Development of Various Diabetes Prediction Models Using Machine Learning Techniques

Background@#There are many models for predicting diabetes mellitus (DM), but their clinical implication remains vague. Therefore, we aimed to create various DM prediction models using easily accessible health screening test parameters. @*Methods@#Two sets of variables were used to develop eight DM prediction models. One set comprised 62 easily accessible examination results of commonly used variables from a tertiary university hospital. The second set comprised 27 of the 62 variables included in the national routine health checkups. Gradient boosting and random forest algorithms were used to develop the models. Internal validation was performed using the stratified 10-fold cross-validation method. @*Results@#The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC-AUC) for the 62-variable DM model making 12-month predictions for subjects without diabetes was the largest (0.928) among those of the eight DM prediction models. The ROC-AUC dropped by more than 0.04 when training with the simplified 27-variable set but still showed fairly good performance with ROC-AUCs between 0.842 and 0.880. The accuracy was up to 11.5% higher (from 0.807 to 0.714) when fasting glucose was included. @*Conclusion@#We created easily applicable diabetes prediction models that deliver good performance using parameters commonly assessed during tertiary university hospital and national routine health checkups. We plan to perform prospective external validation, hoping that the developed DM prediction models will be widely used in clinical practice.

Changes in Oral Microbiota in Patients Receiving Radical Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for The Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Radiotherapy (RT) is a mainstay in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). For locally advanced HCSCC, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) benefits HCSCC patients in terms of better survival and loco-regional control. In this study, we evaluated changes in oral microbiota in patients, who received CCRT for head and neck cancer. Oral rinsed samples were weekly collected before and during CCRT and at 4 weeks following treatment from HNSCC patients, who had received 70 Gy of radiation delivered to the primary sites for over 7 weeks and concurrent chemotherapy. Oral microbiota changes in three patients were analyzed by next-generation sequencing using 16S rRNA 454 pyrosequencing. On an average, 15,000 partial 16S rRNA gene sequences were obtained from each sample. All sequences fell into 11 different bacterial phyla. During early CCRT, the microbial diversity gradually decreased. In a patient, who did not receive any antibiotics during the CCRT, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most abundant phylum. During the early CCRT, proteobacteria gradually decreased while Firmicutes increased. During the late CCRT, firmicutes gradually decreased while Bacteroides and Fusobacteria increased. In all the patients, yellow complex showed a gradual decrease, while orange and red complex showed a gradual increase during the CCRT. At 4 weeks after CCRT, the recovery of oral microbiota diversity was limited. During CCRT, there was a gradual increase in major periodontopathogens in association with the deterioration of the oral hygiene. Henceforth, it is proposed that understanding oral microbiota shift should provide better information for the development of effective oral care programs for patients receiving CCRT for HNSCC.

Chracterization of THP-1 Cell Death Induced by Porphyromonas gingivalis Infection

BACKGROUND: Periodontitis is generally a chronic disorder characterized by the breakdown of tooth-supporting tissues. P. gingivalis, a Gram-negative anaerobic rod, is one of the major pathogens associated with periodontitis. Frequently, P. gingivalis infection leads to cell death. However, the correlation between P. gingivalis–induced cell death and periodontal inflammation remains to be elucidated. Among cell deaths, the death of immune cells appears to play a significant role in inflammatory response. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine P. gingivalis–induced cell death, focusing on autophagy and apoptosis in THP-1 cells. METHODS: Human acute monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1) was used for all experiments. Autophagy induced by P. gingivalis in THP-1 cells was examined by Cyto ID staining. Intracellular autophagic vacuoles were observed by fluorescence microscopy using staining Acridine orange (AO); and 3-methyladenine (3-MA) was used to inhibit autophagy. Total cell death was measured by LDH assay. Cytokine production was measured by an ELISA method. RESULTS: P. gingivalis induced autophagy in an MOI-dependent manner in THP-1 cells, but 3-MA treatment decreased autophagy and increased the apoptotic blebs. P. gingivalis infection did not increase apoptosis compared to the control cells, whereas inhibition of autophagy by 3-MA significantly increased apoptosis in P. gingivalis-infected THP-1 cells. Inhibition of autophagy by 3-MA also increased total cell deaths and inflammatory cytokine production, including IL-1β and TNF-α. CONCLUSION: P. gingivalis induced autophagy in THP-1 cells, but the inhibition of autophagy by 3-MA stimulated apoptosis, leading to increased cell deaths and pro-inflammatory cytokines production. Hence, the modulation of cell deaths may provide a mechanism to fight against invading microorganisms in host cells and could be a promising way to control inflammation.

