Background Distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has been surrounded by suspicions and rumors making it necessary to provide the public with accurate reports from trustworthy experts such as healthcare professionals. Methods We distributed a questionnaire in Jordan among physicians, dentists and nurses who received a COVID-19 vaccine to explore the side effects (SE) they encountered after the first or the second dose of one of three vaccines namely: AstraZeneca Vaxzevria (AZ), Pfizer-BioNTeck (PB), and SinoPharm (SP) vaccines. Results A total of 409 professionals participated. Approximately 18% and 31% of participants reported no SE after the first dose and second dose, respectively. The remainder had mostly local side effects related to injection site (74%). Systemic side effects in the form of fatigue (52%), myalgia (44%), headache (42%), and fever (35%) prevailed mainly after the first dose. These were significantly associated with AZ vaccine, and age ≤ 45 years (p = 0.000 and 0.01, respectively). No serious SE were reported. Conclusions We can conclude that SE of COVID-19 vaccines distributed in Jordan are within the common range known so far for these vaccines. Further studies are needed to include larger sample size and longer follow-up period to monitor possible serious and long-term SE of the vaccines.

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, with a high fatality rate that may reach 8%. The disease is caused by SARS-CoV-2 which is one of the coronaviruses. Realizing the severity of outcomes associated with this disease and its high rate of transmission, dentists were instructed by regulatory authorities, such as the American Dental Association, to stop providing treatment to dental patients except those who have emergency complaints. This was mainly for protection of dental healthcare personnel, their families, contacts, and their patients from the transmission of virus, and also to preserve the much-needed supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE). Dentists at all times should competently follow cross-infection control protocols, but particularly during this critical time, they should do their best to decide on the emergency cases that are indicated for dental treatment. Dentists should also be updated on how this pandemic is related to their profession in order to be well oriented and prepared. This overview will address several issues concerned with the COVID-19 pandemic that directly relate to dental practice in terms of prevention, treatment, and orofacial clinical manifestations.

Objectives: To investigate in women of reproductive age a possible association between particular dental diseases—dental caries, retained roots, and missing teeth—with some systemic conditions—physical status score- ASA (American Society for Anesthesiologists), diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Methods: Dental and medical history were retrieved from the electronic files of dental patients. Statistical analysis was performed using cross tabulation with the Chi-square test to explore the significance of an association between variables pertaining to dental diseases and the investigated systemic conditions. Logistic regression was further used to explore the significance of the above dental diseases as predictors for systemic conditions. Results: A total of 1768 female patients in the age range 18–55 were included, with a mean age of 31.2 ± 10.13 years. A total of 228 (12.9%) patients had a chronic systemic disease within the ASA II category, 66 (3.7%) were diabetic, and 76 (4.3%) were hypertensive. Missing teeth were significantly associated with the ASA II category, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension (p < 0.001, p = 0.009, p = 0.005 respectively), while retained roots were significantly associated with the ASA II category only (p = 0.023). Logistic regression showed a low predictive capacity of models describing the three systemic conditions. Conclusions: Diabetes mellitus and hypertension were the most common systemic diseases among the study sample. While carious teeth had no significant association with the investigated systemic conditions, retained roots were significantly associated with the ASA II category only, and missing teeth were significantly associated with all investigated systemic conditions. However, oral diseases expressed a low predictive power of these systemic conditions.

Although the histopathogenetic process of keratin pearls is still poorly understood, acceleration of keratinization in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells may represent one possible therapeutic avenue. Based on our histopathological observations, we have hypothesized that SCC cells are keratinized by phagocytosis of extravasated erythrocytes. To confirm this hypothesis, we firstly examined immature keratin pearls in oral carcinoma in situ (CIS) and mature ones in SCC by immunohistochemistry. Concentric dyskeratotic cells in CIS keratin pearls became positive for keratin (K) 10, K17, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), or protease activated receptor-2 (PAR-2), a candidate regulator for hemophagocytosis. When ZK-1 cells, an SCC cell system, were incubated with human peripheral blood erythrocytes, or with crude and purified hemoglobins (Hbs), their erythro-hemophagocytotic activities were confirmed by immunofluorescence. Immunofluorescence signals for K10, K17, and HO-1 were enhanced due to hemophagocytosis in time-dependent manners. mRNA expression levels for the three molecules were most enhanced by purified Hb, followed by crude Hb and erythrocytes. K17/K10 mRNA expression levels were more elevated when PAR-2 was activated in ZK-1 cells. The results indicated that immature and mature keratin pearls in CIS and SCC were generated by oxidative stresses derived from erythro-hemophagocytosis, which might mediate HO-1 expression and be regulated by PAR-2. Thus, hemorrhage from the rupture of blood vessels can be one of the triggers for keratin pearl formation in oral CIS and SCC.

