40 find more Future directions in epilepsy/OCD research There is much work to be done in establishing the causation of OCD, and possible links to epilepsy. Future studies should extend investigation to nonepilepsy neurological groups as well as a psychiatry group with OCD.3 Multicenter studies would be valuable in looking at the entire severity spectrum of OCD in TLE. In addition, with the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical findings of greater religiosity and writing compulsions in patients with epilepsy, research into OCD in epilepsy would be enhanced by developing specific

tools or scales that measure these parameters.10 Greater attention might be directed at the comorbidity of depression and anxiety in OCD in patients with epilepsy, with examination of the neurobiological and structural relationships Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to clinical expression.10 As with any implied association, prospective larger studies with optimally trained personnel with experience in psychiatric testing instruments, the development of tailored characterization of OCD subtypes and feature categorization, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and the application of these tools and trained personnel to carefully categorized populations of different types of epilepsy, are warranted. Multicenter

trials would have a good chance of lending support to the neurobiology, causes, and optimal management in patients with the several types of epilepsies and varieties of OCD.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder that is characterized by disabling obsessions (intrusive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical unwanted thoughts and/or images) and/or compulsions (ritualized repetitive behaviors).1 OCD was originally thought to be rare, but a number of studies have reported a lifetime prevalence

that ranges between approximately 1% to 3% worldwide.2-3 Thus, it is one of the more common and serious mental conditions.4 Twin and family studies provide convincing evidence for the importance of genetic factors for the expression of OCD. The author has previously reviewed these data.5 In this paper, the historic evidence is again summarized and updated with recent results. Thus, sections of this manuscript Calpain will be similar to those previously published reviews. Supporting results from twin and family aggregation studies, functional neuroimaging, pharmacological, and molecular genetic studies provide compelling data that suggest that biochemical/biological factors are important for the manifestation of OCD. Twin studies Twin studies are useful in determining whether genetic factors are important in the etiology of complex disorders.

However, these results could also be interpreted within the framework of a GxE interaction model.95 If, for example, an association has been found in a sample with subjects frequently exposed to a particular environmental risk but not in those infrequently exposed, and exposure was not ascertained, the source of nonreplication will remain elusive. The existence of interactions between genetic background and environmental factors in autism

was first suggested for perinatal complications. Indeed, in an epidemiological study on autism that included a comparison group of siblings,96 unaffected siblings had fewer prenatal and perinatal complications Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical than their affected siblings, but more than control subjects. This suggested that individuals with autism may react differently to the same environmental stimuli and may have less tolerance to

the prenatal experience compared with their siblings. Moreover, studies of animal models have suggested that Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical genetic defects in synaptic function may alter sensitivity to the environment. Indeed a study has shown that neuroligin-deficient mutants of C. elegans Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical nematodes are hypersensitive to oxidative stress.97 Another study reported that the hippocampal slices from MecP2- deficient mice are more susceptible to hypoxia.98 Conversely, it was shown in an animal models that the most significant pathology of the extremely premature brain is the disruption of synaptic development.99 It was thus hypothesized that synaptic gene defects could interact with environmental factor to increase autism risk. Another hypothesis is the interaction between genetic variations melatonin pathway genes and oxidative stress. Indeed, low plasma melatonin concentration Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is a frequent trait in ASD patients,100,101caused by a primary deficit in acetylserotonin-melhyl-transferase (ASMT) activity. It was suggested that genetic variations contribute

to the enzymatic deficit.100 Several studies have suggested an antioxidant effect of melatonin in vitro,102,103 and it was Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical shown that the administration of melatonin reduces oxidative stress in newborn infants exposed to infection or fetal distress,104 and promotes oligodendroglial maturation in the newborn rat with abnormal white www.selleckchem.com/products/sotrastaurin-aeb071.html matter related to fetal hypoxia.105 Thus it could have a neuroprotective effect in the Dipeptidyl peptidase newborn exposed to fetal distress. Interestingly Gardener et al81 noted that several of the perinatal and neonatal risk factors they identified may be associated with an increased risk of hypoxia. We can thus hypothesize that a deficit of melatonin could be taken into account in the consequences of perinatal distress. Beyond these observations, available evidence for the contribution of GxE to autism risk comes from animal models. In a first study,106 mice haploinsufficient for the TSC2 gene demonstrated a lack of normal social approach behavior only when exposed to maternal immune activation.

