Anti-tumor activity of the beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol in neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a pediatric tumor of the sympathetic nervous system, which is often associated with elevated catecholamines. More than half of patients with metastatic NB relapse and survival is extremely poor with current therapies. In a high-throughput screen of FDA-approved drugs we identified anti-NB activity for the nonselective β-adrenergic receptor antagonist propranolol hydrochloride.

Separating the contributions of olivocochlear and middle ear muscle reflexes in modulation of distortion product otoacoustic emission levels.

Objectives: Mediated by the medial olivocochlear system (MOCS), distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) levels are reduced by presentation of contralateral acoustic stimuli. Such acoustic signals can also evoke a middle ear muscle reflex (MEMR) that also attenuates recorded DPOAE levels. Our aim is to clearly differentiate these two inhibitory mechanisms and to analyze each separately, perhaps allowing the development of novel tests of hearing function.

Epidemiology of respiratory syncytial virus-associated acute lower respiratory tract infection hospitalizations among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected South African children, 2010-2011.

Background: There are limited data on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection among children in settings with a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We studied the epidemiology of RSV-associated acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRTI) hospitalizations among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected children in South Africa.

Methods: Children aged <5 years admitted to sentinel surveillance hospitals with physician-diagnosed neonatal sepsis or ALRTI were enrolled.

Severe influenza-associated respiratory infection in high HIV prevalence setting, South Africa, 2009-2011.

Data on influenza epidemiology in HIV-infected persons are limited, particularly for sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV infection is widespread. We tested respiratory and blood samples from patients with acute lower respiratory tract infections hospitalized in South Africa during 2009-2011 for viral and pneumococcal infections. Influenza was identified in 9% (1,056/11,925) of patients enrolled; among influenza case-patients, 358 (44%) of the 819 who were tested were infected with HIV.

Surgical efficiency in bilateral cochlear implantation: a cost analysis.

Objective: (1) Compare the non-device-related costs of bilateral simultaneous cochlear implantation (BSiCI) vs. unilateral, and (2) establish a dollar amount for potential cost savings in direct costs for BSiCI vs. sequential cochlear implantation (CI).

[FeFe]-hydrogenase models assembled into vesicular structures.

Compartmentalization is a major prerequisite for the origin of life on earth according to Wächtershäuser "Iron-Sulfur-World". The hypothesis is mainly based on an autocatalytic inorganic energy reproducing redox system consisting of iron and sulfur as requirement for the subsequent synthesis of complex organic structures. Here, we modified [FeFe]-hydrogenase models by means of covalent coupling to either oleic acid or the amphiphilic block copolymer polybutadiene-polyethyleneoxide (PB-PEO) and incorporated those into the membranes of vesicles composed of phospholipids (liposomes) or the unmodified amphiphilic polymer (polymersomes).

HIV and influenza virus infections are associated with increased blood pneumococcal load: a prospective, hospital-based observational study in South Africa, 2009-2011.

Background: Increased pneumococcal loads are associated with severe outcomes. We determined the prevalence of pneumococcal DNA in blood specimens from patients hospitalized with acute lower respiratory tract infection and identified factors associated with invasive pneumococcal pneumonia, bacterial loads, and death.

Methods: A total of 8523 patients were enrolled as part of prospective hospital-based surveillance.

Sequential triplex real-time PCR assay for detecting 21 pneumococcal capsular serotypes that account for a high global disease burden.

We developed and validated a real-time PCR assay consisting of 7 triplexed reactions to identify 11 individual serotypes plus 10 small serogroups representing the majority of disease-causing isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae. This assay targets the 13 serotypes included within the 13-valent conjugate vaccine and 8 additional key serotypes or serogroups. Advantages over other serotyping assays are described.

Propranolol as a novel adjunctive treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Objective: To investigate propranolol as a novel treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in vitro.

Methods: HNSCC cell lines were cultured and treated with propranolol alone and in combination with cisplatin or γ-irradiation. The alamarBlue assay was performed to assess cell viability, and apoptosis was confirmed via Western immunoblot for cleaved poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) and caspase-3/7 assays.

Middle ear ventilation in children with primary ciliary dyskinesia.

Objective: Otitis media with effusion (OME) in children with primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is recurrent and persistent and presents a complex clinical problem for otolaryngologists. We sought to review the otological presentation of children with PCD treated medically and surgically and to compare audiological outcomes and complications of surgical and medical management in children with PCD and correlate these findings with known PCD ultrastructural ciliary phenotype.

Methods: A retrospective review was performed of all patients with PCD and OME presenting from 1991 to 2009.

