Idiopathic sialadenosis involving parotid and submandibular glands. A case report.

AbstractThis article reports a case in which a patient, an adult black male, was diagnosed as having sialadenosis of an idiopathic type, since clinical, computed tomography and laboratory examinations did not disclose any other abnormalities that could be associated with the glandular swelling.  As this condition is quite harmless, requiring no intervention, unless for aesthetic reason, the patient was dismissed, being monitored sporadically.  But after 8 months since the first consultation, the patient was diagnosed as having an advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and eventually died of this disease. This report, therefore, raises the question whether there was any relation with the sialadenosis and the esophageal carcinoma. This question is very speculative, but it stands as a notice for clinicians in future cases of idiopathic sialadenosis to evaluate the patient for an underlying malignant disease.

Analysis of a possible association between oral lichen planus and drug intake. A controlled study

Objectives: To investigate whether daily systemic and/or topical medication contributes to the development of oral lichen planus (OLP) lesions. Study Design: The study involved 110 OLP patients and 76 control subjects, matched by age, race and sex. The analyzed data included medical records, drug intake and topical medication. Criteria for analysis of drug intake included: (1) ATC-code drug classification; (2) number of different drugs used daily in the categories of monopharmacy (1 drug), minor polypharmacy (2 4 drugs), and major polypharmacy (> 5 drugs); and (3) drugs implicated in lichenoid reactions (DILRs). Results: Sixty (54.5%) of the 110 OLP patients reported daily medication (prior to the appearance of the OLP lesion) compared to 52 (68.4%) of the 76 control subjects. No statistical difference was found between the two groups in terms of systemic diseases, number of medicated individuals in the categories of mono- and polypharmacy, nor use of DILRs (P > 0.05). Regarding the clinical forms and site of involvement, a statistically significant difference was only found for the clinical erosive form of OLP, seen more frequently in non-DILR (P = 0.04) and nonmedicated OLP patients (P = 0.02) than in DILR OLP patients. Daily use of topical oral medication was reported by 2 (1.8%) OLP patients and 1 (1.3%) control subject. Conclusions: It seems that the use of systemic medication does not lead to a significant increase in the incidence of OLP lesions. For their part, lichenoid drug reactions are likely to occur only in a very low percentage of patients. © Medicina Oral S. L

Supplemental Effects of Ruminal Bypass Arginine and Lysine for Improving Meat Quality and Oxidative Stability of Aged Beef Loins

Postmortem aging is widely practiced in the beef industry to improve eating quality characteristics. However, the oxidative stability of aged beef muscle could be negatively affected by extending aging period. The use of ruminal bypass amino acids allows levels of crude protein in the diet to be lowered and may also positively impact oxidative stability of aged beef muscle. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of ruminal bypass arginine (Arg) and lysine (Lys) supplementation on meat quality and oxidative stability of beef loins (M. longissimus lumborum, LL) under two durations of postmortem aging (14 and 28 days). A total of forty cattle fed four different diets (control; regular diet; Arg, additional 6 g Arg per kg feed; Lys, additional 4 g Lys per kg feed; and ArgLys, additional Arg and Lys) were harvested. At 1-day postmortem, paired LL sections were separated, vacuum-packaged, and assigned to 14 and 28 days aging at 2 degrees C. The pH, water-holding capacity (WHC), shear force, color stability, and lipid oxidation of aged beef loins were measured. An increase in aging period decreased shear force (P \u3c 0.05), but negatively impacted color stability as indicated by decreased lean color score and increased discoloration over display (P \u3c 0.05). Arg supplementation reduced discoloration over display (P \u3c 0.05), while Lys supplementation resulted in no positive impact on discoloration (P \u3e 0.05). Dietary treatment had no significant effects on pH, WHC, and shear force (P \u3e 0.05). These findings suggest that extended aging periods could decrease oxidative stability of beef loins, which may be mitigated by Arg supplementation

