[Comparison of clear aligners and customized lingual appliance for bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion: a retrospective study].

PURPOSE: To compare the treatment effects of clear aligners and customized lingual appliance on treating bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion patients with first premolar extractions. METHODS: Fifty-four patients with bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion treated in Shanghai Ninth People Hospital were involved in the retrospective study. Twenty-five cases used clear aligners and 29 cases used customized lingual appliance. All of them were treated by extracting 4 first premolars and retracting anterior teeth with strong anchorage. The changes of anterior tooth and soft tissue adduction before and after treatment were compared by lateral cephalometric measurements. SPSS 26.0 software package was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The total course of treatment in the clear aligners group (46.32±7.37 months) was about 10.8 months longer than that in the customized lingual appliance group (35.55±5.90 months) (P＜0.05). There was no significant difference in upper incisor retraction, lower incisor inclination and overjet reduction between the two groups(P＞0.05). There were significant differences in upper lip retraction, lower lip retraction, upper incisor torque reduction, and overbite reduction between the two groups(P＜0.05). Customized lingual appliance group showed a significant improvement of lips retraction and overbite reduction in orthodontic treatment. For the correction of overjet, there was no significant difference between the two groups (P=0.337). The data of U1-OP (the distance between edge of the upper central incisor and the functional occlusal plane) was not in normal distribution, and there was no significant difference between the two groups(P=0.184). CONCLUSIONS: The two techniques can both retract the anterior teeth and lips to improve the profile. However, the customized lingual appliance was more effective in improving the soft tissue profile of patients with bimaxillary dentoalveolar protrusion, with shorter treatment course.

MicroRNA-494 inhibition alleviates acute lung injury through Nrf2 signaling pathway via NQO1 in sepsis-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome.

AIMS: Although therapeutic strategies for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have achieved improvements, its mortality remains high. It has been reported that microRNAs (miRs) serve as therapeutic strategies for ARDS, while specific mechanisms of miR-494 remain poorly understood. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the effects of miR-494 on acute lung injury (ALI) in rat models of sepsis-associated ARDS and its regulatory mechanism. METHODS: Following establishment of sepsis-associated ARDS rat models, the ratio of wet to dry weight (W/D) in right lung tissues was detected. Moreover, the expression patterns of miR-494, NQO1 and Nrf2 were evaluated in left lung tissues of rats. The miR-494 was exogenously overexpressed in rats so as to analyze the effects of miR-494 on ALI, inflammatory response and oxidative stress. Meanwhile, the Nrf2 signaling pathway was activated in rats in order to show the regulatory mechanism of miR-494 in ALI. And the target gene of miR-494 was identified by dual-luciferase reporter assay. KEY FINDINGS: The findings firstly revealed upregulated miR-494, and enhanced inflammatory response, oxidative stress and ALI in rat models of sepsis-associated ARDS. Additionally, MiR-494 negatively regulated NQO1 and blocked the Nrf2 signaling pathway. Moreover, ectopic expression of miR-494 promoted inflammatory response, oxidative stress and ALI. However, the activation of Nrf2 signaling pathway reversed these effects of miR-494. SIGNIFICANCE: Our key findings highlight the value of miR-494 inhibition as a therapeutic target for sepsis-associated ARDS, as a result of miR-494 accelerated ALI in rats with sepsis-associated ARDS through NQO1-mediated inactivation of Nrf2 signaling pathway.