Ursodeoxycholic Acid Inhibits Inflammatory Cytokine Expression in THP-1 Cells Infected with Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

BACKGROUND: Periodontitis is an inflammatory disease characterized by the breakdown of tooth-supporting tissues, leading to tooth loss. Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans are major etiologic bacterium causing aggressive periodontitis. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), a hydrophilic gall bladder acid, has been used as an effective drug for various diseases related to immunity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of UDCA on the inflammatory response induced by A. actinomycetemcomitans. METHODS: A human acute monocytic leukemia cell line (THP-1) was differentiated to macrophage- like cells by treatment with phorbol 12-mystristate 13-acetate (PMA) and used for all experiments. The cytotoxic effect of UDCA was examined by MTT assay. THP-1 cells were pretreated with UDCA for 30 min before A. actinomycetemcomitans infection and the culture supernatant was analyzed for various cytokine production by ELISA. The effect of UDCA on bacterial growth was examined by measuring optical densities using a spectrophotometer. RESULTS: UDCA showed no cytotoxic effect on THP-1 cells, up to 80 µM Ed highlight: Please confirm technical meaning. UDCA pretreatment inhibited the A. actinomycetemcomitans-induced IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-17A secretion in a dosedependent manner. UDCA also inhibited IL-21 production at 60 µM. The production of IL-12 and IL-4 was not influenced by A. actinomycetemcomitans infection. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that UDCA inhibits the production of inflammatory cytokines involved in innate and Th17 immune responses in A. actinomycetemcomitans-infected THP-1-derived macrophages, which suggests its possible use for the control of aggressive periodontitis.

Expression of Inflammasome Complex Following Various Oral Bacterial Infection in THP-1 Cells

Interleukin-1b (IL-1β), a proinflammatory cytokine, regulates the innate immune responses against bacterial infection. Mature IL-1β is produced from pro-IL-1β by activated caspase-1, which in turn is activated by the inflammasome complex formation. In this study, we compared the inflammasome mRNA expression induced by S. sanguinis, S. oralis, F. nucleatum and P. intermedia. Among the tested bacteria, S. sanguinis induced the highest IL-1β secretion. S. oralis, F. nucleatum and P. intermedia induced very weak IL-1β secretion. S. sanguinis mostly induced the NLRP3 mRNA expressions. Although F. nucleatum did not induce high IL-1β secretion, it induced high expression levels of AIM2, NLRP2, and NLRP3. No specific inflammasomes were induced by S. oralis and P.intermedia. Studying the inflammasome complex activation induced by oral bacteria may thus enhance our understanding of the pathogenesis of oral diseases.

Rutin induces autophagy in cancer cells

Rutin (3,3′,4′,5,7-pentahydroxyflavone-3-rhamnoglucoside) is a bioactive flavonoid from the plant kingdom. Rutin has been studied as potential anticancer agent due to its wide range of pharmacological properties including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and anticancer. Autophagy is a conserved intracellular catabolic pathway to maintain cell homeostasis by formation of autophagosome. Processing of autophagy involves various molecules including ULK1 protein kinase complex, Beclin-1–Vps34 lipid kinase complex, ATG5, ATG12, and LC3 (light chain 3). Cargo-carried autophagosomes fuse with lysosomes resulting in autophagolysosome to eliminate vesicles and degrade cargo. However, the actions of rutin on autophagy are not clearly understood. In this study, we analyzed the effect of rutin on autophagy and inflammation in cancer cell lines. Interestingly, rutin induced autophagy in leukemia (THP-1), oral (CA9-22), and lung (A549) cell lines. TNF-α, key modulator of inflammation, was upregulated by inhibition of rutin-induced autophagy. Taken together, these data indicated that rutin induced autophagy and consequently suppressed TNF-α production.

