A tooth‐supported titanium mesh bending and positioning module for alveolar bone augmentation and improving accuracy

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader A tooth‐supported titanium mesh bending and positioning module for alveolar bone augmentation and improving accuracy via Journal of Esthetic and Restorative Dentistry Abstract Objective Guided bone regeneration with titanium mesh is a commonly used bone augmentation technique. However, deformation and sliding may occur during the installation of titanium mesh, which may lead to poor accuracy of bone augmentation. This article presented three cases, which describe a tooth-supported titanium mesh bending and positioning module aiming to improve the precision of bone augmentation. Clinical Considerations After designing the ideal bone increment volume digitally, print out the difference bone module between the ideal and existing bone mass and one or two wings. The wings are supported by the adjacent teeth to show the ideal bone mass in the patients' mouth. Finally, the titanium mesh is bent and installed in the ideal position by the module. Conclusions A favorable outcome has been preliminarily confirmed in these cases, the average vertical bone gain was 4.16 mm and the average horizontal gain was 7.48 mm after 6 months. Using the module in the treatment of patients with bone augmentation can effectively improve the accuracy, the maximum deviation was 1.5 mm and the mean was 0.6 mm. Clinical Significance This study improves the bone augmentation technology with titanium mesh. The titanium mesh is fixed in the ideal position, which facilitates subsequent implantation and denture repair. View on Web

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Overall and abdominal obesity and risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Overall and abdominal obesity and risks of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Korean adults: a pooled analysis of three population-based prospective cohorts via International Journal of Epidemiology - Advance Access Abstract Background Studies found a J-shaped association between body mass index (BMI) and mortality. However, it is unclear whether the association is driven by biases, particularly confounding by fat-free mass. Methods We conducted an individual-level pooled analysis of three cohorts of Korean adults (aged ≥ 40 years; n = 153 248). Mortality was followed up through December 2019. Anthropometric data were directly measured at baseline. Fat and fat-free mass were predicted using validated prediction models. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we estimated the associations of BMI and waist circumference (WC) with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. To account for biases, we excluded participants aged ≥ 70 years, deaths that occurred within 5 years of follow-up and ever smokers, and adjusted for fat-free mass index (FFMI). Results During the follow-up of up to 18 years, 6061 deaths were identified. We observed J-shaped association of BMI (nadir at 22–26) and monotonically positive association of WC with all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality among Korean adults without a history of cancer or cardiovascular disease. In the BMI analysis, excluding ever smokers and adjusting for FFMI attenuated the excess mortality in underweight participants and transformed the J-shaped association into a monotonically positive shape, suggesting an increased mortality at BMI > 22.0. Excluding participants aged ≥ 70 years and deaths that occurred within 5 years of follow-up did not change the results. In the WC analysis, the monotonic positive associations did not change after the control. Similar results were observed among participants with a history of cancer or cardiovascular disease. Conclusions Our data suggest that both overall and abdominal body fat are associated with increased mortality in Korean adults. View on Web

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Effect of sintering on the translucency of CAD‐CAM lithium disilicate restorations: a comparative in vitro study

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Effect of sintering on the translucency of CAD‐CAM lithium disilicate restorations: a comparative in vitro study via Journal of Prosthodontics Abstract Purpose The available independent data on the translucency of novel pre and fully sintered chair-side computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) lithium disilicate are limited. This comparative in vitro study evaluated the translucency degree of pre and fully sintered chairside CAD-CAM lithium disilicate crowns after optional, required, and additional firing processes. Materials and Methods One hundred and five maxillary left central incisor crowns manufactured by three different CAD-CAM lithium disilicate brands shade A1 were assigned into 7 groups as follows (n = 15): (1) n!ce Straumann without sintering; (2) n!ce Straumann with one additional sintering process; (3) n!ce Straumann with two additional sintering processes; (4) Amber Mill with one sintering process; (5) Amber Mill with two sintering processes; (6) IPS e.max CAD with one sintering process; (7) IPS e.max CAD with two sintering processes. The translucency of all crowns was evaluated with a color imaging spectrophotometer. All statistical analyses were performed using statistical software. A standard level of significance was set at α < 0.05. Results All the milled crowns presented different degrees of translucency, and additional sintering processes altered it. IPS E.max CAD with two (4.33 ± 0.26) and one (4.01 ± 0.15) sintering processes displayed the highest translucency, whereas n!ce Straumann with no sintering process provided the lowest value (2.82 ± 0.16). Conclusions The translucency of chairside lithium disilicate single-unit full-coverage restorations manufactured with subtractive technology was significantly influenced by the brand and the number of sintering processes. The traditional presintered IPS e.max CAD and the fully crystallized glass-ceramic n!ce Straumann considerably increased the translucency after one additional firing process, whereas Amber Mill decreased its translucency. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved View on Web

