Dental Tribune Pakistan Edition

Editor - Online Haseeb Uddin INTERNATIONAL NEWS6 DENTAL TRIBUNE Pakistan Edition January 2015 NN ARBOR, Mich., USA: Antacids are usually prescribed to manage acid reflux, a common side effect of chemotherapy or radiation treatment in head and neck cancer patients. However, this medication might also aid in halting cancer progression, according to new research. A study conducted at the University of Michigan has found that patients who took antacids had better overall survival compared with patients who did not receive such medicine. The study included 596 patients with previously untreated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, of whom two-thirds took antacid medication while the remainder served as controls. "Patients taking antacid medications had significantly better overall survival," the researchers said. Participants who took proton pump inhibitors had a 45 percent decreased risk of death compared with the controls, and patients who took histamine receptor-2 blockers had a 33 percent decreased risk of death. Although these findings indicate that routine use of antacid medications may have a significant therapeutic benefit in patients with head and neck cancer, the mechanisms underlying the effect are not well understood yet. Therefore, additional studies are planned to investigate whether antacids can be used to halt cancer progression and to reduce the risk of developing head and neck cancer. Proton pump inhibitors, such as Prilosec, Nexium and Prevacid, and histamine-2 blockers, such as Tagamet, Zantac or Pepcid, are regarded as relatively safe and typically have few adverse side effects. The study, titled "Proton Pump Inhibitors and Histamine 2 Blockers Are Associated with Improved Overall Survival in Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Carcinoma," was published in the December issue of the Cancer Prevention Research journal. A DT International Report Head and neck cancer: Antacids could increase survival rate Dentists develop saliva test for lung cancer OSANGELES, USA: Dental researchers have developed a novel technology that can detect mutations characteristic of lung cancer in saliva. In a series of tests, the researchers were able to demonstrate that detecting such mutations in saliva using the new method was as effective as testing with plasma. Thus, they believe it could be a noninvasive, cost-effective and rapid alternative to conventional test approaches. The new technology, called electric field-induced release and Cont DT International Report L OS ANGELES, USA: Salivary fluid has become an emerging medium for the detection of oral and systemic diseases, as well as for health surveillance in recent years. Now, a study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has shown that a simple saliva test conducted in the dental practice could be capable of diagnosing serious illnesses such as diabetes and cancer at an early stage. The UCLA School of Dentistry has been researching biomarkers in saliva for over a decade. In the present study, the researchers analyzed 165 million genetic sequences and discovered that saliva contains various RNAs that are biomarkers for diseases and can thus be used to detect and monitor diseases. According to the researchers, the study is the most comprehensive analysis ever conducted on RNA molecules in saliva. It found that saliva contains many of the same disease- revealing molecules that are contained in blood. Overall, they were able to identify more than 400 circular RNAs in human saliva, including 327 forms that were previously unknown. By comparing microRNA levels in saliva to those in blood and other body fluids, they also found that these levels were very similar, indicating that a saliva sample could serve as a good measure of microRNA in the body. Dr. David Wong, a senior author of the study and associate dean of research at the school, suggested that dentists might be able to take saliva samples to analyze for a variety of diseases, including Type 2 diabetes and gastric cancer, in the future. The findings could also lead to a new category of self-diagnostic devices, he said. The study will be published in the January 2015 special print issue of the ClinicalChemistry journal, titled Molecular Diagnostics: A Revolution in Progress. L DT International Report Saliva test in dental setting could help diagnose deadly diseases EWCASTLE, UK: The poorest people in society have eight fewer teeth by their seventies than the richest, one of the largest studies of its type ever undertaken has found. The research, a collaboration between Newcastle University, the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University College London (UCL) and the National Centre for Social Research, showed that oral health is substantially worse among the poorest 20 per cent of society compared with the most wealthy. For those over 65 years old, the least well off averaged eight fewer teeth than the richest—a quarter of a full set of teeth. More than 6,000 people aged 21 and over from all income groups and regions of the UK, excluding Scotland, were involved in the study, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and used data from the recent UK Adult Dental Health Survey. Those with lower income, higher deprivation and lower educational attainment, and in a lower occupational class generally had the worst clinical outcomes, including increased tooth decay, periodontal disease, and diastemas, as well as fewer teeth overall. Despite these social differences, oral health is improving and the oral health of young British adults overall is much better than it used to be. However, previously published research by the same team showed that, while the youth had much healthier mouths than did their predecessors, when asked how good or bad their own oral health was and how it affected them, the social divisions between rich and poor were evident, and even more pronounced than in older people. The poorest young people were very aware of their poor health and much more likely than the wealthiest to rate their oral health as poor or say that it affected their day-to-day life. Mix of reasons for poor oral health Prof. Jimmy Steele, CBE, Head of the School of Dental Sciences at Newcastle University and lead author, said: “It’s probably not a big surprise that poorer people have worse dental health than the richest, but the surprise is just how big the differences can be and how it affects people. Eight teeth less on average is a huge amount and will have had a big impact for these people. From our data it is hard to say which specific factors are driving each of the differences we are seeing here, but there is probably a real mix of reasons and it Continued to page 11 DT International Report N Society’s poorest have eight fewer teeth

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