Recent advances of ultrasound-responsive nanosystems in tumor immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment by boosting the immune system and preventing disease escape mechanisms. Despite its potential, challenges like limited response rates and adverse immune effects impede its widespread clinical adoption. Ultrasound (US), known for its safety and effectiveness in tumor diagnosis and therapy, has been shown to significantly enhance immunotherapy when used with nanosystems. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) can obliterate tumor cells and elicit immune reactions through the creation of immunogenic debris. Low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) bolsters tumor immunosuppression and mitigates metastasis risk by concentrating dendritic cells. Ultrasonic cavitation (UC) produces microbubbles that can transport immune enhancers directly, thus strengthening the immune response and therapeutic impact. Sonodynamic therapy (SDT) merges nanotechnology with immunotherapy, using specialized sonosensitizers to kill cancer cells and stimulate immune responses, increasing treatment success. This review discusses the integration of ultrasound-responsive nanosystems in tumor immunotherapy, exploring future opportunities and current hurdles.

Chroogomphus rutilus Regulates Bone Metabolism to Prevent Periodontal Bone Loss during Orthodontic Tooth Movement in Osteoporotic Rats.

Osteoporosis (OP) leads to the acceleration of tooth movement and aggravation of periodontal bone loss during orthodontic treatment. Chroogomphus rutilus (CR) is abundant in nutrients and demonstrates remarkable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In the present study, the components of CR, including 35.00% total sugar, 0.69% reducing sugar, 14.40% crude protein, 7.30% total ash, 6.10% crude fat, 0.51% total flavonoids, 1.94% total triterpenoids, 0.32% total sterol, 1.30% total saponins, 1.69% total alkaloids, and 1.02% total phenol, were first systematically examined, followed by an investigation into its regulatory effects on bone metabolism in order to mitigate bone loss during orthodontic tooth movement in osteoporotic rats. The results of the imaging tests revealed that CR treatment reduced periodontal bone loss and normalized tooth movement in the OP. In conjunction with analyses of intestinal flora and metabolomics, CR enhances the prevalence of anti-inflammatory genera while reducing the production of inflammatory metabolites. Meanwhile, CR reduced the levels of periodontal inflammatory factors, including TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6, by activating Wnt/ß-catenin signaling, and promoted periodontal bone formation. These findings imply that CR is a potent supplementary therapy for controlling periodontal bone remodeling in patients with OP undergoing orthodontic treatment.

Evaluation of the impact of reference tooth morphology and alignment on model measurement accuracy.

Background: The development of personalized and high-precision dental treatment is inseparable from the accurate measurement and analysis of the model. Compared with traditional plaster models, digital models allow dentists to obtain richer and more detailed inspection results. However, the measurement of digital models in clinical practice usually ignores the influence of the overall three-dimensional (3D) structure of teeth and tooth arrangement on the measurement results. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of calibrated tooth axis and tooth arrangement on tooth width and arch length. Methods: A total of 110 digital models from 80 participants were used to measure teeth width and dental arch length using the following methods: Method A, simple positioning of the proximal and distal of teeth; Method B: calibration of the clinical crown axis; and Method C: calibration of the overall 3D axis of the teeth. The Measurand model included pre- and post-orthodontic models of the same patients to assess the impact of tooth alignment on outcomes. Results: In the aligned dentition, whether the tooth axis was calibrated had no effect on the measurement results. On unaligned dentitions, calibrating the pinion allowed for more accurate measurements, with Method C the closest to the true size. Furthermore, the arrangement of teeth affected the measurement, but there was no continuous linear correlation with arch length discrepancy (ALD). Conclusions: Clinicians should choose appropriate measurement methods according to actual needs when performing model measurement, and should pay attention to the influence of tooth axis, tooth shape, and arrangement on the measurement results.

A sustained-release Trametinib bio-multifunction hydrogel inhibits orthodontically induced inflammatory root resorption.

Orthodontic tooth movement (OTM) is a bone reconstruction process. In most cases, OTM could induce root resorption as a common side effect, called orthodontically induced inflammatory root resorption (OIIRR). OIIRR affects tooth health and interferes with the stability of orthodontic treatment. Osteoclasts, which perform bone resorption in OTM, attack cementum, causing OIIRR. Many signaling pathways are involved in the maturation and differentiation of osteoclasts, among which the ERK1/2 is one of the important pathways. In this experiment, we added Trametinib (Tra), a specific inhibitor of ERK1/2, to catechol-modified chitosan (CHI-C) and oxidized dextran (ODex) to form a CCOD-Trametinib composite hydrogel (CCOD-Tra) to prevent OIIRR. CCOD-Tra exhibited good biocompatibility, injectability, strong adhesion, good hemostatic function and sustained release of Tra. We performed local injection of CCOD-Tra into the periodontal tissues of rats. CCOD-Tra firmly adhered to the periodontal tissues and then released Tra to establish a good biological environment and maintain a drug concentration at a high level around the roots for a long time. H&E, TRAP, immunochemistry staining and micro-CT indicated that CCOD-Tra had a good effect in terms of preventing OIIRR. Cell experiments showed that CCOD-Tra reduced the expression of TRAP, MMP-9 and C-FOS in osteoclast cells through the ERK1/2 signaling pathway to inhibit the differentiation and maturation of osteoclasts. Based on the above results, we concluded that CCOD-Tra had the ability to prevent OIIRR, the high adhesion and injectability of CCOD may provide better therapeutic ideas for clinical prevention of OIIRR.

A Modified Cosmetic Genioplasty Can Affect Airway Space Positively in Skeletal Class II Patients: Studying Alterations of Hyoid Bone Position and Posterior Airway Space.

BACKGROUND: Improving the posterior airway space is one of the most important functions of genioplasty. Studies have shown that the posterior airway space (PAS) can play an important role in the evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the airway safety of our modified technology by observing the impact on PAS in skeletal Class II patients without OSAS. METHODS: We have modified a cosmetic genioplasty, which can guarantee the continuity of the lower edge of the bilateral mandible by rotating the chin segment clockwise. Fourteen patients submitted to our modified cosmetic genioplasty alone were included in the study. The facial convexity angle and the ratio of the face were measured by analyzing photographs. The position of the hyoid bone and the width of the PAS were measured by analyzing lateral cephalograms. The volume and the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the PAS were measured using 3D reconstruction. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and paired samples t test were used to assess the significance of differences of the data (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Soft tissue measurements were statistically different (p = 0.001) and achieved satisfactory results. The position of the hyoid bone moved up (LX: p = 0.004; LML: p = 0.056) and forward (LY: p = 0.001; LCV3: p = 0.016). The increase in the CSA had statistical significance (p < 0.005). There were significant statistical differences in the total airway volume and hypopharynx (p = 0.001), except in the oropharynx (p = 0.096). CONCLUSIONS: Our modified genioplasty not only achieved better cosmetic results by ensuring the continuity of the lower edge of the bilateral mandible but also exerted a significant positive impact on the posterior airway space for patients with skeletal class II, thus helping reduce the prevalence of OSAS. We hence suggest performing this modified cosmetic genioplasty on the skeletal class II patients with/without OSAS if necessary. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .