Mucormycosis is one of the most rapidly progressing and fulminant forms of fungal infection which usually begins in the nose and paranasal sinuses following inhalation of fungal spores. It is caused by organisms of the subphylum Mucormycotina, including genera as Absidia, Mucor, Rhizomucor, and Rhizopus. The incidence of mucormycosis is approximately 1.7 cases per 1,000,000 inhabitants per year. Mucormycosis affecting the maxilla is rare because of rich blood vessel supply of maxillofacial areas although more virulent fungi such as Mucor can overcome this difficulty. The common form of this infection is seen in the rhinomaxillary region and in patients with immunocompromised state such as diabetes. Hence, early diagnosis of this potentially life-threatening disease and prompt treatment is of prime importance in reducing the mortality rate.

Introduction: Histological stains are dyes that bind to a variety of tissues. Modified Gallego's (MG) stain is a modification of Lille's stain that can be used as a differential stain for identification of hard tissues in oral pathological lesions. Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify the presence of hard tissues such as enamel, dentin and cementum in normal extracted teeth and odontogenic tumors using MG stain and to compare the efficacy of MG stain with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain. Methods: A total of fifty samples, twenty decalcified sections of teeth and thirty cases of odontogenic tumors, were included in the present study. Two sections were cut from the above cases and stained with H&E stain and MG stain, respectively, and assessed for the nature of hard tissue. Results: In H&E staining, enamel, dentine, cementum and bone stained pink. Whereas, in MG stain, enamel stained pink, dentin and bone stained green, while cementum stained red. The shade of color differs with the degree of mineralization of the hard tissues in MG stain. Conclusion: MG stain can be used as a differential stain for different hard-tissue structures when compared to routine H and E staining.

Background: Nanog is a key transcription factor regulating pluripotency in mammalian early embryos and pluripotent stem cells. Nanog plays a central role in pluripotency and forms autoregulatory loops to maintain ESC (embryonic stem cell) identity. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is an extensively studied malignancy that occurs due to accumulated genetic and epigenetic changes. Hence, the current study was done to evaluate role of Nanog in OSCC. Objective: The present study was done to evaluate Nanog role in OSCC. Materials and Methods: Thirty normal subjects and 30 patients of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) were included in study. The cases were staged clinically based on tumour node metastasis (TNM) staging and graded histopathologically using modified Broder's grading system. Thirty tissue sections of OSCC were subjected to immunohistochemistry (IHC) with Nanog antibody. Random fields were chosen and 300 cells were counted in five areas and mean percentage of immunopositive cells were calculated. The results were analysed using ANOVA test. Results: The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference between normal subjects and in patients with OSCC with respect to mean of IHC score (P = 0.0001*). High mean values for Nanog in tissue with OSCC in both histopathological (P = 0.0001*) and clinical grading (P = 0.0276*) with statistically significant result were observed. Conclusion: The increased expression of Nanog in patients with OSCC was statistically significant, suggesting its role as diagnostic biomarker. Statistically significant result with respect to clinical staging and histopathological grading of Nanog expression in patients with OSCC suggests its role as prognostic biomarker also.