Macro and trace elements signature of periodontitis in saliva: A systematic review with quality assessment of ionomics studies

Objectives: The present systematic review examined the available evidence on distinctive salivary ion profile in periodontitis compared to periodontal health and provided a qualitative assessment of the literature. Background: Macro and trace elements are essential for cellular physiology, and their changes in biological fluids can be revelatory of an underlying pathological status. Methods: Data from relevant studies identified from PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases were retrieved to answer the following PECO question: “In systemically healthy individuals, are there any differences in any salivary macro or trace element concentration between periodontally healthy subjects (H) and patients with periodontitis (P)?” Quality of included studies was rated using a modified version of the QUADOMICS tool. A consistency analysis was performed to identify significantly discriminant chemical elements. Results: After the screening of 873 titles, 13 studies were included reporting data on 22 different elements. Among them, levels of sodium and potassium were consistently and significantly higher in P compared to H. Conflicting results were found for all the other elements, despite concentration of calcium, copper, and manganese mostly increased in saliva of P. Levels of magnesium were found higher in P than in H in 2 studies but lower in 3. Zinc resulted significantly increased in saliva from H compared to P individuals in 2 studies, but one study reported opposite results. Four studies were considered as high quality, while reporting of operative protocols and statistical analysis was a major limitation for the others. Due to high methodologic heterogeneity, meta-analysis was not performed. Conclusions: Levels of macro or trace elements were differentially identified in saliva across diverse periodontal conditions, having a major potential for investigation of oral homeostasis and for high-resolution periodontal diagnosis. Products of inflammatory physiologic cellular impairment, such as sodium and potassium, were the most consistently associated with periodontitis (PROSPERO CRD42021235744)

A closer look into NADPH oxidase inhibitors: validation and insight into their mechanism of action

NADPH-oxidases (NOXs) purposefully produce reactive-oxygen-species (ROS) and are found in most kingdoms of life. The seven human NOXs are each characterized by a specific expression profile and a fine regulation to spatio-temporally tune ROS concentration in cells and tissues. One of the best known roles for NOXs is in host protection against pathogens but ROS themselves are important second messengers involved in tissue regeneration and the modulation of pathways that induce and sustain cell proliferation. As such, NOXs are attractive pharmacological targets in immunomodulation, fibrosis and cancer. We have studied an extensive number of available NOX inhibitors, with the specific aim to identify bona fide ligands versus ROS-scavenging molecules. Accordingly, we have established a comprehensive platform of biochemical and biophysical assays. Most of the investigated small molecules revealed ROS-scavenging and/or assay-interfering properties to various degrees. A few compounds, however, were also demonstrated to directly engage one or more NOX enzymes. Diphenylene iodonium was found to react with the NOXs’ flavin and heme prosthetic groups to form stable adducts. We also discovered that two compounds, VAS2870 and VAS3947, inhibit NOXs through the covalent alkylation of a cysteine residue. Importantly, the amino acid involved in covalent binding was found to reside in the dehydrogenase domain, where the nicotinamide ring of NADPH is bound. This work can serve as a springboard to guide further development of bona fide ligands with either agonistic or antagonistic properties toward NOXs

Measuring the Higgs Sector

If we find a light Higgs boson at the LHC, there should be many observable channels which we can exploit to measure the relevant parameters in the Higgs sector. We use the SFitter framework to map these measurements on the parameter space of a general weak-scale effective theory with a light Higgs state of mass 120 GeV. Our analysis benefits from the parameter determination tools and the error treatment used in new--physics searches, to study individual parameters and their error bars as well as parameter correlations.Comment: 45 pages, Journal version with comments from refere

Modeling the optical constants of solids using acceptance-probability-controlled simulated annealing with an adaptive move generation procedure

The acceptance-probability-controlled simulated annealing with an adaptive move generation procedure, an optimization technique derived from the simulated annealing algorithm, is presented. The adaptive move generation procedure was compared against the random move generation procedure on seven multiminima test functions, as well as on the synthetic data, resembling the optical constants of a metal. In all cases the algorithm proved to have faster convergence and superior escaping from local minima. This algorithm was then applied to fit the model dielectric function to data for platinum and aluminum

Approaches Towards the Use of MS/MS Spectral Libraries

A test of NIST05 MS/MS spectral library for evaluating of compound identification was carried out on both quadrupole ion trap and triple quadrupole mass spectrometers in conjunction with electrospray ionization. Data are presented

Characterization of Phenolic and Secoiridoid Aglycons Present in Virgin Olive Oil by GC-CI-MS

Olive oil phenolic and secoiridoid compound derivatives were detected by mass spectrometry. Chemical ionization (Cl) allowed us to obtain parent ions, that were not detectable in the electron impact mode. CI experiments were performed using either CH4 or NH3 as the reactant gas. Unlike CH4-CI, which fails to give molecular mass information, NH3-CI provided, in all the cases explored, an adduct ion [M+18] + that was sufficiently stable to be detected and recorded. Information about molecular masses was very useful for the complete characterization of aglycons from glycosides occurring in virgin olive oils. Aglycons of ligstroside, of decarbomethoxyoleuropein and of oleuropein were detected. Each aglycon, because of several tautomeric equilibria involving the ring opening of secoiridoid, showed up as compounds with four main structures after derivatization with bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoracetamide

A HS-SPME-GC/MS Method for the Determination of Suspected Allergens in Essential Oils, Flavour, Fragrances and Cosmetics

An analytical methodology suitable to identify and quantify (as limit test) 24 compounds in vegetable materials (fluid and dry extracts) was developed according to EU Directive 2003/15/EC (suspected allergens). Static headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) was directly perfomed. Automated mass spectral deconvolution and identification system (AMDIS) program was applied on GC-MS data through use of a library of mass spectra including RI-values

Terpenoids from Russula lepida and R. amarissima (Basidiomycota, Russulaceae)

Four aristolane sesquiterpenes were isolated from the fruiting bodies of Russula lepida and R. amarissima, namely (1R,2S)-1,2-dihydroxyaristolone (6), (2S,11S)-2,12-dihydroxy-aristolone (7), (1R,2S,11S)-1,2,12- trihydroxyaristolone (8), (1S,2S,11S)-1,2,12-trihydroxy-aristolone (9). In addition, a seco-cucurbitane tri- terpene, i.e. 3,4-secocucurbita-4,24E-diene-3-hydroxy-26-carboxylic acid (14) was isolated from both species. The configuration at C-2 of the already known rulepidol (2-hydroxyaristolone, 5) was corrected as S instead of R. Several more aristolane and nardosinane sesquiterpenes, as well as cucurbitane triter- penes, already reported both from European and Chinese samples of R. lepida, were also isolated. Com- pound 14 showed moderate cell growth inhibitory activity