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Nirmatrelvir‐ritonavir for the treatment of COVID‐19 patients: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Nirmatrelvir‐ritonavir for the treatment of COVID‐19 patients: a systematic review and meta‐analysis via Journal of Medical Virology Abstract Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir (Paxlovid™) is an oral antiviral that has been approved for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19. We aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir in COVID-19 patients. Various databases including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, medRxiv and Embase were searched from inception till 10 October 2022 and results from 12 studies (two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 10 observational studies) were pooled using a random-effects model with risk ratio (RR) as the effect measure. Nirmatrelvir-ritonavir reduced the risk of mortality (RR 0.24; 95% CI:0.15–0.37, I2=48%; moderate certainty) and hospitalization (RR 0.41; 95% CI:0.29–0.59, I2=90%; low certainty) in both patients with or without previous immunity to SARS-CoV-2 without an increased risk of adverse events. Our study provides encouraging evidence for nirmatrelvir-ritonavir as a safe and efficacious agent for COVID-19 but lar ge-scale RCTs are needed to confirm these findings. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View on Web

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Outcomes of KTP Laser Ablation in Glottic Neoplasms: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Outcomes of KTP Laser Ablation in Glottic Neoplasms: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis via The Laryngoscope The aim of our review is to evaluate the safety and efficiency of transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) with potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP) laser ablation for glottic neoplasms. Eight studies were included. After an average follow-up of 3.3 years, the overall survival and disease-free survival for patients who underwent KTP. KTP is a safe and effective method for treating patients with early glottic neoplasms. Objectives To evaluate the safety and clinical effectiveness of transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) with potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP) laser ablation for glottic neoplasms. Data Source MEDLINE via PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. Review Methods A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies assessing the safety and efficacy of KTP laser therapy in patients with early-stage glottic neoplasms. Results Eight studies were included. After an average follow-up of 3.3 years, the overall survival and disease-free survival for patients who underwent KTP were 90.7% (95% CI 85%–96.5%) and 98.5% (95% CI 97.3%–99.8%), respectively. In the single-arm meta-analysis, the pooled estimate of recurrence was 7.7% (95% CI 3.4%–12%). The overall voice handicap index (VHI) estimate attributed to KTP in the single-arm meta-analysis was 6.76 (95% CI [3.05, 10.48]) and 5.21 (95% CI [2.86, 7.56]) within 6 months and after a one-year follow-up, respectively. Conclusion KTP laser ablation is a safe and effective method for treating patients with early glottic neoplasms. Laryngoscope, 2023 View on Web

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Upregulation of PD‐L1 by SARS‐CoV‐2 promotes immune evasion

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Upregulation of PD‐L1 by SARS‐CoV‐2 promotes immune evasion via Journal of Medical Virology Abstract Patients with severe COVID-19 often suffer from lymphopenia, which is linked to T cell sequestration, cytokine storm and mortality. However, it remains largely unknown how SARS-CoV-2 induces lymphopenia. Here, we studied the transcriptomic profile and epigenomic alterations involved in cytokine production by SARS-CoV-2-infected cells. We adopted a reverse time-order gene coexpression network (TO-GCN) approach to analyze time-series RNA-sequencing data, revealing epigenetic modifications at the late stage of viral egress. Furthermore, we identified SARS-CoV-2-activated NF-κB and IRF1 pathways contributing to viral infection and COVID-19 severity through epigenetic analysis of H3K4me3 ChIP-sequencing. Cross-referencing our transcriptomic and epigenomic datasets revealed that coupling NF-κB and IRF1 pathways mediate PD-L1 immunosuppressive programs. Interestingly, we observed higher PD-L1 expression in Omicron-infected cells than SARS-CoV-2 infected cells. Blocking PD-L1 at an earl y stage of virally-infected AAV-hACE2 mice significantly recovered lymphocyte counts and lowered inflammatory cytokine levels. Our findings indicate that targeting the SARS-CoV-2-mediated NF-κB and IRF1-PD-L1 axis may represent an alternative strategy to reduce COVID-19 severity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View on Web

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Single‐cell transcriptomics dissects epithelial heterogeneity in HPV+ cervical adenocarcinoma

alexandrossfakianakis shared this article with you from Inoreader Single‐cell transcriptomics dissects epithelial heterogeneity in HPV+ cervical adenocarcinoma via Journal of Medical Virology Abstract The intra- and inter-tumoral heterogeneity of epithelial cells in human papillomavirus (HPV)+ cervical adenocarcinoma (CEAD) remains largely unknown. To investigate this issue, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing on 19,229 epithelial cells sorted from three tumor samples of three patients with HPV+ CEAD. Six epithelial subclusters (Epi1 to Epi6) were identified that showed distinct gene expression. Among these, Epi1 and Epi4 had apparent tumor hallmarks and metabolic activities. Epi1 was highly enriched in hallmarks of hypoxia, IL2/STAT5 signaling, retinol metabolism, glycolysis, and arachidonic acid metabolism, while Epi4 was highly enriched in hallmarks of G2M checkpoint, E2F targets, DNA repair, PI3K/AKT/MTOR signaling, glycolysis, fatty acid degradation, TCA cycle, and glutathione metabolism. We also investigated inter-tumoral epithelial heterogeneity and found that Patient 1 was highly enriched for KRAS signaling and angiogenesis, while Patient 2 was highly enriched for epithelial-mesenchymal transition and TGF-β signaling, and Patient 3 was highly enriched for hypoxia, DNA repair, G2M checkpoint, and E2F targets. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we revealed the intra- and inter-tumoral heterogeneity of epithelial cells in HPV+ CEAD, providing insights into the importance of personalized treatment for patients with HPV+ CEAD. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. View on Web

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