Improved survival of head and neck cancer patients in Greenland.

Previously, head and neck cancer (HNC) patients in Greenland have had significant diagnostic delay and poor survival rates. From 2005-2009 several initiatives have been made to ensure faster diagnosis and better survival. The aim of this study was to compare the prognosis before and after these initiatives were introduced.

Who Wants to Save the Forest? Characterizing Community-Led Monitoring in Prey Lang, Cambodia.

Community monitoring is believed to be successful only where there is sustained funding, legislation for communities to enforce rules, clear tenure rights, and an enabling environment created by the state. Against this backdrop, we present the case of an autonomous grassroots-monitoring network that took the initiative to protect their forest, in a context, where no external incentives and rule enforcement power were provided. The aim was to analyze the socio-demographic and economic backgrounds, motivations and achievements of forest monitors, compared to non-monitors in the same communities.

Can Community Members Identify Tropical Tree Species for REDD+ Carbon and Biodiversity Measurements?

Biodiversity conservation is a required co-benefit of REDD+. Biodiversity monitoring is therefore needed, yet in most areas it will be constrained by limitations in the available human professional and financial resources. REDD+ programs that use forest plots for biomass monitoring may be able to take advantage of the same data for detecting changes in the tree diversity, using the richness and abundance of canopy trees as a proxy for biodiversity.

Vietnam's forest transition in retrospect: demonstrating weaknesses in business-as-usual scenarios for REDD.

One of the prerequisites of the REDD+ mechanism is to effectively predict business-as-usual (BAU) scenarios for change in forest cover. This would enable estimation of how much carbon emission a project could potentially prevent and thus how much carbon credit should be rewarded. However, different factors like forest degradation and the lack of linearity in forest cover transitions challenge the accuracy of such scenarios.

Survival of head and neck cancer in Greenland.

Objectives: Head and neck cancer is frequent in the Inuit population of Greenland and is characterized by a very high incidence of Epstein-Barr virus associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, information on the treatment and survival of Inuit head and neck cancer patients is practically non-existent. The aim of this study, therefore, was to analyse the epidemiological pattern, time course and survival of head and neck cancer patients in Greenland.

Acute mastoiditis in Greenland between 1994-2007.

Introduction: The indigenous populations of the Arctic are prone to middle ear infections starting with an early age first episode, followed by frequent episodes of acute otitis media (AOM) during childhood. A high proportion develop chronic otitis media. Acute mastoiditis is a serious complication of AOM in childhood with postauricular swelling, erythema, and tenderness, protrusion of the auricle, high fever and general malaise.

[Two cases of laryngocele].

A laryngocele is a rare benign dilatation of the anterior part of Ventriculus Laryngis. The symptoms are either hoarseness, a tumor on the neck or a combination. In the literature a link between laryngocele and carcinoma of the larynx is well described.

[Occurrence of eardrum pathology in a cohort of adults born 1955].

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of the different types of eardrum pathology in a cohort (cohort 1955) who were children before the era of ventilation tubes, and to compare these findings with the prevalence of eardrum pathology in a previous published cohort study on 222 children followed since the age of four years (cohort 1975) in the era of ventilation tubes. All inhabitants of Hillerød county born in 1955 were invited to a screening examination including otomicroscopy, tympanometry and audiometry. All eardrum pathology was recorded.

Peritonsillar infiltration with low-dose tenoxicam after tonsillectomy.

We have compared the effect of peritonsillar infiltration with tenoxicam 5 mg and placebo on postoperative pain after tonsillectomy. Fifty patients undergoing bilateral elective tonsillectomy under general anaesthesia were allocated randomly to receive peritonsillar infiltration with tenoxicam 5 mg in 8 ml of normal saline (4 ml per tonsil) or normal saline only, before tracheal extubation. Median time to first request for morphine (30 min in each group, P = 0.

Prevalence of eardrum pathology in a cohort born in 1955.

The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of the different types of eardrum pathology in a cohort of adults not previously treated by grommet insertion with corresponding findings obtained in a cohort previously treated with grommet insertion. A cohort born in 1955 were invited to a screening examination including otomicroscopy. In the untreated cohort, retraction of Shrapnell's membrane was found in four per cent of the ears compared to 20 per cent in the cohort treated with grommets.

Viscosity and spinability of nasal secretions induced by different provocation tests.

