BACKGROUND Epigenetic silencing of retinoic acid (RA) signaling-related genes have been linked with the pathogenesis and clinical outcome in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) carcinogenesis. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the abnormal silencing of RA signaling-related genes in OSCC have not been well investigated. METHODS Using combined analysis of genome-wide gene expression and methylation profile from 40 matched normal-tumor pairs of OSCC specimens, we found a set of retinoid signaling related genes are frequently hypermethylated and downregulated in OSCC patient samples, including alcohol dehydrogenase, iron containing 1 (ADHFE1) and aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family, member A2 (ALDH1A2), which are the important rate-limiting enzymes in synthesis of RA. The expression of ADHFE1 and ALDH1A2 in OSCC patients was determine by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry. The binding sites of miR-30a and miR-379 with DNA methyltransferase 3B (DNMT3B) were predicted using a series ead to the hypermethylation of ADHFE1 and ALDH1A genes, consequently, promote the oncogenic activity. These findings highlight the potential use of retinoids in combination with epigenetic modifiers for the prevention or treatment of oral cancer.BACKGROUND Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people often face individual- and system-level barriers in health care. However, LGB people's experiences of health care in non-European and non-American settings have been scarcely studied. In China, while it has been estimated that there are at least 70 million gender and sexual minorities, there has been no larger-scale study on LGB people's experiences of health care beyond a focus on gay men and HIV. This study is the first larger-scale quantitative study to investigate LGB people's experiences of health care in China, where non-heterosexuality is officially silenced and the needs of non-heterosexual people are largely ignored by service providers. METHODS An online survey was designed in joint partnership by academic, community groups and the United Nations Development Programme. Targeted and snowball sampling was adopted for participant recruitment.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/vazegepant-hydrochloride.html  Such unique cross-sectoral partnership made this research possible in the authoritarian state of China where datONCLUSIONS There is a strong need to enhance LGB cultural competence among health care providers. Policymakers in China should also formulate laws, policies, regulations, clearly articulated codes of conduct, and transparent procedures and practices to ensure non-discrimination of LGB people in the health care system, with a particular focus on banning conversion therapy.BACKGROUND The "practice makes perfect" concept considers the more frequent a hospital performs a procedure, the better the outcome of the procedure. We aimed to study this concept by investigating whether patient outcomes improve in hospitals with a significantly increased volume of high-risk surgery over time and whether a learning effect existed at the individual hospital level. METHODS We included all patients who underwent one of 10 digestive, cardiovascular and orthopaedic procedures between 2010 and 2014 from the French nationwide hospitals database. For each procedure, we identified three groups of hospitals according to volume trend (increased, decreased, or no change). In-hospital mortality, reoperation, and unplanned hospital readmission within 30 days were compared between groups using Cox regressions, taking into account clustering of patients within hospitals and potential confounders. Individual hospital learning effect was investigated by considering the interaction between hospital groups and procedure year. RESULTS Over 5 years, 759,928 patients from 694 hospitals were analysed. Patients' mortality in hospitals with procedure volume increase or decrease over time did not clearly differ from those in hospitals with unchanged volume across the studied procedures (e.g., Hazard Ratios [95%] of 1.04 [0.93-1.17] and 1.08 [0.97-1.21] respectively for colectomy). Furthermore, patient outcomes did not improve or deteriorate in hospitals with increased or decreased volume of procedures over time (e.g., 1.01 [0.95-1.08] and 0.99 [0.92-1.05] respectively for colectomy). CONCLUSIONS Trend in hospital volume over time did not appear to influence patient outcomes based on real-world data. TRIAL REGISTRATION NCT02788331, June 2, 2016.Distraction osteogenesis (DO) is an emerging method for bone tissue reconstruction. In oral and maxillofacial reconstruction applications, DO is playing an important role as a technique without the need of bone graft. In addition, in a DO treatment procedure, a superior outcome could be achieved compared to conventional reconstruction techniques. Recently, a few automatic continuous distraction osteogenesis (ACDO) devices have been designed and developed to be used in human reconstruction applications. Experiments and animal studies have validated the functionality of the developed ACDO devices. It has shown that by using such ACDO devices in a DO procedure, compared to conventional manual DO methods, superior outcomes could be obtained. However, the application of such ACDO devices is still limited. More research and investigation need to be undertaken to study all requirements of ACDO devices to be used in successful human mandibular DO treatment. It is important to determine all requirements and standards that need to be considered and applied in the design and development of ACDO devices. The purpose of this review paper is to highlight the designed and developed ACDO procedures thus far in terms of their working principles, working parameters, and technical aspects for providing a better perspective of the development progress of ACDO devices for oral and maxillofacial reconstruction applications. In this paper, design principles, device specifications, and working parameters of ACDO devices are compared and discussed. Subsequently, current limitations and gaps have been addressed, and future works for enabling an ultimate automatic DO procedure have been suggested.BACKGROUND The emerging use of video in neonatology units raises ethical and practical questions. This study aims to gain a better understanding of the suitability, limitations and constraints concerning the use of live video as a tool in neonatal clinical practice. The perceptions of parents and healthcare professionals in regard to live video were examined. METHODS Nine focus groups were conducted in four neonatal units involving 20 healthcare professionals and 19 parents. Data were triangulated using transcripts and field notes and analyzed using inductive and semantic thematic analysis. RESULTS The seven major themes that emerged from the healthcare professionals focus groups were (i) the impact of video recording on healthcare professionals' behavior; (ii) the impact on parents; (iii) forensic issues;(iv) guarantee of use; (v) benefits for the newborn; (vi) methodology of use; and (vii) technical considerations & feasibility. The five major themes that emerged from parents focus groups were (i) benefits for the newborn and care enhancement; (ii) impact on parents and potential benefits in case of newborn child/parent separation; (iii) informed consent and guarantee of use;(iv) concern about a possible disruptive impact on healthcare professionals; and (v) data protection.