Diet has not been investigated as a potential risk factor for head and neck squamous cell carcinomas in the Syrian Arab Republic. In a hospital-based, unmatched case-control study 108 people with cancer and 105 controls were interviewed about dietary intake using a validated food frequency questionnaire in Arabic. Sociodemographic and health risk behavioural information were collected by a self-completed questionnaire. Adjusting for age, sex, education level, working status and tobacco smoking, the multiple regression analysis showed that low intake of vegetables (OR 3.8; 95% CI: 1.57-9.10), cereal/cereal products (OR 2.6; 95% CI: 1.12-5.99) and high-caffeine beverages (OR 3.2; 95% CI: 1.34-7.43) increased the risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas, whereas a low level of fats and oils intake decreased the risk (OR 0.6; 95% CI: 0.24-1.30). These findings should be considered in national health promotion programmes in the Syrian Arab Republic. ‫وشواهد‬

Background: Bisphosphonates represent a new class of drugs that have shown very promising therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of a number of diseases associated with abnormally accelerated bone resorption including osteoporosis, Paget's disease, and hypercalcemia of malignancy. As an increasing number of these drugs become available for clinical use in the treatment of the millions of individuals with these skeletal diseases, evidence is becoming available that their chronic usage may be associated with a number of gastrointestinal side effects, such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and inflammation, and erosions and ulceration of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Methyl sulfonyl methane (MSM) which is used for osteoarthritis was used to prevent bisphosphonates ulceration. Our objective was to study the preventive effect of MSM against colon ulcer induced by Alendronate (ALN) in rats. The experiments had been done on 8 white wistar rats for each group. The gastric ulcer has been induced by administration of Alendronate (20mg/kg/day) by gavage for 4 days. MSM (400mg/kg/day) has been given for the protective group for 4 days before administration of Alendronate. The ulcers in rats' colon were examined histologically and microscopically. The results showed that administration of MSM before Alendronate inducing ulcer led to a reduction in ulceration and showed significant difference comparing with morbidity group. Conclusion:MSM (400 mg/kg/day) has protective effect of colon ulcer induced by alendronate.

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Objectives: The dimensional changes that occurs during the healing of the grafting material in external sinus lift procedure is always present and sometimes may lead to difficulties in placing the dental implants in the second stage. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of adding a titanium mesh as a new fixed floor of the sinus to minimize these changes. Material and Methods: this randomized clinical trial included 8 patients who needed bilateral 2-stage sinus lift. On one side sinus lift was carried out using Deproteinized Bovine Bone Matrix (DBBM) (Group A) while on the other side a titanium mesh was fixed as a new sinus floor above the DBBM biomaterial (Group B). CBCT radiographs were taken preoperatively(T0), directly postoperatively(T1), and 9 months after surgery(T2). Linear measurements were recorded in the same points in all three radiographs, graft volume was measured and compared using 3D Slicer software. Results: the mean bone height (BH) at T1 was 13.08 and 13.56 mm while at T2 was 11.56 and 13.56 mm in groups A and B respectively. The mean reduction in BH was 1.68 and 0.00 mm in groups A and B respectively. The graft volume (GV) at T1 was 1.49 and 1.63 cc and at T2 was 1.19 and 1.53 cc, the mean volume shrinkage was 0.29 and 0.1 cc in groups A and B respectively. The differences between the groups in both linear and volumetric changes were statistically significant. Conclusions: within the limitation of this study it may be concluded that adding a titanium mesh as a new floor of the sinus helps limiting the shrinkage of both the linear dimensions and overall graft volume.

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