Objective: To provide information with the purpose of helping pediatricians to recognize the risk factors for the onset of severe early childhood caries, allowing for early intervention and thus avoiding this preventable disease and its consequences. Sources:Information was collected from scientific articles published on the databases SciELO, MEDLINE and PUBMED in last 25 years, as well as technical books and guidelines of international committees. The keywords used were: early childhood caries, severe early childhood caries, dental caries, and children. Summary of the findings:Severe early childhood caries affects infants and children. It is infectious, has a multifactor etiology and fast development, starting soon after dental eruption. Due to the presence of local sociocultural risk factors, it must be regarded as a symptom of alteration in the child's health and lack of adequate care. Its manifestations include pain, abscesses and chewing difficulty, affecting the child's feeding and sleep. Furthermore, it also affects the child's general health, speech, and self-esteem. Conclusions:Preventive methods to avoid severe early childhood caries have been developed and they should be used as early as possible by means of prevention programs carried out in the community and with families. Professionals responsible for providing care to babies and children should be aware of cases at risk for caries and interfere in order to improve their patients' health.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2009;85(4):295-300: Dental caries, children, severe early dental caries. ResumoObjetivo: Fornecer informações para auxiliar o médico pediatra a reconhecer os fatores de risco para o início da cárie precoce na infância e da cárie severa na infância (CSI), possibilitando a intervenção precoce de tais fatores, e, assim, evitar a instalação dessa doença prevenível e as suas consequências. Fontes dos dados:As informações foram coletadas a partir de artigos científicos publicados nas bases de dados SciELO, MEDLINE e PUBMED nos últimos 25 anos, livros técnicos e publicações de consenso de organismos internacionais. As palavras-chave utilizadas foram: early childhood caries, severe early childhood caries, dental caries e children. Síntese dos dados:A CSI é uma forma de cárie dentária que afeta bebês e crianças. É infecciosa, de etiologia multifatorial e de desenvolvimento rápido, iniciando logo após a erupção dos dentes. Por apresentar fatores de risco local e sociocultural, deve ser considerada como sintoma de uma alteração na criança e de falta de cuidados adequados. Suas manifestações incluem dor, abscessos e dificuldades mastigatórias, afetando a alimentação e o sono da criança. Além disso, afeta também sua saúde geral, fala e autoestima. Conclusões:A CSI é uma doença com métodos preventivos estabelecidos, que devem ser introduzidos o mais precocemente possível, por meio de programas preventivos na comunidade e no núcleo familiar. Os profissionais que atendem bebês e crianças devem estar atentos aos casos com risco para o desenvolvimento da d...

Objective: To provide information with the purpose of helping pediatricians to recognize the risk factors for the onset of severe early childhood caries, allowing for early intervention and thus avoiding this preventable disease and its consequences.Sources: Information was collected from scientific articles published on the databases SciELO, MEDLINE and PUBMED in last 25 years, as well as technical books and guidelines of international committees. The keywords used were: early childhood caries, severe early childhood caries, dental caries, and children. Summary of the findings:Severe early childhood caries affects infants and children. It is infectious, has a multifactor etiology and fast development, starting soon after dental eruption. Due to the presence of local sociocultural risk factors, it must be regarded as a symptom of alteration in the child's health and lack of adequate care. Its manifestations include pain, abscesses and chewing difficulty, affecting the child's feeding and sleep. Furthermore, it also affects the child's general health, speech, and self-esteem. Conclusions:Preventive methods to avoid severe early childhood caries have been developed and they should be used as early as possible by means of prevention programs carried out in the community and with families. Professionals responsible for providing care to babies and children should be aware of cases at risk for caries and interfere in order to improve their patients' health.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2009;85(4):295-300: Dental caries, children, severe early dental caries.

Human dermal fibroblasts have a potential to adhere to plastic surfaces and differentiate into other cell types. However, for stem cells intended to be used in cosmetics, experiments conducted with contaminated fibroblasts may produce poor or even falsely negative results for the efficacy of the active ingredient or formulation and thus conceal their promising effects as anti-ageing and skin rejuvenation products.

