Diagnostic performance of artificial intelligence using cone-beam computed tomography imaging of the oral and maxillofacial region: A scoping review and meta-analysis

Purpose@#The aim of this study was to conduct a scoping review and meta-analysis to provide overall estimates of the recall and precision of artificial intelligence for detection and segmentation using oral and maxillofacial cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans. @*Materials and Methods@#A literature search was done in Embase, PubMed, and Scopus through October 31, 2022 to identify studies that reported the recall and precision values of artificial intelligence systems using oral and maxillofacial CBCT images for the automatic detection or segmentation of anatomical landmarks or pathological lesions. Recall (sensitivity) indicates the percentage of certain structures that are correctly detected. Precision (positive predictive value) indicates the percentage of accurately identified structures out of all detected structures. The performance values were extracted and pooled, and the estimates were presented with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). @*Results@#In total, 12 eligible studies were finally included. The overall pooled recall for artificial intelligence was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.87-0.94). In a subgroup analysis, the pooled recall was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.77-0.94) for detection and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.87-0.96) for segmentation. The overall pooled precision for artificial intelligence was 0.93 (95% CI: 0.88-0.95). A subgroup analysis showed that the pooled precision value was 0.90 (95% CI: 0.77-0.96) for detection and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.89-0.97) for segmentation. @*Conclusion@#Excellent performance was found for artificial intelligence using oral and maxillofacial CBCT images.(Imaging Sci Dent 2023; 53: 101-8)

[Therapeutic effect of ascorbic acid on reducing the neuronal damage following irradiation focusing on hippocampal CA1 region of mice]

Background and Objectives: irradiation is common treatment in most cancers but the effect of radiation on healthy cells, could be prevented its use in high doses. Ascorbic acid is known as a potent antioxidant. In this study the role of vitamin c to reduce cell death and complications after radiotherapy was tested

Materials and Methods: in this study, 3 groups of race bulb-c mice [control, irradiation, treatment with ascorbic acid] were chosen. Two groups received 6 Gray of radiation. Medications was given intraperitoneally to them one week prior to radiotherapy and then after a week of radiotherapy, again they were given the drug again for a week and at the end of treatment, y-maze memory test and shuttle box test were done and then the brain of rats was fixed by paraformaldehyde perfusion and removed and was prepared for histological studies

Results: nissl staining applied to counting necrotic cells of hippocampus. Tunnel kit was used to quantify apoptotic cell death while to short term memory scale; we applied maze and shuttle box tests. Memory tests were indicated to reduction of irradiation effects on short-term memory in treatment group. Nissl staining showed significant decrease in necrotic cells, Evaluation of cell apoptosis, also showed significant decrease in apoptotic cells in treatment group

Conclusion: treatment the mice with ascorbic acid caused reduction of cell death and complications after Radiotherapy

assay of bax and Bcl2 expression in mice hippocampus following ischemia-reperfusion treatment with CoQ10

Preliminary studies confirmed reduction of cell death following treatment with antioxidants. According to this finding we investigated the relationship between consumption of CoQ10 and expression of bax and bcl2 in hippocampus ischemia that this expression related to cell programmed death. We studied the protective role of CoQ10 against ischemia-reperfusion. Experimental design includes four groups: intact [N=7], ischemic control [N=7], sham control [N=7] and treatment groups with CoQ10 [N=7]. The mice [treatment group] treated with CoQ10 as Pre-Treatment for a week. Then, ischemia induced by common carotid artery ligation and following the reduction in inflammation [a week] the treatment group post-treated with CoQ10 for a week. Nissl staining applied to counting necrotic cells of hippocampus and the western blotting performed to measurement the bax and bcl2 expression. Tunnel kit was used to quantify apoptotic cell death while to short term memory scale, we apply Y-maze. Cell death was significantly lower when mice treated with CoQ10. Bax expression was significantly high in ischemic group but in treatment group was less and reversely the bcl2 expression in ischemic group was lower than treatment and vehicle groups. The memory test results were consistent with cell death results. Ischemia for 15 minutes induced cell death in hippocampus with more potent effect on CA1. CoQ10 intake significantly reduced cell death and decreased memory loss. with prevent of expression of bax and increase in expression of bcl2

Heme oxygenase-2 gene mutations and blood bilirubin level in Iranian patients with premature atherosclerosis

Heme oxygenase-2 [HO-2] is a critical antioxidative stress enzyme found in endothelial cells and adventitial nerves. This enzyme in conjunction with other HOs [1 and 3] metabolize heme molecule into ferrous iron, carbon monoxide [CO], and biliverdin which is further converted to bilirubin. Both biliverdin and bilirubin are potent antioxidants, reducing the risk of atherosclerosis. HO-2 also induces endothelial relaxation by synthesizing CO. This is the first study to evaluate the association of HO-2 gene mutation in patients affected with atherosclerosis. Blood samples from patients [n=137] and normal controls [n=100] were collected. Three pairs of primers were designed to amplify exons 2 to 4 related to human HO-2 gene. The PCR products were analyzed by SSCP and sequencing to find out mutations. Iron and bilirubins [Total, Direct and Indirect] levels were determined in patients and controls. Two nucleotide substitutions were found among 10% of patients, consisted of a newly reported transversion mutation, C to A substitution in codon A70D [GCC to GAC] [Ala to Asp] and a previously reported transition mutation, A to G substitution in codon K89E [AAG to GAG] [Leu to Glu]. Significant associations were obtained between risk of atherosclerosis and A437G substitution in codon K89E of HO-2 gene [P<0.006 and X[2] >6.82] and reduced level of total [P<0.016 and X [2] >6.01], and indirect [P< 0.016 and X [2] >5.99] bilirubins with no significant association with serum iron and direct bilirubin. No significant associations were observed among C381A substitution in codon [A70D, P< 0.11 and ?[2] >2.97], level of serum iron, bilirubin and risk of atherosclerosis. These findings indicate the importance of A437G substitution in the development of atherosclerosis. Further studies are required to study the association of HO-2 gene mutations with atherosclerosis in other populations