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BACKGROUND: The social isolation and safety measures imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic differentially burdened pregnant and postpartum people, disrupting health care and social support systems. We sought to understand the experiences of people navigating pre- and postnatal care, from pregnancy through to the early postpartum period, during the pandemic. METHODS: In this qualitative investigation, we conducted semistructured interviews with people residing in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, during the second half of pregnancy and again at 4-6 weeks' post partum between June 2020 and July 2021. Interviews were conducted remotely (via Zoom or telephone) and focused on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pre- and postnatal care, birth and labour planning, and the birthing experience. We used content and thematic analysis to analyze the data, and checked patterns using NVivo. RESULTS: We interviewed 19 people during the second half of pregnancy and 18 of these people at 4-6 weeks' post partum. We identified 7 themes/subthemes describing how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their experiences: disrupted support systems, isolation, disrupted health care experiences (pre- and postnatal care, and labour and birth/hospital protocols), violated social norms (including typical rituals such as baby showers), impact on mental health and unexpected benefits (such as a no-visitor policy in hospitals after the birth, which provided a quiet period to bond with baby). INTERPRETATION: Pregnant and postpartum people were uniquely vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic and would have benefited from increased access to support in both health care and social settings. Future work should investigate maternal and infant/child functioning and behaviour to assess the long-term impact of the pandemic on Canadian families and developing children, with an aim to increase support where necessary.

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Background Tobacco consumption is a leading cause of premature death in the world. Tobaccorelated deaths are associated with cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases, oral potentially malignant disorders, cancer, others. Moreover there is also associated nicotine dependence which might result to numerous tobacco-associated diseases. Objective This study was conducted to analyze the degree of nicotine dependence considering its potential health risk, in the Eastern region of Nepal. Method A descriptive questionnaire based study was conducted among current tobacco users of six districts of Eastern Nepal. Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependency for Smokeless Tobacco (FTNDST) questionnaire were used for tobacco smokers and chewers, respectively. Result Of the total participants, 836 were males and 359 females, among whom 736 were active tobacco smokers and 432 chewers, 34.8% had tried to stop consuming tobacco and 306 (25.6%) had oral lesions in white or red forms. Very low nicotine dependence was found among 244 (31.47%) tobacco smokers and 37 (8.56%) chewers whereas 36 (4.71%) smokers and 103 (23.84%) chewers had very high nicotine dependence. The mean score for FTND was 3.73±2.37 and 5.74±2.12 for FTND-ST. A significant difference in duration and age group with FTND score was observed, however not with FTND-ST. Conclusion The information regarding degree of nicotine dependence can be used as baseline information for planning of preventive strategies and implementation of tobacco cessation and control programs.

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Hydrogen uptake (H-uptake) is studied in ball milled Mg-B-electrochemically synthesized reduced graphene oxide (erGO) nanocomposites at PH2 ≈ 15 bar, ~ 320 °C. B/C (weight ratio): 0, ~ 0.09, ~ 0.36, ~ 0.90 are synthesized maintaining erGO≈10wt %. B occupies octahedral interstices within Mg unit cell-revealed by electron density maps. Persistent charge donations from Mg and B to C appear as Mg-C (~ 283.2 eV), B-C (~ 283.3-283.9 eV) interactions in C-1s core X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) at all B/C. At B/C > 0.09, charge reception by B from Mg yields Mg-B interaction. This net charge acceptor role of B renders it electron-rich and does not alter Mg unit cell size significantly. Despite charge donation to both C and B, the Mg charge is < + 2, resulting in long incubation times (> 5 h) at B/C > 0.09. At B/C≈0.09 the minimal Mg-B interaction renders B a charge donor, resulting in Mg-B repulsion and Mg unit cell expansion. Mg-C peak shift to lower binding energies (C-1s XPS), decreases incubation time to ~ 2.25 h and enhances H-uptake kinetics. Various atomic interactions influence the reduction of incubation time in H-uptake and increase its kinetics in the order: (Mg → C; B → C)B/C≈0.09, B: donor > (Mg → C)B/C=0 > (ternary Mg → B → C)B/C>0.09, B: acceptor.

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Cysticercosis is a parasitic infection with potential of causing significant morbidity especially in developing countries. The larval form of the parasite Taenia Solium, 'Cysticercus Cellulosae' primarily colonizes in the small intestine and has the potential to disseminate to different sites of the body. Oral presentation is rare and difficult to detect owing to its innocuous presentation. This report describes the presentation of cysticercosis involving the tongue and presenting as a submucosal mass. An incisional biopsy was performed and evaluation of the histopathological features lead to the diagnosis of oral cysticercosis. This article highlights the importance of inter-departmental collaboration for the accurate diagnosis and effective management of oral cysticercosis in order to avoid potential systemic complications.

