Assessment of photobiomodulation by a 660-nm diode laser on the reversal of soft tissue anesthesia in children: A randomized controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Soft tissue anesthesia (STA) following inferior alveolar nerve block (IANB) anesthesia lasts 3-5 h. It is important to reverse STA after treatment to prevent soft tissue injury (STI). AIM: This study evaluated photobiomodulation using a 660 nm diode laser on STA reversal and its impact on STI following IANB anesthesia. DESIGN: A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 32 children, aged 5-8 years, allocated into the test and control groups. Anesthesia was administered; the operative procedure was performed followed by exposure to laser. STA reversal was monitored through lip tapping, current perception threshold (CPT) tests, and paediatric Functional Assessment Battery. RESULTS: The test group showed significantly faster recovery to normal sensation following exposure to laser than the control group which did not undergo any reversal (p < .0001), with a median time of 115 and 60 min according to lip tapping and CPT tests, respectively. The test group also showed significantly faster recovery to normal function (p = .016). The incidence of STI in the form of redness was significantly higher in the control group (p = .022). CONCLUSION: Photobiomodulation using a 660 nm diode laser can be considered as an efficient approach to minimize STA and STI after dental interventions.

Insights from ancient DNA analysis of Egyptian human mummies: clues to disease and kinship.

The molecular Egyptology field started in the mid-eighties with the first publication on the ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of an Egyptian mummy. Egypt has been a major interest for historians, archeologists, laymen as well as scientists. The aDNA research on Egyptian biological remains has been fueled by their abundance and relatively well-preserved states through artificial mummification and by the advanced analytical techniques. Early doubts of aDNA integrity within the Egyptian mummies and data authenticity were later abated with studies proving successfully authenticated aDNA retrieval. The current review tries to recapitulate the published studies presenting paleogenomic evidence of disease diagnosis and kinship establishment for the Egyptian human remains. Regarding disease diagnosis, the prevailing literature was on paleogenomic evidence of infectious diseases in the human remains. A series of reports presented evidence for the presence of tuberculosis and/or malaria. In addition, there were solitary reports of the presence of leprosy, diphtheria, bacteremia, toxoplasmosis, schistosomiasis and leishmaniasis. On the contrary, paleogenomic evidence of the presence of rare diseases was quite scarce and mentioned only in two articles. On the other hand, kinship analysis of Egyptian human remains, including that of Tutankhamen, was done using both mitochondrial DNA sequences and nuclear DNA markers, to establish family relationships in four studies. It is clear that the field of molecular Egyptology is still a largely unexplored territory. Nevertheless, the paleogenomic investigation of Egyptian remains could make significant contributions to biomedical sciences (e.g. elucidation of coevolution of human host-microbe interrelationship) as well as to evidence-based archeology.