A comparison of the effectiveness of biologic therapies for asthma: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Trials have not directly compared biologics for the treatment of asthma. OBJECTIVE: To compare the relative efficacy of biologics in asthma. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and clinicaltrials.gov from inception to May 31, 2022 for randomized trials addressing biologic therapies for asthma. Reviewers worked independently and in duplicate to screen references, extract data, and assess risk of bias. We performed a frequentist network meta-analysis and assessed the certainty of evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations approach. We present dichotomous outcomes as absolute risk differences per 1000 patients and relative risk with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) and continuous outcomes as mean difference (MD) and 95% CI. RESULTS: We identified 64 trials, including 26,630 patients. For patients with eosinophilic asthma, tezepelumab (329 fewer exacerbations per 1000 [95% CI, 272.6-366.6 fewer]) and dupilumab (319.6 fewer exacerbations per 1000 [95% CI, 272.6-357.2 fewer]) reduce exacerbations compared with placebo (high certainty). Tezepelumab (MD, 0.24 L [95% CI, 0.16-0.32]) and dupilumab (0.25 L [95% CI, 0.21-0.29]) improve lung function compared with placebo (high certainty). Both tezepelumab (110.97 fewer hospital admissions per 1000 [95% CI, 94.53-120.56 fewer]) and dupilumab (97.27 fewer hospitalizations [4.11-124.67 fewer]) probably reduce hospital admissions compared with placebo (moderate certainty). For patients with low eosinophils, biologics probably do not improve asthma outcomes. For these patients, tezepelumab (MD, 0.1 L [95% CI, 0-0.19]) and dupilumab (MD, 0.1 L [95% CI, 0-0.20]) may improve lung function (low certainty). CONCLUSION: Tezepelumab and dupilumab are effective at reducing exacerbations. For patients with low eosinophils, however, clinicians should probably be more judicious in using biologics, including tezepelumab, because they probably do not confer substantial benefit.

The association between Epstein-Barr virus and oral lichen planus: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a relatively common inflammatory disease, with unclear etiology. A number of studies have linked Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) with OLP. The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the available evidence regarding the potential association between EBV and OLP. METHODS: Online databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, and Google Scholar) were searched from date of inception till May 2020. Studies were included if they met the following criteria: 1) observational studies that assessed the relationship between EBV and OLP, 2) the study comprised OLP patients and control subjects, 3) diagnosis of OLP was confirmed histopathologically, and 4) articles were in English. Studies without control groups, experimental studies, case reports, and reviews were excluded. The fixed-effects model was performed for meta-analyses using RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: A total of 10 studies comprising 386 OLP cases and 304 controls were included. Of these, only 8 studies were eligible for the meta-analysis. The results of the quality assessment showed that only 2 studies were of high quality, while the remaining studies were of moderate quality. The results of the pooled eight studies revealed a significant positive association between EBV and OLP (OR = 4.41, 95% CI: [2.74, 7.11], P < .0001). CONCLUSION: The results of the present systematic review suggest that EBV infection is statistically associated with increased risk of OLP. However, these results are preliminary, and high-quality, large-scale studies are warranted to further explore the potential role of EBV in the pathogenesis of OLP.

P27 expression in pleomorphic salivary gland adenoma.

AIM OF THE STUDY: This study aims to characterise alterations in the immunohistochemical expression of p27 in normal tissue of the salivary gland surrounding pleomorphic adenoma and in the tumour cells of pleomorphic adenoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study of data including 120 cases of pleomorphic adenomas (66 female, 54 male) retrieved from the files of the Oral Pathology Departments of Aleppo University, Syria and Al-Farabi Dental and Nursing College. Immunohistochemical expression against p27 was examined in the selected cases. The percentage of p27-positive nuclei was semi-quantitatively assessed by two independent observers and scores were given. The statistical analysis included the use of descriptive statistics and proportional frequencies. RESULTS: The results showed that P27 nuclear staining with high staining (moderate to strong positive staining in more than 50% of nuclei, depending on the percentage of nuclei for the cells) was noted in tumour duct cells of pleomorphic adenoma in 90 (75%) cases out of 120, while 30 (25%) cases showed low staining (positive staining in less than 5% of nuclei, depending on the percentage of nuclei for the cells). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggests that p27 might have a minor role in the development of pleomorphic adenoma.

