The aim of this study was to investigate how oral health affects the quality of life among patients attending a dental clinic in Livingstone, and patients attending the Dental training school in Lusaka, Zambia. A total of 160 patients was consecutively selected and participated in the study, between the ages 16-68 (32 ± 11.8; mean ± SD). Interviews were done using a questionnaire “The oral impacts on daily performances” (OIDP). Of all the patients, 80% reported that they were affected by their oral health with at least one problem. Difficulty with “eating and enjoying food” was the most frequently performance affected (54%) and “speaking and pronouncing” was the least performance reported (16%). Overall, 20% of the participants reported that they did not have any problems. When reported having a problem, 3 and 4 number of problems were the most frequently occurring. Two open questions were asked, “What is the reason for your visit” and “What do you think is the problem”. The most common answer to the first question was “pain” (38.8%) and to the second question, “don´t know” (23.1%). This study found that 80% felt that their oral health affected their daily activities and QoL. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur den orala hälsan påverkar livskvalitéten bland patienter som besökte en tandklinik i Livingstone samt på kliniken vid Dental training school i Lusaka, Zambia. Sammanlagt 160 patienter valdes konsekutivt ut och var i åldrarna 16-68 år (32 ± 11,8; medel ± SD). Studien utfördes genom intervjuer med hjälp av en enkät, ”The Oral Impacts on Daily Performances” (OIDP). Av patienterna svarade 80% att de blev påverkade av deras orala hälsa med minst ett problem. Svårigheter med att ”äta och njuta av mat” var det vanligaste problemet (54%) medan ”att tala och ha bra uttal” var det problem som var minst rapporterat (16%). Överlag, rapporterade 20% att de inte hade några problem alls. När de rapporterade att de hade problem var det vanligaste 3 och 4 antal problem. Två öppna frågor ställdes, ”Varför kom du till kliniken” och ”Vad tror du är problemet”. Det vanligaste svaret på första frågan var ”smärta” (38.9%) och på andra frågan ”vet inte” (23.1%). Denna studie kom fram till att 80% tyckte att deras orala hälsa påverkade deras liv och livskvalité.

The objective of the research comprising this thesis was to characterize ovarian follicular development in healthy women of reproductive age undergoing natural menstrual cycles and oral contraception (OC) cycles. We quantified changes in the numbers and diameters of follicles, detected ovulation and assessed changes in the growth and regression of corpora lutea using high-resolution transvaginal ultrasonography. Changes in follicular and luteal development were then correlated with changes in concentrations of reproductively-active hormones and endometrial growth to provide a comprehensive approach to ovarian and uterine function.<p>We documented, for the first time, that women exhibited waves of antral follicular development during the menstrual cycle. Two and three waves of follicle growth were observed. Major and minor waves of follicle development were characterized. Major waves were those in which a dominant follicle was selected for preferential growth; minor waves were those in which dominance was not manifest. Luteal progesterone production appeared to have a negative effect on the emergence and development of follicle waves in women. The ovarian follicular wave phenomenon has provided a new model for studying the growth and regression of ovarian follicles during the human menstrual cycle. Documentation of ovarian follicular waves in women has implications for the development of new strategies to manipulate ovarian follicular development, in particular hormonal contraceptive regimens and infertility therapies. <P>We further documented that ovarian follicular development occurred during the compliant use of oral contraception. Follicles developed to ostensibly ovulatory diameters and either regressed, ovulated, or formed follicular cysts under the suppressive effects of OC. The majority of follicles that developed during OC use emerged during the hormone-free interval (HFI). We interpreted our findings to mean that ovarian follicular development during OC use was associated with loss of endocrine suppression during the HFI, rather than user non-compliance as previously speculated. The number and maximum diameter of follicles that developed during OC use were greater in women administered OC containing 20 g versus 30--35 g Ethinyl -- Estradiol formulations. Our results provided rationale for a reduction or complete elimination of the HFI in OC regimens, and the judicious use of low EE dose OC regimens (i.e., ? 20 g EE). Ovarian follicular development and circulating concentrations of estradiol and LH were not suppressed effectively when OC use was initiated at mid to late stages of follicle development (i.e., ? 10 mm). Our findings demonstrated that dominant follicles secrete estradiol and become increasingly responsive to LH as they acquire functional dominance after becoming physiologically selected for preferential growth during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle.

