Aim
To investigate the relationship between apical periodontitis and atherosclerosis in rats by lipid profile and carotid artery intima tunic measurement, and histological and histometric evaluation ...of periapical lesions.
Methodology
Forty male Wistar rats were allocated into four groups: control (C), with apical periodontitis (AP), with atherosclerosis (AT) and with AP and AT (AP + AT). Atherosclerosis was induced using a high‐lipid diet associated with a surgical ligature in the carotid artery and a super dosage of vitamin D3. AP was induced via pulp exposure to the oral environment. At 45 and 75 days, serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C) and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) were measured. The maxillary and mandibular jaws and carotid artery were collected and processed for histological analysis. The Kruskal–Wallis or Mann–Whitney test was performed for nonparametric data, and the Tukey’s or Student’s t‐test was performed for parametric data (P < 0.05).
Results
In nonatherosclerotic animals, the induction of apical periodontitis increased TG levels significantly, from 63.1 ± 11.4 mg dL−1 in group C to 88.2 ± 7.9 mg dL−1 in the AP group (P < 0.05). The induction of AP was associated with a trend for higher TC and LDL‐C levels in atherosclerotic animals (P > 0.05); however, it only significantly increased TG levels, from 93.2 ± 18.0 mg dL−1 in AT group to 121.9 ± 14.5 mg dL−1 in the AP + AT group (P < 0.05). Animals in the AP + AT group had a 36.5% increase in the thickness of the carotid intima tunic when compared with the AT group (P < 0.05). The intensity of the inflammatory infiltrate was significantly larger in the AP + AT group when compared with AP group (P < 0.05). The AP + AT group exhibited significantly greater alveolar bone loss, with a periapical lesion size of 206.4 ± 56.3 × 104 μm2, compared with 151.4 ± 49.1 × 104 μm2 in the AP group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
Apical periodontitis influenced triglyceride levels, increasing them even in the absence of atherosclerosis, and influenced the increase in the thickness of the carotid artery intima tunic in the presence of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis intensified the inflammatory reaction and increased bone resorption in periapical lesions.
Background
This study estimated the inter‐rater reliability and agreement of the somatosensory assessment performed at masseter and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) region in a group of healthy female ...and male participants.
Methods
Forty healthy participants (20 men and 20 women) were evaluated in two sessions by two different examiners. Cold detection threshold (CDT), warm detection threshold (WDT), thermal sensory limen (TSL), cold pain threshold (CPT), heat pain threshold (HPT), mechanical detection threshold (MDT), mechanical pain threshold (MPT), wind‐up ratio (WUR) and pressure pain threshold (PPT) were assessed on the skin overlying TMJ and masseter body. Mixed ANOVA, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and standard error of measurement (SEM) were applied to the data (α = 5%). Nonoverlapping 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of ICCs were considered significantly different.
Results
The ICCs of 77% of all quantitative sensory testing (QST) measurements were considered fair to excellent (ICCs: 0.47–0.97), and WUR presented the lowest values. The reliability of WDT, TSL and HPT of masseter was significantly higher than TMJ, whereas the MDT reliability of TMJ was higher than masseter. In addition, the following combination of test/sites presented significantly lower ICCs for women: HPT, MDT of TMJ and MPT of both TMJ and masseter. Finally, the highest SEM values were presented for CPT and MPT.
Conclusion
The overall somatosensory assessment of the masticatory structures performed by two examiners can be considered sufficiently reliable to discriminate participants, except WUR. Possible site and sex influences on the reproducibility parameters should be taken into account for an appropriate interpretation and clinical application of QST.
Significance
The test site and participant's sex can significantly influence the relative reliability and agreement of quantitative sensory testing applied to musculoskeletal orofacial region, which affect the capacity to discriminate participants and to evaluate changes over time.
Eutopic endometrium in endometriosis has molecular evidence of resistance to progesterone (P(4)) and activation of the PKA pathway in the stromal compartment. To investigate global and temporal ...responses of eutopic endometrium to P(4), we compared early (6-h), intermediate (48-h), and late (14-Day) transcriptomes, signaling pathways, and networks of human endometrial stromal fibroblasts (hESF) from women with endometriosis (hESF(endo)) with hESF from women without endometriosis (hESF(nonendo)). Endometrial biopsy samples were obtained from subjects with and without mild peritoneal endometriosis (n = 4 per group), and hESF were isolated and treated with P(4) (1 μM) plus estradiol (E(2)) (10 nM), E(2) alone (10 nM), or vehicle for up to 14 days. Total RNA was subjected to microarray analysis using a Gene 1.0 ST (Affymetrix) platform and analyzed by using bioinformatic algorithms, and data were validated by quantitative real-time PCR and ELISA. Results revealed unique kinetic expression of specific genes and unique pathways, distinct biological and molecular processes, and signaling pathways and networks during the early, intermediate, and late responses to P(4) in both hESF(nonendo) and hESF(endo), although a blunted response to P(4) was observed in the latter. The normal response of hESF to P(4) involves a tightly regulated kinetic cascade involving key components in the P(4) receptor and MAPK signaling pathways that results in inhibition of E(2)-mediated proliferation and eventual differentiation to the decidual phenotype, but this was not established in the hESF(endo) early response to P(4). The abnormal response of this cell type to P(4) may contribute to compromised embryonic implantation and infertility in women with endometriosis.
