Purpose: In 2013, we reported the results of a third‐generation oral moisture‐checking device in a multicentre clinical study involving patients with dry mouth and healthy volunteers. Subsequently, several improvements have been made to the third‐generation device, and a fourth‐generation device is now commercially available. This study aimed to confirm the usefulness of this improved fourth‐generation device in the diagnosis of dry mouth and to assess the physiological wetness of lingual mucosa by using this device.
Materials and Method: This multicentre study comprised subjects with dry mouth (dry mouth group) and those without dry mouth (healthy group).
Results: In this study, the degree of moisture was considerably different between the two groups. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed an area under the curve value of 0.831. Sensitivity and specificity values were close to 80% in cases where the degree of moisture ≥29.6 was defined as normal, ≤27.9 was defined as dry mouth, and 28.0–29.5 was defined as borderline dry mouth.
Conclusions: These results suggest that the improved fourth‐generation moisture‐checking device can be used for the diagnosis of oral dryness.
Objective Peripheral blood-derived inflammation-based scores, such as the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and the combination of platelet count and NLR, have recently been proposed as prognostic markers in solid tumors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of inflammatory markers as predictive prognostic factors for locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In addition, we evaluated the potential correlation between systemic inflammation and local expression of COX2. Study Design Retrospective chart review and histologic analysis. Setting Tertiary referral academic center. Subjects and Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of 94 patients with advanced OSCC treated with surgery at our hospital between 2007 and 2015. The relationship among patient survival, systemic inflammatory markers, and local COX2 expression was evaluated. Local COX2 expression in surgical specimens was measured by immunohistochemistry. Results High NLR and high PLR were associated with significantly shorter overall survival and cancer-specific survival. Multivariate analysis revealed that cN stage, NLR, and postoperative radiation/chemoradiation were significantly associated with overall survival and cancer-specific survival. PLR and combination of platelet count and NLR were significantly correlated with tumor expression of COX2. Finally, patients with cN2 stage disease and high local COX2 expression had a significantly worse prognosis than other patient groups. Conclusion Pretreatment inflammatory markers are useful as prognostic factors in advanced OSCC. Our study suggests that local COX2 may be affected by systemic inflammation and that the prognostic impact of COX2 expression depends on host factors and tumor characteristics.
ACDK-RCCs reveal characteristics of Henle's loop, which may be related to their peculiar pathological features, including intratumoral oxalate deposition and cyst and AC formation.
a b s t r a c tBone is a highly vascularized organ, thus angiogenesis is a vital process during bone remodeling. However, the role of vascular systems in bone remodeling is not well recognized. Here we show that netrin-4 inhibits osteoclast differentiation in vitro and in vivo. Co-cultures of bone marrow macrophages with vascular endothelial cells markedly inhibited osteoclast differentiation. Adding a neutralizing antibody, or RNA interference against netrin-4, restored in vitro osteoclast differentiation. Administration of netrin-4 prevented bone loss in an osteoporosis mouse model by decreasing the osteoclast number. We propose that vascular endothelial cells interact with bone in suppressing bone through netrin-4.
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