Impact and Mechanisms of Action of BDNF on Neurological Disorders, Cancer, and Cardiovascular Diseases.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is primarily expressed in the brain and nervous tissues, is the most abundant neurotrophic factor in the adult brain. BDNF serves not only as a major neurotrophic signaling agent in the human body but also as a crucial neuromodulator. Widely distributed throughout the central nervous system (CNS), both BDNF and its receptors play a significant role in promoting neuronal survival and growth, thereby exerting neuroprotective effects.

The influence of microorganisms on bone homeostasis in apical periodontitis.

Objective: This review aims to provide an overview of the role of microorganisms in the onset and progression of periapical diseases, particularly regarding their effects on bone homeostasis.

Design: The search for this narrative review was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar using relevant keywords, including checking reference lists of journal articles by hand searching.

Results: Microorganisms directly promote osteoclasts through pathways such as nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK), while inhibiting osteoblasts function by interfering with the wingless-related integration site (Wnt)/β-catenin pathway in the periapical area.

Insidious pericardial journey of an orthodontic metallic retainer wire.

Ingestion of foreign bodies may be a frequent cause of painful dysphagia. We report the case of a metallic wire impacted in the oesophagus with potentially devastating consequences.

Burning Mouth Syndrome May Essentially Be Related To Psychoneuroimmunology: Mechanism Hypothesis.

Background: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic intraoral dysesthesia with elusive aetiology, only few studies have been carried out on immune function in BMS patients. We aimed to investigate the role immune function paly in the pathogenesis of BMS by psychoneuroimmunology (PNI).

Method: We recruited 44 BMS patients and 31 controls.

Cone-Beam Computed Tomography Evaluation of Maxillary Sinus Changes in Orthodontic Patients Treated With Extraction of Four First Premolars.

The objective of this study was to assess alterations in maxillary sinus mucosa thickness and the distances between the apexes of specific teeth and the maxillary sinus base in adult patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with the extraction of four first premolars. Twenty-one adults, averaging 24.85 years of age, received orthodontic therapy involving the extraction of all four first premolars.

Reappraisal and refined diagnosis of ultrasonography and histological findings for hydatidiform moles: a multicentre retrospective study of 821 patients.

Aims: Specific identification of a hydatidiform mole (HM) and subclassification of a complete hydatidiform mole (CHM) or partial hydatidiform mole (PHM) are critical. This study aimed to reappraise the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography and histology with a refined diagnosis.

Methods: This was a retrospective, multicentre cohort study of 821 patients with histologically suspected HM specimens.

[An ensemble model for assisting early Alzheimer's disease diagnosis based on structural magnetic resonance imaging with dual-time-point fusion].

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Due to the subtlety of symptoms in the early stages of AD, rapid and accurate clinical diagnosis is challenging, leading to a high rate of misdiagnosis. Current research on early diagnosis of AD has not sufficiently focused on tracking the progression of the disease over an extended period in subjects.

Oleanolic acid and its analogues: promising therapeutics for kidney disease.

Kidney diseases pose a significant threat to human health due to their high prevalence and mortality rates. Worryingly, the clinical use of drugs for kidney diseases is associated with more side effects, so more effective and safer treatments are urgently needed. Oleanolic acid (OA) is a common pentacyclic triterpenoid that is widely available in nature and has been shown to have protective effects in kidney disease.

The role of Ca signalling and InsP3R in the pathogenesis of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.

Background: In order to contribute new insights for future prevention and treatment of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), and to promote positive pregnancy outcomes, we evaluated serum Ca levels and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (InsP3R) expression in the liver tissue of a rat ICP model.

Methods: After establishing the model by injection of oestradiol benzoate and progesterone into pregnant rats, animals were divided into normal control ( = 5) and ICP model groups ( = 5). The expression of InsP3R protein in the liver, and serum levels of Ca, glycocholic acid and bile acid were detected.

FedDUS: Lung tumor segmentation on CT images through federated semi-supervised with dynamic update strategy.

Background And Objective: Lung tumor annotation is a key upstream task for further diagnosis and prognosis. Although deep learning techniques have promoted automation of lung tumor segmentation, there remain challenges impeding its application in clinical practice, such as a lack of prior annotation for model training and data-sharing among centers.

Methods: In this paper, we use data from six centers to design a novel federated semi-supervised learning (FSSL) framework with dynamic model aggregation and improve segmentation performance for lung tumors.

Acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid inhibits cell proliferation and growth of oral squamous cell carcinoma via RAB7B-mediated autophagy.

Natural products can overcome the limitations of conventional chemotherapy. Acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA) as a natural product extracted from frankincense, exhibited chemotherapeutic activities in different cancers. However, whether AKBA exerts inhibiting effect of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells growth and the mechanism need to be explored.

MAD-Former: A Traceable Interpretability Model for Alzheimer's Disease Recognition Based on Multi-Patch Attention.

The integration of structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and deep learning techniques is one of the important research directions for the automatic diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite the satisfactory performance achieved by existing voxel-based models based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs), such models only handle AD-related brain atrophy at a single spatial scale and lack spatial localization of abnormal brain regions based on model interpretability. To address the above limitations, we propose a traceable interpretability model for AD recognition based on multi-patch attention (MAD-Former).

Multifidus lesions: A possible pathological component in patients with low back pain after posterior lumbar surgery.

There are few histological studies on multifidus after lumbar surgery, and it is not clear whether multifidus changes affect the clinical outcome after lumbar surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between multifidus changes and clinical outcomes after lumbar surgery. Patients underwent internal fixation removal after lumbar posterior surgery were enrolled.

The impact of chemical properties of the solid-liquid-adsorbate interfaces on the entropy-enthalpy compensation involved in adsorption.

Despite extensive studies on the thermodynamic mechanism governing molecular adsorption at the solid-water interface, a comprehensive understanding of the crucial role of interface properties in mediating the entropy-enthalpy compensation during adsorption is lacking, particularly at a quantitative level. Herein, we employed two types of surface models (hydroxyapatite and graphene) along with a series of amino acids to successfully elucidate how distinct interfacial features dictate the delicate balance between entropy and enthalpy variations. The adsorption of all amino acids on the hydroxyapatite surface is an enthalpy-dominated process, where the water-induced enthalpic component of the free energy and the surface-adsorbate electrostatic interaction term alternatively act as the driving force for adsorption in different regions of the surface.

Luteal phase support of intramuscular progesterone associated with lower hypertensive disorders of pregnancy as compared to vaginal progesterone: A cohort study.

Objective: To compare the hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) risk between vaginal and intramuscular (IM) progesterone in programmed frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study at a tertiary hospital, and only women who achieved ongoing pregnancy after programmed FET between January 2018 and June 2022 were included. Women with chronic hypertension before pregnancy or with history of gestational hypertension or pre-eclampsia in previous pregnancies were excluded.

Emerging roles of circular RNAs in the invasion and metastasis of head and neck cancer: Possible functions and mechanisms.

Head and neck cancer (HNC) is the seventh most prevalent malignancy worldwide in 2020. Cancer metastasis is the main cause of poor prognosis in HNC patients. Recently, circular RNAs (circRNAs), initially thought to have no biological function, are attracting increasing attention, and their crucial roles in mediating HNC metastasis are being extensively investigated.

Physiological indices and liver gene expression related to glucose supply in Brandt's vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii) exhibit species- and oxygen concentration-specific responses to hypoxia.

Brandt's vole (Lasiopodomys brandtii) is a species with hypoxia tolerance, and glucose serves as the primary energy substrate under hypoxia. However, the glucose supply in Brandt's voles under hypoxia has not been studied. This study aimed to investigate characteristics in physiological indices and liver gene expression associated with glucose supply in Brandt's voles under hypoxia.

Advent of severe mitral regurgitation in surgical ventricular restoration and ventricular septal rupture repair.

Background: Per-procedural severe mitral regurgitation is a rare complication in concomitant surgical ventricular restoration and postinfarction ventricular septal rupture repair. It is challenging to discover the underlying etiology and adopt an appropriate strategy, in particular, in a high-risk patient.

Case Presentation: Semi-emergent surgical ventricular restoration combined with ventricular septal rupture closure and coronary artery bypassing was performed in a 67-year-old male patient.

Hydroxychloroquine is effective in oral lichen planus: A multicenter, randomized, controlled trial.

Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the safety and benefit of short-term application of hydroxychloroquine in the management of atrophic/erosive/ulcerative oral lichen planus (OLP).

Methods: This multicenter, randomized, controlled, evaluator-blinded, prospective clinical trial was performed from October 1, 2019, to September 1, 2022. A total of 99 patients were randomized to receive systemic use of hydroxychloroquine (n = 50), or topical use of 0.