Prevalence of Candida spp. in Healthy Oral Mucosa Surfaces with Higher Incidence of Chronic Hyperplastic Candidosis.

INTRODUCTION: Predisposing factors in chronic hyperplastic candidosis (CHC) have been poorly recognized. This study aimed at assessing the prevalence of Candida spp. in areas of the oral mucosa showing greater prevalent rate of CHC, such as the retrocomissural area, the lateral borders of the tongue, and the hard-palate mucosa in four groups of individuals presenting predisposing factors as follows: Smoking habits (group I); patients with low salivary flow rate (SFR) (hyposalivation - group II); patients with loss of vertical dimension of occlusion (LVDO -group III); and control subjects (group IV). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 44 individuals (age 4090 years, mean: 55.8 years) were divided into four groups: Group I (11 smokers); group II (10 hyposalivation patients); group III (10 LVDO patients); and group IV (control, 13 healthy subjects). All individuals were tested for Candida-pseudohyphae form by direct examination and for Candida spp. culture growth in samples obtained from the retrocomissural, tongue's lateral border, and hard-soft palatal mucosa. RESULTS: Direct examination showed a statistically significant prevalence rate for pseudohyphae (p < 0.05) on the retrocomissural and on tongue's lateral borders of individuals with LVDO. A statistically significant (p < 0.05) culture growth for Candida spp. was found on the retrocomissural areas of those with hyposalivation and with LVDO, and on the palate mucosa and on the tongue's lateral borders in the smokers and in the individuals with LVDO when compared with those of the control group. CONCLUSION: While direct examination is effective for detecting pseudohyphae, LVDO and tobacco smoking seem to be factors of relevance to the development of CHC. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Since CHC has been linked to a high rate of malignant transformation, this study analyzes some clinical (and exogenous) factors that may contribute to the development of CHC and addresses some preventive measures to reduce its incidence.

Assessment of crabs from Trindade, a Brazilian remote island: Support to marine studies.

Trindade is a remote island far from 1170 km of the Brazilian coast in the Atlantic Ocean, between South America and South Africa. The island has great biodiversity and scientific studies on the fauna and flora of Trindade are still scarce. Accordingly, since crustacean species of the island are also little known, this research features an unprecedented data set, which provides information on the level of potential toxic elements in two crab species: the Grapsus grapsus (herbivore) and the endemic species Gecarcinus lagostoma (omnivorous) which is in threatened status. Although Trindade has experienced contamination from human activities, mainly plastic debris, the element levels found in the samples suggest that there are no relevant inorganic sources into the island. Since minor and trace elements accumulated by marine invertebrates does not present a pattern behavior, our results can support other studies focused on the impact of global warming to the marine ecosystem.

Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome: a classical case report / Síndrome de Melkersson-Rosenthal: relato de caso clássico

ABSTRACT The Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome constitutes a rare manifestation characterized by a triad of signs and symptoms: recurrent orofacial edema, fissured tongue, and recurrent facial paralysis. The difficulty in diagnosing Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome is that orofacial edema is common to various diseases besides the lack of awareness of the syndrome by health professionals and the frequent metachronous manifestation of its symptomatology. The aim of this report is to present a classical case of Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome and its clinical and therapeutic approach. A patient who sought for assistance at the Stomatology Clinic presented a synchronous manifestation of the triad: a left lip and cheek nonpitting edema accompanied by facial paralysis on the same side and fissured tongue. Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome was diagnosed due to the presence of the triad of signs and symptoms after initially ruling out Crohn's disease, Sarcoidosis, and tuberculosis due to a lack of intestinal or respiratory complaints and absence of other clinical evidence. The treatment administered was steroids, the most common treatment with a satisfied prognosis we found in the literature for Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome patients. We recommend its implementation intralesional injections of betamethasone dipropionate as after four infiltrations the edema subsided by 80% with no further relapses within one-year follow-up.

