METHODS: Sixty-one participants were recruited into a vapers group and a control group. The vapers group was instructed to smoke for 5 minutes, and their nasal resistance was measured pre-procedure and at 1 and 5 minutes post-procedure. The results were compared between both groups.
RESULTS: Repeated measures analysis of variance demonstrated that vaping has no statistically significant effect on total nasal airway resistance.
CONCLUSION: Although the differences between both groups were not statistically significant overall, the vapers group showed a reduction in nasal airway resistance in the short term.
METHODS: Records of patients treated from 2009 to 2016 were analysed retrospectively. Data from the records were indexed based on age, gender, clinical presentations, symptom duration, clinical signs and mycological growth.
RESULTS: Of 80 samples, 27 (33.75 per cent) had fungal growth. Sixteen patients were classified as having non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis and 11 as having invasive fungal rhinosinusitis. The commonest clinical presentation was nasal polyposis in non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis patients (p < 0.05) and ocular symptoms in invasive fungal rhinosinusitis patients (p < 0.05). The commonest organism was aspergillus sp. (p < 0.05) in non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis and mucorales in invasive fungal rhinosinusitis.
CONCLUSION: There is an almost equal distribution of both invasive and non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, as seen in some Asian countries. Invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, while slightly uncommon when compared to non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, is potentially life threatening, and may require early and extensive surgical debridement. The clinical presentation of nasal polyposis was often associated with non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis, whereas ocular symptoms were more likely to be associated with invasive fungal rhinosinusitis.
METHODS: Six children were recruited and underwent Bonebridge transcutaneous bone conduction implant surgery. The patients' audiometric thresholds for air conduction, bone conduction and sound-field tests were assessed pre-operatively and at six months post-operatively. Patients' satisfaction was assessed at six months post-operatively with the Hearing Device Satisfaction Scale.
RESULTS: No major complications were reported. Mean aided sound-field thresholds improved post-operatively by more than 30 dB for 0.5-4 kHz (p 0.05). All patients were satisfied (scores were over 90 per cent) with the implant in terms of functional outcome and cosmetic appearance.
CONCLUSION: Bonebridge transcutaneous bone conduction implant surgery is safe and effective among children with congenital aural atresia with conductive hearing loss.
METHOD: The nasopharyngeal airway device was modified to use as an airway stent by trimming it to the desired length. Next, the stent was inserted endoscopically and anchored using a novel approach.
RESULTS: The surgery was performed successfully without complications. The patients had full use of their voice while the stent was in situ. No significant granulation tissue was observed.
CONCLUSION: This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using a nasopharyngeal airway device as a temporary stent to prevent restenosis in cases where the patients have a strong demand for phonation. The modified nasopharyngeal airway device is potentially very promising, but cases must be selected carefully to avoid compromising efficacy and safety.
METHODS: A meta-analysis was conducted in compliance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses ('PRISMA') checklist. The primary clinical characteristics of patients, and hazard ratios with 95 per cent confidence intervals of overall survival data, were tabulated from eligible studies. The relationship of cyclo-oxygenase-2 expression with survival outcome (expressed as hazard ratio) and treatment response (expressed as odds ratio) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients was analysed, and explained with the aid of forest plot charts.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The pooled hazard ratio for overall survival was 2.02 (95 per cent confidence interval = 1.65-2.47). This indicates that the over-expression of cyclo-oxygenase-2 is significantly associated with the poor survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. The pooled odds ratio of 0.98 (95 per cent confidence interval = 0.27-3.49) reveals that over-expression of cyclo-oxygenase-2 was not significantly related to the treatment outcome.