Objective The aim of this study was to employ artificial intelligence (AI) via convolutional neural network (CNN) for the separation of oral lichen planus (OLP) and non-OLP in biopsy-proven clinical cases of OLP and non-OLP. Materials and Methods Data comprised of clinical photographs of 609 OLP and 480 non-OLP which diagnosis has been confirmed histopathologically. Fifty-five photographs from the OLP and non-OLP groups were randomly selected for use as the test dataset, while the remaining were used as training and validation datasets. Data augmentation was performed on the training dataset to increase the number and variation of photographs. Performance metrics for the CNN model performance included accuracy, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, sensitivity, specificity, and F1-score. Gradient-weighted class activation mapping was also used to visualize the important regions associated with discriminative clinical features on which the model relies. Results All the selected CNN models were able to diagnose OLP and non-OLP lesions using photographs. The performance of the Xception model was significantly higher than that of the other models in terms of overall accuracy and F1-score. Conclusions Our demonstration shows that CNN models can achieve an accuracy of 82 to 88%. Xception model performed the best in terms of both accuracy and F1-score.

The development of scaffolds that simultaneously provide porous architectures and osteogenic properties is the major challenge in tissue engineering. Herein, a scaffold with high porosity and well interconnected networks, namely poly(lactic acid)/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT), was fabricated using the gas foaming/ammonium bicarbonate particulate leaching technique. Mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA)-assisted biomineralization generated by two-step simple soaking in dopamine solution and 10× SBF-like solution was performed to improve the material’s osteogenicity. Highly porous scaffolds available in less organized opened cell structures with diameters ranging from 10 µm to 100 µm and 200 µm to 500 µm were successfully prepared. The well interconnected porous architectures were observed through the whole thickness of the scaffold. The even deposition of the organic–inorganic bioactive mineralized layer composed of PDA and nano-scale hydroxyapatite (HA) crystals on the scaffold surface was evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The developed scaffold exhibited high total porosity (84.17 ± 1.29%), a lower surface contact angle (θ = 45.7 ± 5.9°), lower material degradation rate (7.63 ± 2.56%), and a high level of material biocompatibility. The MTT assay and Alizarin Red S staining (ARS) confirmed its osteogenic enhancement property toward human osteoblast-like cells (MG-63). These results clarified that the developed porous PLA/PBAT scaffold with PDA-assisted biomineralization exhibited good potential for application as a biomaterial for bone tissue regeneration and hard tissue engineering.

Tissue engineering technology has been advanced and applied to various applications in the past few years. The presence of a bioreactor is one key factor to the successful development of advanced tissue engineering products. In this work, we developed a programmable bioreactor with a controlling program that allowed each component to be automatically operated. Moreover, we developed a new pH sensor for non-contact and real-time pH monitoring. We demonstrated that the prototype bioreactor could facilitate automatic cell culture of L929 cells. It showed that the cell viability was greater than 80% and cell proliferation was enhanced compared to that of the control obtained by a conventional cell culture procedure. This result suggests the possibility of a system that could be potentially useful for medical and industrial applications, including cultured meat, drug testing, etc.

To explore the plaque biofilm microbiome associated with severe dental fluorosis (SF), and to describe its metagenome and metabolome. Sixteen plaque biofilm samples were collected from eight 6- to 15-year-old Thai children with SF and eight age-matched, caries-free and controls. Biofilms were analyzed using shotgun metagenomic sequencing, followed by bioinformatics evaluation. Taxonomic profiling of biofilms from SF and controls identified a total of 12 phyla and 354 species. While alpha diversity was similar between the groups, beta diversity analysis (P = 0.0010) indicated distinct microbial community structures. LEfSe highlighted key discriminatory taxa: five health-associated species (Actinomyces dentalis, Tannerella sp. HOT 286, Candidatus Nanosynbacter sp, Selenomonas noxia and Treponema sp OMZ 804 ) were enriched in controls, while Neisseria sicca, known for fluoride-sensitive esterase production, was significantly elevated in SF. Functionally, eight metabolic pathways were altered; three of these (phosphatidylcholine acyl editing, anhydromuropeptides recycling II, ubiquinol-7 biosynthesis), hypothesized to support N. sicca activity, were upregulated in the SF group. SF is associated with a significant shift in the biofilm microbiota, characterized by enrichment of N. sicca and a reduction in health-associated taxa. Altered metabolic pathways supporting N. sicca provide mechanistic insights into its role as a candidate biomarker for fluorosis, warranting further investigation.

Surface immobilization of Jagged1 promotes odonto/osteogenic differentiation in human dental pulp cells. On the contrary, soluble Jagged1 fails to activate target gene expression of Notch signaling which is important for differentiation of human dental pulp cells. Hence, Jagged1 delivery system is indeed required for transportation of immobilized Jagged1 to promote odontogenic differentiation of human dental pulp cells in vivo. The present study described the preparation and characterization of Jagged1-bound fibrinogen-based microspheres. Water-in-oil emulsion technique was employed to prepare fibrinogen microspheres and thrombin cross-linked fibrinogen microspheres. The average size of fibrinogen microspheres and thrombin cross-linked fibrinogen microspheres was 213.9 ± 35.9 and 199.9 ± 41.9 µm, respectively. These microspheres did not alter the human dental pulp cells’ cell viability. Human dental pulp cells were able to attach and spread on these microspheres. Jagged1 was conjugated on microspheres using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylamino) propyl carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide. Binding capacity of Jagged1 on both fibrinogen microspheres and thrombin cross-linked fibrinogen microspheres ranged from 25.8 ± 6.0 to 35.6 ± 9.1%. There was no significant difference in the size of microspheres between before and after Jagged1 conjugation process. In conclusion, fibrinogen microspheres and thrombin cross-linked fibrinogen microspheres could be utilized as the alternative biomaterials for Jagged1 delivery for future biomedical application.