Correlation between caries activity and salivary microbiota in preschool children.

Early childhood caries (ECC) is the most common chronic infectious oral disease in preschool children worldwide. It is closely related to the caries activity (CA) of children. However, the distribution characteristics of oral saliva microbiomes in children with different CA are largely underexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial community in saliva of preschool children with different CA and caries status, and to analyze the difference of microbial community in saliva of children with different CA and its correlation with ECC. Subjects were divided into 3 groups based on the Cariostat caries activity test: Group H, high CA (n=30); Group M, medium CA (n = 30); Group L, low CA (n=30). Questionnaire survey was used to explore the related influencing factors of CA. According to the caries status (on the basis of decayed mising filled teeth), these subjects were divided into caries-free group (dmft=0, n=19), caries-low group (0 < dmft ≤ 4, n=27) and caries-high group (dmft > 4, n=44). Microbial profiles of oral saliva were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. There were significant differences in the microbial structure (P < 0.05). Scardovia and Selenomonas were the biomarkers of both H group and high caries group. The genus Abiotrophia and Lautropia were the biomarkers of both the L group and the low caries group, while the Lactobacillus and Arthrospira spp. were significantly enriched in the M group. The area under the ROC curve of the combined application of dmft score, age, frequency of sugary beverage intake, and the genus Scardovia, Selenomonas, and Campylobacter in screening children with high CA was 0.842. Moreover, function prediction using the MetaCyc database showed that there were significant differences in 11 metabolic pathways of salivary microbiota among different CA groups. Certain bacteria genera in saliva such as Scardovia and Selenomonas may be helpful in screening children with high CA.

Association between early childhood caries and diet quality among Chinese children aged 2-5 years.

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a major oral problem affecting the health and wellbeing of children worldwide. Diet quality is a better predictor of ECC risk than single foods or specific nutrients. The purposes of this study were to assess the associations between ECC and diet quality among 2- to 5-year-old Chinese children. Methods: A total of 150 eligible children were included in this study. The decayed, missing, or filled surface (dmfs) score was recorded for each child by dental examination. All participants were divided into three groups based on their age and dmfs score [the caries-free group, the ECC group, and the severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) group]. Parents were invited to complete a questionnaire on the general characteristics and oral health behaviors of the participants. The information of 24-h dietary intake from each child was captured via a mobile APP. The Chinese diet balance index for preschool children (DBI_C) indicators score, high bound score (HBS), low bound score (LBS), and diet quality distance (DQD) score were calculated to assess the diet quality of study subjects. The associations of ECC with HBS, LBS, DQD score, and DBI_C indicators score were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Results: In this study, 21, 31, and 98 children were diagnosed with caries-free, ECC, and S-ECC, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed that the risk of ECC and S-ECC were significantly increased with the DQD score (OR = 1.283 and 1.287, respectively), but both were not associated with HBS and LBS (P > 0.05). In the meantime, the risk of ECC and S-ECC were significantly increased with the Grains score (OR = 1.623 and 1.777, respectively), and significantly decreased with the Food diversity score (OR = 0.271 and 0.315, respectively). Moreover, the risk of S-ECC also significantly decreased with the Vegetables score (OR = 0.137). Conclusion: Both ECC and S-ECC were associated with a high degree of dietary imbalance and grains intake as well as a low degree of food diversity among Chinese children aged 2-5 years. In addition, S-ECC was also associated with a low degree of vegetable intake.

Value of CT Radiomics and Clinical Features in Predicting Bone Metastases in Patients with NSCLC.

Objective: To explore the CT radiomic features and clinical imaging features of the primary tumor in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) before treatment and their predictive value for the occurrence of bone metastases. Methods: From June 2017 to June 2021, 195 patients with NSCLC who were pathologically diagnosed without any treatment in the Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Hainan Medical College were retrospectively analyzed, and they were divided into a bone metastasis group and a nonbone metastasis group. The relationship between clinical imaging features and bone metastasis in patients was analyzed by the t-test, rank sum test, and χ 2 test. At the same time, ITK software was used to extract the radiomic characteristics of the primary tumor of the patients, and the patients were randomly divided into a training group and a validation group in a ratio of 7 : 3. The training model was validated in the validation group, and the performance of the model for predicting bone metastases in NSCLC patients was verified by the ROC curve, and a multivariate logistic regression prediction model was established based on the omics parameters extracted from the best prediction model combined with clinical image features. Results: Seven features were screened from the primary tumor by LASSO to establish a model for predicting metastasis. The area under the curve was 0.82 and 0.73 in the training and validation sets. The best omics signature and univariate analysis suggested clinical imaging factors (P < 0.05) associated with bone metastases were included in multivariate binary logistic analysis to obtain clinical characteristics of the primary tumor such as gender (OR = 0.141, 95% CI: 0.022-0.919, P = 0.04), increased Cyfra21-1 (OR = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.018-0.782, P = 0.027), Fe content in blood (OR = 0.774, 95% CI: 0.626-0.958, P = 0.018), CT signs such as lesion homogeneity (OR = 0.052, 95% CI: 0.006-0.419, P = 0.006), pleural indentation sign (OR = 0.007, 95% CI: 0.001-0.696, P = 0.034), and omics characteristics glszm_Small Area High Gray Level Emphasis (OR = 0.016, 95% CI: 0.001-0.286, P = 0.005) were independent risk factors for bone metastasis in patients. Conclusion: The prediction model established based on radiomics and clinical imaging features has high predictive performance for the occurrence of bone metastasis in NSCLC patients.

Characterization of the first specific Jasmonate biosynthetic pathway gene allene oxide synthase from Artemisia annua.

Allene oxide synthase (AOS) is the first committed step in the biosynthetic pathway of Jasmonate. In this study, a full-length cDNA of AOS gene (named as AaAOS) was cloned from Artemisia annua. The gene was 1891 bp in size containing an open reading frame (1581 bp) encoding 526 amino acids. Comparative and bioinformatic analysis revealed that the deduced protein of AaAOS was highly homologous to AOSs from other plant species. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the protein of AaAOS belonged to the dicotyledonous group, which was consistent with the category of A. annua. Southern blot analysis revealed that it was a low-copy gene. Quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that AaAOS mRNA accumulated most abundantly in leaves and flowers. The qRT-PCR analysis revealed that MeJA, ABA and ethylene treatments significantly enhanced AaAOS transcript expression.

Enhancement of artemisinin content in tetraploid Artemisia annua plants by modulating the expression of genes in artemisinin biosynthetic pathway.

Tetraploid Artemisia annua plants were successfully inducted by using colchicine, and their ploidy was confirmed by flow cytometry. Higher stomatal length but lower frequency in tetraploids were revealed and could be considered as indicators of polyploidy. The average level of artemisinin in tetraploids was increased from 39% to 56% than that of the diploids during vegetation period, as detected by high-performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering detector. Gene expressions of 10 key enzymes related to artemisinin biosynthetic pathway in different ploidy level were analyzed by semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction and significant upregulation of FPS, HMGR, and artemisinin metabolite-specific Aldh1 genes were revealed in tetraploids. Slight increased expression of ADS was also detected. Our results suggest that higher artemisinin content in tetraploid A. annua may result from the upregulated expression of some key enzyme genes related to artemisinin biosynthetic pathway.