The aim of this prospective pilot study was to compare culture and microbiome results of the removed tonsils of patients with assumed distant focal disease (11 patients) and those who underwent a tonsillectomy, due to other reasons, such as recurrent tonsillitis, tonsil stones or snoring (nine patients). Aerobic culture was carried out for samples taken from the surface of the tonsils by swabs before tonsillectomy for all 20 patients. The squeezed detritus and the tissue samples of removed tonsils, taken separately for the right and left tonsils, were incubated aerobically and anaerobically. The microbiome composition of tissue samples of removed tonsils was also evaluated. Based on the culture results of the deep samples Staphylococcus aureus was the dominating pathogen, besides a great variety of anaerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria present in the oral microbiota in those patients who underwent tonsillectomy due to distant focal diseases. Microbiome study of the core tissue samples showed a great diversity on genus and species level among patients of the two groups however, S. aureus and Prevotella nigrescens were present in higher proportion in those, whose tonsils were removed due to distant focal diseases. Our results may support previous findings about the possible triggering role of S. aureus and P. nigrescens leading to distant focal diseases. Samples taken by squeezing the tonsils could give more information about the possible pathogenic/triggering bacteria than the surface samples cultured only aerobically.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of oral health status and habits with the occurrence of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in a nationwide population-based cohort in a longitudinal setting. Methods: A total of 2,415,963 individuals aged 40-79 years who underwent oral health examinations were included from the National Health Insurance Service-National Health Screening (NHIS-HEALS) cohort of Korea between 2003 and 2004. The occurrence of AS was analyzed according to the oral health status and oral hygiene habits. Results: Among 2,271,221 of the participants, AS occurred in 6366 (0.3%) participants over 16.7 years. The likelihood of AS was higher in participants who had periodontitis (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.20-1.46, p < 0.0001) and more missing teeth (HR: 1.68, 95% CI: 1.42-1.99, p < 0.0001). However, better oral hygiene habits such as frequent tooth brushing (HR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.71-0.83, p < 0.0001) and a history of dental scaling within the last year (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82-0.95, p = 0.001) were associated with a lower occurrence of AS. Conclusions: Periodontitis and an increased number of missing teeth could be related to the occurrence of late-onset AS. Improved oral hygiene care may attenuate the likelihood of late-onset AS.

暂无摘要。

Owing to involvement of host genetic factors in susceptibility to brucellosis infection and its outcome, this study aimed to carry out a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to derive a precise evaluation of the association between the risk of brucellosis and its focal complication and all cytokines examined in case-control studies, including Interferon gamma (IFN-γ), Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-α, TNF-β, Transforming Growth Factor(TGF)-β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12B, IL-15, and IL-18 polymorphisms.
A systematic literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Scopus was performed to identify the relevant studies, and related information was extracted. The effect size (ES) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to estimate the association.
From 158 initial results, twenty-five eligible studies were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, the pooled results showed that the dominant models of IFN-γ UTR5644, TGF-β rs1800470 and rs1800471, TNF-α rs1800629, and IL-10 rs1800872 were significantly less frequent in brucellosis patients than the controls. Also, the pooled analysis of the mutant allele vs. wild allele of TGF-β rs1800471 and IL-10 rs1800872 showed negative association with brucellosis risk. On the other hand, our pooled analysis demonstrated that the mutant allele of IL-4 rs2243250 and IL-18 rs1946519 were associated with increased susceptibility to brucellosis. In addition, the IFN-γ UTR5644 and TGF-β rs1800470 were more frequent in the patients without focal forms.
IL-4 rs2243250 and IL-18 rs1946519 have a positive correlation with brucellosis whereas the IFN-γ UTR5644, TGF-β rs1800470 and rs1800471, TNF-α rs1800629, and IL-10 rs1800872 showed a negative association with this disease. The association between the other single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and brucellosis risk was not confirmed in the current meta-analysis. PROSPERO Registration: CRD42018117203.