1B). A transesophageal echocardiogram conducted to further PTC124 clinical trial elucidate the cause was nondiagnostic (Supplement 1). Cardiac multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) was performed to define the etiology of the valve dysfunction. This revealed a severe restricted motion of one of the leaflets (Supplement ​(Supplement22 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and ​and3)3) as well as a small, low-density mass on the ventricular surface of the leaflet that had an attenuation consistent with that of soft tissue (Figure 2). Based on the clinical and MDCT information, the likely diagnosis was thought to

be pannus. The patient underwent valve replacement surgery, and the pannus was confirmed (Figure 3). Figure Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 1. (A) Continuous wave Doppler across the aortic valve showing an increased gradient (peak 3.65m/s mean) across the aortic valve. (B) Pulse wave Doppler across LVOT (left ventricular outflow

tract). Figure 2. Arrow points to the soft tissue density noted on the ventricular surface. Figure 3. Explanted aortic valve showing pannus growth (arrow) Supplement 1. Transesophageal echo with poor visualization of the aortic valve. Supplement 2. CT images of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical prosthetic aortic valve. Supplement 3. Coronal view of prosthetic aortic valve. Prosthetic mechanical aortic valve obstruction due to pannus formation is uncommon and has dire consequences.1 Although echocardiography is commonly used and helpful in determining the etiology of the obstruction, there are limitations posed by attenuation and acoustic shadowing.2 However, advancements in the realm of computed tomography, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical especially with MDCT, have made it a promising tool for assessing prosthetic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical aortic valve dysfunction and differentiating between a pannus and thrombus. The ability to differentiate between the two, pre-operatively,

is helpful in deciding the treatment goals. Whereas operative management is the preferred treatment for pannus, thrombolysis is the common treatment for thrombus.3 Our case demonstrates how MDCT can prove to be Resminostat a useful tool in the diagnosis of pannus. Funding Statement Funding/Support: The authors have no funding disclosures. Footnotes Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have completed and submitted the Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal Conflict of Interest Statement and none were reported.
Background Since the 1971 publication of the first standardized definition of MI by the World Health Organization (WHO), there was a persistent need for a better definition of MI for diagnostic, epidemiological, and research purposes. At that time, the WHO definition did not include biomarkers of cardiac necrosis because of their lack of specificity and reproducibility, and its definition was therefore open to biased interpretation.

The 6 identified predictors were repeatedly found as relevant even for long-term outcome studies in first- and multiple-episode patients.55,57-59 This finding underlines that predictors

of MLN8237 remission are also relevant for the overall outcome in schizophrenia.51 This conclusion is partly supported by studies, which assessed predictors of remission, functional remission, and adequate quality of life/subjective well-being simultaneously Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in a single patient cohort. Lambert et al33,47 and Novick et al60 analyzed predictors of these three outcome dimensions within the SOHO (Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcome) study at 233 and 3 years’ follow-up.47,60 Overall, symptomatic remission was mainly predicted by baseline, better functioning level at baseline, early symptomatic improvement, medication adherence and remitted substance use; functional remission by younger Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical age, better functioning level at baseline and early functional remission; and adequate quality of life by younger age, lower illness severity at baseline, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical better functioning level at baseline, early symptomatic and quality of life remission, and medication adherence. Full remission (fulfilling all three dimensions

for ≥6 months) and recovery (fulfilling all three dimensions for ≥24 months) was mainly predicted by younger age, better functioning level at baseline, and early improvement within all three outcome dimensions. Therefore, these Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical results suggest that predictors of symptomatic remission are partly also predictors for the overall outcome in schizophrenia with baseline functioning playing an important predictive role. Several limitations of these findings have to be addressed: (i) results are hampered by a large variation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical regarding aspects such as sample selection and

