Emergence of Invasive Fungal Rhinosinusitis in Recently Recovered COVID-19 Patients

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Emergence of Invasive Fungal Rhinosinusitis in Recently Recovered COVID-19 Patients Via otol rhinol Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol. 2021 Dec 1:34894211060923. doi: 10.1177/00034894211060923. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: The risk of invasive fungal rhinosinusitis is increased in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) because of its direct impact in altering innate immunity and is further exacerbated by widespread use of steroids/antibiotics/monoclonal antibodies. The study aims to describe this recently increased clinical entity in association with COVID-19. METHO D: A prospective, longitudinal study including patients diagnosed with acute invasive fungal rhinosinusitis (AIFRS) who recently recovered from COVID-19 infection or after an asymptomatic carrier state. A single-center, descriptive study investigating demographic details, clinical presentation, radio-pathological aspects, and advocated management. RESULT: A total of 21 patients were included with a mean age of 49.62 years (SD: 14.24). Diabetes mellitus (DM) was the most common underlying disorder (90.48%), and 63.16% of all patients with DM had a recent onset DM, either diagnosed during or after COVID-19 infection. Nineteen patients (90.48%) had recently recovered from active COVID-19 infection, and all had a history of prior steroid treatment (oral/parenteral). Remaining 2 patients were asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers. Surprisingly, 2 patients had no underlying disorder, and 5 (23.81%) recently received the Covishield vaccine. Fungal analysis exhibited Mucor (95.24%) and Asper gillus species (14.29%). Most common sign/symptom was headache and facial/periorbital pain (85.71%), followed by facial/periorbital swelling (61.90%). Disease involvement: sinonasal (100%), orbital (47.62%), pterygopalatine fossa (28.58%), infratemporal fossa (14.29%), intracranial (23.81%), and skin (9.52%). Exclusive endoscopic debridement and combined approach were utilized in 61.90% and 38.10%, respectively. Both liposomal amphotericin B and posaconazole were given in all patients except one. CONCLUSION: A high suspicion of AIFRS should be kept in patients with recent COVID-19 infection who received steroids and presenting with headache, facial pain, and/or facial swelling. Asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers and COVID-19 vaccinated candidates are also observed to develop AIFRS, although the exact immuno-pathogenesis is still unknown. Prompt diagnosis and early management are vital for a favorable outcome. PMID:34852669 | DOI:10.1177/00034894211060923 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Hearing Preservation Microsurgery in Vestibular Schwannomas: Worth Attempting in “Larger” Tumors?

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Hearing Preservation Microsurgery in Vestibular Schwannomas: Worth Attempting in "Larger" Tumors? Via The Laryngoscope Objectives/Hypothesis To review hearing preservation after microsurgical resection of sporadic vestibular schwannomas according to tumor size. Study Design Retrospective cohort. Methods Baseline, intraoperative, and postoperative patient and tumor characteristics were retrospectively collected for a cohort who underwent hearing preservation microsurgery. Serviceable hearing was defined by a pure tone average ≤50 dB and word recognition score ≥50%. Results A total of 243 patients had serviceable hearing preoperatively. Fifty (21%) tumors were confined to the internal auditory canal, and the median tumor size was 16.2 mm (interquartile range [IQR] 11.3–23.2) for tumors with cerebellopontine angle extension. Serviceable hearing was maintained in 64% of patients with tumors confined to the internal auditory canal, 28% with cerebellopontine angle extension <15 mm, and 9% with cerebellopontine angle extension ≥15 mm. On multivariable analysis, the odds ratios of acquiring nonserviceable hearing postoperatively for tumors extending <15 mm and ≥15 mm into the cerebellopontine angle were 5.75 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.13–15.53; P < .001) and 22.11 (95% CI 7.04–69.42; P < .001), respectively, compared with intracanalicular tumors. Conclusions The strongest predictor of hearing preservation with microsurgery after multivariable adjustment is tumor size. Approximately 10% of patients with tumors ≥15 mm of cerebellopontine angle extension will retain serviceable hearing after microsurgery. Furthermore, hearing preservation techniques offer cochlear nerve preservation and cochlear patency allowing for possible future cochlear implantation. An attempt at hearing preservation, including avoiding surgical approaches that necessarily sacrifice hearing, is worthwhile even in larger tumors if serviceable hearing is present preoperatively. Level of Evidence IV Laryngoscope, 2021 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