MicroRNAs derived from extracellular vesicles (EV-miRNAs) are circulating miRNAs considered as potential new diagnostic markers for cancer that can be easily detected in liquid biopsies. In this study, we performed RNA sequencing analysis as a screening strategy to identify EV-miRNAs derived from serum of clinically well-annotated breast cancer (BC) patients from the south of Brazil. EVs from three groups of samples (healthy controls (CT), luminal A (LA), and triple-negative (TNBC)) were isolated from serum using a precipitation method and analyzed by RNA-seq (screening phase). Subsequently, four EV-miRNAs (miR-142-5p, miR-150-5p, miR-320a, and miR-4433b-5p) were selected to be quantified by quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) in individual samples (test phase). A panel composed of miR-142-5p, miR-320a, and miR-4433b-5p distinguished BC patients from CT with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.8387 (93.33% sensitivity, 68.75% specificity). The combination of miR-142-5p and miR-320a distinguished LA patients from CT with an AUC of 0.9410 (100% sensitivity, 93.80% specificity). Interestingly, decreased expression of miR-142-5p and miR-150-5p were significantly associated with more advanced tumor grades (grade III), while the decreased expression of miR-142-5p and miR-320a was associated with a larger tumor size. These results provide insights into the potential application of EVs-miRNAs from serum as novel specific markers for early diagnosis of BC.

Breast cancer is a very heterogeneous disease. The intrinsic molecular subtypes can explain the intertumoral heterogeneity and the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis can explain the intratumoral heterogeneity of this kind of tumor. CD44+/CD24- phenotype and ALDH1 expression are the major CSC markers described in invasive breast cancer. In the present study, 144 samples of invasive breast carcinoma, no special type were distributed in 15 tissue microarrays (TMA) and then evaluated for expression of the CD44+/CD24- phenotype and ALDH1 to understand the importance of these CSC markers and the clinical aspects of breast cancer. The samples were classified into four molecular subtypes according to clinicopathological criteria: Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2, and Basal-like. A statistical association was found between the molecular subtypes and the CSC markers, with HER2 the most frequent subtype for both markers. ALDH1 was also associated with other poor prognostic variables, such as a high histological grade and larger tumors, but it was not associated with the patients’ prognosis in this sample and nor was the CD44+/CD24- phenotype in a multivariate analysis. There are still many controversies about the role of these markers in breast cancer molecular subtypes. The identification of these populations of cells, through immunohistochemical markers, can help to better understand the CSC theory in clinical practice and, in the near future, contribute to developing new target therapies.

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MTAP is a ubiquitously expressed gene important for adenine and methionine salvage. The gene is located at 9p21, a chromosome region often deleted in breast carcinomas, similar to CDKN2A, a recognized tumor suppressor gene. Several research groups have shown that MTAP acts as a tumor suppressor, and some therapeutic approaches were proposed based on a tumors´ MTAP status. We analyzed MTAP and CDKN2A gene (RT-qPCR) and protein (western-blotting) expression in seven breast cancer cell lines and evaluated their promoter methylation patterns to better characterize the contribution of these genes to breast cancer. Cytotoxicity assays with inhibitors of de novo adenine synthesis (5-FU, AZA and MTX) after MTAP gene knockdown showed an increased sensitivity, mainly to 5-FU. MTAP expression was also evaluated in two groups of samples from breast cancer patients, fresh tumors and paired normal breast tissue, and from formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) core breast cancer samples diagnosed as Luminal-A tumors and triple negative breast tumors (TNBC). The difference of MTAP expression between fresh tumors and normal tissues was not statistically significant. However, MTAP expression was significantly higher in Luminal-A breast tumors than in TNBC, suggesting the lack of expression in more aggressive breast tumors and the possibility of using the new approaches based on MTAP status in TNBC.

This study analyzed the influence of fragmented autogenous white subcutaneous adipose tissue (WSAT) on bone healing in critical-size defects created in rabbit calvaria. A 15-mm diameter defect was created in the calvaria of 42 rabbits, which were treated with 86 mm3 WSAT grafts or filled only with blood clots (control). Animals were euthanized at 7, 15, and 40 days postsurgery (n = 7), and the data were analyzed using histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry using the anti-CD34 and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) antibodies. The calvaria treated with only blood clots demonstrated positivity to CD34 concentrated in endothelial cells, whereas the BMP2 were restricted to the borders of the defects. In contrast, the group treated with WSAT revealed fatty cells exhibiting positivity to BMP2 both in membrane and cytoplasm and intense quantities of stromal spindle cells that exhibited positivity to CD34 simultaneously to BMP2; these results together coincided with a larger bone matrix deposited in all postsurgery periods analyzed. These results revealed that the WSAT may be an alternative to craniofacial bone reconstruction because the adipose tissue exhibited prominent immunoexpression of BMP2, which was coexpressed with stromal CD34+ cells, indicating the plasticity of CD34+ stem cells into osteoblasts, and in the adipocytes, facts that suggest bone tissue development through cellular transdifferentiation from adipocytes.