collection, assessment methods used or duration of study period; (ii) aspects of type and intensity of treatment are rarely assessed. The meta-analysis of Menezes et al56 of 37 longitudinal outcome studies of first-episode nonaffective psychosis highlights the importance of these two aspects. They failed to confirm previously reported variables such as duration of untreated psychosis or age at onset as significant outcome predictors, and found that a favorable already outcome were mainly related to combined pharmacotherapeutic and psychosocial interventions as well as lack of epidemiologic representativeness of the sample. These findings suggest that future studies on remission and its predictors should control for treatment aspects and should aim to assess cohorts as representative as possible. Table IV. Most relevant predictors of remission defined as severity and time criteria as proposed by Andreasen et al1 (sorted according to duration of trial). (1) These studies used CGI-Schizophrenia criteria (CGI-SCH overall, positive, negative, cognitive and …

A multivessel stroke was defined as the presence of involvement in more than one vascular territory.10) HT was defined as secondary bleeding of ischemic stroke, ranging from small areas of petechial hemorrhage to massive space-occupying hematomas.11) Two-dimensional echocardiography with Doppler Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) was performed on all patients. Echocardiographic studies were conducted during the acute phase of IE. Two experienced echocardiographers independently reviewed TEE studies without knowledge of patient history or subsequent clinical course. Echocardiographic data were classified using Duke criteria.14) Echocardiographic characteristics

Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of IE included vegetation, abscess, new partial dehiscence Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the prosthetic valve, valve perforation, and new valve regurgitation. Perivalvular abscess was defined as a thickened area or mass in the myocardium or annular region

with a nonhomogeneous appearance.15) Transvalvular pressure gradient was measured using continuous wave Doppler. Severe obstruction was defined as mean diastolic pressure gradient > 10 mmHg, peak velocity ≥ 2.5 m/s, and pressure half time > 200 sec in patients with prosthetic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical mitral valve; and mean systolic pressure gradient > 35 mmHg and peak velocity ≥ 4 m/s in patients with prosthetic aortic valve. Pulmonary hypertension was defined as calculated right ventricular systolic pressure ≥ 35 mmHg. Assessment of see more vegetations Vegetation was defined as a fixed or oscillating mass adherent to a leaflet

or other cardiac structure with a distinct echogenic appearance and independent motion. The lesion had to be visible in multiple views and detectable during the complete cardiac cycle. Vegetation measurements were obtained in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical various planes with the maximal Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical length used. When multiple vegetations were present, the largest value was used for analysis. Vegetation mobility was evaluated using a 4-point scale defined as: 0 = fixed vegetation with no detectable independent motion; 1 = vegetation with a fixed base but with a mobile free edge; 2 = pedunculated vegetation that remains within the same chamber throughout the cardiac cycle; and 3 = prolapsing vegetations that cross the coaptation point of the leaflets during the cardiac cycle.16) Statistical analysis Relevant variables were reported either as percentages or as means ± standard deviations. Groups were compared using χ2 statistics for categorical variables and Student’s t-tests for continuous Farnesyltransferase variables. If the distributions were skewed, a non-parametric test such as Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population are shown in Table 1. Mean age was 54 ± 12 years-old, and 54% of the patients were male. Redo-valve replacement surgery was performed in 57 patients, and in-hospital mortality occurred in 12 patients.

