Sialocele: A rare sequlae of transparotid approach in subcondylar fracture management

Iatrogenic injury and/or damage to the parotid salivary gland during transparotid approach for open reduction and internal fixation of mandibular condyle fracture is a rare event. Accumulation of saliva in the gland leads to formation of a sialocele. Huge sialocele often seeks drain through the most dependent area through an extraoral wound, whereas in the absence of extraoral fistula, saliva can be redirected intraorally using a stent. A case of mangement of sialocele caused by damage to glandular elements during a transparotid approach for a subcondylar fracture reduction is reported. The various conservative methods and surgical management for this condition are discussed.

Solitary fibrous tumor of maxilla: A rare entity

Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a ubiquitous rare mesenchymal neoplasm. Pleura is the favored site of origin and is rare in the oral cavity. SFT occurs across a wide histopathologic spectrum. Fibrous form characterized by hyalinized, thick-walled vessels with opened lumina and strong CD34 reactivity constitute one end and on the other end, a cellular form representing the conventional hemangiopericytoma, with branched, thin-walled vessels and focal or negative CD34 reactivity characterize the spectrum. A case of oral SFT in a 30-year-old female patient with its clinical, histopathological and immunohistochemical features is being presented here.

A study of 1177 odontogenic lesions in a South Kerala population

Context:

A study on odontogenic cysts and tumors.

Aims:

The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of odontogenic cysts and tumors and their distribution according to age, gender, site and histopathologic types of those reported over a period of 1998–2012 in a Tertiary Health Care Center at South Kerala.

Settings and Design:

The archives of Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, were retrospectively analyzed.

Subjects and Methods:

Archival records were reviewed and all the cases of odontogenic cysts and tumors were retrieved from 1998 to 2012.

Statistical Analysis Used:

Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using the computer software, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) IBM SPSS Software version 16.

Results:

Of 7117 oral biopsies, 4.29% were odontogenic tumors. Ameloblastoma was the most common odontogenic tumor comprising 50.2% of cases, followed by keratocystic odontogenic tumor (24.3%). These tumors showed a male predilection (1.19: 1). Odontogenic tumors occurred in a mean age of 33.7 ± 16.8 years. Mandible was the most common jaw affected (76.07%). Odontogenic cysts constituted 12.25% of all oral biopsies. Radicular cyst comprised 75.11% of odontogenic cysts followed by dentigerous cyst (17.2%).

Conclusions:

This study showed similar as well as contradictory results compared to other studies, probably due to geographical and ethnic variations which is yet to be corroborated.

Assessment of periodontal changes in patients undergoing radiotherapy for head and neck malignancy: a hospital-based study

BACKGROUND

Surgical resection, radio and chemotherapy, either used singly or in combination, are the three most common modalities used in head and neck cancer treatment. These modalities are effective in eradicating the tumor; they also negatively impact the normal head and neck structures surrounding the tumor. Direct damage to the oral structures (soft and hard tissue) frequently occurs from radio and chemotherapy, and indirect damage may also arise from systemic toxicity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This prospective study was designed to analyze the effect of radiotherapy on periodontal parameters in oncology patients prior to irradiation in the head and neck area, compared with 6 months following treatment. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS.

RESULTS

The study sample consisted of total 29 patients of head and neck malignancy (M = 17, F = 12), of mean age 45.66 years. Only 22% of patients had various habits (smoking, tobacco chewing, and alcohol consumption) and majority (27.59% patients) had tongue malignancy. All periodontal parameters - oral hygiene index Siller (OHIS), clinical attachment level (CAL), gingival recession (GR), except probing pocket depth (PPD) - were significantly increased after radiotherapy. When comparison was made between doses and fractions, only in mandible statistically significant difference were observed in GR.

CONCLUSION

Although there was no significant change in PPD, there was increased GR, CAL, and plaque index associated with radiotherapy. In this study, 61.5% cases of mandibular teeth and 34.4% cases of maxillary teeth showed attachment loss greater than 0.2 mm. So, all patients with head and neck malignancy should undergo an oral examination before the initiation of cancer therapy with adequate prophylaxis.

Bacterial cells enhance laser driven ion acceleration

Intense laser produced plasmas generate hot electrons which in turn leads to ion acceleration. Ability to generate faster ions or hotter electrons using the same laser parameters is one of the main outstanding paradigms in the intense laser-plasma physics. Here, we present a simple, albeit, unconventional target that succeeds in generating 700 keV carbon ions where conventional targets for the same laser parameters generate at most 40 keV. A few layers of micron sized bacteria coating on a polished surface increases the laser energy coupling and generates a hotter plasma which is more effective for the ion acceleration compared to the conventional polished targets. Particle-in-cell simulations show that micro-particle coated target are much more effective in ion acceleration as seen in the experiment. We envisage that the accelerated, high-energy carbon ions can be used as a source for multiple applications.

