the south Indian population. Settings and Design: This study employed a cross-sectional design involving individuals from the state of Tamil Nadu in the southern part of India. Materials and Methods : Genomic DNA was obtained from the white blood cells of 30 patients with chronic periodontitis (18 males and 12 females) and 31 healthy controls (20 males and 11 females). The age of the subjects ranged from 30 to 55 years old and all were non smokers. DNA was amplified using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with specific primers flanking the locus +3954 of IL-1β gene and analyzed by 3% agarose gel electrophoresis. Statistical Analysis : A Chi-square test was used to determine the genotype distribution between the groups and the relative risk was estimated with a 95% confidence interval. Results and Conclusion : The chronic periodontitis group displayed a higher percentage of T allele, even though it was not statistically significant. The relative risk analysis between genotypes showed that the risk was higher for the CT genotype compared with the CC genotype and the risk was significant. In conclusion, our data suggested that there was no significant association between IL-1β (+3954) gene polymorphism and chronic periodontitis in the south Indian population.

Of periodontal disease. Local drug delivery systems allowed for the direct delivery to the diseased site thereby bypassing systemic circulation and hence attaining maximum concentration at the site that requires the drug. The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of O. sanctum on the anti-inflammatory efficiency [interleukin 1-β (IL-1β)] in patients with periodontitis. Materials and Methods: A randomized, controlled, clinical trial was conducted with a sample size of 15 patients to compare the clinical parameters and IL-1β levels in subjects who underwent nonsurgical periodontal therapy along with local application of O. sanctum fibers and those subjects who had undergone non-surgical periodontal therapy alone. Results: From the present study, a statistically significant difference could not be observed in the IL-1β levels or in the clinical parameters between the test and the control groups at the end of 1 month. There was a significant difference in clinical attachment-level gain between groups (P = 0.046). Conclusion: Ocimum sanctum nanofibers provided benefits in terms of reduction in IL-1β levels. Our study concludes that O. sanctum delivers additional benefit when used as an adjuvant in the treatment of periodontitis....

The development of novel scaffold incorporating Cissus quadrangularis extract, bioceramics and tendon extracellular matrix (ECM) for periodontal bone regeneration necessitates a thorough assessment of their embryotoxicity to ensure biocompatibility and safety. This study evaluates the embryonic toxicology of these innovative scaffold using the zebrafish model, which provides a rapid transparent and highly sensitive system for assessing development toxicity. Zebrafish embryos were exposed to scaffold containing Cissus quadrangularis extract (80 % ethanol), bioceramics, and tendon extracellular. Briefly, the scaffold immerged in the E3 medium for 48h and the extract (10, 50 and 100μl/ml) was evaluated against developing embryos for different developmental anomalies such as survival, malformation, heartbeat and the expression of RunX2 and Bmp2 genes. The results showed that the SEM analysis revealed that the membrane was rough in nature. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of hydroxylate groups, collagen and hydroxyapatite in the synthesized membrane. Meanwhile, the scaffold did not show any of the developmental defects such as hatchability inhibition and neural toxicity. The mortality was comparable to negative control. Further, the study revealed that the scaffold induced the osteogenic potential by elevating the RunX2 and Bmp2 expression. This study highlighted the inclusion of C. quadrangularis extract could be a beneficial for enhancing periodontal bone regeneration. Further, this also revealed that the extract did not impede the normal tissue development or regeneration using zebrafish embryo as a model.

There have been tremendous continuous efforts to understand the broad spectrum of disease and its sequelae since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Several studies have identified biomarkers that correlate with multiple organ failure in COVID-19 patients. The purpose of our study was to evaluate COVID-19-associated kidney injury. This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at the Institute of Biochemistry, Madras Medical College, by reviewing the electronic records of 1,000 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed COVID-19-positive patients admitted at the COVID-19 care center. Data were extracted from the case records of 1,000 RT-PCR-positive patients with different CT chest grades plus comorbid conditions such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), systemic hypertension (SHT), coronary artery disease (CAD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cerebrovascular accident (CVA) as Group I (n = 500). Group II (n = 500) comprised of COVID-19-positive patients with no comorbid conditions. The data were recorded from all the patients at the time of admission, prior to starting treatment. Patients with comorbid and non-comorbid conditions were compared according to different CT grades. COVID-19 patients with different CT grades showed a significant relationship with creatinine, sodium, potassium, C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, total protein, and albumin with p-values of 0.04, 0.01, 0.02, 0.000, 0.00, 0.00, and 0.000, respectively, in Group I. In Group II, with various grades of CT changes, the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and creatinine showed no significance. The sodium, potassium, CRP, ferritin, total protein, and albumin showed low significance with the chest CT grades. Our study demonstrated that COVID-19 can cause mild to moderate renal impairment in COVID-19 patients. Multiple factors contributed to this, such as the higher angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) expression on kidney cells, microinflammation, increased blood clotting, and probable direct infection of the kidney. A high NLR, increased inflammatory markers, and altered renal function analytes such as urea, creatinine, sodium, potassium, total protein, and albumin also confirmed this.