Tongue diagnosis, as a unique method of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), discriminates physiological functions and pathological conditions by observing the changes of the tongue coating.

Swallowing dysfunction is related to major cause of adverse events and an indicator of shorter survival among patients with neuromuscular disorders (NMD). It is critical to assess the swallowing function during disease progression, however, there are limited tools that can easily evaluate swallowing function without using videofluoroscopic or videoendoscopic examination. Here, we evaluated the longitudinal changes in tongue thickness (TT) and maximum tongue pressure (MTP) among patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

In opposition to the mother tongue hypothesis, the father tongue hypothesis states that humans tend to speak their fathers' language, based on a stronger correlation of languages to paternal lineages (Y-chromosome) than to maternal lineages (mitochondria). To reassess these two competing hypotheses, we conducted a genetic-linguistic study of 34 modern Indo-European (IE) populations. In this study, genetic histories of paternal and maternal migrations in these IE populations were elucidated using phylogenetic networks of Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA haplogroups, respectively. Unlike previous studies, we quantitatively characterized the languages based on lexical and phonemic systems separately. We showed that genetic and linguistic distances are significantly correlated with each other and that both are correlated with geographical distances among these populations. However, when controlling for geographical factors, only the correlation between the distances of paternal and lexical characteristics, and between those of maternal and phonemic characteristics, remained. These unbalanced correlations reconciled the two seemingly conflicting hypotheses.

The effectiveness of the tongue right positioner (TRP) use on oral and swallowing functions remains unclear. To investigate the effects of TRP use on tongue function in patients with dysphagia. This interventional study included eight participants with dysphagia who visited a university dental hospital. The measurement variables included tongue pressure (TP) as the primary outcome and lip and tongue movements, peak nasal inspiratory flow, and changes in the tongue and suprahyoid muscle regions on ultrasonography as the secondary outcomes. Each participant was asked to use a TRP for at least 8 h every night for 2 months. The measurement variables before and after the intervention were compared using the paired t test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. TP after intervention (31.5 ± 13.1 kPa) was significantly higher than that before intervention (23.0 ± 13.4 kPa), while other measurement variables did not significantly improve. Numerous exercises have been suggested to improve TP; however, most require patients' adherence to instructions. In contrast, although participants did not perform active exercises, most participants in this study observed an improved TP. Our findings show that TRP can greatly improve TP after 2 months of usage.Trial registration number: University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000040253, date of first registration: 27/04/2020).

Due to the high frequency of loco-regional recurrences, which could be explained by changes in the field surrounding the tumor, patients with squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck show poor survival. Here we identified a total of 554 genes as dysregulated in clinically tumor free tongue tissue in patients with tongue tumors when compared to healthy control tongue tissue. Among the top dysregulated genes when comparing control and tumor free tissue were those involved in apoptosis (CIDEC, MUC1, ZBTB16, PRNP, ECT2), immune response (IFI27) and differentiation (KRT36). Data suggest that these are important findings which can aid in earlier diagnosis of tumor development, a relapse or a novel squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, in the absence of histological signs of a tumor.

The oral microbiome has the potential to provide an important symbiotic function in human blood pressure physiology by contributing to the generation of nitric oxide (NO), an essential cardiovascular signaling molecule. NO is produced by the human body via conversion of arginine to NO by endogenous nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) but eNOS activity varies by subject. Oral microbial communities are proposed to supplement host NO production by reducing dietary nitrate to nitrite via bacterial nitrate reductases. Unreduced dietary nitrate is delivered to the oral cavity in saliva, a physiological process termed the enterosalivary circulation of nitrate. Previous studies demonstrated that disruption of enterosalivary circulation via use of oral antiseptics resulted in increases in systolic blood pressure. These previous studies did not include detailed information on the oral health of enrolled subjects. Using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and analysis, we determined whether introduction of chlorhexidine antiseptic mouthwash for 1 week was associated with changes in tongue bacterial communities and resting systolic blood pressure in healthy normotensive individuals with documented oral hygiene behaviors and free of oral disease. Tongue cleaning frequency was a predictor of chlorhexidine-induced changes in systolic blood pressure and tongue microbiome composition. Twice-daily chlorhexidine usage was associated with a significant increase in systolic blood pressure after 1 week of use and recovery from use resulted in an enrichment in nitrate-reducing bacteria on the tongue. Individuals with relatively high levels of bacterial nitrite reductases had lower resting systolic blood pressure. These results further support the concept of a symbiotic oral microbiome contributing to human health via the enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway. These data suggest that management of the tongue microbiome by regular cleaning together with adequate dietary intake of nitrate provide an opportunity for the improvement of resting systolic blood pressure.

