Application of the novel method in the diagnosis and treatment of median rhomboid glossitis Candida-associated

Median Rhomboid Glossitis of the Tongue-Associated Kissing Lesion: A Report of a Rare Case

A 50-year-old female patient visited the dental outpatient department with the chief complaint of ulceration associated with pain and burning sensation on the anterior and middle parts of the tongue and the posterior portion of the hard palate, which showed contact lesions that were similar in shape and size. The patient gave the history of the following symptoms a week before the patient visited the department. The patient was asymptomatic six months ago when she initially observed yellowish deposits on her tongue that could be scraped off. The patient misjudged these deposits as food debris and did not undergo any treatment for them. It was in the past week that she developed ulceration on the posterior portion of the hard palate.

Median Rhomboid Glossitis: A Developmental Disorder Involving the Central Part of the Tongue

Median rhomboid glossitis (MRG), also known as posterior midline atrophic candidiasis, is a developmental disorder of the oral cavity. It usually involves the central part of the dorsum surface of the tongue. It is a papillary atrophy that is generally well-defined and symmetrical in presentation. It is usually a painless lesion, but some patients may complain of mild itching and irritation in that region. This lesion is more predominant in males than females. It has been widely argued that this lesion is not a developmental disorder but a clinical manifestation of a fungal etiology. This article presents a case report of a 55-year-old woman who reported to the oral medicine department in a tertiary care center in Wardha, India, with the chief complaint of an oval-shaped, discolored area on the dorsum of her tongue since birth. This article also emphasizes the role of a dental practitioner in diagnosing the lesion and appropriate patient education regarding the condition.

Combining lexical and context features for automatic ontology extension

BACKGROUND

Ontologies are widely used across biology and biomedicine for the annotation of databases. Ontology development is often a manual, time-consuming, and expensive process. Automatic or semi-automatic identification of classes that can be added to an ontology can make ontology development more efficient.

RESULTS

We developed a method that uses machine learning and word embeddings to identify words and phrases that are used to refer to an ontology class in biomedical Europe PMC full-text articles. Once labels and synonyms of a class are known, we use machine learning to identify the super-classes of a class. For this purpose, we identify lexical term variants, use word embeddings to capture context information, and rely on automated reasoning over ontologies to generate features, and we use an artificial neural network as classifier. We demonstrate the utility of our approach in identifying terms that refer to diseases in the Human Disease Ontology and to distinguish between different types of diseases.

CONCLUSIONS

Our method is capable of discovering labels that refer to a class in an ontology but are not present in an ontology, and it can identify whether a class should be a subclass of some high-level ontology classes. Our approach can therefore be used for the semi-automatic extension and quality control of ontologies. The algorithm, corpora and evaluation datasets are available at https://github.com/bio-ontology-research-group/ontology-extension.

Diagnosis of Lingual Atrophic Conditions: Associations with Local and Systemic Factors. A Descriptive Review

Atrophic glossitis is a condition characterised by absence of filiform or fungiform papillae on the dorsal surface of the tongue. Consequently, the ordinary texture and appearance of the dorsal tongue, determined by papillary protrusion, turns into a soft and smooth aspect.

Throughout the years, many factors, both local and systemic, have been associated with atrophic glossitis as the tongue is currently considered to be a mirror of general health. Moreover, various tongue conditions were wrongly diagnosed as atrophic glossitis. Oral involvement can conceal underlying systemic conditions and, in this perspective, the role of clinicians is fundamental.

Early recognition of oral signs and symptoms, through a careful examination of oral anatomical structures, plays a crucial role in providing patients with a better prognosis.

Black hairy tongue in a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Black hairy tongue (BHT) is a condition characterized by the elongation of filiform papillae associated with a marked discoloration, from yellowish-brown to black, and a thick lingual coating. BHT is usually observed in the elderly and in patients with limited self-sufficiency, as a consequence of poor oral hygiene. In this perspective, the patients affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) represent a high-risk category for the occurrence of BHT. The fast and inexorable loss of their self-sufficiency due to progressive muscle atrophy as well as the impropriate education of healthcare assistants have demonstrated to have significant reflection on the maintenance of an adequate standard of oral hygiene. This paper firstly described a case of BHT in a patient affected by ALS. A case of BHT in a patient (Caucasic, male, 63 years old) affected by ALS was described. The primary goal of the work was to teach and motivate the patient to the use of the tongue cleaner in association with the local application of chlorexidine 0.20%. Furthermore, in order to support the patient with accurate domiciliary oral hygiene, a proper training for his health-care assistant was provided. The maintenance of the oral health of ALS patient is fundamental to prevent systemic complications that could jeopardize the already fragile physical balance of these patients. The dedicated monitoring by a dentist or a dental hygienist would seem essential in order to achieve this objective.

Enhanced antifungal effects of amphotericin B-TPGS-b-(PCL-ran-PGA) nanoparticles in vitro and in vivo

Background

Amphotericin B (AMB) is a polyene antibiotic with broad spectrum antifungal activity, but its clinical toxicities and poor solubility limit the wide application of AMB in clinical practice. Recently, new drug-loaded nanoparticles (NPs) – diblock copolymer D-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate-b-poly(ε-caprolactone-ran-glycolide) (PLGA-TPGS) – have received special attention for their reduced toxicity, and increased effectiveness of drug has also been reported. This study aimed to develop AMB-loaded PLGA-TPGS nanoparticles (AMB-NPs) and evaluate their antifungal effects in vitro and in vivo.

Methods

AMB-NPs were prepared with a modified nanoprecipitation method and then characterized in terms of physical characteristics, in vitro drug release, stability, drug-encapsulation efficiency, and toxicity. Finally, the antifungal activity of AMB-NPs was investigated in vitro and in vivo.

Results

AMB-NPs were stable and spherical, with an average size of around 110 nm; the entrapment efficacy was closed to 85%, and their release exhibited a typically biphasic pattern. The actual minimum inhibitory concentration of AMB-NPs against Candida albicans was significantly lower than that of free AMB, and AMB-NPs were less toxic on blood cells. In vivo experiments indicated that AMB-NPs achieved significantly better and prolonged antifungal effects when compared with free AMB.

Conclusion

The AMB-PLGA-TPGS NP system significantly improves the AMB bioavailability by improving its antifungal activities and reducing its toxicity, and thus, these NPs may become a good drug carrier for antifungal treatment.