Objectives
This study aimed to assess possible dental side effects associated with long-term use of an adjustable oral appliance compared with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in patients ...with the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and to study the relationship between these possible side effects and the degree of mandibular protrusion associated with oral appliance therapy.
Materials and methods
As part of a previously conducted RCT, 51 patients were randomized to oral appliance therapy and 52 patients to CPAP therapy. At baseline and after a 2-year follow-up, dental plaster study models in full occlusion were obtained which were thereupon analyzed with respect to relevant variables.
Results
Long-term use of an oral appliance resulted in small but significant dental changes compared with CPAP. In the oral appliance group, overbite and overjet decreased 1.2 (±1.1) mm and 1.5 (±1.5) mm, respectively. Furthermore, we found a significantly larger anterior–posterior change in the occlusion (−1.3 ± 1.5 mm) in the oral appliance group compared to the CPAP group (−0.1 ± 0.6 mm). Moreover, both groups showed a significant decrease in number of occlusal contact points in the (pre)molar region. Linear regression analysis revealed that the decrease in overbite was associated with the mean mandibular protrusion during follow-up regression coefficient (
β
) = −0.02, 95 % confidence interval (−0.04 to −0.00).
Conclusions
Oral appliance therapy should be considered as a lifelong treatment, and there is a risk of dental side effects to occur.
Clinical relevance
Patients treated with the oral appliance need a thorough follow-up by a dentist or dental-specialist experienced in the field of dental sleep medicine.
In clinical practice, oral appliances are used primarily for obstructive sleep apnea patients who do not respond to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. We hypothesized that an oral ...appliance is not inferior to CPAP in treating obstructive sleep apnea effectively. We randomly assigned 103 individuals to oral-appliance or CPAP therapy. Polysomnography after 8–12 weeks indicated that treatment was effective for 39 of 51 persons using the oral appliance (76.5%) and for 43 of 52 persons using CPAP (82.7%). For the difference in effectiveness, a 95% two-sided confidence interval was calculated. Non-inferiority of oral-appliance therapy was considered to be established when the lower boundary of this interval exceeded −25%. The lower boundary of the confidence interval was −21.7%, indicating that oral-appliance therapy was not inferior to CPAP for effective treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. However, subgroup analysis revealed that oral-appliance therapy was less effective in individuals with severe disease (apnea-hypopnea index > 30). Since these people could be at particular cardiovascular risk, primary oral-appliance therapy appears to be supported only for those with non-severe apnea.
Abstract
Background
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is the primary cause of lower respiratory tract infections in children <5 years of age. Monocytes, especially in the respiratory tract, ...are suggested to contribute to RSV pathology, but their role is incompletely understood. With transcriptomic profiling of blood and airway monocytes, we describe the role of monocytes in severe RSV infection.
Methods
Tracheobronchial aspirates and blood samples were collected from control patients (n = 9) and those infected with RSV (n = 14) who were admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit. Monocytes (CD14+) were sorted and analyzed by RNA sequencing for transcriptomic profiling.
Results
Peripheral blood and airway monocytes of patients with RSV demonstrated increased expression of antiviral and interferon-responsive genes as compared with controls. Cytokine signaling showed a shared response between blood and airway monocytes while displaying responses that were more pronounced according to the tissue of origin. Airway monocytes upregulated additional genes related to migration and inflammation.
Conclusions
We found that the RSV-induced interferon response extends from the airways to the peripheral blood. Moreover, RSV induces a migration-promoting transcriptional program in monocytes. Unraveling the monocytic response and its role in the immune response to RSV infection could help the development of therapeutics to prevent severe disease.
Abstract Newborns are highly susceptible to infectious diseases, which may be due to impaired immune responses. This study aims to characterize the ontogeny of neonatal TLR-based innate immunity ...during the first month of life. Cellularity and Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonist-induced cytokine production were compared between cord blood obtained from healthy neonates born after uncomplicated gestation and delivery ( n = 18), neonatal venous blood obtained at the age of one month ( n = 96), and adult venous blood ( n = 17). Cord blood TLR agonist-induced production of the Th1-polarizing cytokines IL-12p70 and IFN-α was generally impaired, but for TLR3, 7 and 9 agonists, rapidly increased to adult levels during the first month of life. In contrast, TLR4 demonstrated a slower maturation, with low LPS-induced IL-12p70 production and high IL-10 production up until the age of one month. Polarization in neonatal cytokine responses to LPS could contribute to neonatal susceptibility to severe bacterial infection.
