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Fungal diseases pose a major threat to ornamental plants, with an increasing percentage of pathogen-driven host losses. In ornamental plants, management of the majority of fungal diseases primarily depends upon chemical control methods that are often non-specific. Host basal resistance, which is deficient in many ornamental plants, plays a key role in combating diseases. Despite their economic importance, conventional and molecular breeding approaches in ornamental plants to facilitate disease resistance are lagging, and this is predominantly due to their complex genomes, limited availability of gene pools, and degree of heterozygosity. Although genetic engineering in ornamental plants offers feasible methods to overcome the intrinsic barriers of classical breeding, achievements have mainly been reported only in regard to the modification of floral attributes in ornamentals. The unavailability of transformation protocols and candidate gene resources for several ornamental crops presents an obstacle for tackling the functional studies on disease resistance. Recently, multiomics technologies, in combination with genome editing tools, have provided shortcuts to examine the molecular and genetic regulatory mechanisms underlying fungal disease resistance, ultimately leading to the subsequent advances in the development of novel cultivars with desired fungal disease-resistant traits, in ornamental crops. Although fungal diseases constitute the majority of ornamental plant diseases, a comprehensive overview of this highly important fungal disease resistance seems to be insufficient in the field of ornamental horticulture. Hence, in this review, we highlight the representative mechanisms of the fungal infection-related resistance to pathogens in plants, with a focus on ornamental crops. Recent progress in molecular breeding, genetic engineering strategies, and RNAi technologies, such as HIGS and SIGS for the enhancement of fungal disease resistance in various important ornamental crops, is also described.

This study aims to investigate and assess salivary biomarkers and microbial profiles as a means of diagnosing periodontitis. A total of 121 subjects were included: 28 periodontally healthy subjects, 24 with Stage I periodontitis, 24 with Stage II, 23 with Stage III, and 22 with Stage IV. Salivary proteins (including active matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8), pro-MMP-8, total MMP-8, C-reactive protein, secretory immunoglobulin A) and planktonic bacteria (including Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Prevotella intermedia, Porphyromonas nigrescens, Parvimonas micra, Campylobacter rectus, Eubacterium nodatum, Eikenella corrodens, Streptococcus mutans, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Actinomyces viscosus) were measured from salivary samples. The performance of the diagnostic models was assessed by receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) and area under the ROC curve (AUC) analysis. The diagnostic models were constructed based on the subjects&rsquo, proteins and/or microbial profiles, resulting in two potential diagnosis models that achieved better diagnostic powers, with an AUC value &gt, 0.750 for the diagnosis of Stages II, III, and IV periodontitis (Model PA-I, AUC: 0.796, sensitivity: 0.754, specificity: 0.712) and for the diagnosis of Stages III and IV periodontitis (Model PA-II, AUC: 0.796, sensitivity: 0.756, specificity: 0.868). This study can contribute to screening for periodontitis based on salivary biomarkers.

OBJECTIVE To verify whether ridge preservation is effective in the reduction of dimensional loss and in bone formation compared to spontaneous healing in extraction sockets of periodontally compromised teeth. METHODS Twenty-six subjects requiring tooth extraction for stage III/IV periodontitis were randomly assigned to one of two interventions: alveolar ridge preservation using collagenated bovine bone mineral and a resorbable collagen membrane (test, RP) or spontaneous healing (control, SH). Six months later, postoperative cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) was performed to measure the linear and volumetric changes of the sockets compared to baseline scans. Biopsies were retrieved at the implant site for histomorphometric calculations. Nonparametric tests were applied for statistical analysis. RESULTS Significantly less shrinkage occurred in RP compared to SH, mainly in the crestal zone. The width loss difference between groups was 3.3 mm and 2.2 mm at 1 mm and 3 mm below the crest, respectively (p

OBJECTIVE To test whether or not topically administered recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) accelerates the early healing phase of oral soft tissue wounds. METHODS One day following the creation of palatal defects (n = 6/animal), 14 dogs were allocated to one of the following five groups: spontaneous healing (SH), vehicle ointment (V), vehicle ointment + rhEGF at concentrations of 1 μg/g (EGF1), 10 μg/g (EGF10) or 50 μg/g (EGF50). Topical administration of ointments was repeated twice per day until sacrifice at days 8 and 16. Wound area was clinically monitored. Keratinocytes proliferation (Ki67-immunolabelling), inflammatory response (IR) and areas of collagen (C) and granulation tissue (GT) were histologically measured. Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunnett correction was used for multiple group statistical comparisons. RESULTS Clinically, in comparison with SH, a significantly smaller wound area was observed in groups EGF1 and EGF10 at day 8 (p

Background: Previous studies on ridge preservation focusing on fresh extraction sockets using graft materials for ridge preservation procedures have reported a delay in the tissue modeling and remodeling phases. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of hyaluronic acid (HA) on healing of infected sockets. Methods: Six beagle dogs were used in this study. Both mandibular third premolars were hemisected, and the distal roots were extracted. Subsequently, periodontal and endodontic lesions were induced at the remaining mesial root. After communication of the periodontal lesion, an endodontic periapical lesion was observed at 4 months, and the mesial roots of both the right and left sides were extracted. HA was applied into the socket of the test group, and no treatment was administered to the other group (control group). Three months after extraction of the mesial roots, the dogs were sacrificed, and histologic evaluations were performed. Results: The sockets were filled by mineralized bone (47.80% – 6.60%) and bone marrow (50.47% – 6.38%) in the control group, whereas corresponding values were 63.29% – 9.78% and 34.73% – 8.97% for the test group, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups. Reversal lines and a copious lineup of osteoblasts were observed in the middle and apical parts of the sockets in the test group. Conclusion: An infected socket shows delayed healing of the socket wound, and HA, because of its osteoinductive, bacteriostatic, and anti-inflammatory properties, may improve bone formation and accelerate wound healing in infected sockets. J Periodontol 2016;87:790-795.

As an impactive factor on industries and national economy, The Social Overhead Capital(SOC) is major factor to determine the national competitiveness and the investment of SOC is essential for its economic growth. Accordingly, introduction of the preliminary feasibility study and establishment of legal institutionalization and evaluation system has been carried out and reviewed since 1999. Nevertheless of these efforts, basic problems such as lack of scientific method for investment evaluation and loss of effectiveness on feasibility studies are continuously being brought up. Moreover, as the preliminary study to improve the mentioned problems is mainly focused on the economic and estimated demand analysis, the study of policy analysis, the most important phase during a feasibility study, is still insufficient. Therefore, in this paper, a quantitative decision-making model, to which the performance assessment method of Value Engineering(VE) is applied, is developed and proposed to improve the policy analysis of (preliminary) feasibility study that requires combining with relative studies, to induce quantitative analysis method, and to contribute the improvement of value on the political aspect for SOC investment goals and use as a strategic decision-making method by systematic analysis.