Autophagy is a conserved process involved in lysosomal degradation of protein aggregates and damaged organelles. The role of autophagy in cancer is a topic of intense debate, and the underlying ...mechanism is still not clear. The hypoxia-inducible factor 2α (HIF2α), an oncogenic transcription factor implicated in renal tumorigenesis, is known to be degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). Here, we report that HIF2α is in part constitutively degraded by autophagy. HIF2α interacts with autophagy-lysosome system components. Inhibition of autophagy increases HIF2α, whereas induction of autophagy decreases HIF2α. The E3 ligase von Hippel-Lindau and autophagy receptor protein p62 are required for autophagic degradation of HIF2α. There is a compensatory interaction between the UPS and autophagy in HIF2α degradation. Autophagy inactivation redirects HIF2α to proteasomal degradation, whereas proteasome inhibition induces autophagy and increases the HIF2α-p62 interaction. Importantly, clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is frequently associated with monoallelic loss and/or mutation of autophagy-related gene ATG7, and the low expression level of autophagy genes correlates with ccRCC progression. The protein levels of ATG7 and beclin 1 are also reduced in ccRCC tumors. This study indicates that autophagy has an anticancer role in ccRCC tumorigenesis, and suggests that constitutive autophagic degradation of HIF2α is a novel tumor suppression mechanism.
Aim
To investigate the plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin and tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) of rats with maternal apical periodontitis (AP) and to explore the effect of maternal ...inflammation on the initial steps of insulin signalling and the inflammatory pathway in the gastrocnemius muscle (GM) and periepididymal white adipose tissue (pWAT) of adult offspring.
Methodology
Fifteen female Wistar rats were distributed into a control group (CN), a group with 1 tooth with AP (1AP) and a group with 4 teeth with AP (4AP). Thirty days following induction of AP, female rats from all groups were mated with healthy male rats. When male offspring reached 75 days of age, plasma concentrations of glucose, insulin and TNF‐α were quantified. Insulin resistance was evaluated by the homoeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA‐IR) index. Phosphorylation status of pp185 tyrosine, insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS‐1) serine, IκB kinase α/β (IKKα/β) and c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) in the GM and pWAT were measured by Western blot. Analysis of variance was performed, followed by the Tukey's post hoc test. P values <0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.
Results
Maternal AP promoted insulin resistance, impaired the initial steps of insulin signalling, significantly increased plasma concentrations of insulin (P < 0.001) and TNF‐α (P < 0.05), and enhanced IKKα/β phosphorylation in the GM and pWAT (P < 0.05) of adult offspring. However, maternal AP did not affect fasting glycaemia and JNK phosphorylation in the GM and pWAT of adult offspring.
Conclusions
Maternal AP was associated with insulin resistance in adult offspring through alterations in insulin signalling and inflammation pathways. The study provides information on the impact of maternal AP on the development of metabolic alterations such as insulin resistance in adult offspring and reinforces the importance of preventing maternal AP in order to maintain the general health of offspring.
We present a near-infrared study of the stellar content of 35 Hii regions in the Galactic plane, 24 of which have been classified as giant Hii regions. We have selected these optically obscured ...star-forming regions from the catalogues of Russeil, Conti & Crowther and Bica et al. In this paper, we have used the near-infrared domain J-, H- and Ks-band colour images to visually inspect the sample. Also, we have used colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams to indicate ionizing star candidates, as well as the presence of young stellar objects such as classical T Tauri stars and massive young stellar objects (MYSOs). We have obtained Spitzer Infrared Array Camera images for each region to help further characterize them. Spitzer and near-infrared morphology were used to place each cluster in an evolutionary phase of development. Spitzer photometry was also used to classify the MYSOs. A comparison of the main sequence in the colour-magnitude diagrams for each observed cluster was used to infer whether or not the cluster kinematic distance is consistent with brightnesses of the stellar sources. We find qualitative agreement for a dozen of the regions, but about half the regions have near-infrared photometry that suggests they may be closer than the kinematic distance. A significant fraction of these already have spectrophotometric parallaxes that support smaller distances. These discrepancies between kinematic and spectrophotometric distances are not a result of the spectrophotometric methodologies, as independent non-kinematic measurements are in agreement with the spectrophotometric results. For instance, the trigonometric parallaxes of star-forming regions were collected from the literature and show the same effect of smaller distances when compared to the kinematic results. In our sample of Hii regions, most of the clusters are evident in the near-infrared images. Finally, it is possible to distinguish among qualitative evolutionary stages for these objects. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
