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Craniofacial microsomia (CFM), also known as the oculo‐auriculo‐vertebral spectrum, is a congenital disorder characterized by hypoplasia of the mandible and external ear due to tissue malformations originating from the first and second branchial arches. However, distinguishing it from other syndromes of branchial arch abnormalities is difficult, and causal variants remain unidentified in many cases. In this report, we performed an exome sequencing analysis of a Brazilian family with CFM. The proband was a 12‐month‐old boy with clinical findings consistent with the diagnostic criteria for CFM, including unilateral mandibular hypoplasia, microtia, and external auditory canal abnormalities. A heterozygous de novo nonsense variant (c.713C>G, p.S238*) in PUF60 was identified, which was predicted to be pathogenic in silico. PUF60 has been reported as a causal gene in Verheij syndrome, but not in CFM. Although the boy showed craniofacial abnormalities and developmental delay that overlapped with Verheij syndrome, the facial asymmetry with unilateral hypoplasia of the mandible observed in this case did not match the previously reported phenotypes of PUF60 variants. Our findings expand the phenotypic range of PUF60 variants that cover CFM and Verheij syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Poverty negatively impacts beneficial aspects of mental development, such as resilience. Toothbrushing, an oral health behavior, has the potential to protect children's resilience through its anti-inflammatory and self-management effects and may be more effective for children, especially children in poverty. This study investigated whether toothbrushing boosts resilience among children, especially children under poverty, and modifies the association between poverty and resilience using a longitudinal population sample of school children. Methods: Data from the Adachi Child Health Impact of Living Difficulty (A-CHILD Study) were analyzed. A baseline study was conducted in 2015 in which the children were in first grade and followed through fourth grade (N = 3459, response rate: 80%, follow-up rate: 82%). Poverty was assessed by material deprivation (life-related deprivation and child-related deprivation) and annual household income at baseline. Children's toothbrushing frequency was assessed at baseline and classified into less than twice a day or twice or more a day. Children's resilience was assessed at baseline and follow-up using the Children's Resilient Coping Scale (range 0-100). Results: Children who brushed their teeth twice or more a day in first grade had 3.50 points greater resilience scores in fourth grade than those who brushed their teeth less than twice a day in first grade. After adjusting for confounders, including resilience in first grade, among underpoverty children, those who brushed their teeth twice or more a day in first grade had higher resilience scores [2.66 (95% CI = 0.53, 4.79)] than those who brushed their teeth less than twice a day. Among nonpoverished children, toothbrushing frequency in first grade did not significantly correlate with resilience in fourth grade. Conclusions: The beneficial effect of toothbrushing twice or more a day on resilience was more significant among children in poverty than among those without poverty in elementary school in Japan. Health policy focused on frequent toothbrushing may contribute to boosting resilience among children living in poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates rhythmic jaw movement (RJM) patterns and masticatory muscle activities during electrical stimulation in two cortical masticatory areas in obese male Zucker rats (OZRs), compared to their counterparts—lean male Zucker rats (LZRs) (seven each). At the age of 10 weeks, electromyographic (EMG) activity of the right anterior digastric muscle (RAD) and masseter muscles, and RJMs were recorded during repetitive intracortical micro-stimulation in the left anterior and posterior parts of the cortical masticatory area (A-area and P-area, respectively). Only P-area-elicited RJMs, which showed a more lateral shift and slower jaw-opening pattern than A-area-elicited RJMs, were affected by obesity. During P-area stimulation, the jaw-opening duration was significantly shorter (p < 0.01) in OZRs (24.3 ms) than LZRs (27.9 ms), the jaw-opening speed was significantly faster (p < 0.05) in OZRs (67.5 mm/s) than LZRs (50.8 mm/s), and the RAD EMG duration was significantly shorter (p < 0.01) in OZRs (5.2 ms) than LZR (6.9 ms). The two groups had no significant difference in the EMG peak-to-peak amplitude and EMG frequency parameters. This study shows that obesity affects the coordinated movement of masticatory components during cortical stimulation. While other factors may be involved, functional change in digastric muscle is partly involved in the mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]