Oral appliance therapy is an alternative to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for treating the obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome. However, the ability to pre-select suitable ...candidates for either treatment is limited. The aim of this study was to assess the value of relevant variables that can predict the outcome of oral appliance and CPAP therapy. Fifty-one patients treated with oral appliance therapy and 52 patients treated with CPAP were included. Relevant clinical, polysomnographic, and cephalometric variables were determined at baseline. The predictive value of variables for treatment outcome was evaluated in univariate and multivariate analyses. The outcome of oral appliance therapy was favorable, especially in less obese patients with milder sleep apnea and with certain craniofacial characteristics (mandibular retrognathism in particular). Neither univariate nor multivariate analyses yielded variables that reliably predicted the outcome of CPAP. We conclude that the variables found in this study are valuable for pre-selecting suitable candidates for oral-appliance therapy.
Abstract The aim of this case-controlled study was to assess satisfaction with facial appearance and function, and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in bilateral cleft lip and palate patients ...(BCLP). The study sample was composed of adult BCLP subjects and controls matched for age, gender and socioeconomic status. Outcome measures included a self-administered questionnaire evaluating satisfaction with facial appearance, function and HRQL. Bivariate statistics were computed to analyse the association between BCLP status and outcome measures. Forty-three treated adult BCLP patients (mean age 28.2 years, SD 7.8) were compared to 43 controls without clefts (mean age 28.5 years, SD 8.0). Quantitative and qualitative assessment revealed that BCLP patients were significantly less satisfied with the appearance of the upper lip, the nose and nasal breathing. Additionally, satisfaction with facial appearance correlated positively with HRQL. For speech, hearing and drinking, quantitative scores did not differ between BCLP and controls, while qualitative assessment revealed that BCLP patients had considerable problems and concerns with these functions. This study underlines the importance of qualitative assessment of patient satisfaction with treatment outcome to identify individual problems and concerns not revealed by quantitative measures alone.
The emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant micro-organisms is a global concern, which is largely attributable to inaccurate prescribing of antibiotics to patients presenting with non-bacterial ...infections. The use of 'omics' technologies for discovery of novel infection related biomarkers combined with novel treatment algorithms offers possibilities for rapidly distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections. This distinction can be particularly important for patients suffering from lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) and/or sepsis as they represent a significant burden to healthcare systems. Here we present the study details of the TAILORED-Treatment study, an observational, prospective, multi-centre study aiming to generate a multi-parametric model, combining host and pathogen data, for distinguishing between bacterial and viral aetiologies in children and adults with LRTI and/or sepsis.
A total number of 1200 paediatric and adult patients aged 1 month and older with LRTI and/or sepsis or a non-infectious disease are recruited from Emergency Departments and hospital wards of seven Dutch and Israeli medical centres. A panel of three experienced physicians adjudicate a reference standard diagnosis for all patients (i.e., bacterial or viral infection) using all available clinical and laboratory information, including a 28-day follow-up assessment. Nasal swabs and blood samples are collected for multi-omics investigations including host RNA and protein biomarkers, nasal microbiota profiling, host genomic profiling and bacterial proteomics. Simplified data is entered into a custom-built database in order to develop a multi-parametric model and diagnostic tools for differentiating between bacterial and viral infections. The predictions from the model will be compared with the consensus diagnosis in order to determine its accuracy.
The TAILORED-Treatment study will provide new insights into the interplay between the host and micro-organisms. New host- or pathogen-related biomarkers will be used to generate a multi-parametric model for distinguishing between bacterial and viral infections. This model will be helpful to better guide antimicrobial therapy for patients with LRTI and sepsis. This study has the potential to improve patient care, reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing and will contribute positively to institutional, national and international healthcare economics.
NCT02025699 . Registration Date: January, 1, 2014.
PDF
