Comparative evaluation of natural curcumin and synthetic chlorhexidine in the management of chronic periodontitis as a local drug delivery: a clinical and microbiological study

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of natural curcumin in the management of chronic periodontitis as local drug delivery in comparison to synthetic chlorhexidine, which is the gold standard.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Thirty chronic periodontitis patients with an age range of 20-50 years with probing pocket depth (PPD) of 4-6 mm were included. Curcumin and chlorhexidine gel was applied in the contralateral disease sites at baseline and day 15. The clinical parameters like PPD, clinical attachment level (CAL), gingival index (Loe and Silness) and plaque index (Turesky Gillmore modification of Quigley Hein) were recorded and colony forming units (CFU) were assessed microbiologically at baseline, 15 and 30 days.

RESULTS

There was a significant reduction of the clinical parameters (PPD, CAL) and microbiological parameters CFU at 15 and 30 days for both the groups. Curcumin group showed a greater reduction in the clinical parameters when compared with chlorhexidine group. Both groups had a significant reduction in parameters when compared with baseline.

CONCLUSION

Although curcumin has equivalent benefit to chlorhexidine, curcumin being an ayurvedic herb is an excellent alternative to chlorhexidine due to minimal side-effects.

Effect of microwave argon plasma on the glycosidic and hydrogen bonding system of cotton cellulose

Cotton fabric was processed with microwave (Ar) plasma to alter its hydrophilicity. The process parameters namely microwave power, process gas pressure and processing time were optimized using Box-Behnken method available in the Design Expert software. It was observed that certain combinations of process parameters improved existing hydrophilicity while the other combinations decreased it. ATR-FTIR spectral analysis was used to identify the strain induced in inter chain, intra chain, and inter sheet hydrogen bond and glycosidic covalent bond due to plasma treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies was used to analyze the effect of plasma on unit cell parameters and degree of crystallinity. Fabric surface etching was identified using FESEM analysis. Thus, it can be concluded that the increase/decrease in the hydrophilicity of the plasma treated fabric was due to these structural and physical changes.

Adult Progeria: Werner Syndrome

Werner's syndrome is an adult premature aging syndrome of autosomal recessive inheritance affecting connective tissues throughout the body.1 The exact etiology remains obscure even though biochemical and connective tissue abnormalities have been postulated.2 The disease involves multiple systems of the body and may be associated with internal malignancy.3 We report a case of a 35 year old man who presented with uncontrolled diabetes and non-healing ulcers.