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Milk fat globule-epidermal growth factor (EGF)-factor VIII (MFG-E8) is a secreted glycoprotein that promotes clearance of apoptotic cells by bridging phosphatidylserine on apoptotic cells and integrin avb3/5 on phagocytes. High expression of MFG-E8 has been reported in various types of cancer in humans. Apoptotic figures are frequently found in the surgical samples of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and carcinoma in situ, and we have often observed apoptotic carcinoma cells engulfed by macrophages or even by neighboring carcinoma cells. Thus we hypothesized that MFG-E8 might promote engulfment of apoptotic carcinoma cells by living carcinoma cells and that MFG-E8 expressed by carcinoma cells could contribute to tumor progression. The aim of this study was to elucidate the biological role of MFG-E8 in oral SCC. Fifty-three surgical specimens of oral SCC were used for immunohistochemistry for MFG-E8, and the expression profiles were correlated with clinicopathological properties. Also, we examined the MFG-E8 expression patterns and functions using three human oral SCC cell lines. Most of the cases had MFG-E8-positive SCC cells, and the expression of MFG-E8 was correlated with such clinicopathological features as tumor size, pathological stage, locoregional recurrence, scattering invasion pattern, and SCC cell figures engulfing apoptotic SCC cells. The MFG-E8 staining was enhanced in apoptotic SCC cells, some of which were apparently engulfed by the neighboring SCC cells. ZK-1 cells showed high MFG-E8 expression, and its localization was found in the cytoplasm and the cell surface. Transient MFG-E8 knockdown by siRNA in ZK-1 decreased cell proliferation and invasiveness and increased cell death. Thus we have demonstrated that MFG-E8 promotes tumor progression in oral SCC and that it might be involved in the clearance of apoptotic SCC cells by living SCC cells. Milk fat globule-epidermal growth factor (EGF)-factor VIII (MFG-E8), a secreted glycoprotein also termed lactadherin, was identified initially as a marker of human breast cancer 1 and later as a major component of milk fat globule membranes in the murine lactating mammary gland. 2 MFG-E8 is a multifunctional protein that has key roles in apoptotic cell clearance, 3 cellular adhesion between sperm and oocyte, 4 morphogenetic and homeostatic regulation in diverse tissues, 5-7 and angiogenesis. 8 Human MFG-E8 contains two repeats of an EGF-like domain on the N-terminal side and two repeated domains homologous to blood coagulation factor V/VIII on the C-terminal side. 9-11 On the removal of apoptotic cells, MFG-E8 secreted by phagocytes binds to phosphatidylserine on the apoptotic cell surface via the factor V/VIII-like domains, as well as to integrin avb3/5 on the plasma membrane of phagocytes via its RGD sequence within the EGF-like domain. 3 Impaired MFG-E8-mediated uptake of apoptotic cells results in autoimmune diseases in MFG-E8-deficient mice, 12 indicating that it is related to immune tolerance induction. 13 Apoptotic cells are cleared in MFG-E8-depend...

The results indicated that the 2D SCC focus isolation could not be regarded as invasion but that the SCC foci surrounded by perlecan-positive stroma (modes 2 and 3) could be regarded as a more objective measure for invasion of SCC. This is the first 3D tissue-level demonstration of the neoplastic stroma space induced with oral SCC invasion, the presence of which we have predicted based on our previous 2D and tissue culture evidence.