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Dental calculus is a potential material that can be used for assessing chronic exposure to trace heavy metals in oral cavity as it is a long-term reservoir. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between dental calculus copper levels and risk of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) due to chewing dried areca-nut quids in Mainland China. This study included 34 OSF (grade 1) sufferers with dried areca-nut quids chewing as the patient group and 23 healthy individuals without areca-nut chewing as the control group. The dental calculus sample was obtained from all 57 participants and evaluated by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for dental calculus level of copper. This work revealed that the mean copper level of dental calculus was significantly higher in OSF (grade 1) sufferers with areca-nut chewing than those in healthy individuals without areca-nut chewing (p 0.001). This work provided an evidence to support that there may be a positive correlation between elevated levels of copper in dental calculus caused by chewing dried areca-nut quids and an increased risk of developing OSF in Mainland China.

A chiral phosphoric acid-catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of 3-trifluoromethylthioquinolines has been successfully developed, providing direct and facile access to chiral 2,3-disubstituted 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline derivatives containing a stereogenic trifluoromethylthio group with up to 99% enantioselectivity.

A hexaazatriphenylene (HAT) derivative (compound 1) that bears four n-octyl chains and two thienyl groups was designed and synthesized. Further light-induced oxidation coupling reaction led to thienyl-fused compound 2. Their photophysical and electrochemical properties and self-assembly behavior have been investigated by UV/Vis, fluorescence, and (1)H NMR spectroscopies, cyclic voltammetry (CV), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Although the difference in compounds 1 and 2 only lie in one single bond that connects the two thienyl segments, they displayed remarkably different properties, revealing an interesting structure-property relationship.