Correlation between salivary immunoglobulin A and interleukin-1beta in smokers with dental caries.

Introduction. Dental caries is one of the most common infectious diseases of the oral cavity, and is an inflammatory disease caused by several factors. Interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) is a major mediator of acute inflammation and essential for the development of specific immune responses. The objective of this study was to assess the levels of secretory IgA (s-IgA) and IL-1ß in the saliva of smokers with dental caries, and to discover the correlation between these parameters and dental caries. Methods. Saliva samples were collected from 30 smokers, age range 21-70 years, with dental caries, in addition to 18 healthy non-smoker volunteers, age range 21-65 years. s-IgA and IL-1ß levels in the saliva samples were estimated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results. The mean saliva IgA levels between smokers with dental caries group and healthy subjects were not significantly different (p=0.077), while the saliva levels of IL-1ß were higher in the smokers in dental caries group, with a significant difference of p<0.05. No significant associations were found between s-IgA and IL-1ß levels, and other parameters such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and C-reactive protein (CRP) (p>0.05). There were highly positive associations and significant differences between IL-1ß and CRP levels in the two groups under the study (p=0.006). Conclusions. Our study revealed a significant increase in IL-1ß levels in saliva of smokers with dental caries, and a positive association between IL-1ß levels and caries disease. There is no significant relationship between elevated IL-1ß levels and s-IgA in smokers with dental caries.

Optical properties of polyvinyl alcohol membrane with n-HAp for bio-medical applications

Composite membrane as a flexible materials have found diverse applications in industrial and biomedical simultaneously, the recent studies have shown intrinsic improvement for membrane properties by inclusion of nanoparticles as a fillers with high portion ratio in inorganic polymers, the combination between two parts polymer and filler is as a result of collection the advantage of two component systems parts together. In this work, samples of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-nanoHaydroxyapatite (nHAp) composites were prepared by using casting method. The effects of addition of (nHAp) with different concentration on the optical properties of (PVA- nHAp) composite membrane have been studied by using wavelength range (220-820) nm. The absorption spectra, transmittance spectra, absorption coefficient, energy gap, refractive index, optical conductivity and extinction coefficient have been determined. The results show that the optical constants change with the increase of nHPA concentrations.