Of special interest is the role of lamin A/C in systemic disorders, such as aging (26) (Table ​(Table11). Acknowledgements Work supported by grant of State Committee on Research N. 2P05B 106 29.
Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is an autosomal dominant disorder due to an instable expansion of sequence CTG on chromosome 19q13.3 in the gene coding for myotonin protein kinase (MDPK) (1, 2). The heart is commonly involved in DM1. Progressive conduction defects and arrhythmias are often found, even in asymptomatic subjects, and considered as predictive of sudden death. Whether cardiac autonomic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical nervous system (ANS) abnormalities influence or accompany

the myocardial degenerative changes in patients with DM1 is not clear. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate cardiac autonomic nervous system in patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a reproducible non-invasive measure of autonomic activity and provides information

on Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical vagal modulation and sympathovagal interactions. Materials and methods Twenty DM1 patients, aged 21-55 years (mean ± SD: 42 ± 10 years) and 15 healthy controls (39 ± 13 years) were investigated. The ethical committee of our Institution approved the study, and all subjects gave their Selleck SAR302503 informed consent. For DM1 patients, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical diagnostic criteria included clinical features, electrophysiological findings and CTG repeat size detection using genomic DNA extracted from leukocytes. Each patient and healthy controls underwent a standard 12-lead ECG and 24-hour ambulatory ECG. We analysed the presence of ventricular late potentials (VLP). VLP are a kind of slight bioelectric potentials that require the recording of frequencies ranging from 25 to 400 Hz in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical order to be recognized. The function of ANS was studied in all patients with DM1 and healthy controls. All DM1 patients had no cardiac conduction and rhythm disturbances on 12-lead electrocardiogram and were able to walk and perform daily activities. Only 3 (15%) patients had peripheral neuropathy as a multisystemic abnormality in DM1 patients. None of them had heart failure, hypertension, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical ischaemic heart

disease, diabetes mellitus or positive glucose Bay 11-7085 tolerance test. None of the patients or controls was taking any relevant medication. All subjects were investigated by a battery of six cardiovascular autonomic tests (according to Ewing) and power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). Long-term time-domain analysis was measured from the entire useable ECG recording with HRV indices derived from the normal-to-normal RR (NN) intervals. Three HRV indices were measured including standard deviation (SD) of the NN intervals (SDNN) as an estimate of overall HRV, the SD of the mean NN intervals measured over each 5 minutes (SDANN) as an estimate of long-term components of HRV, and the square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of the NN interval difference (RMSSD) as an estimate of short term components of HRV.

While not powered to detect treatment effects or differences between men and women, this information was intended to identify potential trends for hypothesis generation and future exploration.

Within group effect sizes generated from paired comparisons (pre and post treatment) were calculated to generate Cohen’s d values for these relationships. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical All p values are two sided, and the statistical significance level was set at p = 0.05. Analyses were performed using SAS (version 9.2, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). Results Global symptoms of psychosis were of moderate selleck severity (mean BPRS total scores of 44.6 ± 6.2) at baseline and significantly improved (p < 0.001) after treatment. Table 1 summarizes clinical and demographical data. Table 1. Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of overall sample (N = 30). Participants were all treated with the antipsychotic risperidone (median daily dose 3 mg/day, range 0.5–6 mg/day).Table 2 summarizes changes in serum hormone and bone marker concentrations after Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical treatment adjusting for sex, age, BMI, and risperidone dose. Mean NTx values decreased from 18.31 ± 1.49 nM BCE before treatment to 15.50 ±1.22 nM BCE after Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical treatment (p < 0.05), representing a

moderate absolute effect size (ES, d) of 0.4. Of the sample, 63% showed this decrease (post–pre treatment <0 nM BCE) in NTx after treatment, while 37% had values which increased (post–pre treatment >0 nM BCE). Prolactin levels significantly increased from 12.1 ± 1.9 to 65.7 ± 12.2 ng/ml after treatment (p < 0.001). All participants had post-treatment prolactin levels that were greater than baseline. Osteocalcin, NTx:osteocalcin ratios, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical estradiol, and testosterone did not significantly change after treatment (all p > 0.05, ES 0.14–0.3). When looking at changes in hormones and bone turnover markers separately in men and women, the directions and magnitudes of change

