Without longitudinal clinical data, it is difficult to differentiate some cases of chronic periodontitis (CP) and aggressive periodontitis (AgP). Furthermore, both forms of disease are exacerbated by tobacco use. Therefore, this cross-sectional study was planned, primarily, to determine the ability of Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to distinguish CP and AgP patients by analysis of human saliva samples and, secondarily, to assess the potential confounding influence of smoking on discriminating disease-specific spectral signatures. FTIR spectra were collected from patients with a clinical diagnosis of CP (n = 18; 7 smokers) or AgP (n = 23; 9 smokers). Self-reported smoking status, which may be unreliable, was confirmed by salivary cotinine analysis. Spectral band area analysis and hierarchical cluster analyses were performed to clarify if the 2 periodontitis groups as well as smoker and nonsmoker patients could be differentiated from each other. Significant variations in lipid, amino acid, lactic acid, and nucleic acid content were found between nonsmoker CP and AgP groups. Although significantly lower lipid, phospholipid, protein, amino acid, lactic acid, and nucleic acid content was noted in the smoker AgP group compared with the nonsmoker AgP group, in the CP group, phospholipid, protein, amino acid, and lactic acid content was significantly lower for smokers compared with the nonsmokers. Based on these variations, nonsmoker CP and AgP patients were discriminated from each other with high sensitivity and specificity. Successful differentiation was also obtained for the smoker CP and AgP groups. Thiocyanate levels successfully differentiated smokers from nonsmokers, irrespective of periodontal status, with 100% accuracy. Differentiation of AgP and CP forms, concomitant with determination of smoking status, may allow the dental health professional to tailor treatment accordingly.

: Iodine-based contrast agents have limitations such as rapid clearance, potential renal toxicity, non-specific blood pool distribution, headache, and adverse events. Nowadays, it is quite common to work with nanosized systems in order to eliminate the side effects of contrast agents. This study aims to synthesize a new iodinated contrast agent, prepare its nanosuspension by using the nanoprecipitation method, investigate its cytotoxicity, and compare its contrast properties with iohexol and iopromide through in-vitro experiments. The values of nanosuspension particle size and zeta potential have been found to be ~ 400 nm and ~ (-) 15 mV, respectively. In-vitro cellular viability findings indicated that the nanosuspension has lower cytotoxicity than the iohexol and iopromide. In the computed tomography (CT) imaging study of contrast features of nanosuspensions and two commercial agents, which involved 86 CT examinations using 31 parameters and two different devices, it was found that iodine had a stronger presence in its nanosuspension form than in iohexol and iopromide, which were the other two commercial contrast agents, when used in equal amounts. Thus in the case of nanosuspensions contrast brightness was achieved by using less iodine, while the same brightness could be obtained with higher doses of iohexol and iopromide. CT imaging therefore be done without much chemical use, which indicates that it may witness fewer side effects in the future.

Neuroblastoma and glioblastoma are the most commonly seen nervous system tumors, and their treatment is challenging. Relatively safe and easy acquisition of nutraceutical natural products make them suitable candidates for anticancer research. Royal jelly (RJ), a superfood, has many biological and pharmacological activities. This study was conducted to, for the first time, elucidate its anticancer efficiency, even in high doses, on neuroblastoma and glioblastoma cell lines through cell viability, apoptosis, cell cycle and biomolecular content evaluation. We performed experiments with RJ concentrations in the range of 1.25–10 mg mL⁻¹ for 48 h. Cell viability assays revealed a notable cytotoxic effect of RJ in a concentration-dependent manner. Treatment with a high dose of RJ significantly increased the apoptotic cell population of both cell lines. Furthermore, we observed G0–G1 phase arrest in neuroblastoma cells but G2–M arrest in glioblastoma cells. All these cellular changes are closely associated with the alterations of the macromolecular makeup of the cells, such as decreased saturated lipid, protein, DNA and RNA amounts, protein conformational changes, decreased protein phosphorylation and increased protein carbonylation. These cellular changes are associated with RJ triggered-ROS formation. The clear segregation between the control and the RJ-treated groups proved these changes, obtained from the unsupervised and supervised chemometric analysis. RJ has good anticancer activity against nervous system cancers and could be safely used with current treatment strategies.