Vasculitis of the upper airways.

Systemic vasculitides are rare and potentially life-threatening diseases. Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA; formerly Wegener's granulomatosis) and Churg Strauss syndrome (possibly to be renamed eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis; EGPA) are the 2 chief systemic vasculitides which may involve the upper respiratory tract. Chronic allergic rhinitis and nasal polyposis in EGPA, and recurrent sinusitis and/or otitis in both conditions, are not specific and can thus represent real diagnostic challenges if they are the first manifestations of the disease.

Clinical validation of multiplex real-time PCR assays for detection of bacterial meningitis pathogens.

Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae are important causes of meningitis and other infections, and rapid, sensitive, and specific laboratory assays are critical for effective public health interventions. Singleplex real-time PCR assays have been developed to detect N. meningitidis ctrA, H.

Non-accidental caustic ear injury: two cases of profound cochleo-vestibular loss and facial nerve injury.

Non-accidental caustic injury is a rare form of child abuse usually secondary to forced ingestion. Caustic injury to the ear most commonly arises from battery lodgement in the external canal. This case series represents the first report of non-accidental caustic injury to previously normal ears resulting in profound sensorineural hearing loss, vertigo with horizontal canal hypofunction and in one patient a severe facial nerve paralysis.

Intralesional corticosteroid injection and dilatation provides effective management of subglottic stenosis in Wegener's granulomatosis.

Objectives/hypothesis: To describe our experience with the use of intralesional corticosteroid injection and dilatation (ILCD) in the management of subglottic stenosis (SGS).

Study Design: Retrospective chart review.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed of all patients with SGS requiring ILCD, from 2003 to 2008, at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada.

Pediatric refractive surgery and its role in the treatment of amblyopia: meta-analysis of the peer-reviewed literature.

Purpose: To provide an overview of the visual outcomes after pediatric refractive surgery in anisometropic amblyopia and to analyze the relationship of these outcomes with age and type of refractive surgery.

Methods: Systematic searches in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases without data restrictions and a search by surveillance of the literature regarding pediatric refractive surgery were performed. Only studies reporting individual data of pediatric cases (age 1 to 17 years) undergoing photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK), and LASIK were included.

Middle ear aneurysm treated with an innovative, vessel-preserving, aneurysm-occluding stent.

Middle ear aneurysms are rare and difficult to treat. An innovative, parent vessel-preserving, aneurysm occlusion stent is a treatment alternative. It redirects blood flow away from the aneurysm, resulting in stasis within, and ultimate aneurysm thrombosis.

Molecular characterization of emerging non-levofloxacin-susceptible pneumococci isolated from children in South Africa.

Fluoroquinolones are not indicated for use for the treatment of pneumonia in children; however, non-levofloxacin-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae (NLSSP) has emerged in South Africa among children receiving treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. This study aimed to genotypically characterize NLSSP isolates. Invasive isolates were collected through active national laboratory-based surveillance for invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) from 2000 through 2006 (n = 19,404).

Emergence of levofloxacin-non-susceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae and treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in children in South Africa: a cohort observational surveillance study.

Background: Use of fluoroquinolones to treat paediatric cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis could affect the emergence of resistance to this class of drugs. Our aim was to estimate the incidence of, and risk factors for, invasive pneumococcal disease caused by fluoroquinolone-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae in children in South Africa.

Methods: 21,521 cases of invasive pneumococcal disease were identified by active national surveillance between 2000 and 2006, with enhanced surveillance at 15 sentinel hospitals in seven provinces introduced in 2003.

Molecular basis and clonal nature of increasing pneumococcal macrolide resistance in South Africa, 2000-2005.

The prevalence and molecular epidemiology of pneumococcal macrolide resistance in South Africa was investigated. Minimum inhibitory concentrations and serotypes of pneumococcal isolates causing invasive disease from 2000-2005 (n=15982), collected through a national laboratory-based surveillance system, were determined. Randomly selected isolates from 2005 (51%; 260/508) had resistance mechanisms determined, and clonality was investigated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) (n=64) and multilocus sequence typing (n=7).

Telithromycin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae is conferred by a deletion in the leader sequence of erm(B) that increases rRNA methylation.

A telithromycin-resistant clinical isolate of Streptococcus pneumoniae (strain P1501016) has been found to contain a version of erm(B) that is altered by a 136-bp deletion in the leader sequence. By allele replacement mutagenesis, a second strain of S. pneumoniae (PC13) with a wild-type erm(B) gene was transformed to the telithromycin-resistant phenotype by introduction of the mutant erm(B) gene.