Biophysical properties of the neck skin indicating potential complications of salvage surgery for laryngeal/hypopharyngeal cancer.

Background: Chemoradiation therapy is standard practice for hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cancer, but its impact on skin health can cause complications if salvage surgery is required.

Aims/objectives: To develop simple objective indices for the early detection of complications following head-and-neck salvage surgery.

Material And Methods: Preoperatively and on postoperative days 1, 3, 5 and 7, we measured skin hardness (N), interstitial liquid content (П) and intracellular liquid content (W) as biophysical properties in patients who underwent post-CRT salvage therapy and those who underwent total organ resection without CRT as controls.

Pattern of Recurrence After Platinum-Containing Definitive Therapy and Efficacy of Salvage Treatment for Recurrence in Patients with Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck.

Background: In first-line systemic therapy for unresectable recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M SCCHN), regimens are generally selected by time-to-relapse with 6 months cutoff after platinum (Pt)-containing definitive therapy, Pt-refractory or Pt-sensitive recurrence, but clinical characteristics between Pt-refractory and Pt-sensitive recurrence of R/M SCCHN has not been fully investigated. This study aimed to evaluate pattern of recurrence and efficacy for salvage treatment for recurrence after Pt-containing definitive therapy for R/M SCCHN in a real-world setting.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 150 patients treated with Pt-containing definitive therapy and analyzed the pattern of recurrence and efficacy of salvage therapy for 63 patients with R/M SCCHN.

Retreatment with nivolumab for patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer.

Background: After treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) is discontinued, retreatment with an ICI is a potential sequential treatment, but the clinical efficacy/safety data for this treatment of recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer (R/M-HNC) are limited.

Aims/objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of retreatment with nivolumab in R/M HNC.

Materials And Methods: We divided the 29 eligible R/M-HNC patients who discontinued ICI treatment at our hospital into two cohorts to analyze the clinical characteristics and the efficacy of the salvage therapy: the Niv cohort (nivolumab retreatment) and the no-Niv cohort (no nivolumab retreatment).

Expression of T-Type Voltage-Gated Calcium Channel in the Cilia of Human Nasal Epithelial Cells.

Introduction: The mucociliary transport function of the airway epithelium is largely dependent on ciliary beating. The control signal of ciliary beating is thought to be intracellular Ca2+. We herein investigated the expression of T-type voltage-gated calcium channel (VGCC), a generator of intracellular Ca2+ oscillation, in the human nasal mucosa.

Video-Assisted Thyroidectomy Using a Surgical Energy Device: Initial Experience in a Japanese Single-Center Cohort.

Objective: Video-assisted thyroidectomy (VAT) was approved for coverage under the Japanese public health insurance system in 2016. In our department, we introduced VAT in 2018, and we have since been performing the procedure with the assistance of surgical energy devices. We herein summarize our cases undergoing VAT, including a review of points to consider when introducing the procedure, and characteristics of the surgical energy devices.

Frequency-specific prediction model of hearing outcomes in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Purpose: The hearing outcome of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL) is hard to predict. We herein constructed a multiple regression model for hearing outcomes in each frequency separately in an attempt to achieve practical prediction in ISSNHL.

Methods: We enrolled 235 consecutive in-patients with ISSNHL who were treated in our department from 2015 to 2020 (average hearing level at 250-4000 Hz ≥ 40 dB; time from onset to treatment ≤ 14 days; 126 males/109 females; age range 17-87 years (average 61.

Decreased CFTR/PPARγ and increased transglutaminase 2 in nasal polyps.

Objective: Transglutaminase (TGM)2 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ are thought to participate in the pathogenesis of nasal polyp formation in cystic fibrosis (CF). We herein investigated expressions of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), TGM2, PPARγ and isopeptide bonds, a reaction product of TGM, in non-CF nasal polyps.

Methods: Nasal polyps and inferior turbinates were collected from chronic rhinosinusitis patients without CF during transnasal endoscopic sinonasal surgery.

Calmodulin Regulates Ciliary Beats in the Human Nasal Mucosa Through Adenylate/Guanylate Cyclases and Protein Kinases A/G.