were similar to those Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical observed in the whole group. Table 2. Mean (SE) and change scores across time for bone markers and serum hormone levels for all patients. We then examined the correlations between changes in NTx after treatment with changes in other markers impacted by treatment (prolactin) and dose. Notably, a trend was observed when assessing the correlation between the magnitude of change in prolactin isothipendyl to the change in NTx after treatment (r = 0.33, p = 0.07; see Figure 1). Important to the interpretation of this correlation is that a sample size of 70 would be needed to obtain p < 0.05 for a relationship at this magnitude. There were no significant associations between risperidone dose and prolactin (r = 0.06, p = 0.77), or NTx (r = 0.27, p > 0.05). Figure 1. Relationship between changes in prolactin with treatment with changes in NTx with treatment.

In this case, the RFA acts as an exogenous source of local tissue hyperthermia (39.5–42°C) that simultaneously acts as a thermal trigger for controlled release of ThermoDox encapsulated doxorubicin. The company’s pipeline going forward focuses on the use of Thermodox nanoparticles under thermal triggered

release conditions for the treatment of breast, colorectal, and primary liver cancer lesions [70, 71]. This is the first time that BVD-523 clinical trial thermally Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical triggered drug-ABC nanoparticles have been devised and used in clinical trials. A further evolution of this concept has now been more recently reported with the simultaneous entrapment of both doxorubicin and an MRI positive contrast agent, Gd(HPDO3A)(H2O), into thermally triggered drug-ABC nanoparticles [72]. High frequency ultrasound (HIFU) was used as an alternative thermal trigger for the controlled release of encapsulated drug at 42°C. The simultaneous release of MRI contrast agent enabled the observation of release in real time and led Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to an estimation of doxorubicin release kinetics. Researchers involved in ThermoDox have similarly reported on the development of a thermally triggered drug-ABC nanoparticle system Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with doxorubicin

co-encapsulated with the MRI contrast agent Prohance [73]. Using HIFU as a thermal trigger once more, they were able to promote controlled release of drug in rabbits with Vx2 tumours and monitor drug release in real time by MRI [74]. The same researchers also developed an algorithm to simulate the thermal trigger effects of HIFU [75]. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Simulation data were in agreement with the HIFU-induced mean tissue temperature increasing from 37°C to between 40.4°C and 41.3°C, leading to quite heterogeneous kinetic drug release behaviour [75]. On the other hand, we have striven to draw inspiration from the Gd-ABC and Gd-ABCD imaging nanoparticle systems described above [58–60, 76, 77] and ThermoDox data, in order to derive alternative thermally triggered theranostic drug-ABC nanoparticles. These could also be described as thermal Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical trig-anostic drug-ABC nanoparticles Casein kinase 1 shortened to the acronym thermal TNPs (Figure 3). Figure 3 Schematic

of thermal trig-anostic drug-ABC nanoparticles (thermal TNPs) enabled for thermally triggered release of encapsulated drug in tumours by means of ultrasound, together with real-time, diagnostic imaging of nanoparticle biodistribution by MRI … By description, these nanoparticles are enabled for thermally triggered release of encapsulated drug in tumours by means of ultrasound, together with real-time, diagnostic imaging of nanoparticle biodistribution with drug pharmacokinetics. Critical to this proposition is the use of Gd.DOTA.DSA once again. Going forward, MRI agent use could be supplemented with other substantive clinical imaging agents leading to new families of triggered multimodal imaging theranostic drug-ABC nanoparticles.

In the USA, older adults and their adult children talked of the problem of finding time to talk when families lived at a distance [30]. Talking about death has often been described as ‘taboo’ [33,34]. However, in a recent UK survey, 71% of people agreed that they felt comfortable talking about death with friends and relatives [22], although almost the same proportion said they thought most people in Britain

felt uncomfortable talking about death. Dying, death and bereavement are increasingly being Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical recognised as public health issues [35-37] and the need for the ‘normalisation’ of death has been recognised [37,38] by policy makers. Listening events with older people in the UK revealed that people are Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical willing to engage in discussion about end of life issues [29]. The purpose of this review is to establish current evidence for the effectiveness of public health interventions to encourage people within the general population to consider, and to discuss with those close to them, their preferences for end of life care or what they wish to happen after their death. Methods Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Inclusion criteria Selleckchem Chk inhibitor Studies were included if they described and evaluated a community-based intervention designed either to encourage

people to consider, and to discuss with those closest to them, their preferences for end of life care or what they would wish to happen after death, or to address known Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical barriers to these discussions. Known barriers to discussions are described in the Background and include: •Not considering the issue worth considering at the moment