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Background Incisive papilla has been used as a fixed anatomical landmark to guide in teeth arrangement. Objective To assess the relationship of distance from central incisor to incisive papilla with various types of arch forms, shapes of incisive papilla and types of canine-papillacanine relation. Method Two hundred maxillary stone casts were prepared. Eighteen casts were excluded as they had voids and the final study was carried out in 182 participants. The arch form was assessed according to Testut L. and shape of incisive papilla was recorded according to Filho IE et al. A digital Vernier caliper was used to measure the distance from posterior point of incisive papilla to the mesio-incisal edge from the labial side of maxillary central incisor. The inter-canine line was drawn and its position with incisive papilla was assessed. The analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. One way ANOVA was done. Result Result showed that parabolic type of arch was the most common i.e. 76.4%. Mean distance of central incisor to incisive papilla was 11.093±1.894 mm. No significant difference was observed in the distance of Central incisor to Incisive Papilla among different arch forms (p=0.854) and various shapes of incisive papilla (p=0.091). The mean distance of central incisor to incisive papilla was significantly greater when canine-papilla-canine line passed from the middle than from posterior part of incisive papilla. Conclusion These results suggest that incisive papilla is a reliable biometric guide which would help to reduce the clinical time of both the dentist and the patients in placement of the anterior teeth.

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Background Head and neck is one of the most prevalent site for cancers along with lungs, cervix, breast and stomach. Hospital based cancer registries required for effective evaluation of diagnosis and management of cancer is inadequate in Nepal. Cancer registry system established by WHO is acquired by seven major hospitals in our country. However, data from tertiary health care centres like ours remain undocumented. Objective The objective of this study is to perform retrospective analysis of clinicohistopathological types of head and neck lesions which were eventually diagnosed as cancer in Dhulikel Hospital, a tertiary health care centre of Central East Nepal. Method Data regarding head and neck lesions diagnosed as cancer (January 2001- December 2014) were extracted from the archives of Department of General Pathology. These cases were categorised according to demographic profile, site of cancer and histological diagnosis. Result A total of 240 cases matched the inclusion criteria and were selected for this study. Male: Female ratio of 1.3:1 with a mean age of 52 years (52.82±1.8) was found. Two hundred and two (84.16%) patients were diagnosed with carcinoma, 31 (15%) with lymphoma, 3 (1.25%) with melanoma, 2(0.83%) with small round cell tumor and 2 (0.83%) with sarcoma. The most common histological types of carcinoma seen were Squamous cell carcinoma (138 cases; 57.5%) followed by papillary carcinoma (26 cases; 10.8%). Among the lymphomas Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (21 cases; 8.75%) was the most predominant type. The most common site of presentation was oral cavity (60 cases; 25%) followed by skin (36 cases; 15%), thyroid (32 cases; 13.33%) and oesophagus (27 cases; 11.25%). Metastasis to cervical lymph node was found in 39 cases (16.25%). Conclusion Based on these finding, it was observed that Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common type followed by different epithelial and mesenchymal malignancies in head and neck region. The results revealed by this study will provide useful information for planning the health care policies about cancer in Nepal and will be more effective and helpful to the patients of remote areas.

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Angiogenesis is an important aspect of a variety of physiological and pathological processes; and depends on the alteration of the balance between pro-angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors. The role of angiogenesis in the progression and metastasis of neoplasm is a well established phenomenon. With regards to oral squamous cell carcinoma, it is a field of ongoing research and requires validation for it being used as a mode of anti-cancer therapy. This review focuses on the concept of angiogenesis, the factors associated with it, the relationship of angiogenesis with oral epithelial dysplasia and oral squamous cell carcinoma; the methods of studying angiogenesis and anti angiogenic therapy.

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Where the non-human animal research investigating reproduction-induced cognitive reorganization has focused on neural plasticity and adaptive advantage in response to the demands associated with pregnancy and parenting, human studies have primarily concentrated on pregnancy-induced memory decline. The current review updates Henry and Rendell's 2007 meta-analysis, and examines cognitive reorganization as the result of reproductive experience from an adaptationist perspective. Investigations of pregnancy-induced cognitive change in human females may benefit by focusing on areas, such as social cognition, where a cognitive advantage would serve a protective function, and by extending the study duration beyond pregnancy into the postpartum period.

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Protective mechanisms in pregnancy include Nausea and Vomiting in Pregnancy (NVP) (Fessler, 2002; Flaxman and Sherman, 2000), increased sensitivity to health cues (Jones et al., 2005), and increased vigilance to out-group members (Navarette, Fessler, and Eng, 2007). While common perception suggests that pregnancy results in decreased cognitive function, an adaptationist perspective might predict that some aspects of cognition would be enhanced during pregnancy if they help to protect the reproductive investment. We propose that a reallocation of cognitive resources from nonessential to critical areas engenders the cognitive decline observed in some studies. Here, we used a recognition task disguised as a health rating to determine whether pregnancy facilitates face recognition. We found that pregnant women were significantly better at recognizing faces and that this effect was particularly pronounced for own-race male faces. In human evolutionary history, and today, males present a significant threat to females. Thus, enhanced recognition of faces, and especially male faces, during pregnancy may serve a protective function.

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