Explore the vast range of titles available.

Peri-implantitis, a complex condition that can lead to dental implant failure, is characterized by inflammatory destruction resulting from immune dysregulation. Oral microbial dysbiosis and foreign body stimulation are the main factors contributing to such dysregulation, impairing immune cell function and triggering an inflammatory response. Immune dysregulation plays a critical role in the pathophysiology of peri-implantitis, impacting the balance of T cell subsets, the production of inflammatory factors, and immune-related molecular signaling pathways. Understanding the relationship between immune dysregulation and peri-implantitis is crucial for developing targeted strategies for clinical diagnosis and individualized treatment planning. This review explores the similarities and differences in the immune microenvironment of oral bacterial infections and foreign body rejection, analyzes the relevant molecular signaling pathways, and identifies new key targets for developing innovative immunotherapeutic drugs and effective and personalized treatment modalities for peri-implantitis. Additionally, it addresses the challenges and potential directions for translating immunotherapy into clinical practice for peri-implantitis, offering insights that bridge the gaps in current literature and pave the way for future research.

Objective To determine whether polymorphisms in IL-6 and IL-12 contribute to the etiology of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis (CWP) in a Chinese Hui population, and to evaluate the efficacy and safety of high frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV) in the treatment of CWP. Introduction Genes and the environments interplay in the development of CWP, and the association between the potential functional polymorphisms in many genes and CWP have been reported. Methods We genotyped the IL-6-634C/G (rs1800796) and IL-12B-1188A/C (rs3212227) polymorphisms in a case-control study including 160 CWP patients and 150 dust-exposed control subjects of Chinese Hui population, and analyzed the associations between these genetic variants and CWP risk. We also evaluated the efficacy and safety of HFOV for whole lung lavage (WLL) in the treatment of CWP. Results Carrying the C allele of IL-6-634C/G (rs1800796) was associated with decreased risk of CWP (p < 0.05). No significant differences in allele or genotype frequencies of IL-12B-1188A/C was found between the CWP cases and control subjects (p > 0.05). Compared with CWP patients with routine WLL, CWP patients received HFOV showed better pulmonary functions. HFOV treatment also yield a significant higher efficient rate (97.50%) than WLL treatment (81.25%, p = 0.001). CWP patients receiving HFOV and WLL treatment both showed significantly increased serum contents of Clara cell protein 16 (CC16) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and decreased serum contents of serum malonaldehyde (MDA). While the increasing of CC16 and SOD, and decreasing of MDA in patients receiving HFOV was more noticeable than patients receiving WLL. Conclusions Taking together, the −634C/G polymorphisms in IL-6 play a role in the etiology of CWP. HFOV, when applied in CWP patients, significant improves their pulmonary functions.

Insomnia is a common comorbidity symptom in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients. Abnormal brain activities have been observed in both MDD and insomnia patients, however, the central pathological mechanisms underlying the co-occurrence of insomnia in MDD patients are still unclear. This study aimed to explore the differences of spontaneous brain activity between MDD patients with and without insomnia, as well as patients with different level of insomnia. A total of 88 first-episode drug-naïve MDD patients including 44 with insomnia (22 with high insomnia and 22 with low insomnia) and 44 without insomnia, as well as 44 healthy controls (HC), were enrolled in this study. The level of depression and insomnia were evaluated by HAMD-17, adjusted HAMD-17 and its sleep disturbance subscale in all subjects. Resting-state functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from all participants and then were preprocessed by the software of DPASF. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) values of brain regions were calculated by the software of REST and were compared. Finally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were conducted to determine the values of abnormal brain regions for identifying MDD patients with insomnia and evaluating the severity of insomnia. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences in ReHo values in the left middle frontal gyrus, left pallidum, right superior frontal gyrus, right medial superior frontal gyrus and right rectus gyrus among three groups. Compared with HC, MDD patients with insomnia showed increased ReHo values in the medial superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, triangular inferior frontal gyrus, calcarine fissure and right medial superior frontal gyrus, medial orbital superior frontal gyrus, as well as decreased ReHo values in the left middle occipital gyrus, pallidum and right superior temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, middle cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, putamen. MDD patients without insomnia demonstrated increased ReHo values in the left middle frontal gyrus, orbital middle frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus and right triangular inferior frontal gyrus, as well as decreased ReHo values in the left rectus gyrus, postcentral gyrus and right rectus gyrus, fusiform gyrus, pallidum. In addition, MDD patients with insomnia had decreased ReHo values in the left insula when compared to those without insomnia. Moreover, MDD patients with high insomnia exhibited increased ReHo values in the right middle temporal gyrus, and decreased ReHo values in the left orbital superior frontal gyrus, lingual gyrus, right inferior parietal gyrus and postcentral gyrus compared to those with low insomnia. ROC analysis demonstrated that impaired brain region might be helpful for identifying MDD patients with insomnia and evaluating the severity of insomnia. These findings suggested that MDD patients with insomnia had wider abnormalities of brain activities in the prefrontal-limbic circuits including increased activities in the prefrontal cortex, which might be the compensatory mechanism underlying insomnia in MDD. In addition, decreased activity of left insula might be associated with the occurrence of insomnia in MDD patients and decreased activities of the frontal-parietal network might cause more serious insomnia related to MDD.

