The temporomandibular joint receives its name from the two bones that enter into its formation, namely the temporal bone and the mandible. This complex synovial system is composed of two temporomandibular joints together with their articulating ligaments and masticatory muscles. This articulation affects other synovial joints that relate specifically to masticatory function. The causes of temporomandibular disorders are complex and multifactorial. There are numerous factors that can contribute to temporomandibular disorders. In some instances a single factor may serve one or all of these roles. Iatrogenic injuries can act as both initiating as well as predisposing factors. The term craniomandibular disorder is used synonymously with the term temporomandibular disorders and is considered a major cause of nondental pain in the orofacial pain region. The successful management of temporomandibular disorders is dependent on identifying and controlling the contributing factors. The temporomandibular disorders are more common in females, the reason is not clearly known. The following article provides detailed information regarding temporomandibular joint disorders.

In large scale apple juice industry, about 75% of apple is utilized for juice and the remaining 25% is the by-product, apple pomace. In India, total production of apple pomace is about 1 million tons per annum and only approximately 10,000 tons of apple pomace is being utilized. Generally, apple pomace is thrown away, which causes environmental pollution. As the pomace is a part of fruit, it has potential for being converted into edible products. Apple pomace is a rich source of carbohydrate, pectin, crude fiber, and minerals, and as such is a good source of nutrients. This paper reviews the work done to utilize this precious resource, which can prove useful for setting up of small scale industries.

The physicochemical and biological properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are greatly affected by their salt forms. The choice of a particular salt formulation is based on numerous factors such as API chemistry, intended dosage form, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics. The appropriate salt can improve the overall therapeutic and pharmaceutical effects of an API. However, the incorrect salt form can have the opposite effect, and can be quite detrimental for overall drug development. This review summarizes several criteria for choosing the appropriate salt forms, along with the effects of salt forms on the pharmaceutical properties of APIs. In addition to a comprehensive review of the selection criteria, this review also gives a brief historic perspective of the salt selection processes.

This study investigates the ballistic response of laminated composite plates using numerical simulations. Numerical simulations were carried out to determine the ballistic response of thick Kevlar/epoxy composite plates, commonly used in body armor. These plates were impacted at velocities between 100 and 1000 m/s. The numerical parametric study of ballistic impact caused by cylindrical projectile is undertaken to obtain an estimate for the ballistic limit velocity, energy absorbed by the plate, and the contact duration. The effect of mass and diameter of the projectile on ballistic limit velocity was also studied. The results obtained hereby are in good agreement with the experimental data presented by other researchers.

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Anti-viral drugs often suffer from poor intestinal permeability, preventing their delivery via the oral route. The goal of this work was to enhance the intestinal absorption of the low-permeability anti-viral agents zanamivr heptyl ester (ZHE) and guanidino oseltamivir (GO) utilizing an ionpairing approach, as a critical step toward making them oral drugs. The counterion 1-hydroxy-2-napthoic acid (HNAP) was utilized to enhance the lipophilicity and permeability of the highly polar drugs. HNAP substantially increased the log P of the drugs by up to 3.7 log units. Binding constants (K 11aq ) of 388 M −1 for ZHE-HNAP and 2.91 M −1 for GO.-HNAP were obtained by applying a quasi-equilibrium transport model to double-reciprocal plots of apparent octanol-buffer distribution coefficients versus HNAP concentration. HNAP enhanced the apparent permeability (P app ) of both compounds across Caco-2 cell monolayers in a concentration-dependent manner, as substantial P app (0.8 -3.0 × 10 −6 cm/s) was observed in the presence of 6-24 mM HNAP, whereas no detectable transport was observed without counterion. Consistent with a quasiequilibrium transport model, a linear relationship with slope near 1 was obtained from a log-log plot of Caco-2 P app versus HNAP concentration, supporting the ion-pair mechanism behind the permeability enhancement. In the rat jejunal perfusion assay, the addition of HNAP failed to increase the effective permeability (P eff ) of GO. However, the rat jejunal permeability of ZHE was significantly enhanced by the addition of HNAP in a concentration-dependent manner, from essentially zero without HNAP to 4.0 × 10 −5 cm/s with 10 mM HNAP, matching the P eff of the high-permeability standard metoprolol. The success of ZHE-HNAP was explained by its >100-fold stronger K 11aq versus GO-HNAP, making ZHE-HNAP less prone to dissociation and ionexchange with competing endogenous anions and able to remain intact during membrane permeation. Overall, this work presents a novel approach to enable the oral delivery of highly polar anti-viral drugs, and provides new insights into the underlying mechanisms governing the success or failure of the ion-pairing strategy to increase oral absorption.

