Minimally Invasive Murine Laryngoscopy for Close-Up Imaging of Laryngeal Motion during Breathing and Swallowing.

The larynx is an essential organ in mammals with three primary functions - breathing, swallowing, and vocalizing. A wide range of disorders are known to impair laryngeal function, which results in difficulty breathing (dyspnea), swallowing impairment (dysphagia), and/or voice impairment (dysphonia). Dysphagia, in particular, can lead to aspiration pneumonia and associated morbidity, recurrent hospitalization, and early mortality.

Cricoid abscess presenting as progressive dyspnea.

Laryngeal abscess, especially in the posterior larynx and cricoid region, is a rare entity with potential for high morbidity and mortality. The most common etiologies for such abscesses include trauma, prolonged intubation, and supraglottic infection. This case report describes a patient with cricoid abscess of unknown etiology but with a remote history of trauma and intubation.

Positive Margins in Cutaneous Melanoma of the Head and Neck: Implications for Timing of Reconstruction.

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify clinicopathologic features associated with positive margins after surgical treatment of cutaneous melanoma of the head and neck (CMHN).

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: National Cancer Database.

A Mouse Model of Dysphagia After Facial Nerve Injury.

Objective: Dysphagia is common following facial nerve injury; however, research is sparse regarding swallowing-related outcomes and targeted treatments. Previous animal studies have used eye blink and vibrissae movement as measures of facial nerve impairment and recovery. The purpose of this study was to create a mouse model of facial nerve injury that results in dysphagia to enhance translational research outcomes.

Persistent Feeding and Swallowing Deficits in a Mouse Model of 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome.

Disrupted development of oropharyngeal structures as well as cranial nerve and brainstem circuits may lead to feeding and swallowing difficulties in children with 22q11. 2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). We previously demonstrated aspiration-based dysphagia during early postnatal life in the mouse model of 22q11DS along with disrupted oropharyngeal morphogenesis and divergent differentiation and function of cranial motor and sensory nerves.

Beta-adrenergic antagonist effects on a novel cognitive flexibility task in rodents.

Previous work examining animal models of cognitive flexibility have focused on tasks where animals are required to shift between cues in order to reach a food reward from among a limited set of choices. Performance by nonhuman animals on these tasks, including reversal learning, intradimensional set-shifting, and extradimensional set-shifting, are affected by pharmacological action on serotonergic, dopaminergic, and alpha-adrenergic, but not beta-adrenergic receptors. However, beta-adrenergic antagonists, such as propranolol, are widely utilized for conditions such as test anxiety.