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Individual bacteria and shifts in the composition of the microbiome have been associated with human diseases including cancer. To investigate changes in the microbiome associated with oral cancers, we profiled cancers and anatomically matched contralateral normal tissue from the same patient by sequencing 16S rDNA hypervariable region amplicons. In cancer samples from both a discovery and a subsequent confirmation cohort, abundance of Firmicutes (especially Streptococcus) and Actinobacteria (especially Rothia) was significantly decreased relative to contralateral normal samples from the same patient. Significant decreases in abundance of these phyla were observed for pre-cancers, but not when comparing samples from contralateral sites (tongue and floor of mouth) from healthy individuals. Weighted UniFrac principal coordinates analysis based on 12 taxa separated most cancers from other samples with greatest separation of node positive cases. These studies begin to develop a framework for exploiting the oral microbiome for monitoring oral cancer development, progression and recurrence.

High-dimensional biomedical datasets have become easier to collect in the last two decades with the advent of multi-omic and single-cell experiments. These can generate over 1000 measurements per sample or per cell. More recently, focus has been drawn toward the need for longitudinal datasets, with the appreciation that important dynamic changes occur along transitions between health and disease. Analysis of longitudinal omics data comes with many challenges, including type I error inflation and corresponding loss in power when thousands of hypothesis tests are needed. Multivariate analysis can yield approaches with higher statistical power; however, multivariate methods for longitudinal data are currently limited. We propose a multivariate distance-based drift-diffusion framework (MD3F) to tackle the need for a multivariate approach to longitudinal, high-throughput datasets. We show that MD3F can result in surprisingly simple yet valid and powerful hypothesis testing and estimation approaches using generalized linear models. Through simulation and application studies, we show that MD3F is robust and can offer a broadly applicable method for assessing multivariate dynamics in omics data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author was keen to look at advertising with her online classes, both in Business Enterprise (looking at how businesses operate, target marketing, language used in business etc) and in Creative Writing as she felt that this was a topic which worked in both areas and was an important one due to the huge impact and the big intrusion that advertising can often have on people's lives. The clever use of words matched with visual images and often sound, can influence subconsciously, as well as consciously. The author sees the teaching of English and the use of literacy skills to be embedded in all learning areas and as an English teacher she consciously works to promote this. In this article, the author discusses a unit of work that uses Victa lawnmower advertisements as digital resources to help students become aware of the power of language, how language and images can be used to attract, inform and entice viewers to take particular actions and how images and language can powerfully interact. The unit aims to provide students a background and understanding of advertising ready to move towards its use in present times and what they might predict the future for their generation could be in terms of advertising materials and techniques. This article describes how the author implemented the unit and presents various factors that are worth noting for anyone attempting online delivery. (Contains 8 notes.)

Objectives: To review the relevant literature to assess whether patients with burning mouth syndrome (BMS) are more prone to have sleep disturbances than general population. Methods: The literature search for relevant articles was from July 2020 to March 2021. A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, Cochrane library, Dentistry & Oral Sciences Source, and Scopus was conducted to search for relevant studies. The quality of studies was assessed in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute's guidelines and using the software SUMARI—The System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information. Confidence in the findings was assessed using the GRADE‐CERQual approach. Results: A total of 1064 studies were initially identified from the search; six studies, two cross‐sectional and four case–control, met the inclusion criteria and were selected for this systematic review. Sleep disturbances were a required outcome measured in selected studies evaluating symptoms of BMS. For studies that were included in the final analyses, BMS was found to relate to several dimensions of sleep including sleep disturbance and duration (n = 6), sleep affecting daytime function (n = 4), sleep quality (n = 6), sleep efficiency (n = 4), and ability to fall asleep (n = 4). Consistent evidence of moderate confidence found that BMS was associated with greater sleep disturbance, reduced sleep quality, increased time taken to fall asleep, reduced sleep efficiency, and poor daytime function, whereas evidence of low confidence was found regarding the association of BMS with reduced sleep duration. Conclusions: Although the presented studies could not establish a direct causal relationship between BMS and sleep disturbances, it supports the evidence that sleep disturbance is associated with symptoms of BMS. Management strategies to improve sleep may be considered in future research for managing BMS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to compare the safety and efficacy of mucoadhesive disks applied three times daily with those of placebo mucoadhesive disks in a double-masked, randomized, controlled crossover study. Findings indicate that the mucoadhesive disks tested were safe, and they provided symptomatic relief from dry mouth.

