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BackgroundPeople with special needs have high unmet oral healthcare needs, partly because dentists find it difficult to access their oral cavity. The Oral Accessibility Spatula aims to improve oral accessibility. This prospective multicenter interventional open-label non-randomized patient-self-controlled trial assessed the ability of the spatula to improve the oral accessibility of special-needs patients during dental examinations.MethodsThe cohort was a convenience sample of minor and adult patients with special needs due to physical, intellectual, and/or behavioral disorders who underwent dental check-up/treatment in five French tertiary hospitals/private clinics in 2016-2018 and evinced some (Venham-Score = 2-4) but not complete (Venham-Score = 5) resistance to oral examination. After inclusion, patients underwent oral examination without the spatula and then immediately thereafter oral examination with the spatula. Primary outcome was Oral Accessibility Score (0-12 points; higher scores indicate visualization and probing of the tooth sectors). Secondary outcomes were patient toleration (change in Venham-Score relative to first examination), safety, and Examiner Satisfaction Score (0-10; low scores indicate unsatisfactory examination).ResultsThe 201 patients were mostly non-elderly adults (18-64 years, 65%) but also included children (21%), adolescents (11%), and aged patients (3%). One-quarter, half, and one-quarter had Venham-Score = 2, 3, and 4 at inclusion, respectively. The spatula significantly improved Oral Accessibility Score (4.8 to 10.8), Venham-Score (3.1 to 2.6), and Examiner Satisfaction Score (3.4 to 7.2) (all pConclusionThe spatula significantly improved oral access, was safe and well-tolerated by the patients, and markedly improved oral examination quality.

Voay robustus, the extinct Malagasy "horned" crocodile, was originally considered to be the only crocodylian representative in Madagascar during most part of the Holocene. However, Malagasy crocodylian remains have had confused taxonomic attributions and recent studies have underlined that Crocodylus and Voay populations coexisted on the island for at least 7500 years. Here, we describe the inner braincase anatomy of Voay robustus using x-ray computed tomography on four specimens, to provide new anatomical information that distinguishes Voay from Crocodylus, especially features of the brain endocast and the paratympanic sinuses. Geometric morphometric analyses are performed on 3D models of the internal organs to compare statistically Voay with a subset of extant Crocodylidae. Following these comparisons, we build an endocranial morphological matrix to discuss the proposed phylogenetic affinities of Voay with Osteolaeminae from an endocranial point of view. Additionally, we discuss the use of internal characters in systematic studies and find that they can have a major impact on morphological analyses. Finally, new radiocarbon data on Voay and subfossil Crocodylus specimens are recovered between 2010 and 2750 cal BP, which confirm the cohabitation of the two species in the same area for a long period of time. We thus assess several extinction scenarios, and propose a slightly different ecology of Voay compared to Crocodylus, which could have allowed habitat partitioning on the island. Our approach complements information obtained from previous molecular and morphological phylogenies, as well as previous radiocarbon dating, together revealing past diversity and faunal turnovers in Madagascar., (© 2023 The Authors. The Anatomical Record published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association for Anatomy.)