Different surface micromorphologies influence osteoblast movements and impact the osteogenesis around implants. In this study, a biomimetic chip that simulates the microenvironment of the implant and bone in vitro was developed (tissue-on-chip of group T and group C) to study the correlation of cell movement velocity (CMV), direction (CMD), acceleration (CMA), and cell attachment number (CA) with the surface micromorphology of the Titanium material. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used for flow analysis. Changes in intraosseous pressure (IOP), local blood perfusion index (LBPI), new bone microstructure, microvessel density (MVD), and bone-implant contact (BIC) in beagle dogs were detected as implant surface alterations. Surface skewness ( Ssk ) and surface arithmetic mean height ( Sa ) were the most important negative factors for high CMV, accounting for 51% and 32%, respectively, of all the influencing factors. Higher Ssk ( Ssk T  > 0, Ssk C  < 0) and Sa ( Sa T  >  Sa C ) resulted in lower CMV (CMV T :CMV C  = 0.41:1), greater CA (CA T :CA C  = 1.44:1), and higher BIC (BIC T :BIC C  = 3.06:1) ( P  < 0.05). The surface micromorphology influenced the CMD of MG-63 cells within 20 μm from the material surface. However, it could not regulate the IOP, LBPI, MVD, new bone microstructure, or CMD ( P  > 0.05).

Zinc-based biodegradable metals (BMs) have been developed for biomedical implant materials. However, the cytotoxicity of Zn and its alloys has caused controversy. This work aims to investigate whether Zn and its alloys possess cytotoxic effects and the corresponding influence factors. According to the guidelines of the PRISMA statement, an electronic combined hand search was conducted to retrieve articles published in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus (2013.1–2023.2) following the PICOS strategy. Eighty-six eligible articles were included. The quality of the included toxicity studies was assessed utilizing the ToxRTool. Among the included articles, extract tests were performed in 83 studies, and direct contact tests were conducted in 18 studies. According to the results of this review, the cytotoxicity of Zn-based BMs is mainly determined by three factors, namely, Zn-based materials, tested cells, and test system. Notably, Zn and its alloys did not exhibit cytotoxic effects under certain test conditions, but significant heterogeneity existed in the implementation of the cytotoxicity evaluation. Furthermore, there is currently a relatively lower quality of current cytotoxicity evaluation in Zn-based BMs owing to the adoption of nonuniform standards. Establishing a standardized in vitro toxicity assessment system for Zn-based BMs is required for future investigations.

This Special Issue, “Functional Biomaterials and Digital Technologies in Dentistry: From Bench to Bedside”, highlights the integration of advanced materials science and digital technologies in dental and maxillofacial applications [...]

Epidemiological studies have reported a distinct link between periodontitis and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, the underlying mechanisms-except for systemic inflammation-are still poorly understood. This review examines the evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction represents a key pathological denominator in both periodontitis and CVD. We explain the mechanisms through which dysbiotic periodontal microenvironment and related inflammation can disrupt key mitochondrial functions, including redox balance and quality control. This disruption can exacerbate local tissue damage in the oral cavity and contribute to CVD. Important mechanisms include abnormal mitochondrial dynamics, impaired mitophagy, and impaired mitochondrial biogenesis, which are involved in both periodontitis and CVD. Examining the relationship through the perspective of mitochondrial dysfunction may elucidate the underlying mechanism and allow for new treatment possibilities. Targeting these shared mitochondrial pathways may unveil new strategies to reduce the impact of both periodontitis and CVD.

Understanding of the complicated interactions between biomaterials and cells can accelerate biomedical developments. Recently, many in vitro studies have emphasized the biological features of nanowires (NWs) on the cell’s early response. A type of unique clustered anatase/rutile NWs (ARNWs) was generated using a simple hydrothermal reaction on titanium in the present study. The aim of this study is to determine whether the ARNWs is beneficial for the enhancement of biological capacity. Clustered ARNWs with a diameter of 200 nm were grown on titanium disks via a three-step synthesis process. Three different types of NWs were generated during the production process, displaying different biological characteristics but similar surface topography and wettability. All of the NW surfaces remarkably accelerated the adsorption of albumin protein; however, compared to the ARNWs, a relatively low level of cell attachment and proliferation occurred on the surfaces of sodium titanate NWs (STiNWs) and H2Ti2O5 nanowires (HTiNWs). The data indicated that the surface titanium oxide crystal structure plays an important role in the cell’s early response. To some extent, the generation of anatase and rutile of the ARNWs compensated for the cell-repelling properties. The crystal structure and potential larger loading capacity of the ARNWs face challenges for enhanced cellular adaptation which could improve its clinical potential.

Understanding of the complicated interactions between biomaterials and cells can accelerate biomedical developments. Recently, many in vitro studies have emphasized the biological features of nanowires (NWs) on the cell’s early response. A type of unique clustered anatase/rutile NWs (ARNWs) was generated using a simple hydrothermal reaction on titanium in the present study. The aim of this study is to determine whether the ARNWs is beneficial for the enhancement of biological capacity. Clustered ARNWs with a diameter of 200 nm were grown on titanium disks via a three-step synthesis process. Three different types of NWs were generated during the production process, displaying different biological characteristics but similar surface topography and wettability. All of the NW surfaces remarkably accelerated the adsorption of albumin protein; however, compared to the ARNWs, a relatively low level of cell attachment and proliferation occurred on the surfaces of sodium titanate NWs (STiNWs) and H2Ti2O5 nanowires (HTiNWs). The data indicated that the surface titanium oxide crystal structure plays an important role in the cell’s early response. To some extent, the generation of anatase and rutile of the ARNWs compensated for the cell-repelling properties. The crystal structure and potential larger loading capacity of the ARNWs face challenges for enhanced cellular adaptation which could improve its clinical potential.