This explorative analysis suggests that the lung health programme is among the priorities in Nepal when taking into account a range of relevant criteria for priority setting. The multi-criteria approach can be an important step forward to rational priority setting in developing countries.

Introduction: Patient’s perspective and cooperation on treatment procedure and service is very important to evaluate the management system and success of the orthodontic treatment. Objective: To assess knowledge, attitude and practice of Nepalese patients towards orthodontic treatment and to find the difference of perception between female and male patients. Materials & Method: A structured questionnaire comprising of fifteen questions in three sections was used among 536 orthodontic patients at eight orthodontic treatment centers. The knowledge, attitude and practice were assessed on Likert scale. The data were rescored based on positive, neutral or negative perceptions and depicted for a level. The difference in perception between female and male patients was tested using Mann-Whitney U test. Result: 85% of orthodontic patients possess good knowledge about ongoing orthodontic treatment; however about half of the patients are unaware about retainers. About 35% patients think that people wearing braces do not look good, 59% experience long waiting time, 25% feel time spent for procedure is inadequate and 68% believe orthodontic treatment is expensive; still 82% are happy about treatment outcome. Most of the patients brush and rinse more carefully, however 28.9% patients are careless about braces and 12.7% forget appointment dates. Conclusion: Nepalese orthodontic patients possess good knowledge about orthodontic treatment, however lack adequate attitude and practice towards the treatment. The practitioners should inform patients about retainers and be concerned about waiting time, procedure duration and cost of the treatment.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ojn.v4i1.11304 Orthodontic Journal of Nepal Vol.4(1) 2014; 6-11

Introduction: Permanent canines are considered as the cornerstone of mouth. Canines are important for esthetics and function as they are located in the anterior segment of the mouth and help in tearing of food. An impacted tooth is that tooth that cannot or will not erupt into its normal functional occlusion due to some circumstances. Those impacted tooth are considered pathologic as they might lead to various problems like resorption of roots of adjacent teeth, cystic formation, and infection with partial eruption leading to pain and trismus. Materials & Method: All the patients (550) being treated in department of Orthodontics in Nepal Medical College from January 2017 to December 2019 were included in the study. Patients aged 13-30 years were included in the study. Clinical examinations and panoramic radiographs of patients were taken. Anterior occlusal view was done in those patients having canine impaction to determine the patterns of impaction. Data was processed in SPSS version 16.0. Result: Among 550 orthodontic patients, 31 patients were found to have canine impaction. Among them 18 (58.1%) were females and 13 (41.9%) were males. The overall prevalence of canine impaction was found to be 5.6%. Various dental anomalies were observed in the participants’ radiographs, the most common being the retained deciduous teeth (54.8%) followed by dilacerations of adjacent teeth (51.6%). Peg shaped lateral incisors and root resorption of adjacent tooth were almost equal (22.6%) with least being the odontomas and other impacted teeth. Conclusion: The prevalence of canine impaction in tertiary care dental hospital in Kathmandu was found to be 5.6%. Patients with impacted canines also had other dental anomalies. Knowing the prevalence of impacted canines, will encourage the community to be aware about canine impaction and educate the population about the clinical implications and the importance of performing preventive and interceptive procedures.

Starch was extracted from potato wastes and its peels to prepare bio-degradable films using glycerol and sorbitol at various concentrations of 35%, 45% and 55 (w/w) of dry starch. The properties of films prepared with modification techniques (hydrothermal treatment (HTT) and acid-alcohol treatment (AAT)) were analyzed. Biodegradability test was done by incubating with amylolytic bacteria (Bacillus lichneformis and Streptococcus bovis) for 24 hours and fungi (Aspergillus niger and Rhizopus stolonifer) for 72 hours. All microbial species were isolated from soil except S. bovis which was from calf stool and identified by conventional methods. The properties of modified starches were significantly different from non-treated starches. Tensile strength (10 N/m2) and elongation (9.47%) were significantly (p<0.05) superior in HTT starch films whereas solubility (25.8%) was superior in AAT starch films.  Elongation (8.91%) and solubility (29.98%) were significantly (p<0.05) superior in 35% and 55% glycerol used films respectively but tensile strength (13.02 N/m2) was superior in 35% sorbitol used films. WVTR (999 g/m2/d) was higher at 91% RH in 55% glycerol used films. Micro-organisms used showed a significant effect (p<0.05) on biodegradation of starch based films. Highest degradation was observed by B. lichneformis i.e, 57.85% while A. niger had minimum of 25.13%. Films prepared with 35% glycerol was significantly (P<0.05) degraded by B. lichneformis i.e, 78.86%. Films prepared by using glycerol with acid alcohol treatment was significantly (P<0.05) degraded by S. bovis (55.57%). Although the starch of same variety of potato waste was not studied, results of the study suggest possibility of preparation of starch based bio degradable films potato waste and its peels by using glycerol and sorbitol.