Poor oral absorption is one of the limiting factors in utilizing the full potential of polar antiviral agents. The neuraminidase target site requires a polar chemical structure for high affinity binding, thus limiting oral efficacy of many high affinity ligands. The aim of this study was to overcome this poor oral absorption barrier, utilizing prodrug to target the apical brush border peptide transporter 1 (PEPT1). Guanidine oseltamivir carboxylate (GOCarb) is a highly active polar antiviral agent (prodrug) with insufficient oral bioavailability (4%) to be an effective therapeutic agent. In this report we utilize a carrier-mediated targeted prodrug approach to improve the oral absorption of GOCarb. Acyloxy(alkyl) ester based amino acid linked prodrugs were synthesized and evaluated as potential substrates of mucosal transporters e.g. PEPT1. Prodrugs were also evaluated for their chemical and enzymatic stability. PEPT1 transport studies included [3H]Gly-Sar uptake inhibition and cellular uptake experiments using HeLa cells over-expressing PEPT1. The intestinal membrane permeability of the selected prodrugs and the parent drug were then evaluated for epithelial cell transport across Caco-2 monolayers, and in the in-situ rat intestinal jejunal perfusion model. Prodrugs exhibited a pH dependent stability with higher stability at acidic pHs. Significant inhibition of uptake (IC50 <1mM) was observed for L-valyl and L-isoleucyl amino acid prodrugs in competition experiments with [3H]Gly-Sar, indicating a 3–6 times higher affinity for PEPT1 compared to valacyclovir; a well-known PEPT1 substrate and >30 fold increase in affinity compared to GOCarb. The L-valyl prodrug exhibited significant enhancement of uptake in PEPT1/HeLa cells, and compared favorably with the well absorbed valacyclovir. Transepithelial permeability across Caco-2 monolayers showed that these amino acid prodrugs have a 2–5 fold increase in permeability as compared to the parent drug and showed that the L-valyl prodrug (Papp = 1.7×10−6 cm/sec) has the potential to be a rapidly transported across the epithelial cell apical membrane. Significantly, only the parent drug (GOCarb) appeared in the basolateral compartment, indicating complete activation (hydrolysis) during transport. Intestinal rat jejunal permeability studies showed that L-valyl and L-isoleucyl prodrugs are highly permeable compared to the orally well absorbed metoprolol, while the parent drug had essentially zero permeability in the jejunum, consistent with its known poor low absorption. Prodrugs were rapidly converted to parent in cell homogenates suggesting their ability to be activated endogenously in the epithelial cell, consistent with the transport studies. Additionally, L-valyl prodrug was found to be a substrate for valacyclovirase (Km=2.37 mM) suggesting a potential cell activation mechanism. Finally we determined the oral bioavailability of our most promising candidate, GOC-L-Val, in mice to be 23% under fed conditions and 48% under fasted conditions. In conclusion, GOC-L-Val prodr...

Peripheral giant cell granuloma or the so-called “giant cell epulis” is the most common oral giant cell lesion. It normally presents as a soft tissue purplish-red nodule consisting of multinucleated giant cells in a background of mononuclear stromal cells and extravasated red blood cells. This lesion probably does not represent a true neoplasm, but rather may be reactive in nature, believed to be stimulated by local irritation or trauma, but the cause is not certainly known. This article reports a case of peripheral giant cell granuloma arising at the maxillary anterior region in a 22-year-old female patient. The lesion was completely excised to the periosteum level and there is no residual or recurrent swelling or bony defect apparent in the area of biopsy after a follow-up period of 6 months.