Inhibition of Alk signaling promotes the induction of human salivary-gland-derived organoids.

Hyposalivation and xerostomia are the cause of several morbidities, such as dental caries, painful mucositis, oral fungal infections, sialadenitis and dysphagia. For these reasons, preservation of normal saliva secretion is critical for the maintenance of functionally normal oral homeostasis and for keeping good health. Several strategies for restoring salivary gland function have been reported, from different points of view, based on the use of salivary-gland-derived epithelial stem/progenitor cells and tissue engineering approaches to induce organoids that mimic salivary glands.

Hypertrophic change of facet joint in the cervical spine.

Background: There have been few studies on degenerative changes of the cervical facet joint. This study was conducted to examine the image and clinical characteristics of patients with cervical facet hypertrophy and the significance of such characteristics.

Materials And Methods: The subjects were 215 patients with degenerative disease of the cervical spine, and they were divided into a hypertrophic change (+) group (32 patients) and a hypertrophic change (-) group (183 patients).

Clinical symptoms of patients with intervertebral vacuum phenomenon.

Objective: Intervertebral vacuum phenomenon (IVP) often occurs in lower lumbar intervertebral spaces, however, there are no reports regarding the clinical symptoms of IVP. The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical symptoms of patients with IVP.

Methods: The subjects enrolled in this study were 105 consecutive patients who visited the spine clinic of our hospital between January and June 2004, and were diagnosed as having lumbar spinal canal stenosis.

A new evaluation method for lumbar spinal instability: passive lumbar extension test.

Background And Purpose: Although many studies have described clinical examination measures for the diagnosis of lumbar spinal instability, few of them have investigated the sensitivity and specificity of the measures that were used. The authors devised a passive lumbar extension (PLE) test for assessing lumbar spinal instability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the sensitivity, specificity, and positive likelihood ratio of this test.

Pre-and postoperative psychological characteristics in mothers of patients with idiopathic scoliosis.

The purpose of the present study was to clarify changes in the psychological state of mothers of patients with idiopathic scoliosis, and to clarify relationships between the psychological states of the mothers and patients. The Maudsley personality inventory (MPI) was administered to 30 patients with idiopathic scoliosis who underwent surgery and their mothers preoperatively and at about 1 year postoperatively. We investigated the relationships between preoperative MPI scores and postoperative scores in patients and their mothers, respectively, and the relationships between MPI scores for patients and mothers.

PBS buffer solutions with different pH values can change porosity of DNA-chitosan complexes.

We examined the effect of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) solution with different pH values on the formation of porosity in the DNA/chitosan complexes, and evaluated the intercalation behavior of the complexes. Four different PBS solutions with pH = 6.0, 7.

Assessment of gait and balance in patients with spinal diseases using the leg reposition test.

We devised a new leg reposition test, to assess gait and balance in patients with spinal diseases. This study included 344 patients who were scheduled to undergo spine surgery; 14 (4.1%) patients showed positive results.