In the human nose, secretions can be experimentally induced in vivo and sampled by simple means for biophysical and biochemical analyses. It was the aim of the present study to compare viscosity and spinability of nasal secretions induced by different types of stimulation, i.e.

Upper respiratory tract secretions: pathophysiology.

Nasal fluid is a heterogeneous substance. It consists largely of a secretory product derived from the 100,000 small seromucous glands. The anterior part of the nose has a relatively high secretory capacity, but this does not seem to be caused by secretion from the 200 anterior serous glands.

Biochemical analysis of nasal secretions induced by methacholine, histamine, and allergen provocations.

Nasal provocation tests with methacholine, histamine, and allergen were performed outside the pollen season in 26 pollen-allergic subjects with the aim of sampling nasal secretions for biochemical characterization. Sugar analyses showed that methacholine-induced secretions were a mixture of serous and mucous glycoproteins. Compared with published sputum values, the levels of proteins and sugars were approximately 5 times lower in the methacholine-induced secretions (protein, 6 mg/ml; hexose, 2 mg/ml), whereas the albumin concentrations were comparable (1 mg/ml).

Smell and nasal findings in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome.

As part of a clinical trial of the effect of Efamol on primary Sjögren's Syndrome (SS), 36 patients were interviewed about nasal symptoms and examined for sense of smell and nasal mucociliary clearance. The sense of smell was examined by quantitative olfactometry using coffee as a stimulant while mucociliary clearance was evaluated by the saccharin test. The findings were compared with those of an age and sex matched control group.

Study of bacteria in the nasal cavity and nasopharynx during naturally acquired common colds.

It was the purpose of this study to examine whether the number of bacteria in the nose and nasopharynx changes during a common cold. Samples for bacteriological culture were taken from the nasal cavity of 29 and from the nasopharynx of 26 adult patients with naturally acquired colds. The bacteriological samples were taken on days 2, 4, 8 16, 32 and 64 after the first nasal symptoms.

Light and scanning electron microscopy of nasal biopsy material from patients with naturally acquired common colds.

As our knowledge of the histopathology of common colds is very limited, we have undertaken a blind quantitative examination by scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy of 56 nasal biopsies, taken from 29 volunteers with naturally acquired colds. In agreement with earlier reports we found evidence of sloughing of epithelial cells, but in contrast to in vitro experiments, this did not result in a destruction of the epithelial lining, which by and large remained continuous, with structurally normal cell borders. There was a significant increase in the number of neutrophils, both in epithelium and in lamina propria, already on the 2nd day of the disease, and the hypothesis is advanced that the virus infection itself is the cause of the local neutrophilia.

Intranasal verapamil in allergen-induced rhinitis.

Twenty-six pollen-allergic subjects participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of the protective effect of the calcium antagonist, verapamil, on allergen-provoked nasal symptoms. Intranasal verapamil, 1 mg. had a weak protective effect in that "tickling score" was 22% lower (P less than 0.

Effects of oral norephedrine on common cold symptoms.

The aim of the trial was to examine the effectiveness of an oral decongestant in common cold. Thirty subjects with naturally acquired colds got a 100 mg sustained release tablet containing norephedrine on one day and a placebo tablet on another day in double blind design. Changes in nasal patency were assessed by rhinomanometry, measurement of nasal expiratory peak flow, and a self-assessment test, and the number of sneezes and of nose blowings were recorded in a 10 hours period after medication.

Nasal mucociliary transport, number of ciliated cells, and beating pattern in naturally acquired common colds.

Repeated samples of nasal epithelium were taken for in vitro study of the number and motility of ciliated cells (microphoto-oscillographic technique), and nasal mucociliary clearance transport rate was measured (saccharin test) in 26 subjects with naturally acquired common colds. The transport rate was markedly reduced during the disease, and a slight impairment remained even after 32 days. There was a considerable fall in the number of ciliated cells, and regeneration was slow.

Nasal reactivity in rhinitis.

The purpose of this review is to present data on nasal reactivity to methacholine, histamine and allergen in normal subjects, patients with common colds, perennial rhinitis and hay-fever. Nasal challenge is performed by spraying the agent into the nose and counting the sneezes, measuring the resulting secretion and the increase in nasal airway resistance during a 15 minute period. We found that there was a small increase in reactivity during a common cold, but a considerable increase during the hay-fever season and associated with perennial rhinitis.