Quantitative study of epigenetic signature in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The aberrant upregulation of Forkhead box protein M1 (FOXM1) plays a fundamental role in cancer initiation by perturbing stem cell differentiation. This study aims to investigate the role of FOXMI in epigenetic modification and gene expression of target genes in primary human oral keratinocytes, squamous cell carcinoma cell lines, and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) tissue biopsies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A genome-wide promoter methylation microarray was used to compare HNSCC cell line (n = 8), primary human oral keratinocytes (NOK; n = 8) transduced with FOXM1 and EGFP, and HNSCC tissue biopsies (n = 3). Seventeen Foxm1B- induced differentially methylated genes were shortlisted. An absolute quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to validate the differential promoter DNA methylation of each candidate gene induced by FOXML. These results were compared with the methylation status and altered gene expressions of candidate genes in a panel of genomic DNA and messenger RNA (mRNA) samples previously extracted from HNSCC tissue biopsies. RESULTS: The results were consistent with our hypothesis, showing that aberrant. upregulation of FOXM1 expression in in vitro primary NOK induces a global hypomethylation pattern similar to the HNSCC cell line and has an inverse correlation with in vivo mRNA expression levels of HNSCC tissue biopsy. CONCLUSION: Such epigenetic changes have tremendous clinical potential as biomarkers for early cancer detection and therapeutic interventions.

Systemic review of dry socket: aetiology, treatment, and prevention.

Our systemic review is to make a comprehensive review about the aetiology, treatment and the prevention of dry socket, the inclusion criteria were all the studies that discuss the dry socket and its etiology, treatment and prevention and exclusion criteria were all the studies that discuss the other complications of tooth extraction, the materials and methods used for this systemic review was to search in the Pub Medline database between 2008 to 2013, using specific words "dry socket, aetiology, treatment and prevention" and published in the English language, the articles were screened by abstract for relevance to aetiology, treatment and prevention of dry socket, 82 papers were identified in pub med but a total of 36 out of Publications were included in the final systemic review according to the specific keywords and materials mentioned above. The occurrence of dry socket in an everyday oral surgery or dental practice is unavoidable. The risk factors are smoking, surgical trauma, single extractions, age, sex, medical history, systemic disorder, extraction site, amount of anaesthesia, operator experience, antibiotics use prior to surgery, difficulty of the surgery and the previous surgical site infection in addition to oral Contraceptives, menstrual cycle and immediate postextraction socket irrigation with normal saline. The traditional options of treatment are directed toward palliative care, such as the irrigation of the surgical site, avoiding curetting the extraction socket, Packing with a zinc oxide- eugenol paste on iodoform gauze can be considered to relieve acute pain episodes, there is also new agents in the market can accelerate the healing of the socket such as PRGF and GECB. The prevention methods include avoiding smoking before and after surgery and a traumatic surgery, the use of antibiotics, such as, azithromycin, can be considered, the other preventive measures such as chlorhecidine rinse or gel can be effective in the reduction of dry socket incidence.

Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in colorectal adenocarcinoma: an immunohistochemical and histopathological study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) immunoreactivity in colorectal adenocarcinomas and to find correlations with different pathological features. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 35 cases of colorectal carcinoma for which surgical colectomy specimens were collected. Immunohistochemical staining of COX-2 (cyclooxygenase-2) is done by using the Streptavidin-biotin technique. RESULTS: This work reveals that COX-2 is positive in most cases of colorectal carcinoma and negative in normal colon tissue with statistically non significant relations between COX-2 immunostaining and different pathological features. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest overexpression of COX-2 protein in colorectal carcinoma in contrast to normal mucosa, with a possible role in cell proliferation in carcinogenesis.

Relation between psoriasis and geographic tongue.

The aim this article is to investigate the link between geographic tongue and psoriasis skin disease. Our review paper of the literature will handle strict study about the relation between geographic tongue and psoriasis. Our search has identified only limited studies available in English written literature starting from 2006-2013 using pubMed - indexed for MEDLINE. The result of this review suggests that geographic tongue may be an oral manifestation of psoriasis.There is no clear evidence in literature about association with gender and aetiology except one study which shows that benign migratory glossitis is more prevalent in young, nonsmoker and atopic or allergic individuals. Treatment for oral lesions is not standardized. A geographic tongue is significantly more frequent in psoriatic patients but only a limited data is available to date to strongly validate the association between these two entities.We recommend the general practitioner to have a good understanding about the clinical presentation, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of this lesion. Psoriatic patients should be encouraged to undergo routine dental checkups.