Silastic sheeting in staged ear surgery: Is there still a role for this procedure?

Objective: To review long-term outcomes for chronic otitis media with and without cholesteatoma in staged canal-wall-up tympanoplasty with temporary silastic sheeting and to compare hearing and recurrence results with the literature.

Methods: Retrospective data analysis of all patients suffering from chronic otitis media with or without cholesteatoma (COMC/COM) and treated by staged canal-wall-up (CWU) technique with silastic insertion between 1992 and 2012. Literature analysis in PubMed 1990-2017.

Simultaneous analysis of large-scale RNAi screens for pathogen entry.

Background: Large-scale RNAi screening has become an important technology for identifying genes involved in biological processes of interest. However, the quality of large-scale RNAi screening is often deteriorated by off-targets effects. In order to find statistically significant effector genes for pathogen entry, we systematically analyzed entry pathways in human host cells for eight pathogens using image-based kinome-wide siRNA screens with siRNAs from three vendors.

Paediatric otogenic lateral sinus thrombosis: therapeutic management, outcome and thrombophilic evaluation.

Objective: Otogenic lateral sinus thrombosis (LST) in children represents a serious condition with potential long-lasting morbidity. The role of adjunct anticoagulation therapy and the benefit of an analysis of prothrombotic factors are unclear. The aim of the study was to report therapeutic management and outcome, analyze prothrombotic factors in children with otogenic LST treated with mastoidectomy/antibiotics/anticoagulation and to evaluate the results with a review of the literature.

iBRAIN2: automated analysis and data handling for RNAi screens.

We report on the implementation of a software suite dedicated to the management and analysis of large scale RNAi High Content Screening (HCS). We describe the requirements identified amongst our different users, the supported data flow, and the implemented software. Our system is already supporting productively three different laboratories operating in distinct IT infrastructures.

Novel inhibitors of dengue virus methyltransferase: discovery by in vitro-driven virtual screening on a desktop computer grid.

Dengue fever is a viral disease that affects 50-100 million people annually and is one of the most important emerging infectious diseases in many areas of the world. Currently, neither specific drugs nor vaccines are available. Here, we report on the discovery of new inhibitors of the viral NS5 RNA methyltransferase, a promising flavivirus drug target.