The cause of death of Saint-Louis is not known, but recent findings indicated that he presented scurvy and inflammatory jaw disease, which has been associated with infection by oral commensals. Here, we have the exceptional opportunity to analyze the relics of the viscera of King Saint-Louis. A 4.3 g sample from the viscera relics of King Saint-Louis conserved in Versailles' cathedral was subjected to radiocarbon dating, electronic and optic microscopy, and elementary, palynological, molecular, proteomics and microbiological analyses including specific PCR and v3v4 16 S rRNA gene amplification prior to large-scale sequencing using an Illumina MiSeq instrument. The measured radiocarbon age was Cal 1290 CE-1400, which was compatible with that of the viscera of St Louis viscera, considering the addition of lime, incense and vegetables within the human organs. Elemental and palynological analyses confirmed a medieval embalming process. Proteomics analysis identified mainly human muscle and blood proteins. Specific PCR for plague, amoebiasis, shigellosis and typhoid fever was negative. C. sputigena was identified as the main pathogenic species representing 10.8 % of all microbial sequences. In contrast, C. sputigena was found in only 0.001 % of samples sequenced in our center, and the 23 positive human samples showed a dramatically lower abundance (0.02-2.6 %). In the literature, human infections with C. sputigena included odontitis, dental abscess, sinusitis, thoracic infections and bacteremia, particularly in immunocompromised patients with oral and dental diseases consistent with recent analysis of King Saint-Louis' jaw. C. sputigena, a commensal of the mouth that is potentially pathogenic and responsible for fatal bacteremia, may have been the cause of the king's death., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: People with special needs have high unmet oral healthcare needs, partly because dentists find it difficult to access their oral cavity. The Oral Accessibility Spatula aims to improve oral accessibility. This prospective multicenter interventional open-label non-randomized patient-self-controlled trial assessed the ability of the spatula to improve the oral accessibility of special-needs patients during dental examinations., Methods: The cohort was a convenience sample of minor and adult patients with special needs due to physical, intellectual, and/or behavioral disorders who underwent dental check-up/treatment in five French tertiary hospitals/private clinics in 2016-2018 and evinced some (Venham-Score = 2-4) but not complete (Venham-Score = 5) resistance to oral examination. After inclusion, patients underwent oral examination without the spatula and then immediately thereafter oral examination with the spatula. Primary outcome was Oral Accessibility Score (0-12 points; higher scores indicate visualization and probing of the tooth sectors). Secondary outcomes were patient toleration (change in Venham-Score relative to first examination), safety, and Examiner Satisfaction Score (0-10; low scores indicate unsatisfactory examination)., Results: The 201 patients were mostly non-elderly adults (18-64 years, 65%) but also included children (21%), adolescents (11%), and aged patients (3%). One-quarter, half, and one-quarter had Venham-Score = 2, 3, and 4 at inclusion, respectively. The spatula significantly improved Oral Accessibility Score (4.8 to 10.8), Venham-Score (3.1 to 2.6), and Examiner Satisfaction Score (3.4 to 7.2) (all p<0.001). There were no severe spatula-related adverse events., Conclusion: The spatula significantly improved oral access, was safe and well-tolerated by the patients, and markedly improved oral examination quality., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Omics technologies have far-reaching applications beyond clinical medicine. A case in point is the analysis of ancient hair samples. Indeed, hair is an important biological indicator that has become a material of choice in archeometry to study the ancient civilizations and their environment. Current characterization of ancient hair is based on elemental and structural analyses, but only few studies have focused on the molecular aspects of ancient hair proteins-keratins-and their conservation state. In such cases, applied extraction protocols require large amounts of raw hair, from 30 to 100 mg. In the present study, we report an optimized new proteomic approach to accurately identify archeological hair proteins, and assess their preservation state, while using a minimum of raw material. Testing and adaptation of three protocols and of nano liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nanoLC-MS/MS) parameters were performed on modern hair. On the basis of mass spectrometry data quality, and of the required initial sample amount, the most promising workflow was selected and applied to an ancient archeological sample, dated to about 3880 years before present. Finally, and importantly, we were able to identify 11 ancient hair proteins and to visualize the preservation state of mummy's hair from only 500 μg of raw material. The results presented here pave the way for new insights into the understanding of hair protein alteration processes such as those due to aging and ecological exposures. This work could enable omics scientists to apply a proteomic approach to precious and rare samples, not only in the context of archeometrical studies but also for future applications that would require the use of very small amounts of sample.

A new protocol is implemented to demonstrate the presence of blood in the patina of African art objects from Mali. Divided into three steps, the protocol first consists in demonstrating the presence of proteins and localizing them in the sample's cross sections using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) and synchrotron-based infrared microspectrometry (microFT-IR). In a second time, TOF-SIMS is used to investigate heme, which is a blood marker. If heme is missing, which could mean that it is too degraded to be detected, X-ray microfluorescence (microXRF) and X-ray absorption near-edge microspectroscopy (microXANES) are used to prove the presence of iron in the protein area and to get a fingerprint of its chemical environment. This permits us thus to demonstrate that iron is indeed linked with proteins and not with mineral phases of the sample. Coupled with the ritual context of the objects, this constitutes a proof of the use of blood. Thanks to this protocol, which has the major advantage of avoiding false positive results, the presence of blood has been demonstrated in seven out of the eight studied samples.