Does the reduction of inferior turbinate size affect lower airway functions?

Publication date: Available online 6 November 2017
Source:Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology
Author(s): Ozlem Unsal, Mehtap Ozkahraman, Mufide Arzu Ozkarafakili, Meltem Akpinar, Arzu Yasemin Korkut, Senem Kurt Dizdar, Berna Uslu Coskun
IntroductionAlthough the nose and lungs are separate organs, numerous studies have reported that the entire respiratory system can be considered as a single anatomical and functional unit. The upper and lower airways affect each other either directly or through reflex mechanisms.ObjectiveIn this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of the radiofrequency ablation of persistent inferior turbinate hypertrophy on nasal and pulmonary function.MethodsTwenty-seven patients with bilateral persistent inferior turbinate hypertrophy without septal deviation were included in this study. All of the patients were evaluated using anterior rhinoscopy, nasal endoscopy, acoustic rhinometry, a visual analogue scale, and flow-sensitive spirometry on the day before and 4 months after the radiofrequency ablation procedure.ResultsThe post-ablation measurements revealed that the inferior turbinate ablation caused an increase in the mean cross-sectional area and volume of the nose, as well as in the forced expiratory volume in 1s, forced vital capacity, and peak expiratory flow of the patients. These differences between the pre- and post-ablation results were statistically significant. The post-ablation visual analogue scale scores were lower when compared with the pre-ablation scores, and this difference was also statistically significant.ConclusionThis study demonstrated that the widening of the nasal passage after the reduction of the inferior turbinate size had a favorable effect on the pulmonary function tests.



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A case of segmental stiff skin syndrome treated with systemic losartan

Abstract

Stiff skin syndrome (SSS) is a rare, autosomal dominant cutaneous disorder with progressive, symmetric, sclerotic skin changes of the shoulders, hips, and thighs. In a recent publication, a distinct segmental variant of SSS was proposed. In this report we discuss the case of a boy with segmental SSS and review the current literature.

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Intralabyrinthine sporadic endolymphatic sac tumour

Publication date: Available online 6 November 2017
Source:European Annals of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Diseases
Author(s): C. Lucas, J.-C. Leclère, E. Mornet, R. Marianowski
IntroductionEndolymphatic sac tumours are benign, slowly growing tumours that invade the temporal bone, and present clinically in the form of unilateral hearing loss. They can be sporadic or occur in the context of Von Hippel-Lindau disease (VHL).Case summaryThe authors report a case of endolymphatic sac tumour arising in the utricle presenting histological and immunohistochemical features corresponding to endolymphatic sac tumour in a patient without VHL.DiscussionEndolymphatic sac tumours invade the posterior part of the petrous temporal bone. According to two studies concerning patients with Von Hippel-Lindau disease, endolymphatic sac tumours arise from the endolymphatic duct. This case of intralabyrinthine sporadic endolymphatic sac tumour supports this hypothesis for sporadic forms, indicating the need for labyrinthectomy associated with tumour resection to avoid recurrence.



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Zika virus (ZIKV) Replication is Substantially Inhibited by Novel Favipiravir and Interferon-alpha Combination Regimens [PublishAheadOfPrint]

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a major public health concern due to its overwhelming spread into the Americas. Currently there are neither licensed vaccines nor antiviral therapies available for the treatment of ZIKV. We aimed to identify and rationally optimize effective therapeutic regimens for ZIKV by evaluating the antiviral potential of approved broad-spectrum antiviral agents favipiravir (FAV), interferon-alpha (IFN), and ribavirin (RBV) as single agent and combinations. For these studies, Vero cells were infected with ZIKV in the presence of increasing concentrations of FAV, IFN, or/and RBV for four days. Supernatants were harvested daily and viral burden was quantified by plaque assay on Vero cells. The time-course of viral burden during treatment in vitro was characterized by a novel translational, mechanism-based model which was subsequently used to rationally optimize combination dosage regimens. The combination regimen of FAV plus IFN provided the greatest extent of viral inhibition without cytotoxicity, reducing viral burden by 4.4-log₁₀ plaque forming units/ml at concentrations of 250 μM FAV with 100 IU/ml IFN. Importantly, these concentrations are achievable in man. The translational, mechanism-based model yielded unbiased and reasonably precise curve fits. Simulations with the model predicted that clinically relevant regimens of FAV plus IFN would markedly reduce viral burden in man, resulting in at least a 10,000-fold reduction in virus during the first four days of treatment. These findings highlight the substantial promise of rationally optimized FAV plus IFN combination dosage regimens which should be further investigated to combat ZIKV.

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Validation of putative apicoplast targeting drugs using a chemical supplementation assay in cultured human malaria parasites [PublishAheadOfPrint]

Malaria parasites contain a relict plastid, the apicoplast, which is considered an excellent drug target due to its bacterial-like ancestry. Numerous parasiticidals have been proposed to target the apicoplast, but few have had their actual targets substantiated. Isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) production is the sole required function of the apicoplast in the blood stage of the parasite life cycle, and IPP supplementation rescues parasites from apicoplast perturbing drugs. Hence, any drug that kills parasites when IPP is supplied in culture must have a non-apicoplast target. Here we use IPP supplementation to discriminate whether 23 purported apicoplast targeting drugs are on or off-target. We demonstrate that a prokaryotic DNA replication inhibitor (ciprofloxacin), several prokaryotic translation inhibitors (chloramphenicol, doxycycline, tetracycline, clindamycin, azithromycin, erythromycin, clarithromycin), a tRNA synthase inhibitor (mupirocine), and two IPP synthesis pathway inhibitors (fosmidomycin or FR900098) have apicoplast targets. Intriguingly, the latter two drugs leave the apicoplast intact, whereas the others eventually result in apicoplast loss. Actinonin, an inhibitor of bacterial post-translation modification does not produce a typical delayed-death response but is rescued with IPP, thereby confirming its apicoplast target. Parasites treated with putative apicoplast fatty acid pathway inhibitors could not be rescued, demonstrating that these drugs have their primary targets outside the apicoplast, which agrees with dispensability of the apicoplast fatty acid synthesis pathways in the blood stage of malaria parasites. IPP supplementation provides a simple test of whether a compound has a target in the apicoplast and can be used to screen novel compounds for mode of action.

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Acinetobacter pittii from companion animals co-harbouring blaOXA-58, the tet39 region and other resistance genes on a single plasmid [PublishAheadOfPrint]

Besides Acinetobacter baumannii, A. pittii is an important nosocomial pathogen (1, 2)....

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Cloning and Expression of Novel Aminoglycoside Phosphotransferase Genes from Campylobacter and Their Role in the Resistance to Six Aminoglycosides [PublishAheadOfPrint]

Nine aph genes, including aph(2'')-Ib, Ic, Ig, If, If1, If3, Ih, aac(6')-Ie/aph(2'')-Ia, and aac(6')-Ie/aph(2'')-If2 were previously identified in Campylobacter. To measure the contribution of these alleles to aminoglycoside resistance, we cloned nine genes into the pBluescript and expressed them in E. coli DH5α. The nine aph expressed in E.coli showed varying levels of resistance to gentamicin, kanamycin and tobramycin. Three genes, aac(6'')-Ie/aph(2'')-Ia, aph2''-If1 and aph2''-Ig showed increased MICs to amikacin and five aph genes were transferrable.

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