Background: The ciliary beat of the airway epithelium, including the sinonasal epithelium, has a significant role in frontline defense and is thought to be controlled by the level of intracellular Ca2+. Involvement of calmodulin and adenylate/guanylate cyclases in the regulation of ciliary beats has been reported, and here we investigated the interrelation between these components of the ciliary beat regulatory pathway.

Methods: The inferior turbinates were collected from 29 patients with chronic hypertrophic rhinitis/rhinosinusitis during endoscopic sinonasal surgery.

Frequency-specific efficacy of intratympanic steroid on idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Hearing recovery would be different in each sound frequency in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). To analyze frequency-specific efficacy of intratympanic steroid on ISSNHL. Of a total of 381 patients with ISSNHL (hearing threshold ≥40 dB; ≤30 days until treatment), 174 patients (174 ears) received systemic steroid plus hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO group), and 207 patients (208 ears) received systemic plus intratympanic steroid (IT group).

Expression of Cl channels/transporters in nasal polyps.

Purpose: Nasal polyp formation is a common sequela of prolonged chronic rhinosinusitis, but the mechanism underlying this disease state is still controversial. We compared the expressions of Cl channels/transporters in nasal polyps with those in inferior turbinates to explore whether a deficiency in Cl transport may participate in the pathophysiology of nasal polyp formation as in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Methods: Nasal polyps and inferior turbinates were collected from 12 chronic rhinosinusitis patients with hypertrophic rhinitis and/or nasal polyps.

Calmodulin and protein kinases A/G mediate ciliary beat response in the human nasal epithelium.

Background: Mucociliary clearance of the airway epithelium is an essential function for mucosal defense. We recently proposed a hypothetical mechanism of ciliary beat regulation, in which the pannexin-1 (Panx1)-P2X7 unit serves as an oscillator generating a periodic increase in intracellular Ca ([Ca ] ). In the present study, we examined the localization of Panx1 and P2X7 at the ultrastructural level, and investigated the regulatory pathway subsequent to [Ca ] increase.

Decreased ciliary beat responsiveness to acetylcholine in the nasal polyp epithelium.

Objective: We investigated the difference in ciliary beat responsiveness to acetylcholine in ex vivo and the difference in the expressions of associated molecules (M1/M3 muscarinic receptors, pannexin-1 and P2X7 purinergic receptor) between the nasal polyp and turbinate mucosa.

Study Design: Laboratorial study.

Participants: Nasal polyp and inferior turbinate were collected from patients with hypertrophic rhinitis and/or nasal polyp during endoscopic sinonasal surgery.

Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma Treated with Lenvatinib.

Objective: We report a case of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) with local recurrence and distant metastasis that responded very well to treatment with lenvatinib, a new molecular-targeted anticancer drug.

Case Report: A 91-year-old Japanese woman presented with a 5-month history of a painless mass in her left anterior neck. She had a past history of total thyroidectomy and neck dissection for papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.

Presence of osteoclasts in middle ear cholesteatoma: a study of undecalcified bone sections.

Conclusions: Osteoclasts are unlikely to be involved in bone resorption in middle ear cholesteatoma.

Objective: The authors searched for osteoclasts in undecalcified bone sections in patients with middle ear cholesteatoma to determine whether and to what extent these cells are involved in this disease.

Methods: Twelve patients, eight men and four women, aged 30-87 years, who underwent tympanomastoidectomy were enrolled.

Transgenic approach to express the channelrhodopsin 2 gene in arginine vasopressin neurons of rats.

Optogenetics provides a powerful tool to regulate neuronal activity by light-sensitive ion channels such as channelrhodopsin 2 (ChR2). Arginine vasopressin (AVP; also known as the anti-diuretic hormone) is a multifunctional hormone which is synthesized in the magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs) of the hypothalamus. Here, we have generated a transgenic rat that expresses an AVP-ChR2-enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) fusion gene in the MNCs of the hypothalamus.

Treatment outcome of ion beam therapy in eight patients with head and neck cancers.

Ion beam therapy has enabled us to treat formerly untreatable malignant tumors. The aim of the present study was to investigate the long-term follow-up course of patients with head and neck cancers who received ion beam therapy. The subjects were 8 patients (3 men and 5 women aged 43-78 years) with head and neck cancers who visited our department from 2006 to 2015 and received ion beam therapy.

