Efficacy and safety of topical clobetasol propionate in comparison with alternative treatments in oral lichen planus: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a relatively common chronic T cell-mediated disease characterized by pain and inflammation. Clobetasol propionate (CLO) is the first-line drug in the treatment of OLP. The meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CLO for treating patients with OLP. Methods: PubMed, Embase and Web of Science were systematically searched from the database inception date up to August 2023. There were no restrictions on language or date of publication. The outcomes of our interest were as follows: improvement of clinical signs and/or symptoms, total lesion size, relapse and adverse events. Results: A total of 17 RCTs evaluating the effects of CLO were included in this study. The results revealed no significant difference in the clinical score (WMD = 0.14, 95% CI: -0.39, 0.66; p = 0.609) and pain score (WMD = 0.17, 95% CI: -0.44, 0.79; p = 0.582) between CLO and other treatments. However, clinical resolution (RR = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.17, 2.22; p = 0.003) and symptoms improvement (RR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.17, 2.77; p = 0.008) were significantly different between CLO and other treatments. Moreover, there was a significant reduction in the total lesion size with CLO treatment (WMD = -0.58, 95% CI: -1.03, -0.13; p = 0.011). In addition, CLO showed no statistical incidence of adverse events (RR = 1.46, 95% CI: 0.86, 2.50; p = 0.161) and relapse (RR = 1.56, 95% CI: 0.66, 3.71; p = 0.314) than other therapies. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 randomized clinical trials supported the long-term application of CLO as an effective regimen in OLP patients.

Oral Microbiota Linking Associations of Dietary Factors with Recurrent Oral Ulcer.

Recurrent oral ulcer (ROU) is a prevalent and painful oral disorder with implications beyond physical symptoms, impacting quality of life and necessitating comprehensive management. Understanding the interplays between dietary factors, oral microbiota, and ROU is crucial for developing targeted interventions to improve oral and systemic health. Dietary behaviors and plant-based diet indices including the healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI) were measured based on a validated food frequency questionnaire. Saliva microbial features were profiled using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. In this cross-sectional study of 579 community-based participants (aged 22-74 years, 66.5% females), 337 participants had ROU. Participants in the highest tertile of hPDI exhibited a 43% lower prevalence of ROU (odds ratio [OR] = 0.57, 95%CI: 0.34-0.94), compared to the lowest tertile, independent of demographics, lifestyle, and major chronic diseases. Participants with ROU tended to have lower oral bacterial richness (Observed ASVs, p < 0.05) and distinct bacterial structure compared to those without ROU (PERMANOVA, p = 0.02). The relative abundances of 16 bacterial genera were associated with ROU (p-FDR < 0.20). Of these, Olsenella, TM7x, and unclassified Muribaculaceae were identified as potential mediators in the association between hPDI and ROU (all p-mediations < 0.05). This study provides evidence of the intricate interplays among dietary factors, oral microbiota, and ROU, offering insights that may inform preventive and therapeutic strategies targeting diets and oral microbiomes.

Inflammatory cytokines mediating the effect of oral lichen planus on oral cavity cancer risk: a univariable and multivariable mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND: While observational studies and experimental data suggest a link between oral lichen planus (OLP) and oral cavity cancer (OCC), the causal relationship and the role of inflammatory cytokines remain unclear. METHODS: This study employed a univariable and multivariable Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the causal relationship between OLP and the risk of OCC. Additionally, the potential role of inflammatory cytokines in modulating this association was explored. Instrumental variables were derived from genetic variants associated with OLP (n = 377,277) identified in Finngen R9 datasets, with 41 inflammatory cytokines as potential mediators, and OCC (n = 4,151) as the outcome variable. Analytical methods including Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW), Weighted Median, MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO were utilized to assess the causal links among OLP, inflammatory cytokines, and OCC risk. Multivariable MR (MVMR) was then applied to quantify the mediating effects of these cytokines in the relationship between OLP and increased OCC risk. RESULTS: MR analysis provided strong evidence of a causal relationship between OLP (OR = 1.417, 95% CI = 1.167-1.721, p < 0.001) and the risk of OCC. Furthermore, two inflammatory cytokines significantly influenced by OLP, IL-13 (OR = 1.088, 95% CI: 1.007-1.175, P = 0.032) and IL-9 (OR = 1.085, 95% CI: 1.005-1.171, P = 0.037), were identified. Subsequent analysis revealed a significant causal association only between IL-13 (OR = 1.408, 95% CI: 1.147-1.727, P = 0.001) and higher OCC risk, establishing it as a potential mediator. Further, MVMR analysis indicated that IL-13 (OR = 1.437, 95% CI = 1.139-1.815, P = 0.002) mediated the relationship between OLP and OCC, accounting for 8.13% of the mediation. CONCLUSION: This study not only elucidates the potential causal relationship between OLP and the risk of OCC but also highlights the pivotal mediating role of IL-13 in this association.

