Can ESR be a diagnostic marker for assessing the severityof malarial infection? A retrospective study

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the variation of ESR in malarial infection and find out the variation of ESR in related to the degree of parasitemia. Material and Methods: A retrospective study with a duration of 6 months, on 385 randomly selected positive malaria cases. Their clinical record and lab records were analyzed for ESR level. Result: The sample of 385 positive malaria cases has included both males and females, ages ranged from 15-60 years old. A total number of Plasmodium.falciparumwas 60 (uncomplicated & severe cases) and for Plasmodiumvivax was 325. In P.vivax infection the raised values were seen in 174 cases (53.5%) and in P. falciparum infection it was seen in 36 cases (60%). The degree of parasitemia did not show any significant rise in ESR in case of malarial infection. Conclusion: In our investigation, the degree of parasitemia did not show a significant rise in ESR except in the case of occasional parasitemia. We assume that the rise in ESR may be due to inflammatory process during infection or due to the presence of inclusion bodies Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.18(4) 2019 p.756-759

Pain Experience during Initial Alignment with a Self-Ligating and a Conventional Fixed Orthodontic Appliance System

Objectives: To test the hypotheses that (1) there is no difference in the pain experience during the week following initial placement of two orthodontic appliances (SmartClip™ and Victory™; 3M Unitek, Monrovia, Calif); and (2) there is no difference in the pain experience during removal and insertion of orthodontic archwires with these brackets. Materials and Methods: Sixty-six consecutive patients were treated with a self-ligating bracket system (SmartClip™) or a conventional appliance (Victory™) on the basis of computer-generated random allocation. After appliance placement and engagement of a 0.016″ nickel-titanium archwire, pain experience was recorded after 4, 24, and 72 hours and after 7 days with the use of a visual analog system (VAS) questionnaire. At a subsequent visit, participants documented pain experiences during removal and insertion of 0.019 × 0.025″ archwires on an additional 100 mm VAS questionnaire. Independent t-tests and analyses of covariance were used to analyze normally distributed data; the Mann-Whitney U-test was used for skewed distributions. Results: Forty-eight (72.2%) and fifty-one (77.3%) subjects completed the first and second parts of the study, respectively. Bracket type had no influence on pain experience at 4 hours (P = .958), 24 hours (P = .289), 72 hours (P = .569), and 7 days (P = .756) following appliance placement. However, bracket type significantly influenced pain experience during archwire removal (P = .001) and insertion (P = .013). Conclusions: Hypothesis 1 cannot be rejected. The bracket type had no effect on subjective pain experience during the first week after initial placement of two preadjusted orthodontic appliances. Hypothesis 2 was rejected. Significantly greater discomfort was experienced during archwire insertion and removal with the SmartClip™ appliance.