Is the use of Cannabis associated with periodontitis? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Recent studies have shown that there is also biological plausibility for a possible relationship between periodontal disease and Cannabis use, thus the aim of this study was to investigate whether the use of Cannabis is associated with periodontitis. Electronic searches were performed in PubMed, Scopus, ISI-Web of Science, BVS-Virtual health library and Scielo without restrictions. Search strategy was performed using relevant keywords considering the structure of each database. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies that investigated the association between the use of Cannabis and periodontal disease were included. Meta-analyses and sensitivity analysis were conducted. A total of 143 records were found in the initial searches and five articles were included in the systematic review, being four studies included in the meta-analysis. Overall, 13 491 individuals were included, of which 49.5% were males. Three of included studies investigated the relationship between cannabis and periodontal disease in adults and the other two studies were performed in adolescents. A positive association was observed between the use of cannabis and periodontitis (PR 1.12 CI 95% [1.06-1.19]) with 19.0% of heterogeneity. The analysis of sensibility showed that none study influenced the results enough to change the pooled estimate. Regarding to the quality assessment, all studies presented high quality. The results of systematic review and meta-analyses demonstrate that the use of Cannabis is associated with a higher prevalence of periodontitis.

Venous Blood Derivatives as FBS-Substitutes for Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A Systematic Scoping Review.

Although the biological properties of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are well-characterized in vitro, MSC clinical application is still far away to be achieved, mainly due to the need of xenogeneic substances for cell expansion, such as fetal bovine serum (FBS). FBS presents risks regarding pathogens transmissions and internalization of animal's proteins, which can unleash antigenic responses in patients after MSC implantation. A wide range of venous blood derivatives (VBD) has been reported as FBS substitutes showing promising results. Thus, the aim of this study was to conduct a systematic scoping review to analyze whether VBD are effective FBS substitutes for MSC ex vivo expansion. The search was performed in SciVerse ScopusTM, PubMed, Web of ScienceTM, BIREME, Cochrane library up to January 2016. The keywords were selected using MeSH and entry terms. Two independent reviewers scrutinized the records obtained considering specific inclusion criteria. The included studies were evaluated in accordance with a modified Arksey and O' Malley's framework. From 184 found studies, 90 were included. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC) were presented in most of these studies. Overall, VBD allowed for either, maintenance of MCS's fibroblast-like morphology, high proliferation, high colony-formation ability and maintenance of multipotency. Besides. MSC expanded in VBD supplements presented higher mitogen activity than FBS. VBD seems to be excellent xeno-free serum for ex vivo expansion of mesenchymal stem cells. However, an accentuated heterogeneity was observed between the carried out protocols for VBD isolation did not allowing for direct comparisons between the included studies.

Onium salt reduces the inhibitory polymerization effect from an organic solvent in a model dental adhesive resin.

This study evaluated the effect of organic solvent concentration on the polymerization kinetics for a model dental adhesive resin containing a ternary photoinitiator system. A monomer blend based on the bis-GMA, TEGDMA, and HEMA was used as a model dental adhesive resin, which was polymerized using a binary system [camphorquinone (CQ) and ethyl 4-dimethylamine benzoate (EDAB)] and a ternary system [CQ, EDAB, and diphenyliodonium hexafluorphosphate (DPIHFP)]. Additionally, these blends had 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 wt % ethanol added. Real-time Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to investigate the polymerization reaction over photoactivation time. Data were plotted, and Hill's three-parameter nonlinear regression was performed for curve fitting. The addition of a solvent to the monomer blends decreased the polymerization kinetics, directly affecting the rate of polymerization, delaying vitrification, and attenuating the Trommsdorf effect. The introduction of DPIHFP displayed a strong increase in reaction kinetics, reducing the solvent inhibition effect. After 10 s of photoactivation, the binary system obtained in 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40% of ethanol, a degree of conversion of 44.6, 26.3, 13.4, 1.15, and 0.0%, respectively, whereas when a ternary system was used, the values were 54.6, 40.5, 27.4, 14.5, and 3.4%. An improvement was observed in the polymerization kinetics of a model dental adhesive resin when using a ternary photoinitiation system, making the material less sensitive to the residual presence of a solvent before photoactivation.