Peak flow and voice pathology.

Lung function influences voice quality. The aim of this study was to determine if there was a link between subjective voice pathology and peak flow in patients newly presenting with voice problems. A prospective, multigroup study design was designed, with three groups: New voice pathology patients presenting to voice clinics or speech therapists; General patients from ear, nose, and throat clinics with no voice or hearing abnormality; and Asthmatics presenting to general practitioner surgeries or asthma groups for review of asthma treatment.

Interactions between voice clinics and singing teachers: a report on the British Voice Association questionnaire to voice clinics in the UK.

Singers with vocal problems are among patients who present at multidisciplinary voice clinics led by Ear Nose and Throat consultants and laryngologists or speech and language therapists. However, the development and care of the singing voice are also important responsibilities of singing teachers. We report here on the current extent and nature of interactions between voice clinics and singing teachers, based on data from a recent survey undertaken on behalf of the British Voice Association.

The role of mitomycin C in surgery of the frontonasal recess: a prospective open pilot study.

Background: Mitomycin C (MMC) inhibits fibroblast proliferation. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of MMC in reducing frontal ostium stenosis after endoscopic sinus surgery.

Methods: A prospective open pilot study was conducted in 28 patients who had undergone one or more previous surgical interventions for frontal sinusitis.

Endoscopic transnasal orbital decompression for visual failure due to sphenoid wing meningioma.

Aim: To review a group of patients with sphenoid wing meningioma and visual impairment. The technique and results for endoscopic transnasal decompression of the orbital apex is presented.

Patients And Methods: Patients presenting between 1993 and 2004 with visual impairment due to sphenoid wing meningioma were identified.

Is undergraduate otorhinolaryngology teaching relevant to junior doctors working in accident and emergency departments?

Undergraduate ENT teaching provides junior doctors with skills and knowledge useful for the practice of medicine. However, ENT has been removed from the curriculum of nine of the 29 medical schools in the United Kingdom, as it was not deemed relevant to general medical practice. A telephone survey was performed of 20 senior house officers working in accident and emergency (A&E) departments across the United Kingdom.

Craniofacial resection for tumors of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses: a 25-year experience.

Background: Craniofacial resection is the established "gold standard" for surgical treatment of tumors affecting the anterior skull base.

Methods: This study analyzed 308 patients (220 males, 88 females) who had undergone craniofacial resection for sinonasal neoplasia with up to 25-year follow-up.

Results: An overall actuarial survival of 65% at 5 years and 47% at 10 years was found for the cohort as a whole.

The development of the spiral ganglion in the human foetus.

The development of the spiral ganglion was studied in steps sections of 81 human temporal bones. By the 8th week, the spiral ganglion has already separated from the vestibular ganglion. At 13 weeks two distinct populations are observed that correspond to neuron and Schwann cells.

Yearly incidence of rhinitis, nasal bleeding, and other nasal symptoms in mature women.

Objectives/hypothesis: To evaluate, by a prospective questionnaire study, the incidence of spontaneous nasal pathology in mature women over a 12-month period, in particular nasal bleeding and the relationships of these symptoms with various factors.

Methods: Participants were drawn from a sample of 12,735 adult French volunteers participating in a study of antioxidant nutrients ("SU.VI.

Efficacy of fusafungine in acute rhinopharyngitis: a pooled analysis.

Upper respiratory tract infections are generally mild but they are associated with an enormous loss in productivity. Treatment consists of reduction of local symptoms e.g.

Diplacusis, hearing threshold and otoacoustic emissions in an episode of sudden, unilateral cochlear hearing loss.

Limited data are available on the relationship between diplacusis and otoacoustic emissions and sudden hearing threshold changes, and the detail of the mechanism underlying diplacusis is not well understood. Data are presented here from an intensively studied single episode of sudden, non-conductive, mild hearing loss with associated binaural diplacusis, probably due to a viral infection. Treatment with steroids was administered for 1 week.

The inner ear contains heteromeric channels composed of cx26 and cx30 and deafness-related mutations in cx26 have a dominant negative effect on cx30.

Cx26 and cx30 co-localize in tissues of the mammalian cochlea. Transfected HeLa cells were used to examine interactions between cx26 and cx30 and the effects on cx30 of four point mutations in cx26 that are associated with dominantly inherited hearing loss--W44S, G59A, D66H and R75W. When co-expressed, wtcx26 and wtcx30 trafficked to the same gap junction plaques.

