Correction to: Ultrasound resistive index,power Doppler,and clinical parameters in established rheumatoid arthritis

Clinical Rheumatology - The original version of this article, unfortunately, contained an error. One of the author's name on this article was incorrectly spelled as “José Alexandre...     

Simultaneous Detection and Discrimination of Virulent and Benign Dichelobacter nodosus in Sheep of Flocks Affected by Foot Rot and in Clinically Healthy Flocks by Competitive Real-Time PCR

Ovine foot rot caused by Dichelobacter nodosus is affecting sheep worldwide. The current diagnostic methods are difficult and cumbersome. Here, we present a competitive real-time PCR based on allelic discrimination of the protease genes aprV2 and aprB2. This method allows direct detection and differentiation of virulent and benign D. nodosus from interdigital skin swabs in a single test. Clinically affected sheep harbored high loads of only virulent strains, whereas healthy sheep had lower loads of predominantly benign strains.     

Effects of Middle-Ear Disease and Cleft Palate on High-Frequency Hearing in Children

High-frequency hearing loss in children with cleft palate has been documented recently. The present study was designed to investigate whether hearing loss can result solely as a consequence of middle-ear disease in early life or as a result of cleft palate and its sequelae which include middle-ear disease. Our results demonstrate that auditory functions for test frequencies 250-6 000 Hz were not significantly different among the two investigational groups of children with high incidence of middle-ear disease, and a control group of children with virtually no middle-ear disease. However, for high-frequency thresholds (8 000-20 000 Hz), both groups of children with high incidence of middle-ear disease were statistically different from the control group. Moreover, the children with cleft palate had high-frequency hearing that was statistically similar to that of children with normal orofacial structures and high incidence of middle-ear disease. Middle-ear disease alone, then, is a sufficient condition for loss of high-frequency sensitivity.

La perte auditive des hautes fréquences chez les enfants porteurs d'une fissure palatine a fait l'objet d'une documentation récente. Cette étude a été organisée de façon à établir si la perte auditive pouvait résulter uniquement d'une maladie de l'oreille moyenne dans la petite enfance, ou d'une fissure palatine et de ses séquelles qui comprennent les otites moyennes. Entre les deux groupes d'enfants prédisposés aux otites moyennes, et un groupe de contro?le constitué d'enfants rarement atteints d'otites moyennes, nos résultats n'indiquent pas de différences significatives quant aux fonctions auditives pour des fréquences d'essai de 250 à 6 000 Hz. Néanmoins, en ce qui concerne les seuils aux hautes fréquences (de 8 000 à 20 000 Hz), les deux groupes d'enfants prédisposés aux otites moyennes étaient statistiquement différents du groupe de contro?le. En outre, les enfants porteurs d'une fissure palatine avaient une audition des hautes fréquences qui était statistiquement semblable à celle des enfants porteurs de structures orofaciales normales et qui étaient prédisposés aux otites moyennes. A elle seule, une atteinte de l'oreille moyenne semble done ětre une condition suffisante pour l'apparition d'une perte auditive sur les hautes fréquences.     

The Effect of Residential Aged Care Size,Ownership Model,and Multichain Affiliation on Resident Comfort and Symptom Management at the End of Life

Context

In most resource-rich countries, a large and growing proportion of older adults with complex needs will die while in a residential aged care (RAC) facility.

DNA methylation patterns of genes related to immune response in the different clinical forms of oral lichen planus

Background

The oral lichen planus is a chronic inflammatory disease. Although its aetiology is not well understood, the role of T lymphocytes in its inflammatory events is recognised. Identifying the epigenetic mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of this immune‐mediated condition is fundamental for understanding the inflammatory reaction that occurs in the disease. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the methylation pattern of 21 immune response‐related genes in the different clinical forms of oral lichen planus.

Methods

A cross‐sectional study was performed to analyse the DNA methylation patterns in three distinct groups of oral lichen planus: (i) reticular/plaque lesions; (ii) erosive lesions; (iii) normal oral mucosa (control group). After DNA extraction from biopsies, the samples were submitted to digestions by methylation‐sensitive and methylation‐dependent enzymes and double digestion. The relative percentage of methylated DNA for each gene was provided using real‐time polymerase chain reaction arrays.

Results

Hypermethylation of the STAT5A gene was observed only in the control group (59.0%). A higher hypermethylation of the ELANE gene was found in reticular/plaque lesions (72.1%) compared to the erosive lesions (50.0%).

Conclusion

Our results show variations in the methylation profile of immune response‐related genes, according to the clinical type of oral lichen planus after comparing with the normal oral mucosa. Further studies are necessary to validate these findings using gene expression analysis.