Socioeconomic Status and Rurality Among Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.

Objective: Describe the relationship among rurality, socioeconomic status (SES), and patient/tumor characteristics in patients presenting with head and neck cancer.

Study Design: Retrospective single-institution study.

Setting: Academic tertiary-level medical center.

Predictors of 30-day morbidity and mortality in transnasal microscopic pituitary tumor excision.

Background: There is a lack of population-based, multi-institutional analyses of factors associated with morbidity and mortality following pituitary tumor excision.

Methods: The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Project files were used to compile information on patients that had undergone transnasal microscopic pituitary tumor resection from 2006 to 2012. Patient demographics, comorbidities, operative characteristics, and morbidity and mortality in the 30 days following surgery were included.

Fibroblast levels are increased in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and are associated with worse subjective disease severity.

Background: Fibroblasts are implicated in tissue remodeling and recruitment of inflammatory cells in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Populations of fibroblasts remain unquantified in CRS subtypes. The objectives of this study were to measure fibroblast populations in subtypes of CRS, and to investigate the association between fibroblasts and disease severity.

Multi-institutional study of risk factors for perioperative morbidity following transnasal endoscopic pituitary adenoma surgery.

Background: The goal of this study was to identify preoperative risk factors associated with increased perioperative morbidity after endoscopic pituitary surgery.

Methods: A retrospective review of patients undergoing endoscopic pituitary adenoma surgery between 2002 and 2014 at 6 international centers was performed. Standard demographic and comorbidity data, as well as information regarding tumor extent and treatment were collected.

Volumetric computed tomography analysis of the olfactory cleft in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

Background: Commonly used computed tomography (CT) staging systems for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) focus on the sinuses and do not quantify disease in the olfactory cleft. The goal of the current study was to determine whether precise measurements of olfactory cleft opacification better correlate with olfaction in patients with CRS.

Methods: Olfaction was assessed using the 40-item Smell Identification Test (SIT-40) before and after sinus surgery in adult patients.

Superoxide dismutase reduces the inflammatory response to Aspergillus and Alternaria in human sinonasal epithelial cells derived from patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

Background: Aspergillus fumigatus and Alternaria alternata are ubiquitous environmental fungal allergens that can exacerbate airway inflammation and contribute to the disease process in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). These antigens have been shown to induce human sinonasal epithelial cells (HSNECs) to promote a proinflammatory response, but what is unclear is a means by which to reduce these effects. Inhaled pathogens can induce HSNECs to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) that trigger cytokine production.

Vitamin D for the treatment of respiratory diseases: is it the end or just the beginning?

A large number of human, animal and in vitro studies have suggested that vitamin D3 (VD3) plays a critical role in inflammatory airway diseases such as asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis, and allergic rhinitis. VD3 acts upon a broad range of immune cells involved in the pathogenesis of these diseases including T-cells, dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages, and B-cells. In addition, VD3 can also regulate the functions of a number of non-immune cells including epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and smooth muscle cells.

Levamisole-adulterated cocaine induced skin necrosis of nose, ears, and extremities: Case report.

Levamisole is an immunomodulatory and antihelminthic drug, previously removed from the United States market, and now estimated to be present in the vast majority of cocaine distributed in the United States. Levamisole-adulterated cocaine (LAC) exposure can result in neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and vasculitis with a predilection for subsites of the face. The objective of this review is to increase awareness among otolaryngologists of the manifestations of LAC exposure.

Vitamin D3 as a novel regulator of basic fibroblast growth factor in chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis.

Background: The immunopathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is largely unknown, but it is thought that different inflammatory profiles are responsible for the different CRS subtypes. 25-Hydroxyvitamin-D (25-VD3) has been shown to alter inflammatory mediators in other disease processes and 25-VD3 deficiency is associated with CRS with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), but it is unknown if 25-VD3 levels impact local inflammation in CRS. This study investigated the correlation between plasma 25-VD3 and sinonasal mucus monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), regulated upon activation normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES), and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) levels in patients with CRS.

Recent randomized controlled trials in otolaryngology.

Objective: To assess recent trends in the prevalence and quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in 4 otolaryngology journals.

Study Design: Methodology and reporting analysis.

Setting: Randomized controlled trials in 4 otolaryngology journals.

Protecting the airway and the physician: Aspects of litigation arising from tracheotomy.

Background: In recent decades, medical malpractice costs have increased and have led to a change in the way physicians practice medicine. Tracheotomies are cases in which complications have a high risk of morbidity and mortality and the potential for litigation.

Methods: The Westlaw legal database was used to gather data on 43 jury verdicts and settlements from 1987 to 2013.

Cleft palate: a clinical review.

Orofacial clefts, including cleft palates (CP), are one of the most common birth defects. CP have a multiplicity of effects on the individual and society in terms of economic costs, loss of productivity, psychosocial effects, and increased morbidity and mortality at all stages of life. Embryological development of the palate is well delineated, with developments in the last decade regarding the biomolecular processes involved.

Hockey-related facial injuries: a population-based analysis.

Objectives/hypothesis: Recognition of the potentially severe sequelae arising from inadequate facial protection has facilitated sustained efforts to increase the use of protective visors in recent decades. Our objective was to characterize nationwide trends among patients presenting to emergency departments (ED) for facial injuries sustained while playing ice hockey.

Methods: The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System was searched for hockey-related facial injuries, with analysis for incidence; age and gender; and specific injury diagnoses, mechanisms, and facial locations.

Plastids are major regulators of light signaling in Arabidopsis.

We previously provided evidence that plastid signaling regulates the downstream components of a light signaling network and that this signal integration coordinates chloroplast biogenesis with both the light environment and development by regulating gene expression. We tested these ideas by analyzing light- and plastid-regulated transcriptomes in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). We found that the enrichment of Gene Ontology terms in these transcriptomes is consistent with the integration of light and plastid signaling (1) down-regulating photosynthesis and inducing both repair and stress tolerance in dysfunctional chloroplasts and (2) helping coordinate processes such as growth, the circadian rhythm, and stress responses with the degree of chloroplast function.