The Tongue Drive System (TDS) is a new wearable assistive technology (AT), developed to translate voluntary tongue movements to user-defined computer commands by tracking the position of a titanium-encased magnetic tracer (Ti-Mag) implanted into the tongue. TDS application, however, is constrained by limited information on biological consequence and safety of device implantation into the tongue body. Here we implant a stainless-steel pellet in the rat tongue and assay pellet migration, tongue lick function, and tongue histology to test the safety and biocompatibility of unanchored tongue implants.

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) rarely arises from the peritoneum. We describe the 1st such case which metastasised to the head and neck region (tongue).

Tongue diagnosis is an important procedure in traditional Korean medicine (TKM). In particular, tongue coating thickness (TCT) is deemed to show the progression of the disease. However, conventional tongue diagnosis has limitations because of various external factors. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the availability of tongue diagnosis system (TDS) in the assessment of TCT. This study has been designed as a prospective clinical trial involving 60 patients with functional dyspepsia. Tongue images will be obtained by TDS twice with a 30 min interval. The system will measure the percentage of TCT and classify it as either no coating, thin coating, or thick coating according to the existing diagnostic criteria. After finishing the collection of 60 patients' tongue images, TCT on the images will be simultaneously evaluated by the conventional method to establish the gold standard for assessing TCT by 5 well-trained clinicians. The evaluation will be repeated by the same clinicians after 2 weeks, but the order of the images will be changed. This trial is expected to provide clinical evidence for the availability of TDS as a diagnostic tool and to contribute to the standardization of the diagnosis system used in TKM. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01864837.

Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) perturbs the tongue motor control and consequently impairs oral function, but strength training reduces this impairment. However, tongue motor control is widely reduced to a matter of strength.

The possibility that smokeless tobacco may contribute to oral carcinogenesis by influencing the oral microbiome has not been explored. This preliminary cross-sectional study sought to assess the effect of using shammah, a form of smokeless tobacco prevalent in Arabia, on the tongue microbiome. Tongue scarping samples were obtained from 29 shammah users (SU; 27.34 ± 6.9 years) and 23 shammah non-users (SNU; 27.7 ± 7.19 years) and analyzed with 16S rRNA gene sequencing (V1-V3). Species-level taxonomy assignment of the high-quality, merged reads was obtained using a previously described BLASTn-based algorithm. Downstream analyses were performed with QIIME, LEfSe, and R.

The purpose of this observational study was to investigate the relationship between tongue coating (thickness [Tc] and surface discoloration [Td]) and gender, plaque, gingivitis (bleeding on marginal probing [BOMP] and bleeding on pocket probing [BOPP]) and tongue cleaning behaviour.

Patients with tongue cancer frequently show loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene. However, expression of VHL protein (pVHL) in tongue cancer has rarely been investigated and remains largely unknown. We performed immunohistochemical staining of pVHL in tongue tissues and dysplasia, and examined the association with LOH and its clinical significance.

The aim of this study was to construct nomograms to predict long-term overall survival (OS) and tongue cancer-specific survival (TCSS) of tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) patients based on clinical and tumor characteristics. Clinical, tumor, and treatment characteristics of 12,674 patients diagnosed with TSCC between 2004 and 2013 were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. These patients were then divided into surgery and nonsurgery cohorts, and nomograms were developed for each of these groups. The step-down method and cumulative incidence function were used for model selection to determine the significant prognostic factors associated with OS and TCSS. These prognostic variables were incorporated into nomograms. An external cohort was used to validate the surgery nomograms. Seven variables were used to create the surgery nomograms for OS and TCSS, which had c-indexes of 0.709 and 0.728, respectively; for the external validation cohort, the c-indexes were 0.691 and 0.711, respectively. Nine variables were used to create the nonsurgery nomograms for OS and TCSS, which had c-indexes of 0.750 and 0.754, respectively. The calibration curves of the 5- and 8-year surgery and nonsurgery nomograms showed excellent agreement between the probabilities and observed values. By incorporating clinicopathological and host characteristics in patients, we are the first to establish nomograms that accurately predict prognosis for individual patients with TSCC. These nomograms ought to provide more personalized and reliable prognostic information, and improve clinical decision-making for TSCC patients.

To evaluate outcomes of the surgical and rehabilitative procedures devoted to release the tongue-tie in non-infants when implementing the most commonly used quantitative/qualitative structured tools for tongue and frenulum assessment.

