The use of mouth guards in contact sports effectively prevents oral injuries and preserves oral structures. Many contact sports in which a high impact collision could easily cause oral injury do not require athletes to use mouth guards. We discuss the circumstance of oral injury and awareness concerning the use of mouth guards in Japanese high school soccer and rugby and basketball teams.
During an interview, each athlete was asked a series of questions concerning their history of oral injury while participating in sports and actual circumstances of using a mouth guard.
The incidence of oral injuries was 32.3% in soccer, and 56.5% in rugby, 46.6% in basketball while 0.8% of athletes possessed some type of mouth guard in soccer, 24.1% in rugby and 1.3% in basketball. Although 81.8% of soccer athletes and 81.2% of basketball athletes thought mouth guards were unnecessary, only 26.2% of rugby athletes shared this opinion. Many athletes playing soccer and basketball had insufficient knowledge about mouth guards, and were not interested in preventing oral injury. Due to the diversity of sports that can produce oral injury, it is recommended that mouth guards be worn by all individuals participating in rugby, soccer and basketball.

A 76-year-old man underwent the aorto-femoral bypass with prosthetic graft at other hospital. Prosthetic graft infection with abcess at inguinal wound occurred 4 months later. A obturator foramen bypass was performed and the infected graft and the inguinal vessels were removed. The obturator foramen bypass is useful extra-antomical bypass.

The subjects consisted of cases of unruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm operated upon between 1989 and 1992 with or without blood transfusion. The blood transfusion group contained 13 patients and the non-transfusion group consisted 17 patients. Non-transfusion cases accounted for 57% and there was no operative death in this group. In 6 patients a Cell saver was used, and it was effective in 3 patients (20%) for non-transfusion. There were significant differences in preoperative hemoglobin, preoperative hematocrit, maximum diameter of aneurysm and bleeding volume in the blood transfusion group and non-transfusion group (p<0.05). In non-transfusion operations the Cell saver appears advantageous.

Tissue engineering and bone regeneration techniques using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have started to be applied to the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery. Clinically, a shortened treatment time and improved efficiency are necessary because of the patients' needs and the running cost of cell culture. In the present study, the cultivation process for human MSCs (hMSCs) was examined by regulating the Wnt signaling pathway. We activated Wnt signaling with LiCl and inhibited Wnt signaling with sFRP-3 (secreted Frizzled-Related Protein-3). The proliferation of LiCl-treated hMSCs was examined by studying the cell growth rate and performing BrdU assays. Osteogenic differentiation of sFRP-3-treated hMSCs was examined by alizarin red staining, and osteogenic gene expression on days 7 and 14 after induction was examined by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis. LiCl-treated hMSCs showed increased cell numbers and BrdU-positive cells as compared to the untreated cells. Alizarin red staining showed early mineralization of hMSCs on day 7 of the sFRP-3 treatment. A high expression level of the alkaline phosphatase gene on days 7 and 14 of sFRP-3 treatment was also demonstrated. These results suggest that the regulation of the Wnt signaling pathway contributes to the increased cell numbers and the early osteogenic differentiation of hMSCs. This study supports the possibility that the regulation of the Wnt signaling pathway contributes to the development of effective and efficient bone regeneration techniques.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Our physicians work to expand the possibilities to treat female patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) who wish to become pregnant. Although many drugs, including 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA), corticosteroids, immunomodulators, and biologics, are used safely during pregnancy, few reports have described the therapeutic regimen throughout pregnancy and the management of patients who relapse during pregnancy precisely. The aim of this study was to assess the management of patients with IBD during pregnancy. METHODS: We identified 19 patients (five with Crohn's disease and 14 with ulcerative colitis [UC]) who became pregnant with a total of 23 pregnancies between May 2005 and May 2015 by reviewing the medical records of Kyoto University Hospital. The following data were collected: the maternal variables, the IBD treatment type, the disease activity, the pregnancy outcome, and the mode of delivery. RESULTS: Among the 19 patients, 18 had become pregnant after being diagnosed with IBD, while one had developed UC newly after pregnancy. Throughout the gestation, all patients were treated with probiotics, 5-ASA, prednisolone, cytapheresis, or infliximab. The relapse rate during pregnancy was 21.7% (5/23 cases). The five patients who experienced a relapse were able to pursue their pregnancy after intensification of their treatments. There were no adverse fetal or neonatal problems, except in one case that required an emergency Caesarean section because of placental dysfunction and in which a very low-birth-weight infant was born preterm. CONCLUSIONS: Our present data confirmed that even if the disease flares up during pregnancy, good pregnancy outcomes can be achieved with an optimal intensification of the patient's treatment.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group* ; Biological Products ; Cesarean Section ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; Crohn Disease ; Cytapheresis ; Emergencies ; Female ; Humans ; Immunologic Factors ; Infant, Low Birth Weight ; Infant, Newborn ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases* ; Infliximab ; Medical Records ; Mesalamine ; Prednisolone ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Probiotics ; Recurrence

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a member of the herpesvirus family. HCMV infection persists throughout the host lifespan in a latent state following primary infection. The ability of HCMV to escape control by the host immune system and its resulting reactivation suggests the importance of ongoing immune surveillance in the prevention of HCMV reactivation. HCMV is a common cause of opportunistic infection that causes severe and fatal disease in immune-compromised individuals. In inflammatory bowel disease patients, particularly those with ulcerative colitis (UC), HCMV is often reactivated because these patients are frequently treated with immunosuppressive agents. This reactivation exacerbates colitis. Additionally, HCMV infection can induce severe colitis, even in patients with UC who have never been treated with immunosuppressive agents. However, the role of HCMV in colonic inflammation in patients with UC remains unclear. Here, we present previous and current clinical data on the diagnosis and treatment of HCMV infection in UC. Additionally, our experimental data from a newly established mouse model mimicking UC with concomitant CMV infection clearly demonstrate that inflammation could result in the exacerbation of UC disease activity with induction of HCMV reactivation. In summary, optimal control of colonic inflammation should be achieved in UC patients who are refractory to conventional immunosuppressive therapies and are positive for HCMV.
Animals ; Colitis ; Colitis, Ulcerative* ; Colon ; Cytomegalovirus Infections* ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Diagnosis* ; Humans ; Immune System ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Inflammation* ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Mice ; Opportunistic Infections ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Ulcer* ; United Nations