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Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic inflammatory oral mucosal disease that occurs more frequently in middle-aged and elderly female patients. Previous studies indicate that OLP is a T-cell dysfunction-induced localized autoimmune disease. Clinically, six types of OLP, namely reticular, papular, plaque-like, atrophic/erosive, ulcerative, and bullous types, can be identified. OLP more commonly affects buccal mucosa, tongue, and gingiva. It always has a bilateral and symmetric distribution of the oral lesions. Plaque-like and atrophic/erosive OLP may be misdiagnosed as oral leukoplakia and oral erythroleukoplakia, respectively. Our previous study found serum autoantibodies in 195 (60.9%) of the 320 OLP patients. Specific serum anti-nuclear, anti-smooth muscle, anti-mitochondrial, gastric parietal cell, thyroglobulin, and thyroid microsomal autoantibodies are present in 28.1%, 8.4%, 1.6%, 26.3%, 21.3%, and 24.4% of 320 OLP patients, respectively. Furthermore, we also discovered that 21.9%, 13.6%, 7.1%, 0.3%, and 14.8% of 352 OLP patients have hemoglobin, iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies, and abnormally high serum homocysteine level, respectively. Therefore, it is very important to examine the serum autoantibody, hematinic and homocysteine levels in OLP patients before starting the treatments for OLP patients. Because OLP is an immunologically-mediated disease, corticosteroids are the drugs of choice for treatment of OLP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/purpose: Gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA), thyroglobulin antibody (TGA), and thyroid microsomal antibody (TMA) were rarely examined in Behcet's disease (BD) patients. This study mainly assessed the frequencies of serum GPCA, TGA, and TMA positivities in 63 BD patients.Methods: The frequencies of serum GPCA, TGA, and TMA positivities in 63 BD patients, 19 major-typed recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS)/BD (major RAS/BD) patients, 44 minor-typed RAS/BD (minor RAS/BD) patients, 520 RAS patients, and 126 healthy control subjects were calculated and compared.Results: We found that 14.3%, 20.6%, and 20.6% of 63 BD patients, 21.1%, 21.1%, and 26.3% of 19 major RAS/BD patients, 11.4%, 20.5%, and 18.2% of 44 minor RAS/BD patients, 11.5%, 18.5%, and 18.3% of 520 RAS patients, and 1.6%, 2.4%, and 2.4% of 126 healthy control subjects had serum GPCA, TGA, and TMA positivities, respectively. BD, major RAS/BD, minor RAS/BD, and RAS patients all had significantly higher frequencies of serum GPCA, TGA, and TMA positivities than healthy control subjects (all P-values < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in different serum autoantibody frequencies between BD, major RAS/BD, or minor RAS/BD patients and RAS patients. Of 16 TGA/TMA-positive BD patients whose serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels were measured, 87.5%, 6.3%, and 6.3% of these TGA/TMA-positive BD patients had normal, lower, and higher serum TSH levels, respectively.Conclusion: Approximately 35% BD patients have serum GPCA/TGA/TMA positivity. However, BD patients do not have significantly higher frequencies of serum GPCA, TGA, and TMA positivities than RAS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/purpose: Some of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) patients had concomitant atrophic glossitis (AG). This study assessed whether RAS patients with AG (AG+/RAS patients) or without AG (AG-/RAS patients) had anemia and hematinic deficiencies and to evaluate whether RAS combined with AG or RAS itself was a significant factor causing anemia and hematinic deficiencies in AG+/RAS or AG-/RAS patients, respectively.Methods: The mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean blood hemoglobin (Hb), iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid levels were measured and compared between any two of three groups of 160 AG+/RAS patients, 195 AG-/RAS patients, and 355 healthy control subjects.Results: Both AG+/RAS and AG-/RAS patients had significantly lower mean Hb, iron, and vitamin B12 levels as well as significantly greater frequencies of Hb, iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies than healthy control subjects. Moreover, AG+/RAS patients had significantly lower mean Hb and serum iron level (for women only) and significantly greater frequencies of Hb and iron deficiencies than AG-/RAS patients. Of 69 anemia AG+/RAS patients, 30 (43.5%) had normocytic anemia and 23 (33.3%) had iron deficiency anemia. Of 38 anemia AG-/RAS patients, 26 (68.4%) had normocytic anemia and 5 (13.2%) had iron deficiency anemia.Conclusion: We conclude that some of AG+/RAS or AG-/RAS patients do have anemia and hematinic deficiencies and AG+/RAS patients do have severer anemia statuses and iron deficiency than AG-/RAS patients. RAS combined with AG or RAS itself does play a significant role in causing anemia and hematinic deficiencies in AG+/RAS or AG-/RAS patients, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful apical surgery relies on effective magnification and illumination. In the field of endodontics, the microscope has emerged as the predominant tool for meeting these requirements. The rigid endoscope is also a valuable instrument in apical surgery. This study introduces three cases demonstrating the application of endoscope technology in endodontic apical surgery. The first case employs a soft endoscope for treating an anterior tooth with apical periodontitis, the second integrates an endoscope with new attachments for a premolar, and the third combines an endoscope, attachments and navigation for the lower first molar surgery. It revealed that endoscopes offer certain advantages that are not achievable with microscope-assisted surgery, these cases had a great outcome. In the future, a broader application of endoscopic technology in various procedures is anticipated., (© 2024 Australian Society of Endodontology Inc.)

In Device-to-Device (D2D) communications, the first step is to find all of the neighboring peers in the network by performing a peer discovery process. Most previous studies use the social behaviors of the users to adjust the sending rates of the peer discovery messages (i.e., beacons) under the constraint of consumed power for increasing the Peer Discovery Ratio (PDR). However, these studies do not consider the potential for energy harvesting, which allows for the User Equipments (UEs) to procure additional power within charging areas. Accordingly, this paper proposes an Energy-Ratio Rate Decision (ERRD) algorithm that comprises three steps, namely Social Ratio Allocation (SRA), Energy Ratio Allocation (ERA), and Beacon Rate Decision (BRD). The SRA step determines the allocated power quantum for each UE from the total budget power based on the social behavior of the UE. The ERA step then adjusts this allocated power quantum in accordance with the power that is harvested by the UE. Finally, the BRD step computes the beacon rate for the UE based on the adjusted power quantum. The simulation results show that ERRD outperforms the previously-reported Social-Based Grouping (SBG) algorithm by 190% on the PDR for a budget power of one watt and 8% for a budget power of 20 watts., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.