Food insecurity and periodontitis in US adults.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship between food insecurity and periodontitis among adults in the United States (US). METHODS: Secondary analysis of the 2009-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data. The sample included 6,108 US participants aged ≥ 30 years in a probability weighted sample. Periodontitis status was measured in full-month oral examinations at 6 sites per tooth for clinical attachment loss and periodontal probing depth. Food insecurity was assessed by the 18-item US Food Security Survey Module. RESULTS: Controlling for covariates, multiple logistic regression showed that periodontitis was associated with low food security (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=1.30, 95% CI: 1.08-1.57). Risk factors for periodontitis included HbA1c ≥ 7% (aOR=1.74, 95% CI: 1.26-2.40), seeking emergency dental care (aOR=1.36, 95% CI:1.19-1.55), smoking status, racial minorities, low income, and older age. Protective factors for periodontitis were annual dental visit (aOR=0.52, 95% CI: 0.43-0.64), health insurance (aOR=0.66, 95% CI: 0.54-0.80), female gender, and college education. CONCLUSIONS: Food insecurity was associated with a higher risk of periodontitis among US adults. Having enough food to eat is a basic human right and would improve well-being.

Diabetes and dental caries in US adults: an analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011-2018.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship between diabetes and dental caries among US adults participating in the 2011-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: The NHANES was a cross-sectional study including clinical assessments, laboratory analysis, and interviews. The sample included 16,635 participants aged 20 years and older that represent 187,596,215 individuals in the US in a probability weighted sample. Outcome variables included overall total caries score (or number of decayed, missing, filled permanent teeth - DMFT index) and the presence of caries. Bivariate analysis, Poisson regression for total caries score, logistic regression for the presence of caries were used for analysis. RESULTS: Controlling for covariates, multiple Poisson regression revealed that total DMFT scores were associated with diabetes status (adjusted relative risk ratio (RR)controlled diabetes = 1.13, RRuncontrolled diabetes = 1.18; p⟨0.001), no college education, female sex, white race, elderly (≥ 65 years), cigarette smoking, obesity, yearly dental visits, seeing a dentist only for treatment. Similarly, multiple logistic regression shows that the odds of adults with diabetes having dental caries were higher than among those without diabetes (adjusted risk ratio (OR)controlled diabetes = 1.84, ORuncontrolled diabetes = 1.87; p⟨0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes was associated with a higher caries score and a greater risk for dental caries among US adults.

Chromatin organisation in duckweed interphase nuclei in relation to the nuclear DNA content.

The accessibility of DNA during fundamental processes, such as transcription, replication and DNA repair, is tightly modulated through a dynamic chromatin structure. Differences in large-scale chromatin structure at the microscopic level can be observed as euchromatic and heterochromatic domains in interphase nuclei. Here, key epigenetic marks, including histone H3 methylation and 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) as a DNA modification, were studied cytologically to describe the chromatin organisation of representative species of the five duckweed genera in the context of their nuclear DNA content, which ranged from 158 to 1881 Mbp. All studied duckweeds, including Spirodela polyrhiza with a genome size and repeat proportion similar to that of Arabidopsis thaliana, showed dispersed distribution of heterochromatin signatures (5mC, H3K9me2 and H3K27me1). This immunolabelling pattern resembles that of early developmental stages of Arabidopsis nuclei, with less pronounced heterochromatin chromocenters and heterochromatic marks weakly dispersed throughout the nucleus.