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Craniofacial microsomia (CFM), also known as the oculo‐auriculo‐vertebral spectrum, is a congenital disorder characterized by hypoplasia of the mandible and external ear due to tissue malformations originating from the first and second branchial arches. However, distinguishing it from other syndromes of branchial arch abnormalities is difficult, and causal variants remain unidentified in many cases. In this report, we performed an exome sequencing analysis of a Brazilian family with CFM. The proband was a 12‐month‐old boy with clinical findings consistent with the diagnostic criteria for CFM, including unilateral mandibular hypoplasia, microtia, and external auditory canal abnormalities. A heterozygous de novo nonsense variant (c.713C>G, p.S238*) in PUF60 was identified, which was predicted to be pathogenic in silico. PUF60 has been reported as a causal gene in Verheij syndrome, but not in CFM. Although the boy showed craniofacial abnormalities and developmental delay that overlapped with Verheij syndrome, the facial asymmetry with unilateral hypoplasia of the mandible observed in this case did not match the previously reported phenotypes of PUF60 variants. Our findings expand the phenotypic range of PUF60 variants that cover CFM and Verheij syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Poverty negatively impacts beneficial aspects of mental development, such as resilience. Toothbrushing, an oral health behavior, has the potential to protect children's resilience through its anti-inflammatory and self-management effects and may be more effective for children, especially children in poverty. This study investigated whether toothbrushing boosts resilience among children, especially children under poverty, and modifies the association between poverty and resilience using a longitudinal population sample of school children. Methods: Data from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD Study) were analyzed. A baseline study was conducted in 2015 in which the children were in first grade and followed through fourth grade (N = 3459, response rate: 80%, follow-up rate: 82%). Poverty was assessed by material deprivation (life-related deprivation and child-related deprivation) and annual household income at baseline. Children's toothbrushing frequency was assessed at baseline and classified into less than twice a day or twice or more a day. Children's resilience was assessed at baseline and follow-up using the Children's Resilient Coping Scale (range 0-100). Results: Children who brushed their teeth twice or more a day in first grade had 3.50 points greater resilience scores in fourth grade than those who brushed their teeth less than twice a day in first grade. After adjusting for confounders, including resilience in first grade, among underpoverty children, those who brushed their teeth twice or more a day in first grade had higher resilience scores [2.66 (95% CI = 0.53, 4.79)] than those who brushed their teeth less than twice a day. Among nonpoverished children, toothbrushing frequency in first grade did not significantly correlate with resilience in fourth grade. Conclusions: The beneficial effect of toothbrushing twice or more a day on resilience was more significant among children in poverty than among those without poverty in elementary school in Japan. Health policy focused on frequent toothbrushing may contribute to boosting resilience among children living in poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates rhythmic jaw movement (RJM) patterns and masticatory muscle activities during electrical stimulation in two cortical masticatory areas in obese male Zucker rats (OZRs), compared to their counterparts—lean male Zucker rats (LZRs) (seven each). At the age of 10 weeks, electromyographic (EMG) activity of the right anterior digastric muscle (RAD) and masseter muscles, and RJMs were recorded during repetitive intracortical micro-stimulation in the left anterior and posterior parts of the cortical masticatory area (A-area and P-area, respectively). Only P-area-elicited RJMs, which showed a more lateral shift and slower jaw-opening pattern than A-area-elicited RJMs, were affected by obesity. During P-area stimulation, the jaw-opening duration was significantly shorter (p < 0.01) in OZRs (24.3 ms) than LZRs (27.9 ms), the jaw-opening speed was significantly faster (p < 0.05) in OZRs (67.5 mm/s) than LZRs (50.8 mm/s), and the RAD EMG duration was significantly shorter (p < 0.01) in OZRs (5.2 ms) than LZR (6.9 ms). The two groups had no significant difference in the EMG peak-to-peak amplitude and EMG frequency parameters. This study shows that obesity affects the coordinated movement of masticatory components during cortical stimulation. While other factors may be involved, functional change in digastric muscle is partly involved in the mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mastication is a fundamental function critical for human health. Controlled by the central nervous system (CNS), it influences CNS development and function. A poor masticatory performance causes cognitive dysfunction in both older adults and children. Improving mastication may prevent cognitive decline. However, no study has determined the period of masticatory dysfunction that impairs children's later acquisition of cognitive function. Herein, we developed an animal model wherein a soft diet was switched to a normal diet at early and late time points in young mice. We aimed to investigate the impact of restored mastication on learning and memory function. Behavioral studies were conducted to evaluate learning and memory. Micro-CT was used to evaluate orofacial structural differences, while histological and biochemical approaches were employed to assess differences in the hippocampal morphology and function. Correction to a hard-textured diet before adolescence restored mastication and cognitive function through the stimulation of neurogenesis, extracellular signal-regulated kinases, the cyclic adenosine monophosphate-response element-binding protein pathway, and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor, tyrosine receptor B. In contrast, post-adolescent diet normalization failed to rescue full mastication and led to impaired cognitive function, neuronal loss, and decreased hippocampal neurogenesis. These findings revealed a functional linkage between the masticatory and cognitive function in mice during the juvenile to adolescent period, highlighting the need for adequate food texture and early intervention for mastication-related cognitive impairment in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) often suffer from sleep disturbances, including excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD). These symptoms are also experienced by patients with narcolepsy, which is characterized by orexin neuronal loss. In PD, a decrease in orexin neurons is observed pathologically, but the association between sleep disturbance in PD and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) orexin levels is still unclear. This study aimed to