The Synergy of Periodontic and Orthodontic Collaboration in Contemporary Oral Health Practice.

Orthodontic treatment (OT) has become a means of improving psychosocial well-being secondarily to enhanced occlusal function and can help patients obtain normal oral physiologic function, coordinated facial profiles, and healthy dentomaxillofacial development. With more adult patients undergoing OT, the need for interdisciplinary treatment and collaboration is vital to ensure periodontal health. This article highlights the importance of combined efforts between periodontics and orthodontics in adult patients with a history of periodontitis who are interested in OT. Furthermore, the article discusses the technological and surgical advances within these specialties, as well as timing of synchronization of treatment. A clinical case demonstrates the results of a collaborative periodontics and orthodontics approach to treat an adult patient with a history of advanced periodontal disease.

The phytochemical variability of fatty acids in basil seeds (Ocimum basilicum L.) affected by genotype and geographical differences.

Basil (Ocimum basilicum) from the Lamiaceae family is among the most important medicinal plants, and its seed fatty acid (FA) composition and quantity affects its nutritional and health values. It was hypothesized basil species and geographical properties significantly affect seed FA composition and quantity, which has not been previously investigated, to our knowledge. The collected seeds of the 18 basil populations were planted in a farmer's field, and the seed saturated (palmitic and stearic) and unsaturated (oleic, linoleic, and linolenic) FA were determined. Shiraz1 (14.7%) and Mobarakeh (5.1%) had the highest and the least rates of total FA, respectively. The populations were significantly different in terms of saturated FA ranging from 10.73% (Ardestan) to 13.51% (Bid Zard). However, the seed unsaturated FA (expect linoleic acid) were not significantly different from each other (average = 87.27%). Basil species and geographical properties significantly affected basil saturated FA and just unsaturated linoleic acid.

Health-related Quality of Life in Patients on Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis: a Meta-Analysis of Iranian Studies.

INTRODUCTION: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an index to calculate wellbeing of patients and is an important concept in patients with end-stage renal disease.  There are many studies calculating HRQOL for patients on different treatment modalities of end-stage renal disease. Pooling reports from Iran, this systematic review aimed to measure the HRQOL in patients on hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis using meta-analysis techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four databases including PubMed and Scopus in English and the SID and IranMedex in Persian were searched. Based on the inclusion criteria, 26 English and Persian-language articles reporting HRQOL in the scales between zero and 100 (or scales convertible to this range) for hemodialysis or PD were included in the meta-analysis. RESULTS: The mean HRQOL scores ranged between 34.40 and 69.16 for hemodialysis reports and between 38.00 and 65.70 for PD reports. The pooled quality of life scores for hemodialysis and PD were 52.257 and 52.722, respectively (t = 0.928, P = .36). CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that HRQOL in patients using hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis were not significantly different. Similar studies in other countries had found similar results.

DNA hypomethylation of MB-COMT promoter in the DNA derived from saliva in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

The failure in the discovery of etiology of psychiatric diseases, despite extensive genetic studies, has directed the attention of neuroscientists to the contribution of epigenetic modulations, which play important roles in fine-tuning of gene expression in response to environmental factors. Previously, we analyzed 115 human post-mortem brain samples from the frontal lobe and reported DNA hypo methylation of the membrane-bound catechol-O-methyltransferase (MB-COMT) gene promoter, associated with an increased gene expression, as a risk factor for schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). Since most epigenetic modifications are tissue specific and the availability of brain tissue to identify epigenetic aberrations in living subjects is limited, detection of epigenetic abnormalities in other tissues that represent the brain epigenetic marks is one of the critical steps to develop diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers for mental diseases. Here, hypothesizing that; those factors that lead to the brain MB-COMT promoter DNA hypo-methylation may also cause concurrent epigenetic aberrations in peripheral tissues, we analyzed MB-COMT promoter methylation in DNA derived from the saliva in SCZ, BD and their first-degree relatives (20 cases each) as well as 25 control subjects. Using bisulfite DNA sequencing and quantitative methylation specific PCR (qMSP), we found that similar to the brain, MB-COMT promoter was hypo-methylated (∼50%) in DNA derived from the saliva in SCZ and BD compared to the control subjects (p = 0.02 and 0.037, respectively). These studies suggest that DNA methylation analysis of MB-COMT promoter in saliva can potentially be used as an available epigenetic biomarker for disease state in SCZ and BD.