We present a near-infrared study of the stellar content of 35 H ii regions in the Galactic plane, 24 of which have been classified as giant H ii regions. We have selected these optically obscured ...star-forming regions from the catalogues of Russeil, Conti & Crowther and Bica et al. In this paper, we have used the near-infrared domain J-, H- and K
s-band colour images to visually inspect the sample. Also, we have used colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams to indicate ionizing star candidates, as well as the presence of young stellar objects such as classical T Tauri stars and massive young stellar objects (MYSOs). We have obtained Spitzer Infrared Array Camera images for each region to help further characterize them. Spitzer and near-infrared morphology were used to place each cluster in an evolutionary phase of development. Spitzer photometry was also used to classify the MYSOs. A comparison of the main sequence in the colour-magnitude diagrams for each observed cluster was used to infer whether or not the cluster kinematic distance is consistent with brightnesses of the stellar sources. We find qualitative agreement for a dozen of the regions, but about half the regions have near-infrared photometry that suggests they may be closer than the kinematic distance. A significant fraction of these already have spectrophotometric parallaxes that support smaller distances. These discrepancies between kinematic and spectrophotometric distances are not a result of the spectrophotometric methodologies, as independent non-kinematic measurements are in agreement with the spectrophotometric results. For instance, the trigonometric parallaxes of star-forming regions were collected from the literature and show the same effect of smaller distances when compared to the kinematic results. In our sample of H ii regions, most of the clusters are evident in the near-infrared images. Finally, it is possible to distinguish among qualitative evolutionary stages for these objects.
Aim
To investigate hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)‐induced responsiveness in pulp cells using heme oxygenase‐1 (HO‐1) immunolabelling, Jun‐D immunolabelling to study the effects of H2O2 on odontoblastic ...differentiation and CD90+/CD73+/CD105+/CD45‐ cell counting for in vivo identification of mesenchymal stem cells in the pulp.
Methodology
The maxillary molars of 50 rats were treated with a bleaching gel (35% H2O2, 1 × 30 min) or placebo gel (control groups). At 2, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days after the treatment (n = 10), inflammation in pulp tissue was analysed by haematoxylin–eosin staining, HO‐1‐ and Jun‐D‐immunolabelled cells were counted in each third of the pulp chamber, and the number of CD90+/CD73+/CD105+/CD45‐ cells was quantified by immunofluorescence. The results were assessed using the Paired t‐test or Wilcoxon signed‐rank test (P < 0.05).
Results
Significant H2O2‐induced inflammation was noted at 2 and 3 days (P < 0.05), with tertiary dentine formation occurring from 7 days. The bleached specimens had greater HO‐1 immunolabelling in the middle and cervical thirds of the coronal pulp at 2 and 3 days, in all thirds at 7 days, and in the occlusal third at 15 days (P < 0.05), and significant nuclear Jun‐D immunolabelling in the cervical third at 2 and 3 days and in the occlusal and middle thirds at 7 days (P < 0.05). Bleached and control groups had low numbers of CD90+/CD73+/CD105+/CD45‐ cells in the pulp at all periods (P > 0.05).
Conclusions
Pulp cells responded to oxidative stress by expressing HO‐1 during the post‐bleaching inflammation phase until the beginning of the repair phase. Jun‐D expression occurred during the reduction of inflammation and the beginning of tertiary dentine production. The presence of oxidative stress did not influence the number of CD90+/CD73+/CD105+/CD45‐ cells identified in vivo in the dental pulp.
To report the morphology of maternal kidneys captured on fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including kidney length, volume, renal pelvis diameter, and corticomedullary differentiation in ...pregnancy.
A retrospective study of maternal kidney morphology captured incidentally on fetal MRI. Women without chronic kidney disease, with a complete view of both kidneys and a singleton pregnancy were included. Kidney length, maximal renal pelvis diameter, kidney volume, and corticomedullary differentiation ratio were measured independently in duplicate. Associations with maternal and pregnancy variables were explored using linear regression.
MRI images from 42 women were performed at 22–32 weeks' gestation. Serum creatinine concentrations are not checked routinely during pregnancy and were available for 15 (36%) women, with a median creatinine of 57 μmol/l (IQR: 50–63 μmol/l). Mean interpolar lengths were 10.9 and 10.4 cm for the left and right kidneys and varied with height. Mean maximal renal pelvis diameters were 9 mm and 12 mm, with upper reference intervals of 17 and 25 mm for the left and right kidneys, respectively. Renal volume in pregnancy was within the non-pregnant reference interval and varied with height and gestation.
Maternal kidney length and volume in pregnancy are within the normal reference intervals for non-pregnant women. Renal pelvis diameter in pregnancy measured using MRI is substantially higher than described previously by ultrasound, with implications for routine reporting.
•Maternal kidney and renal tract morphology in pregnancy can be assessed using MRI.•Maternal kidney length and volume are within non-pregnant reference intervals.•Maternal renal pelvis diameter is greater than previously reported using ultrasound.
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