Is 'oil pulling' a 'snake oil'? : a clinical trial

The traditional Ayurveda practice of ‘oil pulling’ has become a recent phenomenon and concerns about its efficacy have been raised. Objectives: (1) to determine awareness about the practice of ‘oil pulling’ among a group of young adults, and to determine variations in awareness with respect to socio-demographic factors, oral health behaviours (oral hygiene and dental attendance) and use of natural health products; (2) to determine the effectiveness of ‘oil pulling’ and conventional oral hygiene practice compared to the use of conventional oral hygiene practice alone in terms of oral hygiene and (3) to determine the effectiveness of ‘oil pulling’ and conventional oral hygiene practice compared to the use of conventional oral hygiene practice alone in terms of gingival health. Methods: Group members recruited seventy-four young adults to participate in a clinical trial over a two-month period comparing the effectiveness of (a) ‘oil pulling’ and conventional oral hygiene methods (toothbrush and toothpaste) versus (b) conventional oral hygiene methods alone. Oral hygiene was assessed using the Plaque Index - PI (Silness and Löe, 1964) and the proportion of sites with visible plaque (PVP). Gingival health was assessed using the Gingival Index – GI (Silness and Löe,1963) and the proportion of sites with gingival bleeding (PGB). Participants were block randomized in groups of four to a cross over clinical trial and assessments were conducted at one-month and two-months. Results: Approximately a quarter (28.4%, 21) of participants was aware of the practice of ‘oil pulling’. Awareness of the practice was associated with reported use of natural dental/oral health products (p0.05). There were observed significant differences in gingival health among both the test and control groups from baseline to one-month (p0.05). No significant differences were observed in oral health parameters from one-month to two-month among neither the test nor control groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: Awareness of the practice of ‘oil pulling’ is relatively common and is associated with use of natural dental/oral health products. Findings from the clinical trial failed to support the adjunct use of ‘oil pulling’ in addition to conventional oral hygiene practices.published_or_final_versio

Efficacy of High-dose Chemotherapy and Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation in Patients with Relapsed Medulloblastoma: A Report on The Korean Society for Pediatric Neuro-Oncology (KSPNO)-S-053 Study

The efficacy and toxicity of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (HDCT/ASCT) were investigated for improving the outcomes of patients with relapsed medulloblastoma. A total of 15 patients with relapsed medulloblastoma were enrolled in the KSPNO-S-053 study from May 2005 to May 2007. All patients received approximately 4 cycles of salvage chemotherapy after relapse. Thirteen underwent HDCT/ASCT; CTE and CM regimen were employed for the first HDCT (HDCT1) and second HDCT (HDCT2), respectively, and 7 underwent HDCT2. One transplant related mortality (TRM) due to veno-occlusive disease (VOD) occurred during HDCT1 but HDCT2 was tolerable with no further TRM. The 3-yr overall survival probability and event-free survival rates ±95% confidence intervals (CI) were 33.3±12.2% and 26.7% ±11.4%, respectively. When analysis was confined to only patients who had a complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) prior to HDCT, the probability of 3-yr overall survival rates ±95% CI was 40.0±15.5%. No patients with stable disease (SD) or progressive disease (PD) survived. Survival rates from protocol KSPNO-S-053 are encouraging and show that tumor status prior to HDCT/ASCT is an important factor to consider for improving survival rates of patients with relapsed medulloblastoma

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

C/EBPβ Is a Transcriptional Regulator of Wee1 at the G₂/M Phase of the Cell Cycle

The CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein β (C/EBPβ) is a transcription factor that regulates cellular proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and tumorigenesis. Although the pro-oncogenic roles of C/EBPβ have been implicated in various human cancers, how it contributes to tumorigenesis or tumor progression has not been determined. Immunohistochemistry with human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tissues revealed that higher levels of C/EBPβ protein were expressed compared to normal lung tissues. Knockdown of C/EBPβ by siRNA reduced the proliferative capacity of NSCLC cells by delaying the G2/M transition in the cell cycle. In C/EBPβ-knockdown cells, a prolonged increase in phosphorylation of cyclin dependent kinase 1 at tyrosine 15 (Y15-pCDK1) was displayed with simultaneously increased Wee1 and decreased Cdc25B expression. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis showed that C/EBPβ bound to distal promoter regions of WEE1 and repressed WEE1 transcription through its interaction with histone deacetylase 2. Treatment of C/EBPβ-knockdown cells with a Wee1 inhibitor induced a decrease in Y15-pCDK1 and recovered cells from G2/M arrest. In the xenograft tumors, the depletion of C/EBPβ significantly reduced tumor growth. Taken together, these results indicate that Wee1 is a novel transcription target of C/EBPβ that is required for the G2/M phase of cell cycle progression, ultimately regulating proliferation of NSCLC cells

Revealing the millipede and other soil-macrofaunal biodiversity in Hong Kong using a citizen science approach

Soil biodiversity plays important roles in nutrient recycling in both the environment and agriculture. However, they are generally understudied worldwide. To reveal the diversity of soil macrofauna in Hong Kong, here we initiated a citizen science project involving university, non-governmental organisations and secondary school students and teachers. It is envisioned that the citizen science approach used in this study could be used as a demonstration to future biodiversity sampling and monitoring studies.Throughout a year of monitoring and species sampling across different localities in Hong Kong, 150 soil macrofaunal morphospecies were collected. Eighty five of them were further identified by morphology and DNA barcoding was assigned to each identified morphospecies, yielding a total of 646 DNA barcodes, with new millipede sequences deposited to the GenBank. The soil macrofauna morphospecies in Hong Kong found in this study are mainly dominated by millipedes (23 out of 150) and oligochaetes (15 out of 150). Amongst the twenty three identified millipedes, two polyxenid millipedes, Monographis queenslandica Huynh & Veenstra, 2013 and Alloproctoides remyi Marquet and Condé, 1950 are first recorded in Hong Kong. Information has been curated on an online platform and database (http://biodiversity.sls.cuhk.edu.hk/millipedes). A postcard summarising the findings of millipedes in Hong Kong has also been made as a souvenir and distributed to citizen participants. The identified macrofauna morphospecies and their 646 DNA barcodes in this study established a solid foundation for further research in soil biodiversity