The potential adverse effect of 2.45 GHz microwave radiation on the testes of prenatally exposed peripubertal male rats

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader The potential adverse effect of 2.45 GHz microwave radiation on the testes of prenatally exposed peripubertal male rats Via Cellular and Molecular Biology Histol Histopathol. 2021 Dec 2:18402. doi: 10.14670/HH-18-402. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT In utero development of organs is easily influenced by many environmental factors. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effect of microwave radiation (MR) at a frequency of 2.45 GHz and a specific absorption rate of 1.73 W/kg on intrauterine development of testis. Pregnant albino rats were exposed to whole-body MR for 2 hours per day throughout the pregnancy. Male offspring (n=12, age 35 days) were not exposed to MR after birth. The study revealed that MR applied in utero induced apparent structural changes in the testes, such as irregular shape of seminiferous tubules, significant decrease in the diameter of seminiferous tubules (p<0.05) and in the height of the germinal epithelium (p<0.01), disorganisation of germ cells, desquamations of immature germ cells, formation of giant multinucleated cells, and significant (p<0.01) ex pansion of the interstitium. At the level of transmission electron microscopy, there were observed basement membrane irregularities in seminiferous tubules, vacuolation of the cytoplasm and adversely affected organelles in Sertoli cells, germ cells, Leydig cells, peritubular and endothelial cells. The tight junctions between adjacent Sertoli cells were often incomplete, and necrotizing germ cells were more numerous in experimental animals compared to controls. Enhanced necrotizations of germ cells proved by a Fluoro Jade C method, and declined germ cells proliferation confirmed by proliferating cell nuclear antigen analysis, were detected in MR exposed animals. Our results revealed that the prenatal exposure to MR had an adverse effect on the postnatal testicular development in rats. PMID:34854072 | DOI:10.14670/HH-18-402 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Effects of rapid maxillary expansion on hearing loss and otitis media in cleft palate children

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Effects of rapid maxillary expansion on hearing loss and otitis media in cleft palate children Via http://link.springer.com/journal/405,European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology,The European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2021 Dec 2. doi: 10.1007/s00405-021-07187-5. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT PURPOSE: Otitis media with effusion (OME), recurrent acute otitis media and conductive hearing loss (CHL) are significantly prevalent in children with cleft palate (CP) and cleft lip and palate (CLP). Rapid Maxillary Expansion (RME) appears to have a positive effect also on middle ear disorders in these patients. The study aims to offer a prospective evaluation of RME effects in a group of patients with CP/CLP in terms of OME, CHL. METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted. Thirty-four CP, CLP and submucosa cleft patients who received orthodontic indication to RME treatment for OME or conductive hearing loss in a tertiary institutional Care Unit of San Paolo Hospital, Milan (IT), were included. Twenty-two patients matched for age and with analogous inclusion criteria except for indication to RME treatment were en rolled in the control group. Clinical otolaryngological evaluation, pure tone audiometry and tympanogram were performed at the beginning of treatment (T0), at the end of the expansion (T1) and at 6-month follow-up (T2). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Air-bone gaps and tympanogram results at each time interval. RESULTS: In the main group, RME allowed a statistically significant improvement of air-bone gaps (according to frequency, p < 0.001-0.089 T0 vs. T1 and < 0.001-0.044 T0 vs. T2, Friedman's test) and tympanometry results (p = 0.002 T0 vs. T1 and p < 0.001 T0 vs. T2, Friedman's test). Improvements were stable during follow-up and were significantly better in the main group than in the control group. CONCLUSION: CHL and middle ear effusion improved significantly overtime during RME and after 6 months of follow-up. PMID:34854972 | DOI:10.1007/s00405-021-07187-5 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Expression and clinical significance of lncRNA TCL6 in serum of patients with preeclampsia

