1 Flavonoids display a wide range of pharmacological properties including anti-in¯ammatory. Anti-mutagenic, anti-carcinogenic and anti-cancer eects. Here, we evaluated the eects of eight avonoids on the tumour cell proliferation, cellular protein phosphorylation, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) secretion. 2 Of the¯avonoids examined, luteolin (Lu) and quercetin (Qu) were the two most potent agents, and signi®cantly inhibited A431 cell proliferation with IC 50 values of 19 and 21 mM, respectively. 3 The epidermal growth factor (EGF) (10 nM) promoted growth of A431 cells (+25+4.6%) and mediated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase activity and autophosphorylation of EGFR were inhibited by Lu and Qu. At concentration of 20 mM, both Lu and Qu markedly decreased the levels of phosphorylation of A431 cellular proteins, including EGFR. 4 A431 cells treated with Lu or Qu exhibited protuberant cytoplasmic blebs and progressive shrinkage morphology. Lu and Qu also time-dependently induced the appearance of a ladder pattern of DNA fragmentation, and this eect was abolished by EGF treatment. 5 The addition of EGF only marginally diminished the inhibitory eect of luteolin and quercetin on the growth rate of A431 cells, treatment of cellular proteins with EGF and luteolin or quercetin greatly reduced protein phosphorylation, indicating Lu and Qu may act eectively to inhibit a wide range of protein kinases, including EGFR tyrosine kinase. 6 EGF increased the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), while Lu and Qu appeared to suppress the secretion of these two MMPs in A431 cells. 7 Examination of the relationship between the chemical structure and inhibitory eects of eight avonoids reveal that the double bond between C2 and C3 in ring C and the OH groups on C3' and C4' in ring B are critical for the biological activities. 8 This study demonstrates that the inhibitory eects of Lu and Qu, and the stimulatory eects of EGF, on tumour cell proliferation, cellular protein phosphorylation, and MMP secretion may be mediated at least partly through EGFR. This study supports the idea that Lu and Qu may have potential as anti-cancer and anti-metastasis agents.

As the popularity of dental implants continues to grow at a rate of about 14% per year, so do the risks associated with the procedure. Complications such as sinusitis and nerve damage are not uncommon, and inadequate cleaning can lead to peri-implantitis around the implant, jeopardizing its stability and potentially necessitating retreatment. To address this issue, this research proposes a new system for evaluating the degree of periodontal damage around implants using Periapical film (PA). The system utilizes two Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) models to accurately detect the location of the implant and assess the extent of damage caused by peri-implantitis. One of the CNN models is designed to determine the location of the implant in the PA with an accuracy of up to 89.31%, while the other model is responsible for assessing the degree of Peri-implantitis damage around the implant, achieving an accuracy of 90.45%. The system combines image cropping based on position information obtained from the first CNN with image enhancement techniques such as Histogram Equalization and Adaptive Histogram Equalization (AHE) to improve the visibility of the implant and gums. The result is a more accurate assessment of whether peri-implantitis has eroded to the first thread, a critical indicator of implant stability. To ensure the ethical and regulatory standards of our research, this proposal has been certified by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) under number 202102023B0C503. With no existing technology to evaluate Peri-implantitis damage around dental implants, this CNN-based system has the potential to revolutionize implant dentistry and improve patient outcomes.