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Background:The key to good oral health is hidden in nature. Natural herbs like neem, tulsi, pudina, clove oil, ajwain, triphala and many more has been used since ages either as a whole single herb or as a combination against various oral health problems like bleeding gums, halitosis, mouth ulcers and preventing tooth decay. The aim of the study was to compare the efficacy of a commercially available herbal mouthrinse (Herboral) with that of chlorhexidine gluconate which is considered to be a gold standard as an anti-plaque agent.Materials and Methods:A randomized, two-group, parallel study as a ‘de novo’ plaque accumulation model was carried out on 50 subjects (23 males and 27 females). At baseline, all participants received a professional prophylaxis and were randomly assigned to the test (Herbal mouthrinse) and control (Chlorhexidine Gluconate) group. On the following three days, all subjects rinsed with 10 ml of the allocated mouthrinse twice daily for 1 min. They were asked to refrain from use of any other oral hygiene measures during the study. At the end of the experimental period, plaque was assessed and a questionnaire was filled by all subjects.Results:Chlorhexidine (mean plaque score=1.65) inhibited plaque growth significantly more than the herbal mouthrinse (mean plaque score=1.43, P<0.001). The results of the questionnaire showed that Herboral was preferred by patients for its taste, its convenience of use and taste duration (aftertaste). However, Chlorhexidine was considered to be more effective in reducing plaque as compared to Herboral.Conclusion:Herbal mouthrinse was found to be a potent plaque inhibitor, though less effective than Chlorhexidine Gluconate. However, it can serve as a good alternative for the patients with special needs as in case of diabetics, xerostomics, and so on.

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) is a novel class of deep generative models that has recently gained significant attention. GANs learn complex and high-dimensional distributions implicitly over images, audio, and data. However, there exist major challenges in training of GANs, i.e., mode collapse, non-convergence, and instability, due to inappropriate design of network architectre, use of objective function, and selection of optimization algorithm. Recently, to address these challenges, several solutions for better design and optimization of GANs have been investigated based on techniques of re-engineered network architectures, new objective functions, and alternative optimization algorithms. To the best of our knowledge, there is no existing survey that has particularly focused on the broad and systematic developments of these solutions. In this study, we perform a comprehensive survey of the advancements in GANs design and optimization solutions proposed to handle GANs challenges. We first identify key research issues within each design and optimization technique and then propose a new taxonomy to structure solutions by key research issues. In accordance with the taxonomy, we provide a detailed discussion on different GANs variants proposed within each solution and their relationships. Finally, based on the insights gained, we present promising research directions in this rapidly growing field.

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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have negative effects on health outcomes across the lifespan. Furthermore, the effects of ACEs are often compounded by social determinants of health and historical and contemporary trauma that can affect entire communities. The socioecological model is a valuable framework for understanding the complex systems in which efforts to promote health equity are situated. Using a trauma-informed lens, community health becomes a powerful focal point for viable prevention and treatment options to address ACEs and promote health equity. Self-healing on a community level involves collective engagement; people most affected by ACEs and trauma come together around activities that have the potential to lift up the entire community and foster individual and community resilience. The use of community health research and evaluation methods that are consistent with trauma-informed, empowerment approaches can contribute to community healing. This paper is intended to establish a common language for how community healing can address ACEs and foster health equity.