Dental Implants in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus: A Cross‐Sectional Study

Purpose: The main aim of this study was to evaluate the patients with oral lichen planus (OLP) and dental implants. Material and Methods: Three groups of 16 patients took part in the study. Group I patients had received dental implants and been diagnosed with OLP; Group II had not received implants but were diagnosed with OLP; Group III had implants but not OLP. Clinical observations and OLP symptoms were registered in each case. Periodontal pocket depth, implant mobility, bleeding upon probing, erythema, pain, and radiolucency around implants were measured. Patient quality of life was evaluated using OHIP 14. Results: Peri‐implant mucositis and peri‐implantitis were detected in 17.86% and 25% of the OLP‐implant group, while the control group with implants showed 18% and 16%. The implant survival rate in patients treated for OLP did not appear to differ from the survival rate among the general population. Quality of life was better among patients with implants and without OLP (p = .001). Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that implants do not influence manifestations of OLP. OLP is not a risk factor for peri‐implantitis.     

Test–retest repeatability of [18F]Flortaucipir PET in Alzheimer’s disease and cognitively normal individuals

The aim of this study was to investigate the test–retest (TRT) repeatability of various parametric quantification methods for [¹⁸F]Flortaucipir positron emission tomography (PET). We included eight subjects with dementia or mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease and six cognitively normal subjects. All underwent two 130-min dynamic [¹⁸F]Flortaucipir PET scans within 3 ± 1 weeks. Data were analyzed using reference region models receptor parametric mapping (RPM), simplified reference tissue method 2 (SRTM2) and reference logan (RLogan), as well as standardized uptake value ratios (SUVr, time intervals 40–60, 80–100 and 110–130 min post-injection) with cerebellar gray matter as reference region. We obtained distribution volume ratio or SUVr, first for all brain regions and then in three tau-specific regions-of-interest (ROIs). TRT repeatability (%) was defined as |retest–test|/(average (test + retest)) × 100. For all methods and across ROIs, TRT repeatability ranged from (median (IQR)) 0.84% (0.68–2.15) to 6.84% (2.99–11.50). TRT repeatability was good for all reference methods used, although semi-quantitative models (i.e. SUVr) performed marginally worse than quantitative models, for instance TRT repeatability of RPM: 1.98% (0.78–3.58) vs. SUVr_80–100: 3.05% (1.28–5.52), p < 0.001. Furthermore, for SUVr_80–100 and SUVr_110–130, with higher average SUVr, more variation was observed. In conclusion, while TRT repeatability was good for all models used, quantitative methods performed slightly better than semi-quantitative methods.     

Alcohol consumption and mortality in Alameda County

The association between level of alcohol consumption and 15-year mortality, focusing particularly on the possible protective effect of light drinking compared to abstention, was studied in a representative population sample of 6928 residents of Alameda County, California. Because abstainers differ from light, moderate and heavy drinkers on a number of demographic, physical, and psychosocial characteristics, the role of these as confounders of the alcohol/mortality association was examined. Using multiple logistic models, the mortality experience of abstainers, moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers and very heavy drinkers was compared with that of light drinkers. Among men only, very heavy drinkers were at significantly greater risk of death from all causes than were light drinkers (OR = 2.5, p less than 0.01). Neither abstainers nor other drinkers were at significantly higher risk of death from ischemic heart disease than were light drinkers. This pattern of results persisted with adjustment for 11 covariates of alcohol consumption in addition to age.     

Surgical management of the recurrent laryngeal nerve in thyroidectomy: American Head and Neck Society Consensus Statement

“I have noticed in operations of this kind, which I have seen performed by others upon the living, and in a number of excisions, which I have myself performed on the dead body, that most of the difficulty in the separation of the tumor has occurred in the region of these ligaments…. This difficulty, I believe, to be a very frequent source of that accident, which so commonly occurs in removal of goiter, I mean division of the recurrent laryngeal nerve.” Sir James Berry (1887)     

Characterization of a novel and selective cannabinoid CB1 receptor inverse agonist, Imidazole 24b, in rodents

We document in vitro and in vivo effects of a novel, selective cannabinoid CB(1) receptor inverse agonist, Imidazole 24b (5-(4-chlorophenyl)-N-cyclohexyl-4-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-1-methyl-imidazole-2-carboxamide). The in vitro binding affinity of Imidazole 24b for recombinant human and rat CB(1) receptor is 4 and 10 nM, respectively. Imidazole 24b binds to human cannabinoid CB(2) receptor with an affinity of 297 nM; in vitro, it is a receptor inverse agonist at both cannabinoid CB(1) and CB(2) receptors as it causes a further increase of forskolin-induced cAMP increase. Oral administration of Imidazole 24b blocked CP-55940-induced hypothermia, demonstrating cannabinoid CB(1) receptor antagonist efficacy in vivo. Using ex vivo autoradiography, Imidazole 24b resulted in dose-dependent increases in brain cannabinoid CB(1) receptor occupancy (RO) at 2h post-dosing in rats, indicating that approximately 50% receptor occupancy is sufficient for attenuation of receptor agonist-induced hypothermia. Imidazole 24b administered to C57Bl/6 mice and to dietary-induced obese (DIO) Sprague-Dawley rats attenuated overnight food intake with a minimal effective dose of 10 mg/kg, p.o. Administration had no effect in cannabinoid CB(1) receptor-deficient mice. DIO rats were dosed orally with vehicle, Imidazole 24b (1, 3 or 10 mg/kg), or dexfenfluramine (3 mg/kg) for 2 weeks. At 3 mg/kg, Imidazole 24b reduced cumulative food intake, leading to a non-significant decrease in weight gain. Imidazole 24b at 10 mg/kg and dexfenfluramine treatment inhibited food intake and attenuated weight gain. These findings suggest that selective cannabinoid CB(1) receptor inverse agonists such as Imidazole 24b have potential for the treatment of obesity.