SLPA-Net: A Real-Time Recognition Network for Intelligent Stomata Localization and Phenotypic Analysis.

Plant stomatal phenotype traits play an important role in improving crop water use efficiency, stress resistance and yield. However, at present, the acquisition of phenotype traits mainly relies on manual measurement, which is time-consuming and laborious. In order to obtain high-throughput stomatal phenotype traits, we proposed a real-time recognition network SLPA-Net for stomata localization and phenotypic analysis. After locating and identifying stomatal density data, ellipse fitting is used to automatically obtain phenotype data such as apertures. Aiming at the problems of small stomata and high similarity to background, we introduced ECANet to improve the accuracy of stoma and aperture location. In order to effectively alleviate the unbalance problem in bounding box regression, we replaced the Loss function with a more effective Focal EIoU Loss. The experimental results show that SLPA-Net has excellent performance in the migration generalization and robustness of stomata and apertures detection and identification, as well as the correlation between stomata phenotype data obtained and artificial data.

Roles of the Siglec family in bone and bone homeostasis.

Tremendous progress has been seen in the study of the role of sialic acid binding im-munoglobulin type lectins (Siglecs) in osteoimmunology in the past two decades. Interest in Siglecs as immune checkpoints has grown from the recognition that Siglecs have relevance to human disease. Siglecs play important roles in inflammation and cancer, and play key roles in immune cell signaling. By recognizing common sialic acid containing glycans on glycoproteins and glycolipids as regulatory receptors for immune cell signals, Siglecs are expressed on most immune cells and play important roles in normal homeostasis and self-tolerance. In this review, we describe the role that the siglec family plays in bone and bone homeostasis, including the regulation of osteoclast differentiation as well as recent advances in inflammation, cancer and osteoporosis. Particular emphasis is placed on the relevant functions of Siglecs in self-tolerance and as pattern recognition receptors in immune responses, thereby potentially providing emerging strategies for the treatment of bone related diseases.

Sample Collection, DNA Extraction, and Library Construction Protocols of the Human Microbiome Studies in the International Human Phenome Project.

The human microbiome plays a crucial role in human health. In the past decade, advances in high-throughput sequencing technologies and analytical software have significantly improved our knowledge of the human microbiome. However, most studies concerning the human microbiome did not provide repeatable protocols to guide the sample collection, handling, and processing procedures, which impedes obtaining valid and timely microbial taxonomic and functional results. This protocol provides detailed operation methods of human microbial sample collection, DNA extraction, and library construction for both the amplicon sequencing-based measurements of the microbial samples from the human nasal cavity, oral cavity, and skin, as well as the shotgun metagenomic sequencing-based measurements of the human stool samples among adult participants. This study intends to develop practical procedure standards to improve the reproducibility of microbiota profiling of human samples. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43657-023-00097-y.

Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety in Patients With Chronic Rhinosinusitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: We performed a meta-analysis and estimated the prevalence of depression and anxiety and their related factors among patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and CBM databases. REVIEW METHODS: A systematic search was performed for relevant studies published before August 17, 2021. A random effects model was used to estimate the prevalence of depression and anxiety. Subgroup analysis was performed by continent or region, study setting, sex, sample size, diagnosis, and assessment method. RESULTS: Twenty-two articles covering 40,956 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled crude prevalence estimates of depression and anxiety were 25.2% (95% CI, 20.9%-29.6%) and 28.9% (95% CI, 16.1%-41.6%), respectively. Subgroup analyses revealed the following: (1) continent or region, study setting, sex, sample size, depression assessment method, and CRS diagnosis were significantly correlated with the prevalence of depression, and (2) continent or region, study setting, sample size, anxiety assessment method, and CRS diagnosis were significantly correlated with the prevalence of anxiety. Meta-regression analysis revealed that study setting and sample size were negatively associated with the pooled prevalence of depression. In contrast, CRS diagnosis and anxiety assessment method were positively associated with the pooled prevalence of anxiety. CONCLUSION: Depression and anxiety are common in patients with CRS, especially among clinics. Therefore, in patients with CRS, screening and early diagnosis of depression and anxiety are necessary for prevention and treatment.