Identification of a microRNA (miRNA) pattern to be used as a biomarker for HNSCC is challenging given the heterogeneity of the disease and different methodologies used. To better define the field, we performed a prospective analysis of blood, tumor, and paired benign tissues in tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients.

Human keratin 36 (K36) is a member of the hair keratin family and is a marker of hair cortex differentiation. The human KRT36 gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 17 and belongs to the cluster of structurally unrelated acidic hair keratins. Recently, it has been reported that KRT36 mRNA is specifically expressed in normal tongue epithelium and downregulated in squamous cell carcinomas of the mobile tongue. Furthermore, KRT36 levels have been reported to be downregulated in clinically normal mobile tongue tissue that is adjacent to tumours, suggesting it could be a marker of pre-neoplastic changes. However, the exact role and the potential role of K36 in tongue tumour formation remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate expression of K36 in a series of squamous cell carcinomas of the mobile tongue, normal mobile tongue and a small panel of other human tissues (normal tissue from the appendix, cervix, hair, lip, mamilla, nail, oesophagus, skin, thymus and vagina) and selected cancer tissue (cervical cancer, melanoma and basal cell carcinoma). Affinity purified polyclonal antibodies against K36 were generated and used for immunohistochemical analysis. The results revealed that in the normal tongue, K36 was detected specifically in the filiform papillae of the dorsal surface of the tongue. Additionally, none of the tongue cancer tissue samples were K36-positive. Immunostaining also revealed that K36 was expressed in nail beds, Hassal's corpuscles in the thymus and the hair cortex. However, K36 was not expressed in the squamous epithelia of the skin, cervix and oesophagus, and the squamous cells of cervical carcinomas, basal cell carcinoma or melanoma. The present data indicated that K36 may be inactivated in tumours of the tongue. However, whether this is part of the tumoural process or if it is an effect of the tumour itself remains to be elucidated.

Hummingbirds are the most speciose group of vertebrate nectarivores and exhibit striking bill variation in association with their floral food sources. To explicitly link comparative feeding biomechanics to hummingbird ecology, deciphering how they move nectar from the tongue to the throat is as important as understanding how this liquid is collected. We employed synced, orthogonally positioned, high-speed cameras to describe the bill movements, and backlight filming to track tongue and nectar displacements intraorally. We reveal that the tongue base plays a central role in fluid handling, and that the bill is neither just a passive vehicle taking the tongue inside the flower nor a static tube for the nectar to flow into the throat. Instead, we show that the bill is actually a dynamic device with an unexpected pattern of opening and closing of its tip and base. We describe three complementary mechanisms: (1) distal wringing: the tongue is wrung out as soon as it is retracted and upon protrusion, near the bill tip where the intraoral capacity is decreased when the bill tips are closed; (2) tongue raking: the nectar filling the intraoral cavity is moved mouthwards by the tongue base, leveraging flexible flaps, upon retraction; (3) basal expansion: as more nectar is released into the oral cavity, the bill base is open (phase-shifted from the tip opening), increasing the intraoral capacity to facilitate nectar flow towards the throat.

The aim of this study is to establish the usefulness of an electronic tongue based on cyclic voltammetry e-tongue using five working electrodes (gold, silver, copper, platinum and glass) in honey adulteration detection. Authentic honey samples of different botanical origin (acacia, tilia, sunflower, polyfloral and raspberry) were adulterated with agave, maple, inverted sugar, corn and rice syrups in percentages of 5%, 10%, 20% and 50%. The silver and copper electrodes provided the clearest voltammograms, the differences between authentic and adulterated honey samples being highlighted by the maximum current intensity. The electronic tongue results have been correlated with physicochemical parameters (pH, free acidity, hydroxymethylfurfural content-5 HMF and electrical conductivity-EC). Using statistical methods such as Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and Support vector machines (SVM), an accuracy of 94.87% and 100% respectively was obtained in the calibration step and 89.65% and 100% respectively in the validation step. The PLS-R (Partial Least Squares Regression) model (constructed from the minimum and maximum current intensity obtained for all electrodes) was used in physicochemical parameters prediction; EC reached the highest regression coefficients (0.840 in the calibration step and 0.842 in the validation step, respectively), being followed by pH (0.704 in the calibration step and 0.516 in the validation step, respectively).

This study investigated the effect of tongue stretching exercises (TSE) on tongue motility and oromotor function in patients with dysphagia after stroke.