No description available.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om det förekommer skillnader i upplevelsen av oral hälsorelaterad livskvalitet hos personer som överlevt akut hjärtinfarkt jämfört med personer som inte har haft hjärtinfarkt.Studien genomfördes under åren 2001-2002 och alla personer som sökte vård vid ett mellanstort sjukhus i södra Sverige med diagnosen akut hjärtinfarkt och som överlevt infarkten inkluderades i studien. Kontrollgruppen bestod av vänner (n=69) till personerna som hade överlevt akut hjärtinfarkt samt personer (n=90) från en tidigare undersökning från samma sjukhus och som överensstämde i kön, ålder, socioekonomisk bakgrund och rökstatus. Totalt deltog 154 personer som överlevt akut hjärtinfarkt och 159 personer i kontrollgruppen.Mätinstrumentet som användes i studien var Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP), vilket är ett frågeformulär för att mäta självupplevd munhälsorelaterad livskvalitet. Formuläret ger mått på dysfunktion, obehag och funktionshinder relaterade till munhålan. OHIP består av 49 frågor, fördelade över sju dimensioner: funktionsbegränsningar, fysisk smärta, psykiska problem, fysisk oförmåga, psykisk oförmåga, social oförmåga och handikapp.Resultatet visar att inga statistiskt säkerställda skillnader fanns mellan de personer som överlevt akut hjärtinfarkt och kontrollgruppen i de sju dimensionerna i OHIP. Det var få personer som upplevde besvär från munhålan som påverkade deras livskvalitet i båda grupperna. I denna studie framkom endast en statistisk säkerställd skillnad mellan de undersökta grupperna i påståendet att de upplevde att mat fastnat mellan tänderna (p-värde 0.024), vilket kan tyda på att användbarheten för OHIP är litet på denna patientgruppen. Fler studier krävs för att undersöka skillnader i upplevelsen av oral hälsorelaterad livskvalitet hos personer som överlevt akut hjärtinfarkt jämfört med personer som inte har haft hjärtinfarkt.

Abstract PURPOSE: Hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) is a unique nuclear/growth factor and plays an important role in the development and progression of cancer. The current study aimed to elucidate the correlation between HDGF expression, clinic-pathologic parameters, and associated molecular factors of oral cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The surgically resected samples from a total of 95 patients with oral cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) were enrolled to construct the tissues microarray (TMA) in this retrospective study. The HDGF expression in TMA of oral cancer was determined by immunohistochemistry. HDGF and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) immunostaining in tumor samples was scored and the labeling index were correlated with various clinic-pathologic parameters by statistic analysis. RESULTS: Expression of nuclear HDGF and VEGF was highly correlated with primary T stage (P=0.004 and P=0.038, respectively) and histological grade (P=0.013 and P=0.017, respectively). VEGF expression also associated with nodal status (P=0.021). Moreover, expression of nuclear HDGF and VEGF were highly correlated to each other (P=0.006). On the other hand, expression of HDGF in cytoplasm only associated with tumor necrosis (P=0.002) and showed no impact on survival. In univariate analysis, high expression of nuclear HDGF and VEGF significantly affected disease-specific, metastasis-free, and local recurrence-free survival. Multivariate analysis also indicated that expression level of nuclear HDGF is an independent prognostic factor for disease-specific and local recurrence-free survival (P=0.028; P=0.0285). Indeed, high expression of VEGF is also an independent factor in disease-specific, local recurrence-free, and metastasis free survival (P=0.0183; P=0.0461; P=0.0153). CONCLUSION: The data showed that high expression of nuclear HDGF and VEGF in squamous cell carcinoma of oral cavity might identify patients at risk of aggressive disease and predict poor prognosis. HDGF might play as key of regulation of tumorigenesis. Therefore, HDGF could be a candidate gene for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for oral cancer. Further studies are still need to determine the precise role of HDGF in the biological behavior of oral caner and the regulatory mechanism with other associated molecular factors.