Dentists should develop a plan for upgrading the computer systems in their offices. Most dentists use a computer for patient accounts, billing, and processing insurance forms. Fewer have an Internet connection in their office or use e-mail to communicate with patients. Digital imaging and decision support programs are other information technologies dentists may wish to implement.

Background: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is considered an oral potentially malignant disorder. While OLP has been associated with the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), little is known about the role of topical corticosteroids therapy (TCT) in the promotion of carcinogenesis. The study aimed to determine if TCT influences the time of malignant transformation of OLP to OSCC. The study also investigates this correlation in the presence or absence of Candida overgrowth, and in the context of conventional OSCC risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, and male gender. Methods: A retrospective analysis of electronic health records at a tertiary care academic medical center was performed. Patients with OLP and OSCC were considered for inclusion. The diagnosis of OLP required both clinical and histological documentation. Results: Eighty‐two patients met inclusion criteria, consisting of 48 women (58.25%) and 34 men (41.5%) and the mean patient age was 65.9 years (SD = 13.25). Forty‐five patients (54.9%) received TCT for OLP before they developed OSCC. The time between the OLP and OSCC diagnoses increased by four years in patients who received topical steroid therapy for OLP (p < 0.001) and decreased by three years (p = 0.010) in those with Candida overgrowth. Gender, smoking, and alcohol use did not have a statistically significant influence on the time between OLP and OSCC. Conclusion: The management of OLP using TCT potentially delayed cancer development in our study. Conversely, it appears that Candida may play a role in the field cancerization of OLP patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Mucograft (MG; a porcine-derived purified collagen membrane) to increase the thickness and height of the buccal soft tissue when placed at the time of implant placement in patients with thin or deficient keratinized tissue (KT). The primary endpoint of the study was the change in thickness and height of the buccal KT. Secondary endpoints included stability of the midbuccal soft tissue level; clinician rating of color, texture, and contour of treatment site; probing pocket depths (PPDs); assessment of satisfaction outcome; and patient assessment of pain/discomfort. Thirty-two patients were enrolled and 31 patients completed the study. There were no statistically significant (SS) differences between the MG and control groups for height measures. There was no SS difference for KT thickness (P = .117) between the groups at the final measurement (3 months postsurgery). However, there was an SS difference (P = .009) in favor of the MG group when comparing the difference in presurgical KT thickness to that 3 months postsurgery. Thus, MG was successful (compared to the control) in increasing the buccal KT. There were no SS differences between the groups for any of the other endpoints, including color, texture, contour, and pain assessment at any visit or successful outcome between the treatment group and the control. More cases and longer follow-up of implants placed with MG are needed to verify the results of this randomized prospective study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to radiographically evaluate, then analyze, bone height, volume, and density with reference to percentage of vital bone after maxillary sinuses were grafted using two different doses of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2/acellular collagen sponge (rhBMP-2/ACS) combined with mineralized cancellous bone allograft (MCBA) and a control sinus grafted with MCBA only. A total of 18 patients (36 sinuses) were used for analysis of height and volume measurements, having two of three graft combinations (one in each sinus): (1) control, MCBA only; (2) test 1, MCBA + 5.6 mL of rhBMP-2/ACS (containing 8.4 mg of rhBMP-2); and (3) test 2, MCBA + 2.8 mL of rhBMP-2/ACS (containing 4.2 mg of rhBMP-2). The study was completed with 16 patients who also had bilateral cores removed 6 to 9 months following sinus augmentation. A computer software system was used to evaluate 36 computed tomography scans. Two time points where selected for measurements of height: The results indicated that height of the grafted sinus was significantly greater in the treatment groups compared with the control. However, by the second time point, there were no statistically significant differences. Three weeks post-surgery bone volume measurements showed similar statistically significant differences between test and controls. However, prior to core removal, test group 1 with the greater dose of rhBMP-2 showed a statistically significant greater increase compared with test group 2 and the control. There was no statistically significant difference between the latter two groups. All three groups had similar volume and shrinkage. Density measurements varied from the above results, with the control showing statistically significant greater density at both time points. By contrast, the density increase over time in both rhBMP groups was similar and statistically higher than in the control group. There were strong associations between height and volume in all groups and between volume and new vital bone only in the control group. There were no statistically significant relationships observed between height and bone density or between volume and bone density for any parameter measured. More cases and monitoring of the future survival of implants placed in these augmented sinuses are needed to verify these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]