Browsing by Author "Koshy, S"

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    Frequent seizures and polytherapy can impair quality of life in persons with epilepsy
    (NEUROLOGY INDIA, 2005)
    Context: Careful evaluation of pharmacotherapy, seizure control and quality of life (QOL) are helpful in improving epilepsy care but such data are relatively meager from developing countries. Aims: To audit pharmacotherapy, seizure control and QOL in persons with epilepsy and to identify factors associated with impaired QOL. Settings and Design and Materials and Methods: The study was carried out using a cross-sectional design in the setting of a tertiary care epilepsy center in India. Persons with epilepsy with > 12 months follow-up at this Center and aged > 16 years were eligible for enrollment. Persons with other disabilities or pregnancy were excluded. Subjects were interviewed with a standard questionnaire and an adapted version of Quality of Life in Epilepsy - 31 (QOLIE-31). Data pertaining to treatment at the time of referral to this center was extracted from medical records. Statistical Analysis Used: Chi-square test, analysis of variance and multiple regression analysis were carried out for statistical significance. Results: One hundred and twelve patients with epilepsy (59 males, mean age 31.2 +/- 10.7 years) were included. Forty-seven (42%) persons had Generalized Epilepsy (GE) and 65 persons (58%) had Localization-Related Epilepsy (LRE). At entry 24 persons (21.4%) were not on treatment and 59 persons (64.8%) had frequent seizures. At last follow-up 64 persons (57.1%) were seizure-free, 83 persons (74.1%) were on monotherapy and 29 were (25.9%) on polytherapy. Cost of drug at entry was INR 2276 (monotherapy) and INR 3629 (polytherapy) (45 INR = 1 USD). At the time of last follow-up, it was 1898 and 4929 respectively. QOLIE-31 Total Score (TQOL) ranged from 22.6 to 94.4 (mean 68.0 +/- 15.8). Multiple regression analysis showed significant correlation between low TQOL score and polytherapy (P=0.002) and occurrence of one or more seizures per month (P=0.001). Conclusions: Frequent seizures and polytherapy are associated with lower QOL in persons with epilepsy.
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    Shear bond strength evaluation of five bonding agents in combination with three radiopaque composites on wet/dry dentine surfaces: An in vitro study
    (CURRENT SCIENCE, 2000) Koshy, S; Nair, EKP; Krishnan, VK
    Shear bond strength of five dentine bonding agents in combination with three radiopaque composites on dry and wet dentinal surfaces was evaluated in this study. Human premolar teeth mounted on acrylic resin were sectioned to expose dentinal surfaces onto which composites were fixed using a bonding agent. An observation of the shear strengths obtained from 36 composite/bonding agent combinations on dry/wet dentinal surfaces revealed no dentine adhesion for composites in the absence of a bonding agent. Adhesion using a bonding agent was found to enhance shear strength values to varying extents depending on the composite/bonding agent system used and the nature of the dentinal surface. Bond strengths were found to be higher on wet than dry dentinal surfaces though this was found to depend to a large extent upon the nature of the composite and/or bonding agent system used. In certain cases, combination systems other than recommended ones were found to provide better strength values. This study shows that shear bond strength depends not only on the nature of the dentinal surface but also is specific of the composite/bonding agent system used, thus providing an insight into their apparent clinical behaviour.