Protein phosphorylation is an important cellular regulatory mechanism as many enzymes and receptors are activated/deactivated by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation events, by means of kinases and phosphatases. In particular, the protein kinases are responsible for cellular transduction signaling and their hyperactivity, malfunction or overexpression can be found in several diseases, mostly tumors. Therefore, it is evident that the use of kinase inhibitors can be valuable for the treatment of cancer. In this review, we discuss the mechanism of action of phosphorylation, with particular attention to the importance of phosphorylation under physiological and pathological conditions. We also discuss the possibility of using kinase inhibitors in the treatment of tumors.

This systematic review confirms that both OLP and OLL, the latter with a slightly higher TR, may be considered potentially malignant disorders and suggest that erosive type, female gender and tongue site should be considered as risk factors for OLP transformation. Major efforts should be done to establish strict clinical and histological criteria to diagnose OLP and to perform sounder methodological observational studies.

Abstract. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a polyphenol derived from the Curcuma longa plant. Curcumin has been used extensively in Ayurvedic medicine, as it is nontoxic and exhibits a variety of therapeutic properties, including antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic activities. Recently, certain studies have indicated that curcumin may exert anticancer effects in a variety of biological pathways involved in mutagenesis, apoptosis, tumorigenesis, cell cycle regulation and metastasis. The present study reviewed previous studies in the literature, which support the therapeutic activity of curcumin in cancer. In addition, the present study elucidated a number of the challenges concerning the use of curcumin as an adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent. All the studies reviewed herein suggest that curcumin is able to exert anti-inflammatory, antiplatelet, antioxidative, hepatoprotective and antitumor activities, particularly against cancers of the liver, skin, pancreas, prostate, ovary, lung and head neck, as well as having a positive effect in the treatment of arthritis.

The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to evaluate the survival rate, the marginal bone level, and the aesthetic outcome; at 3 years' follow-up, of dental implants placed into a high-esthetic aesthetic zone by comparing 2 techniques of postextraction implant with immediate loading: the socket shied technique and the conventional insertion technique.Several clinical studies suggested that the avulsion of a dental element causes dimensional alterations of both soft and hard tissues at the postextractive site. To increase the aesthetic outcomes, the "socket-shield technique" has been proposed. This method involves maintaining the vestibular root portion and immediate insertion of the dental implant in close proximity to the root.Patients enrolled in this study were randomized to receive a postextraction implant in the aesthetic zone, either with the socket shied technique or with the conventional insertion technique. Implant survival, marginal bone level, and the pink aesthetic score were the outcomes evaluated.Implant survival rate was 100% in both the groups at 3 years. Implants inserted with the socket shield technique showed better values of both marginal bone level and pink aesthetic score (P < 0.05).Although such preliminary results need to be further confirmed, the socket shield technique seems to be a safe surgical technique that allows an implant rehabilitation characterized by better aesthetic outcomes.

Shaping and cleaning a root canal system along with the preservation of the surrounding periodontal tissues are the principal goals of an endodontic treatment. While most of the attention is paid to the mechanical aspects of a root canal treatment, an essential feature of it is the irrigation. All over the years, many materials have been used to clean the root canal of a tooth, and certainly, the sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid solutions are the most used and most reliable ones. Putting them inside of a canal is mostly done using a normal syringe, but many techniques have been involved in this process, including the use of sonic/ultrasonic instruments, the use of shaping files, and even laser, to increase the efficacy of irrigant solutions, especially of NaOCl one. Each one of this technique faces some disadvantages, just as the vapor lock effect and the apical extrusion, and has a different action on features such as the reaction rate and the shear stress of an endodontic irrigant solution. In this narrative review, we describe the different features of many irrigant solutions and the different ways of upgrading their efficacy in the cleaning of a root canal system, with the use of tables to summarize the entire description, and drawing the readers’ attention to a photographic illustration for a better understanding of the topic.

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Hydrocolloids were the first elastic materials to be used in the dental field. Elastic impression materials include reversible (agar-agar), irreversible (alginate) hydrocolloids and synthetic elastomers (polysulfides, polyethers, silicones). They reproduce an imprint faithfully, providing details of a high definition despite the presence of undercuts. With the removal of the impression, being particularly rich in water, the imprints can deform but later adapt to the original shape due to the elastic properties they possess. The advantages of using alginate include the low cost, a better tolerability on the part of the patient, the ease of manipulation, the short time needed for execution, the instrumentation and the very simple execution technique and possibility of detecting a detailed impression (even in the presence of undercuts) in a single step. A comprehensive review of the current literature was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines by accessing the NCBI PubMed database. Authors conducted a search of articles in written in English published from 2008 to 2018. All the relevant studies were included in the search with respect to the characteristics and evolution of new marine derived materials. Much progress has been made in the search for new marine derived materials. Conventional impression materials are different, and especially with the advent of digital technology, they have been suffering from a decline in research attention over the last few years. However, this type of impression material, alginates (derived from marine algae), have the advantage of being among the most used in the dental medical field.

An altered oral microbiota has been linked with the development of several oral diseases, such as dental caries, periodontal disease, and oral stomatitis. Moreover, poor oral health has been linked to head and neck cancer, particularly oral cancer. In recent years a growing number of studies indicate that oral microbiota could be involved in the development of primary tumours outside of head and neck region. The aim of this article is to review the recent studies based on high-throughput technology to present evidences of a relationship between oral microbiota and “non-head and neck tumours.” Oral dysbiosis seem to be more pronounced in patients with tumours of gastrointestinal tract, in particular oesophageal, gastric, pancreatic, and colorectal cancers, paving the way for developing specific oral microbiota test to allow early cancer detection. Regarding other tumour types, the results are promising but highly preliminary and still debated. Currently, there are several factors that limit the generalization of the results, such as the small sample size, the lack of adequate clinical information about patients, the different sequencing techniques used, and biological sample heterogeneity. Although only at the beginning, the analysis of oral microbiota could be the next step in the evolution of cancer therapy and will help clinicians to develop individualised approaches to cancer prevention and treatment.