Coronavirus disease 19 with gastrointestinal symptoms as initial manifestations: a case report.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in December 2019, an epidemic has spread rapidly worldwide. COVID-19 is caused by the highly infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. A 42-year-old woman presented to hospital who was suffering from epigastric discomfort and dyspepsia for the past 5 days. Before the onset of symptoms, she was healthy, and had no travel history to Wuhan or contact with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases. An examination showed chronic superficial gastritis with erosion and esophagitis. Enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the abdomen showed a lesion in the right lower lobe of the lungs. Chest computed tomography showed multiple ground-glass opacity in the lungs. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was negative for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2. There was no improvement after antibiotic treatment. Polymerase chain reaction performed 2 days later was positive and she was diagnosed with COVID-19. After several days of antiviral and symptomatic treatments, her symptoms improved and she was discharged. None of the medical staff were infected. Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 are nonspecific, making differentiating it from other diseases difficult. This case shows the sequence in which symptoms developed in a patient with COVID-19 with gastrointestinal symptoms as initial manifestations.

[Recent advances in nephronectin].

Nephronectin (NPNT) is a novel extracellular matrix protein and a new ligand of integrin α8ß1. Recent studies showed that NPNT is highly expressed in kidney, lung, thyroid, etc, and it may play an important role in many pathological conditions. NPNT is involved in the process of kidney development and acute kidney injury, regulates proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast, and induces the vasculogenesis in vitro. NPNT may play a key role in pathological osteoporosis and therefore be a new therapeutic target of bone diseases. NPNT gene variants are not only associated with lung function, but also potentially implicated in chronic airway diseases development. Moreover, NPNT is also an important factor that mediates pathology of cardiac, epidermis, breast, liver and teeth diseases. In this paper, we reviewed some research progresses on the structure, distribution, physiological and pathophysiological functions of NPNT.

The relationship between partial disc displacement and mandibular dysplasia in female adolescents.

BACKGROUND: The objective of the present study was to investigate the possible relationship between partial disc displacement of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and mandibular dysplasia. MATERIAL/METHODS: The TMJ disc position of 46 female adolescents, with Class II, Division 1 malocclusion, aged 10.1 approximately 12.8 years, was quantitatively measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations. Meanwhile, mandibular size and form were determined from cephalometric radiographs. The possible correlation between disc status and mandibular morphology was assessed by means of the Pearson Correlation. In addition, the differences in mandibular size and form between the partial disc displacement group (displaced group) and the disc normal group were also assessed. RESULTS: The results of Pearson Correlation showed that the displaced group had shorter mandibular body length and total mandibular length (Go-Po/Ca-Dm, r=-0.500; Go-Po/ Dp-Cc/Cs-Cc, r=-0.500; Ar-Me/ Ca-Dm, r=-0.459). The patients with horizontal growing style presented more anterior displaced disc (N-S-Gn/ Ca-Dm, r=-0.492). Furthermore, a significantly shorter mandibular body length (Go-Po), a steeper mandibular plane (MP/FH) and a more obtuse mandibular angle (Ar-Go-Me) were found in the displaced group. However, no relationship between the size of the vertical mandible and the disc status was noticed. CONCLUSIONS: Partial disc displacement in Class II, Division 1 cases may be associated with the mandible with horizontal deficits instead of the mandible with vertical deficits.

[Magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of the temporomandibular joint structure following mandibular advancement].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes in the disc-condyle-fossa relationship following mandibular advancement. METHODS: Twenty-five patients (10 boys and 15 girls, 11.1 +/- 1.1 years) with class II division 1 malocclusions were treated with Activator. The average treatment time was 10.9 months. Parasagittal MRIs in closed mouth position were analyzed before and after Activator treatment by means of the pair-t test. RESULTS: Ca-Tm value [(-0.1 +/- 1.5) mm and (-0.6 +/- 0.9) mm] of the left temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and Ca-Ca' value [(2.3 +/- 0.8) mm and (1.8 +/- 0.5) mm] of the right TMJ were changed significantly after Activator treatment (P < 0.05). This indicated that the condyle was located anteriorly in the fossa. No significant changes were found in the disc-fossa relationship and disc-condyle relationship (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Activator could promote the growth of the mandible and at the same time, it had no apparent negative influence on TMJ function.