Delirium prevalence in geriatric emergency department patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: In the emergency department, delirium associated with serious adverse outcomes is common in geriatric patients. We performed a meta-analysis and estimated the prevalence of delirium and its related factors among geriatric emergency department patients. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and CBM databases were searched before November 7, 2021. The random-effects model was used to estimate the prevalence of delirium. In addition, subgroup analyses were performed based on continent or region, publication year, age, sample size, and diagnostic criteria or assessment methods. RESULTS: 30 studies involving 19,534 geriatric patients in the emergency department were included. The overall pooled crude prevalence estimate of delirium was 15.2% [95% confidence interval (CI) 12.5-18.0%]. Subgroup analyses revealed that the region, publication year, age, sample size, and delirium assessment methods were significantly correlated with the prevalence of delirium. Meta-regression analysis showed that the publication year was positively, while the sample size was negatively associated with the pooled prevalence of delirium. CONCLUSION: In the emergency department, delirium is common in geriatric patients. We should pay specific attention to delirium screening, prevention, and treatment in geriatric patients. Overall appropriate interventions should be utilized to reduce the occurrence of delirium and the adverse outcomes.

The prevalence of oropharyngeal dysphagia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients seriously influence the long-term prognosis of COPD patients. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors of OD in patients with COPD through a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. METHODS: We identified all observational studies on the prevalence of OD in COPD patients by searching PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), the China Biomedical Literature Service System (CBM), the Wanfang Database, and the WeiPu (VIP) databases from database establishment to 1 December 2020. RESULTS: Results of the meta-analysis showed that the prevalence of OD in COPD patients was 32.7% (95%CI=30.1, 35.4, I2=91.5%). Dyspnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD), xerostomia, sputum bacteria, poor physical capacity, poor quality of life, and high CRP level are the risk factors for OD in COPD patients. CONCLUSION: : The prevalence of OD in COPD patients is high. There were some differences in OD among COPD patients with different sex, ages, continents, evaluation methods, patient source and COPD exacerbation.

Effect of an acetylene bond on hydrogen adsorption in diamond-like carbon allotropes: from first principles to atomic simulation.

By inserting an acetylene bond into the organic linkers of porous materials, hydrogen storage can be significantly enhanced; however, the mechanism of this enhancement remains elusive. Herein, we developed a new diamond-like carbon allotrope (referred as diamond-like diacetylene a.k.a. DDA) with medium pores constructed by inserting -C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C-C[triple bond, length as m-dash]C- ligands into the -C-C- bonds of diamond. The structural, mechanical, and electrical properties, as well as hydrogen storage capacities were investigated for this novel material using density functional theory and Monte Carlo simulations. The optimized geometry of DDA shows a high surface area and free pore volume of ca. 5498.76 m2 g-1 and 2.0486 m3 g-1, respectively. DDA also exhibits structural stability and special electronic properties. Interestingly, DDA exhibits exceptional gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity as well as volumetric one. The excess gravimetric and volumetric H2 uptakes at 77 K and 2.0 MPa hit a maximum of 14.12 wt% and 603.35 cm3 (STP) cm-3, respectively, which substantially exceeds those previously reported for MOF or PAF materials. Even at 243 K and 12 MPa, the total gravimetric H2 uptake of DDA reaches 5.38 wt%. To the best of our knowledge, DDA is one of porous materials with the maximum physical hydrogen uptake. It is also one of the few materials that can be close to meeting hydrogen storage target of the US department of energy at room temperature. Significantly, DDA shows the deliverable hydrogen storage capacity up to 5.28 wt% at room temperature. Through analyzing the effect of the acetylene position in the DLCAs on their hydrogen storage capacities, we found that the high hydrogen adsorption performance of DDA is mainly attributed to its high surface area, large number of adsorption sites, and appropriate binding energy. In summary, the newly developed DDA is a promising candidate for hydrogen storage and provides a new possibility for synthesizing high-performance adsorbents.