•Lack of knowledge of the options available •Fear or distress associated with thinking about death or dying •Difficulty persuading significant others to participate in these conversations, or fear of upsetting others Included studies had to report on at least one outcome relating to attitude or behaviour change in the target group, or perceptions of the intervention as reported by the target group. Direct observations Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical by researchers or staff delivering for the interventions were acceptable if quantified or supported by specific examples. Studies were excluded if they included only people with a life-limiting illness; evaluated only interventions designed specifically to facilitate communication of end of life preferences between patients and healthcare staff; or were intended only to facilitate the completion of advance care planning documents. Search criteria and methods An initial search was conducted using Scopus. The search terms used were: (‘Dying’ OR ‘End of Life’) AND (‘Planning’ OR ‘Public Health’ OR ‘Health Promoting Palliative Care’ or ‘Health Promotion’ or ‘Discussion’ or ‘Talk’ or ‘Conversation’ or ‘Communication’) Terms listed in article title, abstract or keyword Dates Jan 1, 2000 to August 20, 2013.

Lubricin is a mucin like glycoprotein with extensive O-linked glycosylation. The abundance of negatively charged glycans of lubricin contributes to the proteins boundary lubrication

of the cartilage surface due to strong repulsive hydration forces [28,29,30,31]. During inflammation, the glycosylation properties such as sialylation, fucosylation and sulfation are regulated to manipulate cell adhesion, differentiation, maturation and activation in the case of immune cells. The literature [28,32] suggests that glycosidases such as galactosidases and neuraminidases significantly reduce the lubricating property of lubricin. Before incubation with sialidase Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical S, the MS2 spectral intensity of the sialylated structure gave an indecisive result when compared with spectra reported in the MS2 database UniCarb-DB. The incubation of human synovial lubricin with sialidase S indicates the degradation of mono-sialylated core 1 and mono- Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and di-sialylated core 2 structures (Figure 2b), which is accompanied Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical by an increase

in the intensity of the neutral structures generated by the removal of sialic acid (Figure 2b). The MS2 spectral intensity correlation with spectra reported in the MS2 database UniCarb-DB helped in assigning the structure created by the removal of sialic acid, while the degradation of these mono-sialylated core 1 and mono- and di-sialylated core 2 structures are terminated by α2-3 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical –linked sialic acid. The exoglycosidase digestion specific to

sialic acid and a MS2 spectral library comparison minimized the use of time-consuming exoglycosidase digestion to monosaccharide unit for structural assignment. This degradation suggested that Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical these mono-sialylated core 1 and mono- and di-sialylated core 2 structures are terminated by α2-3 –linked sialic acid. Having shown that exoglycosidase digestion of human synovial lubricin oligosaccharides and a MS2 spectral library comparison can provide information about assignment of individual structures present in the sample, we extended our analysis into this website addressing the assignment of the non-digestible terminal HexNAc configuration present in PGM oligosaccharides using MS3. This suggested that the non-digestable click here terminal HexNAc in PGM oligosaccharides may be the antibacterial terminal α1,4 linked GlcNAc epitope. In order to address the exoglycosidase activity of saliva we proposed that saliva is capable of digesting mucin oligosaccharides still attached to mucins blotted onto pvdf membranes. The human oral cavity sustains the growth of more than 500 different strains of bacteria [33] of which both harmful and beneficial bacteria use the oligosaccharide chains of mucins as a nutrient source [34].