Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder with limited clinical treatments. The occurrence of PD includes both genetic and environmental toxins, such as the pesticides paraquat (PQ), as major contributors to PD pathology in both invertebrate and mammalian models. Calycosin, an isoflavone phytoestrogen, has multiple pharmacological properties, including neuroprotective activity. However, the paucity of information regarding the neuroprotective potential of calycosin on PQ-induced neurodegeneration led us to explore whether calycosin can mitigate PD-like phenotypes and the underlying molecular mechanisms. We used a PQ-induced PD model in Drosophila as a cost-effective in vivo screening platform to investigate the neuroprotective efficacy of natural compounds on PD. We reported that calycosin shows a protective role in preventing dopaminergic (DA) neuronal cell death in PQ-exposed Canton S flies. Calycosin-fed PQ-exposed flies exhibit significant resistance against PQ-induced mortality and locomotor deficits in terms of reduced oxidative stress, loss of DA neurons, the depletion of dopamine content, and phosphorylated JNK-caspase-3 levels. Additionally, mechanistic studies show that calycosin administration improves PQ-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and stimulates mitophagy and general autophagy with reduced pS6K and p4EBP1 levels, suggestive of a maintained energy balance between anabolic and catabolic processes, resulting in the inhibition of neuronal cell death. Collectively, this study substantiates the protective effect of calycosin against PQ-induced neurodegeneration by improving DA neurons’ survival and reducing apoptosis, likely via autophagy induction, and it is implicated as a novel therapeutic application against toxin-induced PD pathogenesis.

The purpose of this research is to compare the cytotoxicity of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) with conventional dental implant–abutment materials, namely titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) and yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (Y-TZP), to evaluate the cell metabolic activity, cytotoxicity, and inflammation potential of human oral fibroblasts (HOF) on these materials. Disk-shaped specimens were designed and prepared via a dental computer-aided manufacturing technology system. Surface topography, roughness, and free energy were investigated by atomic force microscope and contact angle analyzer; cell metabolic activity and cytotoxicity by MTT assay; and morphological changes by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effect of pro-inflammatory gene expression was evaluated by RT-qPCR. The obtained data were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance and post-hoc Tukey’s honest significant difference tests. PEEK and PEKK exhibited higher submicron surface roughness (0.04 μm) and hydrophobicity (>80°) than the control. Although the cell activity of PEEK was lower than that of Ti-6Al-4V and Y-TZP for the first 24 h (p < 0.05), after 48 h there was no difference (p > 0.05). According to the cell cytotoxicity and the pro-inflammatory cytokine gene expression assays, there was no difference between the materials (p > 0.05). SEM observations indicated that HOF adhered poorly to PEKK but properly to Ti-6Al-4V, Y-TZP, and PEEK. PEEK and PEKK show comparable epithelial biological responses to Ti-6Al-4V and Y-TZP as implant–abutment materials. Between the two polymeric materials, the PEEK surface, where the HOF showed better cell metabolic activity and cytotoxicity, was a more promising implant–abutment material.

Spaced primary dentition plays a critical role in the eruption of permanent teeth and the establishment of ideal occlusion. A lack of these spaces in deciduous dentition may result in disproportionate jaw and tooth sizes. Additionally, spaced primary dentition is significantly affected by ethnic factors. However, few of these studies have been conducted in Asia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of spaced primary dentition in Taiwan. One hundred and forty-seven 3- to 6-year-old Taiwanese children (58 girls and 89 boys) were recruited for a cross-sectional study. Primate and interdental spaces were recorded by intraoral photos. The prevalence of spaced dentition was evaluated. The interpersonal agreement of spaced dentition between the upper and lower arches was also assessed. Most of the subjects had spaced primary dentition. The prevalence of primate space was 83.7% in the upper arch and 61.2% in the lower arch, whereas the prevalence of interdental space was 44.2% in the upper arch and 53.1% in the lower arch. The prevalence rates of interdental space and upper primate space were significantly higher in boys than in girls. Interdental spaces of the lower arch increased with age. Ethnic factors can affect the ratio of spaced dentition. Most of the 3- to 6-year-old Taiwanese children have spaced dentition. The boys have higher incidence of spaced dentition than the girls. Furthermore, primate space is more frequently found in the upper arch than in the lower arch, whereas interdental space is reversed.

Oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs), like several solid tumours, contain heterogeneous subpopulations of a small subset of cancer cells, termed cancer stem cells (CSCs), that are highly relevant to cancer metastasis and invasive properties. CSCs have also shown a high capacity to survive against various stressful environments, such as hypoxia. However, the molecular underpinnings behind the high potential of CSCs to survive under this stress remain unclear. The current study aimed to investigate the significance of autophagy systems in oral CSC maintenance and survival under stress conditions. Human OSCC cell lines OECM‐1 and OECM‐1 CSCs were cultured in different hypoxic time periods for proliferation and cytotoxicity analyses. The stemness property of CSCs is evaluated by sphere formation, transwell and wound healing assays protein expression of stemness, and epithelial‐to‐mesenchymal transition markers. Mitochondrial functions, including mitochondrial ROS generation, mitochondria dynamics, mitophagy, and mitochondrial metabolism (glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation [OXPHOS]) were examined by western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and XF‐seahorse assays, respectively. Under hypoxia, oral CSCs showed a higher proliferation rate with increased invasion/migration/EMT properties than OECM‐1 cells. Further, hypoxia‐induced BNIP3‐driven mitophagy was activated in OECM‐1 CSCs than in OECM‐1 cells, which also triggered a metabolic shift towards OXPHOS, and BNIP3/‐L silencing by siRNA significantly attenuated OECM‐1 CSCs stemness features. TCGA data analyses also revealed a higher BNIP3 expression in head and neck squamous carcinoma patients' tumour samples associated with lower patient survival. Collectively, our results revealed a BNIP3/‐L‐driven autophagy contributes to the OECM‐1 CSCs stemness features under hypoxia, suggesting a novel therapeutic strategy involving BNIP3 and autophagy inhibition in oral CSCs.

Background: Patients with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) might have a risk of cardiovascular diseases because several cardiovascular risk factors are occasionally associated with PKD patients. Data on the association between PKD and the risk of cardiovascular events, including acute coronary syndrome (ACS), stroke, and congestive heart failure (CHF), are scant. Methods: Patients aged ≥20 years who were newly diagnosed with PKD (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes 753.12 and 753.13) between 2000 and 2011 were selected as a PKD cohort (N = 5157). The association between PKD and cardiovascular events was analyzed. Results: We randomly selected a comparison cohort of people without PKD, who were frequency-matched by sex, age, and index date of diagnosis. At the end of 2011, the PKD cohort had a 1.40-fold greater incidence of ACS compared with the comparison cohort (8.59 vs. 6.17 per 1000 person-years), in addition to a 1.40-fold greater incidence of stroke, a 1.49-fold greater incidence of CHF, and a 1.64-fold greater incidence of mortality. Conclusions: This retrospective cohort study shows that patients with PKD have an increased risk of cardiovascular events including ACS, stroke, and CHF as well as mortality, particularly in younger patients. Early identification is necessary to attenuate the risk of cardiovascular complications in patients with PKD.