The effect of natural compound AN30 on oral cancer cell line (Ca9-22), and normal oral cell line (HGF-1) was investigated. AN30 was purified from native fern plant Thelypteris torresiana. It had been reported to induce cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and DNA damage, cell growth inhibition in lung cancer cells, breast cancer cells and prostate cancer cells, but the effect in oral cancer is unknown. In a preliminary test, AN30 shows high toxicity to oral cancer cells but not normal oral cells. After treatment of AN30 to oral cancer cells, caspase activation and comet assays were performed to verity apoptosis induction. 2-D electrophoresis was used to find out the differentially expressed proteins between normal and cancer oral cell line under AN30 treatment. The proteins were further identified by LC/MS and western blot. The mechanism of these candidate proteins on drug toxicity remains further investigation.

One of the physiological functions of apoptosis is to eliminate cells that have sustained genetic aberrations, thereby preventing damaged cell from attaining uncontrolled cell proliferation or transformation into carcinoma. The apoptotic response is mediated by many apoptotic genes including Fas, survivin, caspases etc. through either the extrinsic pathway (death receptor pathway) or the intrinsic pathway (mitochondrial pathway). In this dissertation, we carried out a hospital-based case-control study to investigate the association between seven Fas related apoptosis pathway genes (Fas, FasL, survivin, XIAP, caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9) and the risk for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). In this study, 279 newly diagnosed OSCC patients and 469 frequency-matched controls were recruited at Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital from 2003 to 2006. Total eight various polymorphisms in seven genes mentioned above were examined by PCR-RFLP and our results showed that only FasL ¡V844TT genotype (P=0.047) was associated with the risk of OSCC. However, a trend of increased risk of OSCC was found in people with the increasing putative high-risk genotypes of Fas related apoptosis pathway genes (P for linear trend, 0.034). From our results of the gene-environment interaction analyses, three important observations were listed below: (1) the polymorphism of both FasL T-844C and survivin codon Lys129Glu were risk factors for Fukienese (P=0.023 and P=0.014, respectively), but not for other ethnicities examined. (2) For non-smokers, survivin codon Lys129Glu and caspase-3 A21926C polymorphisms had significant protect (P=0.047 and P=0.024, respectively). (3) For betel quid (BQ) chewers, caspase-9 codon Arg221Gln polymorphism was an important risk factor (P=0.048). Together, the results suggested that gene polymorphisms of Fas related apoptosis pathway were associated with the risk of OSCC. In order to evaluate the relationship between p53 and caspase-3 protein expression levels or clinicopathologic characteristics and survival outcome in OSCC, we examined the protein expression profilings of caspase-3 and p53 in those patients with buccal mucosa squamous cell carcinoma (BMSCC). Total 117 primary buccal carcinoma specimens were collected at KSVGH between 1990 and 2005 and their paraffin-embedded tissues were sectioned and subjected for immunohistochemistry examination. The overall cumulative survival rate was 62% for 5-years, 39% for 10-years and 18% for 14-years, respectively. Ours results showed that the survival rate of BMSCC was significantly correlated with all clinicopathological characteristics including cell differentiation, pathological stage, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, post-operative RT, post-operative CT and BQ chewing status. Most importantly, the high caspase-3 protein level in cytoplasm was an unfavorable prognostic factor in the univariate or the multivariate analysis. In conclusion, the join effect of genetic polymorphisms of Fas related apoptosis pathway genes and gene-environment combined effect may play important roles in the OSCC risk. In addition, high caspase-3 protein expression in cytoplasm may be used as a prognostic marker for patients with BMSCC.

No description available.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University,2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.76-82).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Speech and Hearing, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Feb. 4, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-04, Section: A, page: 1098. Adviser: Karen Forrest.