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Expression and clinical significance of lncRNA TCL6 in serum of patients with preeclampsia Via Experimental and therapeutic medicine Exp Ther Med. 2022 Jan;23(1):41. doi: 10.3892/etm.2021.10963. Epub 2021 Nov 12. ABSTRACT Preeclampsia is a common syndrome in pregnancy and a leading cause of mortality of pregnant females and their infants. To investigate the diagnostic and prognostic utility of lncRNA T-cell leukemia/lymphoma 6 (TCL6) in patients with preeclampsia, 120 singleton pregnant females with preeclampsia and another 100 healthy pregnant control subjects were analyzed in the present study. The expression of lncRNA TCL6 in the serum of the included patients was detected. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was applied to evaluate the efficiency of lncRNA TCL6 in terms of preeclampsia diagnosis and grading. Kaplan-Meier analysis was adopted to assess the effect of lncRNA TCL6 expression on the rate of adverse pregnancy. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine high-risk factors of adverse pregnancy. The results indicated that lncRNA T CL6 was significantly increased in the serum of patients with preeclampsia. Furthermore, TCL6 was elevated in subgroups of patients with early-onset or severe preeclampsia and with Haemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes and Low Platelet count syndrome in comparison with other patients with preeclampsia. High expression of TCL6 in pregnant females corresponded to a higher rate of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Severe preeclampsia, early-onset preeclampsia and high TCL6 expression were identified as independent risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. For each unit increase in TCL6 expression, a 9.5-fold increase of the risk of adverse maternal and fetal outcomes was determined. Collectively, high expression of lncRNA TCL6 may assist the diagnosis and grading of preeclampsia and may be adopted as an independent risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes. PMID:34849156 | PMC:PMC8613530 | DOI:10.3892/etm.2021.10963 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Acute kidney injury in moderate and severe COVID-19 patients: Report of two university hospitals

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Acute kidney injury in moderate and severe COVID-19 patients: Report of two university hospitals Via Experimental and therapeutic medicine Exp Ther Med. 2022 Jan;23(1):37. doi: 10.3892/etm.2021.10959. Epub 2021 Nov 10. ABSTRACT Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most severe complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection. In a retrospective study, we aimed to describe the influence of COVID-19-related factors on the severity, outcome and timing of AKI in 268 patients admitted in two large COVID-19-designated university hospitals over a period of 6 months. In the univariate analysis, there was a significant relationship between KDIGO stage and the extension of COVID-19 pneumonia on computed tomography (CT), need for oxygen supplementation, serum levels of ferritin, interleukin-6, and procalcitonin, but none of these variables had a value for predicting KDIGO stage in multinomial regression. The odds of recovery of renal function were significantly diminished by d-dimer values. Lack of immunomodulatory treatment was found to be correlated with increased need for renal replacemen t therapy (RRT). Compared with AKI at admission, hospital-acquired AKI was predicted by the severity of lung damage on CT, evolved more frequently with incomplete recovery of renal function, and was significantly associated with antiviral therapy. PMID:34849152 | PMC:PMC8613528 | DOI:10.3892/etm.2021.10959 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Graves' Autoantibodies Exhibit Different Stimulating Activities in Cultures of Thyrocytes and Orbital Fibroblasts Not Reflected by Clinical Assays

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Graves' Autoantibodies Exhibit Different Stimulating Activities in Cultures of Thyrocytes and Orbital Fibroblasts Not Reflected by Clinical Assays Via liebertpub1 Thyroid, Ahead of Print. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.