Sialoblastoma: A literature review from 1966-2011

Sialoblastoma is a rare congenital tumour of the salivary glands arising mainly from the parotid gland. It is usually diagnosed at birth or shortly thereafter with a significant variability in histological appearance and clinical course. In extensive search of PubMed indexed journals, we got 46 cases of "sialobalstoma/embryoma/congenital basal adenoma", with one case was of German literature and three additional cases of adult sialobalstoma. This article has extensively reviewed the clinical, histopathological and immunohistochemical features, Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Computerized Tomography (CT) findings, treatment and prognosis.

Role of bacteria in oral carcinogenesis

Oral cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Indian men and is the leading cause of cancer deaths. It is considered as a multistep and multifactorial disease. Besides accumulation of genetic mutations, numerous other carcinogens are involved. In this category, viral and chemical carcinogens are well studied and documented. However, in the oral cavity, the role of microbiota in carcinogenesis is not known. Microbial populations on mouth mucosa differ between healthy and malignant sites, and certain oral bacterial species have been linked with malignancies, but the evidence is still weak in this respect. Nevertheless, oral microorganisms inevitably up-regulate cytokines and other inflammatory mediators that affect the complex metabolic pathways, and may thus be involved in carcinogenesis. Poor oral health associates statistically with prevalence of many types of cancer such as pancreatic and gastrointestinal cancer. This review presents possible carcinogenesis pathway involved in bacterial carcinogenesis, commonly implicated bacteria in oral carcinogenesis, and their role in cancer therapeutics as well.

Photoionization of clusters in intense few-cycle near infrared femtosecond pulses

In this article we present a perspective on the current state of the art in the photoionization of atomic clusters in few-cycle near-infrared laser pulses.

Anomalous ion charge distribution from cluster nanoplasmas

In nearly all the intense laser experiments with nanoclusters, the key observation has been that immense ionization drives highly charged ions to highest energies while low charge ions, if any, have lower kinetic energies. We show experimental measurements that are contrary to this established notion. The active role of outer-ionized electrons in a multicluster interaction is shown to effectively reduce high charge ions to low charge states with no loss of momentum. The role of Rydberg excited clusters, intrinsic in dense cluster ensembles, is identified and a quantitative analysis is shown to comprehensively explain the anomalous charge distribution and ion energies observed in experiments.

Human immunodeficiency virus vaccine an update

Since the discovery of acquired immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in late1980s, the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has reached pandemic proportions, representing a global developmental and public health threat. Finding of a safe, globally effective and affordable HIV vaccine offers the best hope for the future control of the disease pandemic. Significant progress has been made over the past years in the areas of basic virology, immunology, and pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS and the development of anti-retroviral drugs. However, the search for an HIV vaccine faces formidable scientific challenges related to the high genetic variability of the virus, the lack of immune correlates of protection, limitations with the existing animal models and logistical problems associated with the conduct of multiple clinical trials. Most of the vaccine approaches developed so far aim at inducing cell-mediated immune responses. Multiple vaccine concepts and vaccination strategies have been tested, including DNA vaccines, subunit vaccines, live vectored recombinant vaccines, various prime-boost vaccine combinations and vaccine based on broadly neutralizing human anti-HIV Antibody 2G12. This article reviews the state of the art in HIV vaccine research, summarizes the results obtained so far and discusses the challenges to be met in the development of a successful HIV vaccine.

Multiple metastatic tumors in the oral cavity

Metastatic lesions to the oral region are uncommon and account for approximately 1% of all malignant oral tumors. In 25% of the cases, oral metastases are found to be the first sign of the metastatic spread; and in 23% of the cases, it is the first indication of an undiscovered malignancy at a distant site. Metastases to oral soft tissues are even less frequent than jaw bones. Because of its rarity, the clinical presentation of a metastatic lesion in the oral cavity can be deceiving, leading to a misdiagnosis of a benign process; therefore, in any case where the clinical presentation is unusual, especially in patients with a known malignant disease, a biopsy is mandatory. Here, we are presenting a rare case of multiple secondary tumors in the attached gingiva in an otherwise apparently healthy patient with no other symptoms of the primary tumor. It subsequently led to the diagnosis of Pancoast tumor (bronchoalveolar carcinoma) metastasizing simultaneously to multiple sites in the oral cavity and bilateral adrenal glands.

