Aim: The role of blood cholesterol level variations in diagnosis and treatment has been extensively worked on in many studies. However, studies on alteration in serum lipid profile among OSMF patients are limited. The present study was performed to estimate serum lipid profile in OSMF patients and gutkha chewers. Material and Methods: The study sample comprised of 45 cases, which included 15 cl...

Khat (Catha Edulis Forskal) is widely cultivated in Yemen and East of Africa. The habit of chewing tender leaves and twigs of khat is deep-rooted in Yemen. Our study investigates the chronic khat chewing and smoking effect on oral mucosa. The sample (n=79) consists of two main groups, khat chewers (n=54) and control groups (n=25). Khat chewers group is divided into 4 subgroups according to dura...

Khat-(Catha edulis)related oromandibular dystonia is a difficult-to-treat subset of movement disorders that involve masticatory muscles with diverse and incapacitating manifestations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Botulinum toxin-type A therapy in khat chewer Yemeni patients with oromandibular dystonia. This prospective study included 18 khat-chewers Yemeni patients with...

The clinical relevance of DNA copy number alterations in chromosome 8 were investigated in oral cancers. The copy numbers of 30 selected genes in 33 OSCC patients were detected using the multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) technique. Amplifications of the EIF3E gene were found in 27.3% of the patients, MYC in 18.2%, RECQL4 in 15.2% and MYBL1 in 12.1% of patients. The most fr...

Khat chewing/use, a green leaf with amphetamine-like effects is socially integrated in the Middle East and Africa. Khat chewing is often associated with tobacco smoking and occurs in closed places, such as a family home setting where the smoke-free laws cannot be implemented. Tobacco cigarette smoking among khat chewers is a significant concern, but there is also second-hand exposure to smoke a...

BACKGROUND Chewing khat leaves is often accompanied by tobacco use. We assessed aspects of tobacco use and explored factors associated with tobacco use patterns (frequency of use per week) among khat chewers who used tobacco only when chewing khat ("simultaneous tobacco and khat users", STKU). METHODS A sample of 204 male khat chewers was recruited during random visits to khat outlets. Data c...

BACKGROUND Chewing areca nut (AN), also known as betel nut, is common in Asia and the South Pacific and the habit has been linked to a number of serious health problems including oral cancer. Use of AN in pregnancy has been associated with a reduction in mean birthweight in some studies, but this association and the relationship between AN chewing and other adverse pregnancy outcomes remain poo...

Nitrogen (N) deposition is expected to influence forests. The effects of large-scale N fertilization on canopy layer insect–plant interactions in stands tall, atmospheric nitrogen (N2)-fixing tree species have never been assessed. We conducted a experiment (100 kg ha−1 year−1 applied approximately 9 ha) over three years (2012–2014) cool temperate forest northern Japan. Our goal was evaluate rel...

INTRODUCTION Khat is a cultivated plant whose leaves when chewed elevate mood. Unlike the chewing of betel nut, no association between the white oral mucosal lesions in khat users and oral malignancies has been reported. Chewing of khat has been documented in many countries and has increased with worldwide migration. The impact of chewing khat upon the oral mucosa is essentially unknown. PURP...