Vertebral bone quality score for opportunistic osteoporosis screening: a correlation and optimal threshold analysis

PURPOSE

This study investigated the vertebral bone quality (VBQ) score as a potential tool for opportunistic osteoporosis screening and its correlation with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) values.

METHODS

In a single-center retrospective cohort of 130 patients, VBQ and DXA measures were compared using various statistical analyses. The optimal VBQ threshold for predicting osteoporosis was determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis.

RESULTS

VBQ exhibited a significant negative association with DXA values, suggesting that higher VBQ scores are indicative of lower bone density. Age and VBQ were significant predictors of osteoporosis, with both increasing the log-odds of the condition. An optimal VBQ threshold of 2.7 was determined, demonstrating fair discriminatory power and high negative predictive value.

CONCLUSION

The study highlighted the potential of VBQ as a diagnostic tool for osteoporosis with high intra- and inter-observer reliability. The optimal VBQ threshold of 2.7 can aid in ruling out osteoporosis and identifying individuals for further evaluation.

Evaluation of oral streptococci in saliva of children with severe Early Childhood Caries and caries-free

AIM

Oral streptococci were found to be associated with Early Childhood Caries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the 6 different bacteria in the streptococcus group in the saliva of children with severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 60 children between 3 and 6 years of age were divided into two groups: children with S-ECC (Group S-ECC; n=30) and children who were caries-free (Group CF; n=30), according to the dmft and dmfs indices. Unstimulated saliva was collected from all participants for the detection of streptococcal group bacteria, including: Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus sanguinis, Streptococcus gordonii, Streptococcus salivarius, and Streptococcus sobrinus, using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of amplified 16S rRNA gene. The data were analysed using SPSS software.

RESULTS

The prevalence of S. oralis was significantly higher in the S-ECC group compared to the CF group (p<0.05). However, the frequencies of S. mutans, S. sanguinis, S. gordonii, S. salivarius, and S. sobrinus were similar between the two groups (p>0.05). The amount of streptococci colonies was higher in the S-ECC group compared to the CF group (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

S. mutans or S. sobrinus alone may not be the only indicators for high risk of caries, but the prevalence of S. oralis in saliva may be a risk factor for increased caries activity in S-ECC.