Endoscopic transnasal dacryocystorhinostomy and bicanalicular silicone tube intubation.

Purpose: To evaluate the results of endoscopic transnasal dacryocystorhinostomy (ETDCR) combined with bicanalicular silicone tube intubation (BSTI) performed in 49 patients with nasolacrimal canal obstructions secondary to chronic dacryocystitis.

Material And Methods: ETDCR combined with BSTI was applied as a primary procedure in 47 cases, and as a secondary procedure in 2 cases. All patients underwent dacryocystography, and 41 patients underwent radionuclide dacryoscintigraphy before the surgery.

Effect of zinc ion on cadmium-induced auditory changes.

Cadmium, which has adverse effects on many physiological systems, is an important environmental pollutant. Our previous experimental study showed that cadmium also has a dose-dependent deleterious effect on the auditory system in rats. Because zinc reverses cadmium cytotoxicity in many systems, we investigated the possible preventive effect of a zinc-enriched diet given isochronally on cadmium-induced hearing loss in rats.

Nm23 and cathepsin D expression in laryngeal carcinomas.

Aims: Cathepsin D and nm23 are two of the factors, investigated recently that have effects on invasion and metastasis of malign tumors. Cathepsin D is an aspartyl protease that plays a role in the invasion of tumor cells and is also found in stromal macrophages which are said to play a role in tumor invasiveness. The nm23 gene encodes nucleoside diphosphate (NDP) kinase that has a metastatic suppressor effect in some tumors but not in others.