Oral Mucocele of Unusual Size on the Buccal Mucosa: Clinical Presentation and Surgical Approach

Oral mucoceles are small-size, benign minor salivary gland pathologies. The most frequent localizations of these lesions are the lower lip mucosa. However, in some cases, they grow to an unusual size and hinder the preliminary diagnosis of mucocele. The purpose of this article is to report a case of a large oral mucocele with a diameter of 3.5 cm on the buccal mucosa of a 43-years-old male patient. The surgical procedure was carried out for a complete removal of the lesion

APOE Genotype-Function Relationship: Evidence of −491 A/T Promoter Polymorphism Modifying Transcription Control but Not Type 2 Diabetes Risk

BACKGROUND: The apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) coding polymorphism modifies the risks of Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart disease. Aside from the coding variants, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the APOE promoter has also been shown to modify the risk of Alzheimer's disease. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study we investigate the genotype-function relationship of APOE promoter polymorphism at molecular level and at physiological level: i.e., in transcription control of the gene and in the risk of type 2 diabetes. In molecular studies, the effect of the APOE -491A/T (rs449647) polymorphism on gene transcription was accessed by dual-luciferase reporter gene assays. The -491 A to T substitution decreased the activity (p<0.05) of the cloned APOE promoter (-1017 to +406). Using the -501 to -481 nucleotide sequence of the APOE promoter as a 'bait' to screen the human brain cDNA library by yeast one-hybrid system yielded ATF4, an endoplasmic reticulum stress response gene, as one of the interacting factors. Electrophoretic-mobility-shift assays (EMSA) and chromatin immuno-precipitation (ChIP) analyses further substantiated the physical interaction between ATF4 and the APOE promoter. Over-expression of ATF4 stimulated APOE expression whereas siRNA against ATF4 suppressed the expression of the gene. However, interaction between APOE promoter and ATF4 was not -491A/T-specific. At physiological level, the genotype-function relationship of APOE promoter polymorphism was studied in type 2 diabetes. In 630 cases and 595 controls, three APOE promoter SNPs -491A/T, -219G/T (rs405509), and +113G/C (rs440446) were genotyped and tested for association with type 2 diabetes in Hong Kong Chinese. No SNP or haplotype association with type 2 diabetes was detected. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: At molecular level, polymorphism -491A/T and ATF4 elicit independent control of APOE gene expression. At physiological level, no genotype-risk association was detected between the studied APOE promoter SNPs and type 2 diabetes in Hong Kong Chinese

Structuring of Bacterioplankton Diversity in a Large Tropical Bay

Structuring of bacterioplanktonic populations and factors that determine the structuring of specific niche partitions have been demonstrated only for a limited number of colder water environments. In order to better understand the physical chemical and biological parameters that may influence bacterioplankton diversity and abundance, we examined their productivity, abundance and diversity in the second largest Brazilian tropical bay (Guanabara Bay, GB), as well as seawater physical chemical and biological parameters of GB. The inner bay location with higher nutrient input favored higher microbial (including vibrio) growth. Metagenomic analysis revealed a predominance of Gammaproteobacteria in this location, while GB locations with lower nutrient concentration favored Alphaproteobacteria and Flavobacteria. According to the subsystems (SEED) functional analysis, GB has a distinctive metabolic signature, comprising a higher number of sequences in the metabolism of phosphorus and aromatic compounds and a lower number of sequences in the photosynthesis subsystem. The apparent phosphorus limitation appears to influence the GB metagenomic signature of the three locations. Phosphorus is also one of the main factors determining changes in the abundance of planktonic vibrios, suggesting that nutrient limitation can be observed at community (metagenomic) and population levels (total prokaryote and vibrio counts)

Pom121 links two essential subcomplexes of the nuclear pore complex core to the membrane

Pom121 anchors core structures of the NPC to the membrane through its binding to the β-propeller domains of Nup155 and Nup160