A bright point source of ultrashort hard x-ray pulses using biological cells

We demonstrate that the interaction of intense femtosecond light on a plain solid substrate can be substantially altered by a few micron layer coating of bacterial cells, live or dead. Using E. Coli cells, we show that at an intensity of 10(16)W cm(-2), the bremsstraahlung hard x-ray emission (up to 300 keV), is increased by more than two orders of magnitude as compared to a plain glass slab. Particle-in-cell simulations carried out by modeling the bacterial cells as ellipsoidal particles show that the hot electron generation is indeed enhanced by the presence of microstructures. This new methodology should pave way for using microbiological systems of varied shapes to control intense laser produced plasmas for EUV/x-ray generation.

Oral cancer in young non-habituè females: a report of four cases and review of the literature

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study is to highlight the growing incidence of oral cancer in young females without apparent traditional risk factors.

METHODS

We present a case series of young female patients with histopathologically diagnosed squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and no known exposure to major risk factors, reporting to our institution over one year. A review of the literature was carried out to find documented studies on oral cancer in young females.

RESULTS

We found an increase in the number of young female patients presenting with squamous cell carcinomas on the lateral border of the tongue who did not have any of the traditional risk factors associated with the disease, which is in contrast with the number of male patients presenting with the same disease.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study highlights the increasing incidence of oral cancer in young females without apparent traditional risk factors, an area of growing concern. Published studies in this particular group are limited. Nevertheless, the situation is alarming owing to the seriousness this problem poses for the community. More research is required to determine the aetiological and risk factors associated with this outcome.

A Thomson parabola ion imaging spectrometer designed to probe relativistic intensity ionization dynamics of nanoclusters

Conventional techniques of probing ionization dynamics at relativistic intensities for extended target systems such as clusters are difficult both due to problems of achieving good charge resolution and signal integration over the focal volume. Simultaneous measurement of arrival time, necessary for these systems, has normally involved complicated methods. We designed and developed a Thomson parabola imaging spectrometer that overcomes these problems. Intensity sampling method evolved in this report is proved to be mandatory for probing ionization dynamics of clusters at relativistic intensities. We use this method to measure charge resolved kinetic energy spectra of argon nanoclusters at intensities of 4 × 10(18) W cm(-2).

Direct, absolute, and in situ measurement of fast electron transport via Cherenkov emission

We present direct measurements of the absolute energy distribution of relativistic electrons generated in intense, femtosecond laser interaction with a solid. Cherenkov emission radiated by these electrons in a novel prism target is spectrally dispersed to obtain yield and energy distribution of electrons simultaneously. A crucial advance is the observation of high density electron current as predicted by particle simulations and its transport as it happens inside the target. In addition, the strong sheath potential present at the rear side of the target is inferred from a comparison of the electron spectra derived from Cherenkov light observation with that from a magnet spectrometer.

Helicobacter pylori coinfection is a confounder, modulating mucosal inflammation in oral submucous fibrosis

The oral cavity has been considered a potential reservoir for Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) , from where the organism causes recurrent gastric infections.

AIM

With this case-control study we tried to evaluate the role of H pylori in the etiology of mucosal inflammation, a condition that compounds the morbid state associated with oral submucous fibrosis (OSF).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Subjects ( n = 150) were selected following institutional regulations on sample collection and grouped into test cases and positive and negative controls based on the presence of mucosal fibrosis and inflammation. The negative controls had none of the clinical signs. All patients underwent an oral examination as well as tests to assess oral hygiene/periodontal disease status; a rapid urease test (RUT) of plaque samples was also done to estimate the H pylori bacterial load. We used univariate and mutivariate logistic regression for statistical analysis of the data and calculated the odds ratios to assess the risk posed by the different variables.

RESULTS

The RUT results differed significantly between the groups, reflecting the variations in the bacterial loads in each category. The test was positive in 52% in the positive controls (where nonspecific inflammation of oral mucosa was seen unassociated with fibrosis), in 46% of the test cases, and in 18% of the negative controls (healthy volunteers) (chi2 = 13.887; P < 0.01). A positive correlation was seen between the oral hygiene/periodontal disease indices and RUT reactivity in all the three groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The contribution of the H pylori in dental plaque to mucosal inflammation and periodontal disease was significant. Logistic regression analysis showed gastrointestinal disease and poor oral hygiene as being the greatest risk factors for bacterial colonization, irrespective of the subject groups. A positive correlation exists between RUT reactivity and the frequency of mucosal inflammation.

Solitary intraosseous neurofibroma of mandible

Solitary intraosseous neurofibroma is a rare benign non-odontogenic tumor. Although neurofibromas occur predominantly as a feature of neurofibromatosis affecting the soft tissue, a few cases of solitary intraosseous neurofibromas of the jaw have been reported. We herewith report a case of solitary intraosseous neurofibroma of mandible in a middle-aged woman with a discussion on its clinical, radiological, and histopathological presentation along with review of cases.