Hearing outcome does not depend on the interval of intratympanic steroid administration in idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

We studied the effect of intratympanic steroid administration with different intervals on hearing outcomes in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL). The subjects were 197 consecutive patients (197 ears) with ISSNHL (hearing level ≥40 dB, interval between onset and treatment ≤30 days). They received systemic administration of prednisolone (100 mg followed by tapered doses) combined with intratympanic injection of dexamethasone (4 mg/ml).

Electrical Impedance and Expression of Tight Junction Components of the Nasal Turbinate and Polyp.

Purpose: We investigated the electrical impedance and expression of tight junction components of the turbinate mucosa, nasal polyp, and normal skin.

Procedures: The inferior turbinate and nasal polyp of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and the postauricular skin of patients with otitis media were examined. Electrical impedance was measured in vivo using a tissue conductance meter.

Possible involvement of TRPV1 and TRPV4 in nociceptive stimulation- induced nocifensive behavior and neuroendocrine response in mice.

Members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) family of ion channels play important roles in inflammation and pain. Here, we showed that both TRPV1 and TRPV4 might contribute to biphasic nocifensive behavior and neuroendocrine response following a formalin test. We subcutaneously injected saline, formalin, or the TRPV4 agonist, 4α-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate (4α-PDD) into one hindpaw of wild-type (WT), TRPV1-deficient (Trpv1(-/-)), and TRPV4-deficient (Trpv4(-/-)) mice to investigate nocifensive behaviors (phase I [0-10 min] and phase II [10-60 min]) and Fos expression in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and other brain regions related to pain, in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus, the medial habenular nucleus, the medial nucleus of the amygdala and capsular part of the central amygdala.

Effects of a subconvulsive dose of kainic acid on the gene expressions of the arginine vasopressin, oxytocin and neuronal nitric oxide synthase in the rat hypothalamus.

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) synthesis in the hypothalamo-neurohypophysial system (HNS) is up-regulated by kainic acid (KA)-induced seizure in rats. However, it remains unknown whether a subconvulsive dose of KA affects the HNS. Here we examined the effects of subcutaneous (s.

Differences in acid-induced currents between oxytocin-mRFP1 and vasopressin-eGFP neurons isolated from the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei of transgenic rats.

The hypothalamic supraoptic nucleus (SON) and paraventricular nucleus (PVN) consists of two types of magnocellular neurosecretory cells, oxytocin (OXT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP). We generated and characterized rats that express an OXT-monomeric red fluorescent protein 1 (mRFP1) and an AVP-enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) fusion transgene. These transgenic rats enable the visualization of OXT or AVP neurons.

A role of nesfatin-1/NucB2 in dehydration-induced anorexia.

Nesfatin-1/NucB2, an anorexigenic molecule, is expressed mainly in the hypothalamus, particularly in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Nesfatin-1/NucB2 is also expressed in the subfornical organ (SFO). Because the SON and PVN are involved in body fluid regulation, nesfatin-1/NucB2 may be involved in dehydration-induced anorexia.

Effects of food deprivation on the hypothalamic feeding-regulating peptides gene expressions in serotonin depleted rats.

We examined the effects of serotonin (5-HT) depletion induced by peripheral injection of 5-HT synthesis inhibitor p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) on the expression of feeding-regulating peptides expressions by using in situ hybridization histochemistry in adult male Wistar rats. PCPA pretreatment had no significant effect on basal levels of oxytocin, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), cocaine and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART), neuropeptide-Y (NPY), agouti-related protein (AgRP), melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) or orexin in the hypothalamus. Food deprivation for 48 h caused a significant decrease in CRH, TRH, POMC, and CART, and a significant increase in NPY, AgRP and MCH.

[Effect of septoplasty and turbinectomy on obstructive sleep apnea syndrome].

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is thought to be closely related to nasal airway resistance, which accounts for approximately one half of total upper airway resistance. This retrospective study aimed at elucidating the effect of endoscopic endonasal surgery on OSAS. Nine consecutive patients with OSAS complaining of nasal obstruction who underwent endoscopic endonasal surgery were enrolled.