clarify the role of orexin as a biomarker in patients with PD. CSF samples were obtained from a previous cohort study conducted between 2015 and 2020. We cross-sectionally and longitudinally examined the association between CSF orexin levels, sleep, and clinical characteristics. We analyzed 78 CSF samples from 58 patients with PD and 21 samples from controls. CSF orexin levels in patients with PD (median = 272.0 [interquartile range = 221.7–334.5] pg/mL) were lower than those in controls (352.2 [296.2–399.5] pg/mL, p = 0.007). There were no significant differences in CSF orexin levels according to EDS, RBD, or the use of dopamine agonists. Moreover, no significant correlation was observed between CSF orexin levels and clinical characteristics by multiple linear regression analysis. Furthermore, the longitudinal changes in orexin levels were also not correlated with clinical characteristics. This study showed decreased CSF orexin levels in patients with PD, but these levels did not show any correlation with any clinical characteristics. Our results suggest the limited efficacy of CSF orexin levels as a biomarker for PD, and that sleep disturbances may also be affected by dysfunction of the nervous system other than orexin, or by dopaminergic treatments in PD. Understanding the reciprocal role of orexin among other neurotransmitters may provide a better treatment strategy for sleep disturbance in patients with PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel photo‐radically‐curable negative‐tone patternable silicone resin was designed. The material thus developed showed good UV curability and excellent solubility in the standard alkaline etching solvent. Another advantage includes RI tunability. The new Si‐based patternable resin will be applied as photo‐resist for various display applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infrared thermography (IRT) for fever screening systems was introduced in not only general hospitals, but also orthopedic hospitals as a countermeasure against the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Despite the widespread use of IRT, various results have shown low and high efficacies, so the utility of IRT is controversial, especially in cold climates. The aims of this study were to investigate the utility of IRT in screening for fever in a cold climate and to devise suitable fever screening in orthopedic surgery for COVID-19.Methods: A total of 390 orthopedic surgery patients were enrolled to the outdoor group and 210 hospital staff members were enrolled to the indoor group. Thermographic temperature at the front of the face in the outdoor group was immediately measured after entering our hospital from a cold outdoor environment. Measurements for the indoor group were made after staying in the hospital (environmental temperature, 28 °C) for at least 5 h. Body temperature was then measured using an axillary thermometer >15 min later in both groups.Results: In the outdoor group, mean thermographic temperature was significantly lower than axillary temperature and IRT could not detect febrile patients with axillary temperatures >37.0 °C. Mean thermographic temperature was significantly lower in the outdoor group than in the indoor group. Sensitivity was 11.5% for the outdoor group, lower than that for the indoor group.Conclusions: We verified that IRT was not accurate in a cold climate. IRT is inadequate as a screening method to accurately detect febrile individuals, so we believe that stricter countermeasures for second screening need to be employed to prevent nosocomial infections and disease clusters of COVID-19, even in orthopedic hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While various predictors of treatment outcome of Pavlik harness have been reported, appropriate indications for treatment and relationships between patient characteristics and outcome are unclear. The present study aimed to identify radiological predictors for successful Pavlik harness treatment of DDH at the initiation of treatment and investigate the progression of radiological characteristics after successful treatment.Methods: One-hundred-forty-two of 527 infants who visited our hospital for secondary screening of DDH were treated with the Pavlik harness. One-hundred-eight hips of 108 infants experienced successful treatment and could be followed up until 3 years of age (group S); treatment was unsuccessful within the first 2 weeks for 22 hips of 21 infants (group F). We investigated the Graf classification and radiological parameters.Results: We observed the ipsilateral-side measurements of distance A and B as defined by Yamamuro and Chene's method to be significantly smaller and greater, respectively, in group F compared with those of group S. Group F tended to exhibit the smaller distance A and larger distance B compared to the group S among the same Graf type. The cut-off values for successful treatment at were >7.4 mm at initiation of treatment for distance A and <11.2 mm for distance B. The acetabular index (AI) of the ipsilateral side at the initiation of treatment was significantly correlated with that at 1 and 3 years of age. Patients with an AI of >32° at the initiation of harness treatment were more likely to exhibit hip dysplasia at 3 years of age.Conclusions: Radiographic parameters prior to the Pavlik harness could be predictors of treatment failure and DDH in the future. This study showed that AI at the initiation of treatment is associated with residual acetabular dysplasia, suggesting that radiographic assessment may be useful even considering the risks associated with radiation exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We screened natural resources for estrogen receptor (ER)-activating and bone metabolism-promoting activities with the aim of finding potential treatments for osteoporosis. A screen of 1531 extracts from Ryukyu Arc plants using a luciferase reporter assay identified an 80% MeOH extract of Scutellaria rubropunctata var. rubropunctata (SRE) with dose-dependent ER transcription-promoting activity. Importantly, SRE had no proliferative effect on human breast cancer cells. SRE enhanced the ALP activity of pre-osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells after 72 h in culture and slightly enhanced mineralization at 14 and 21 d. SRE did not significantly affect the TRAP activity of RAW264.7 cells. Gene expression analysis in MC3T3-E1 cells by quantitative real-time PCR revealed that SRE upregulated the mRNA levels of Runx2, Osterix (Osx), Osteopontin (Opn), Osteocalcin (Ocn), Smad1, Smad4, and Smad5 at 72 h, and those of Runx2, Osx, Smad1, Smad4, and Smad5 at 21 d of osteogenic induction. Analysis of the expression levels of osteogenic markers suggested that SRE may promote osteogenic differentiation by acting at the early stage of differentiation rather than at the late stage of differentiation. These results indicate that SRE activates ER and induces osteoblast differentiation by activating Runx2 and Osx through the BMP/Smad pathway, suggesting that SRE may be useful for the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]