Gap junctions in the inner ear: comparison of distribution patterns in different vertebrates and assessement of connexin composition in mammals.

The distribution and size of gap junctions (GJ) in the sensory epithelia of the inner ear have been examined in a reptile (gecko), birds (chicken and owl), and mammals (mouse, guinea pig, gerbil, and bat), and the connexin composition of GJs in the mammalian inner ear has been assessed. Freeze fracture revealed a common pattern of GJ distribution in auditory and vestibular sensory epithelia in the different vertebrate classes. In all these tissues, GJs are numerous, often occupying more than 25% of the plasma membrane area of supporting cells and sometimes composed of more than 100,000 channels.

Immunohistochemical characterization of the epidermoid formation in the middle ear.

Objective: To study the incidence, size, and origin of epidermoid formations after accurately characterizing them by cytokeratin immunohistochemical analysis.

Study Design: A strategy of screening sections for possible epidermoid formations in the entire eardrum area in paraffin-embedded, serially sectioned developing temporal bones was used. Unstained adjacent sections were subjected to immunohistochemical staining, to provide accurately identified epidermoid formations for a study of their appearance and size in relation to age.

Absence of otoacoustic emissions in subjects with normal audiometric thresholds implies exposure to noise.

Otoacoustic emissions and contra-lateral sound activated efferent suppression of emissions were examined to determine whether they provide any early indication of auditory damage from exposure to noise. Three groups were studied: noise exposed workers (n=50, mean age 42 years), patients with Meniere's disease (n=24, mean age 48 years) and normal subjects (n=24, mean age 41 years). All subjects underwent routine pure tone audiometry, tympanometry and otoacoustic emission testing.

Tinnitus induced by occupational and leisure noise.

Noise exposure is the most common cause of tinnitus. Noise induced permanent tinnitus (NIPT) can derive from occupational noise exposure, leisure noise or acoustic trauma. In general NIPT is high - pitched and tonal.

Objective evidence for tinnitus from spontaneous emission variability.

Noise exposure is the most common cause for the generation of tinnitus. This study evaluated the variability of spontaneous emissions in industrial workers exposed to noise and reporting the presence of tinnitus in comparison with those exposed to noise but without tinnitus. The assumption being that exposure to noise leads to some instability within the cochlea, which alters the spontaneous emission activity.

Solvents impair balance in Man.

Solvents are commonly used in many industries and therefore exposure to multiple solvents is a common occupational hazard. A myriad of peripheral and central nervous system toxic effects can be produced by both acute and chronic low level exposures. Dizziness is often an early symptom of solvent exposure but has only in recent times been investigated specifically.

NoiseChem: An European Commission research project on the effects of exposure to noise and industrial chemicals on hearing and balance.

Exposure to multiple physical and chemical agents is common in occupational environments but workplace hazards and occupational safety criteria for combined exposures is lacking. NoiseChem is an European Commission research project examining the effects of exposure to noise and chemicals on hearing and balance. Partners in Sweden, Finland, France, Denmark, UK and Poland with expert guidance from partners in USA will examine workers and study the mechanisms of action in animals to determine the levels of risk associated with joint exposure to noise and solvents.

Mutations in the gene for connexin 26 (GJB2) that cause hearing loss have a dominant negative effect on connexin 30.

Mutations in the gene (GJB2) encoding connexin 26 (cx26) have been linked to sensorineural hearing loss either alone or as part of a syndrome. Here we compare the properties of four cx26 mutants derived from point mutations associated with dominantly inherited hearing loss, either non-syndromic (W44S, R75W) or with various skin disorders (G59A, D66H, R75W). Since cx26 and cx30 are co-localized within the inner ear the effect of the dominant cx26 mutations on both of these wild-type proteins was determined.

Olfactory neuroblastoma: past, present, and future?

Objective: To consider the long-term survival and outcomes in patients with olfactory neuroblastoma undergoing craniofacial resection.

Study Design: A single-center prospective cohort study.

Methods: All patients with olfactory neuroblastoma treated in a 23-year period with craniofacial resection (with or without radiotherapy) were analyzed; a multivariate analysis was included.