Guided growth with aligned neurites in adult spiral ganglion neurons cultured in vitro on silicon micro-pillar substrates.

Objective: Assessment of the relationship between the topographical organization of silicon micro-pillar surfaces (MPS) on guidance and neural alignment of adult spiral ganglion neurons (SGN) and use of the otosurgical approach as an alternative for the extraction and isolation of SGNs from adult guinea pigs.

Approach: SGNs from adult guinea pigs were isolated using conventional and otosurgical approach for in vitro cell culturing on MPS of various micro-pillar widths (1-5.6 µm) and spacing (0.

Advantageous environment of micro-patterned, high-density complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor electrode array for spiral ganglion neurons cultured in vitro.

This study investigated micro-patterned, high-density complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) electrode array to be used as biologically permissive environment for organization, guidance and electrical stimulation of spiral ganglion neurons (SGN). SGNs extracted and isolated from cochleae of P5-P7 rat pups and adult guinea pigs were cultured 1, 4 and 7 days in vitro on glass coverslips (control) and CMOS electrode array. The cultures were analyzed visually and immunohistochemically for SGN presence, outgrowth, neurite alignment, neurite length, neurite asymmetry as well as the contact of a neuronal soma and neurites with the micro-electrodes.

[CROATIAN GUIDELINES FOR DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF BENIGN PAROXYSMAL POSITIONAL VERTIGO (BPPV)].

BPPV is generally the most common cause of vertigo, caused by a pinch-off of tiny calcium carbonate crystals (called the otoconia or the otoliths) from the macula utriculi, most frequently due to the degenerative processes or a trauma, whereby the crystals, under the action of gravity in certain head positions coinciding with its direction, arrive to some of the semicircular canals, usually the posterior one, due to the existent anatomical circumstances and relationships, thus creating an inadequate stimulus of the cupular senses while floating through the endolymph and provoking symptoms of a strong and short-term dizziness. Two main clinical forms can be distinguished: canalolythiasis, with an accommodation of otolithic debris in the semicircular canal, and cupulolythiasis, with their location immediately next to the cupular sense. The diagnosis is established by a positive positioning test, Dix-Hallpike for the posterior and the supine roll for the lateral canal.

CORRELATION BETWEEN MAMMOGRAPHY DETECTED BREAST ARTERIAL CALCIFICATIONS AND LIFESTYLE RISK FACTORS.

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between some lifestyle-attributable risk factors of atherosclerosis, such as body mass index (BMI), oral contraceptives, hormone replacement therapy, smoking and alcohol consumption with breast arterial calcification (BAC) and its intensity on mammograms, and to assess the impact of these lifestyle risk factors on mammography findings of BAC. This prospective study included 300 women aged 47-69, i.e.

Nasopharyngeal bacterial flora in healthy preschool children during winter-spring months.

The paper aimed to determine the incidence of colonization of Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae type b and Neisseria meningitidis in the nasopharynges of healthy children in two preschool institutions during winter and spring months, without using antimicrobial treatment or serotyping of these bacteria. In addition to colonization of the above bacteria, the research that continued for 3 months monitored the length of their persistence in and disappearance from children's nasopharynges, children's health statuses, and provision of adequate medical interventions in children demonstrating clinical signs of disease. The ultimate aim of the paper was based on contributing to clearer and more accurate determination of a medical procedure in case of a positive result for bacteria intended to be found in the nasopharynx of a healthy child who spends time in a preschool institution.

Hidradenoma of the external auditory canal: clinical presentation and surgical treatment.

The aim of this article is to present clinical features, diagnostic procedures and surgical treatment of a rare ear tumor. We report a case of 78 year old female with hidradenoma of the external auditory canal. Patient had a sensation of pain and fullness with permanent ottorhea from the right ear for one year Temporal bone computed tomography showed a tumor of the external ear, 6 centimeters in diameter, without bone, temporomandibular joint or intracranial invasion; the tumor was limited medially by the tympanic membrane.

Long-term functional outcomes after 10 years of bilateral cochlear implantat use.

The aims were to determine the benefit of bilateral cochlear implantation in a 20 years old patient implanted in Croatia on hearing and speech development. The male patient, after 10 years of deafness, got cochlear implants Med-EL Combi 40+ on both sides in one-stage surgery. The etiology of his deafness was posttraumatic meningitis.

