Nucleolar organizer regions of oral epithelial cells in crack cocaine users.

BACKGROUND: The health risks of crack cocaine smoking on the oral mucosa has not been widely researched and documented. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to analyze the proliferative activity of oral epithelial cells exposed to crack cocaine smoke using silver nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) staining. METHODS: Oral smears were collected from clinically normal-appearing buccal mucosa by liquid-based exfoliative cytology of 60 individuals (30 crack cocaine users and 30 healthy controls matched for age and gender) and analyzed for cytomorphologic and cytomorphometric techniques. RESULTS: Crack cocaine users consumed about 13.3 heat-stable rocks per day and the time consumption of the drug was of 5.2 (± 3.3) years. Mean values of AgNOR counting for case and control groups were 5.18 ± 1.83 and 3.38 ± 1.02 (P<0.05), respectively. AgNOR area and percentage of AgNOR-occupied nuclear area were increased in comparison with the control (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the mean values of the nuclear area between the groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: This study revealed that crack cocaine smoke increases the rate of cellular proliferation in cells of normal buccal mucosa.

The role of candidal histolytic enzymes on denture-induced stomatitis in patients living in retirement homes.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty nine elders wearing complete dentures and living in retirement homes in Curitiba (southern Brazil), were divided into two groups: group #1, 26 patients with denture-induced stomatitis and group #2, 33 patients without denture-induced stomatitis. The two groups were evaluated in relation to the degree of denture-induced stomatitis, salivary fungal loads, and secretion of some histolytic enzymes. RESULTS: Patients from group #1 showed higher degrees of colonisation by Candida albicans (p = 0.031). Candida krusei, Candida tropicalis, and Candida parapsilosis were also isolated, but there were no differences between the groups (p > 0.05). Secretory aspartyl protease (Sap) and chondroitinase did not show significant differences among the isolated Candida spp. in the two groups. Phospholipase secretion rates were higher among the strains of C. albicans from group #2 (p = 0.036). The same behaviour was not detected for non-albicans Candida species. CONCLUSIONS: The results could infer that differences in the secretion rates of candidal histolytic enzymes should not be imputed as imperative for the progress of denture-induced stomatitis.

Osteogenic sarcoma of the maxilla: case report

Osteosarcoma (OS) is one of the most common primary malignant bone neoplasms, which predominantly occurs in the long bones and rarely in the maxillofacial area. We present a rare case of maxillary OS early diagnosed in a 17-year-old girl through clinical, radiological and histological examination. The treatment involved surgical resection of the tumor followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy. The patient was much younger than the average age of presentation of a jaw tumor, which typically presents in the third to fourth decades of life. Although there is a consensus in the literature that OS of the jaws is less aggressive and less prone to metastasis than OS of the long bones, that was not true in this case, where in spite of early diagnosis and treatment the patient died due to brain metastasis.