RESUMO A síndrome de Melkersson-Rosenthal constitui uma manifestação rara caracterizada por uma tríade de sinais e sintomas: edema orofacial recorrente, língua fissurada e paralisia facial recorrente. A dificuldade no diagnóstico da síndrome de Melkersson-Rosenthal é que o edema orofacial é comum a diversas doenças, além do desconhecimento da síndrome pelos profissionais de saúde e da frequente manifestação metacrônica de sua sintomatologia. O objetivo deste relato é apresentar um caso clássico de síndrome de Melkersson-Rosenthal e sua abordagem clínica e terapêutica. Paciente procurou atendimento no Ambulatório de Estomatologia apresentando manifestação sincrônica da tríade: edema não depressível em lábio e bochecha esquerdos acompanhado de paralisia facial do mesmo lado e língua fissurada. A síndrome de Melkersson-Rosenthal foi diagnosticada devido à presença da tríade de sinais e sintomas após a exclusão inicial de doença de Crohn, sarcoidose e tuberculose por ausência de queixas intestinais ou respiratórias e ausência de outras evidências clínicas. O tratamento administrado foi o esteroide, sendo o tratamento mais comum com prognóstico satisfatório que encontramos na literatura para pacientes com SRM. Recomendamos a aplicação de injeções intralesionais de dipropionato de betametasona, pois após quatro infiltrações o edema cedeu em 80% sem novas recidivas em um ano de seguimento.

Avaliação das variações de espessura de epitélio em queilite actínica comparadas ao grau de displasia epitelial e à expressão imuno-histoquímica da proteína p53 mutada / Evaluation of epithelial thickness variations in actinic cheilitis compared to the degree of epithelial dysplasia and immunohistochemical expression of mutated p53 protein

O carcinoma epidermoide de lábio é precedido por uma desordem potencialmente maligna, a queilite actínica. Histologicamente o epitélio da lesão é caracterizado pela presença de hiperqueratose ou hiperparaqueratose, presença de displasia epitelial e, muitas vezes, pela presença de variações de espessura de epitélio, sendo estas a acantose e a atrofia. O desenvolvimento da queilite actínica está ligado a exposição excessiva a luz solar que contém radiação UV, esta pode produzir mutações com assinatura UV no DNA através de um fenômeno conhecido como fotocarcinogênese. As mutações com assinatura UV estão presentes no gene supressor de tumor TP53, quando este gene se encontra mutado, muitas vezes, ele codifica uma proteína que sofre um dobramento e exibe uma conformação específica. Esta pesquisa pretendeu determinar, à partir de 458 casos de queilite actínica, a porcentagem de casos que apresentaram espessura normal de epitélio, acantose ou atrofia, relacionando os graus de displasia epitelial, segundo o sistema da OMS e o sistema binário e também relacionar estas variações de espessura com a presença de proteína p53 mutada através de análise imuno-histoquímica. O que se observou foi que 20,31% dos casos apresentavam espessura normal de epitélio, 38,65% apresentavam acantose e 41,05% apresentavam atrofia. Não houve relevância estatística quando a variação de espessura foi comparada com a proteína p53 mutada. Concluiu-se que há uma dificuldade real em determinar quais queilites actínicas evoluirão para uma lesão maligna, por tanto, o acompanhamento clínico desses pacientes tem caráter essencial.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the lip is preceded by a potentially malignant disorder, the actinic cheilitis. Histologically the lesion is characterized by the presence of hyperkeratosis or hyperparakeratosis, the presence of dysplasia, and often, the presence of variations in thickness of the epithelium, which is acanthosis or atrophy. The development of actinic cheilitis is linked to the excessive exposure to sunlight containing UV radiation, this can produce UV signature mutations through the photocarcinogenesis. UV signature mutations are present in the tumor supressor gene TP53, when this gene is mutated, often it encodes a protein that undergoes bending and displays a specific conformation. This research intended to determine, from 458 cases of actinic cheilitis, the percentage of the cases whitch had normal thickness of the epithelium, acanthosis or atrophy and relate to the degree of dysplasia, and relates them to the presence of mutated p53 protein through immunohistochemical analysis. There was noted that 20.31% of cases showed normal thickness of the epithelium, 38.65% had acanthosis and 41.05% had atrophy. There was no statistical significance when the thickness variation was compared to the mutated p53, it was concluded that there is a real difficulty to determining which actinic cheilitis evolve to a malignant lesion, and therefore, clinical monitoring of these patients is of essential nature.