Thermography-measured effect of capsaicin, methylprednisolone and mitomycin on the survival of random skin flaps in rats.

Aims: This study was designed to determine if steroids, capsaicin and mitomycin improved skin flap survival in rats, and it has confirmed that thermography is an effective method to measured skin flap vitality.

Methods: Forty female Wistar rats were randomised into four groups. A standardised full thickness inferiorly based dorsal random-pattern skin flap was raised, and a gelatine sponge was placed before suturing between the flap and its recipient bed, soaked with 0.

Bacterial colonization and granulocyte activation in chronic maxillary sinusitis in asthmatics and non-asthmatics.

The impact of bacterial colonization on the severity and pattern of chronic inflammation in rhinosinusitis is not clear. In this study, it was hypothesized that bacterial colonization of the sinus mucosa would have a greater impact on inflammatory response modulation in asthmatic patients than in non-asthmatic patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. In order to test this hypothesis, granulocyte activation was measured and related to bacteria identified in the sinus lavage.

Etiology of deafness in children cochlear implant candidates in Croatia.

The aim of this study was to provide more information on the causes of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in children cochlear implant candidates in Croatia. The retrospective study included 270 children candidates for cochlear implantation between January 1997 and January 2005 at our institution. The medical assessment of the candidates included the history, physical examination, radiologic evaluation of the temporal bone and audiologic assessment.

[Indications for tonsillectomy in children aged under 16 years in ENT Department of Sestre Milosrdnice Clinical Hospital].

Aim Of The Study: To study frequency and type of indications for tonsillectomy in ENT Department of "Sestre milosrdnice" Clinical Hospital, distribution of operations according to the age and sex of the patients. To present history of tonsillectomies.

Methods: Retrospective study, information collected by clinical documentation review (anamnesis, physical findings).

Local IgE and inflammation in chronic rhinosinusitis of asthmatics and non-asthmatics.

The aim of the study was to show the difference in the pattern of inflammation, and Th1/Th2 polarization between asthmatic and non-asthmatic patients with CRS, specifically eosinophil activation, local IgE levels in the sinus fluid and tissue, and the severity of inflammation were measured. The maxillary sinus lavages, mucosal biopsies and bacteriological swabs were taken in 17 asthmatic and 36 non-asthmatic adult patients with CRS. The concentrations of IgE, eosinophil cationic protein (ECP), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and tryptase were analyzed and IgE+ cells, eosinophils, lymphocytes and plasma cells were counted.

Prolonged esophagitis after primary dysfunction of the pyloric sphincter in the rat and therapeutic potential of the gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157.

Seven or fourteen days or twelve months after suturing one tube into the pyloric sphincter (removed by peristalsis by the seventh day), rats exhibit prolonged esophagitis with a constantly lowered pressure not only in the pyloric, but also in the lower esophageal sphincter and a failure of both sphincters. Throughout the esophagitis experiment, gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157 (PL 14736) is given intraperitoneally once a day (10 microg/kg, 10 ng/kg, last application 24 h before assessment), or continuously in drinking water at 0.16 microg/ml, 0.

An experimental model of prolonged esophagitis with sphincter failure in the rat and the therapeutic potential of gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157.

We report a simple novel rat model that combines prolonged esophagitis and parallel sphincters failure. The anti-ulcer gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157, which was found to be stable in gastric juice, and is being evaluated in inflammatory bowel disease trials, is an anti-esophagitis therapy that recovers failed sphincters. Twelve or twenty months after the initial challenge (tubes sutured into sphincters for one week and then spontaneously removed by peristalsis), rats exhibit prolonged esophagitis (confluent hemorrhagic and yellowish lesions, thinner epithelium and superficial corneal layer, with stratification derangement); constantly lowered pressure of both sphincters (assessed by using a water manometer connected to the drainage port of a Foley catheter implanted into the stomach either through esophageal or duodenal incision); and both lower esophageal and pyloric sphincter failure.

Different effect of antiulcer agents on rat cysteamine-induced duodenal ulcer after sialoadenectomy, but not gastrectomy.

The focus was on salivary glands in cysteamine-induced duodenal ulcer and the different effects of antiulcer agents on cysteamine-induced duodenal ulcer in sialoadenectomized but not gastrectomized rats. We tested antiulcer agents on cysteamine-induced duodenal ulcer in rats (agents/kg i.p.