Nuclear Factor-kappaB Dependent Induction of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta by the Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans Lipopolysaccharide in RAW 264.7 Cells

Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is an important pathogen in the development of localized aggressive periodontitis. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a virulent factor of periodontal pathogens that contributes to alveolar bone loss and connective tissue degradation in periodontal disease. Our present study was designed to investigate the cytokine expression and signaling pathways regulated by A. actinomycetemcomitans LPS (Aa LPS). Cytokine gene expression profiling in RAW 264.7 cells was performed by microarray analyses. The cytokine mRNA and protein levels and related signaling pathways induced by Aa LPS were measured by RT-PCR, ELISA and western blotting. Microarray results showed that Aa LPS strongly induced the expression of NF-kappaB, NF-kappaB-related genes, inflammatory cytokines, TNF-alpha and IL-1beta in RAW 264.7 cells. NF-kappaB inhibitor pretreatment significantly reduced the levels of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta mRNA and protein. In addition, the Aa LPS-induced TNF-alpha and IL-1beta expression was inhibited by p38/JNK MAP kinase inhibitor pretreatment. These results show that Aa LPS stimulates TNF-alpha and IL-1beta expression through NF-kappaB and p38/JNK activation in RAW 264.7 cells, suggesting the essential role of this pathway in the pathogenesis of localized aggressive periodontitis.

Oral Microbiota Comparison between Healthy volunteers, Periodontitis patients and Oral cancer patients

The presence of distinct bacterial species is found to be dependent on age, diet, and disease. We compared the detection rate of several oral bacterial strains in a cohort of 36 subjects including healthy volunteers, periodontal patients, and oral cancer patients. Gargling samples were obtained from these subjects from which DNA was then extracted. Specific primers for 29 bacterial species were used for PCR detection. In the oral cancer patients, Capnocytophaga ochracea, Gemella morbillorum, and Streptococcus salivarius were detected more frequently compared with the healthy volunteers and periodontitis patients. Fusobacterium nucleatum/polymorphym and Prevotella nigrescens were significantly less prevalent in oral cancer patients than the other groups. In periodontitis patients, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Treponema denticola were more frequently found compared with the healthy volunteers. In the healthy volunteer group, Peptostreptococcus anaerobius was more frequently found than the other groups. The detection rate of several oral bacterial species was thus found to differ between healthy volunteers, periodontitis patients and oral cancer patients.

Effect of Xylitol on various Oral bacteria

Xylitol is a five-carbon sugar alcohol that reduces the incidence of caries by inhibiting the growth of oral streptococci, including Streptococcus mutans. Since xylitol is transported via the fructose phosphotransferase system, we hypothesized that it could also affect the growth of other oral bacteria strains. We tested the effects of xylitol against non-periodontopathogenic oral bacteria frequently found in healthy subjects as well as periodontopathogens including Porphyromonas gingivalis, Treponema denticola, and Tannerella forsythia. With 5% xylitol, Streptococcus vestibularis and Gemella morbillorum showed marked growth inhibition. With 10% xylitol, all of the tested periodontopathogens and Actinomyces naeslundii showed marked growth inhibition, whereas the growth inhibition of Neisseria mucosa, Neisseria sicca and Veillonella parvula was mild only. Xylitol is a widely used sweetener and the concentration used in our experiment is easily achieved in the oral cavity. If xylitol reduces the growth of periodontopathogens more preferentially, it could also reduce the prevalence of these pathogens and have clinical utility in the prevention or treatment of periodontal disease.

Hematogenous Septic Arthritis of the Hip in Extensive Burn

In the patient with extensive burn injury, the occult site of infection such as septic arthritis is easy to be overlooked because a painful hip joint may be confused for painful burn wounds around pelvic area. We describe a extensive burned young adult who experienced a septic hip joint with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia A 22 year old male who had full thickness burns of whole body (90%) presented with fever, groin pain, and immobility of right hip joint about 3 months after injury. The physical findings, radiographic findings and bone scan were diagnostic for a septic arthritis. Septic arthritis in the extensive burns may be misdiagnosed for painful burn wounds. Hematogenous septic hip arthritis by sustained bacteremia is rare, but clinical examination combined with appropriate laboratory and radiographic studies can lead to prompt diagnosis and treatment.