Gustatory Function and Salivary Flow Rate in Healthy Adults

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Gustatory Function and Salivary Flow Rate in Healthy Adults Via The Laryngoscope Objectives/Hypothesis In this study, we assessed gustatory function and whole-mouth saliva in healthy adults and investigated the association between gustatory function, salivary flow rate (SFR), and dry mouth. Study Design Descriptive clinical study. Methods We recruited 413 participants who reported a normal sense of smell–taste, comprising 206 females and 207 males with an age range of 19 to 80 years. Taste scores were obtained using whole-mouth tests to evaluate the gustatory function, SFR was assessed using the spitting method, and dry mouth was measured with the visual analog scale. Results The total taste score (TTS) and SFR were significantly negatively correlated with age (r taste = −0.522, P < .001; r SFR = −0.200, P < .001): TTS was significantly lower after the age of 50 and SFR decreased significantly after age 65. Women exhibited a significantly higher TTS than men (P < .001). However, there was no effect of sex on SFR. Dry mouth was negatively correlated with TTS (r = −0.223, P < .01) and SFR (r = −0.218, P < .01). Multiple regression analysis showed the independent variables of age, sex, and dry mouth predicted 34% of the variation in taste, while the independent variables of age and dry mouth predicted 6.1% of the variation in whole-mouth saliva. TTS was not significantly correlated with the SFR in healthy adults (r = 0.094, P = .056). Conclusions Age and dry mouth are important factors affecting gustatory function and whole-mouth saliva, with women exhibiting better taste sensitivity than men. Furthermore, there is no direct correlation between SFR and gustatory function in healthy adults. Level of Evidence 3 Laryngoscope, 2021 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Anterior Palatoplasty With Expansion Sphincter Pharyngoplasty for All Type of Pharyngeal Collapse

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Anterior Palatoplasty With Expansion Sphincter Pharyngoplasty for All Type of Pharyngeal Collapse Via The Laryngoscope Objectives/Hypothesis This study was aimed to compare the efficiency of the anterior palatoplasty and expansion sphincter pharyngoplasty (APwESP) technique for all patterns of velopharyngeal obstruction (anterior–posterior [APPC], lateral [LPC], or combined circular pharyngeal collapse [CPC]). Study Design The study was designed as a randomized prospective trial at Kâtip Çelebi University, Atatürk Training, and Research Hospital. Methods Patients only with velopharyngeal obstruction were included. Three groups were created according to the obstruction pattern (APPC, LPC, and CPC) for the study. Outcome parameters included patient's demographics, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), lowest oxygen saturation (LOS), Stanford subjective scale of snoring (SSSS), and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). Results Thirty-one (34.1%) patients were in APPC group, while 30 (33.0%) patients were in LPC, and 30 (33.0%) were in CPC group. Preoperatively for all patients, on average, AHI was 33.4 ± 13.6, SSSS was 8.3 ± 1.0, ESS was 16.5 ± 2.6, and LOS was determined as 85.5 ± 3.6. There was a significant postoperative improvement in all parameters for all patients. There was no significant difference in outcome parameters between the groups according to obstruction pattern postoperatively. After APwESP surgery, obstruction pattern was not a significant factor for AHI (P = .234), SSSS (P = .180), and LOS (P = .280) (repeated measure analysis of variance test). The rate of surgical success was detected similarly for both of the study groups (P = .435). The rate of successful surgery for severe obstructive sleep apnea in the APPC group was 72.2%, 88.2% in the LPC group, and 75.0% in the CPC group (P =& nbsp;.472). Conclusion A combination of APwESP surgery can manage all types of pharyngeal obstruction confidently. Level of Evidence 3 Laryngoscope, 2021 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Role and mechanism of the Dectin-1-mediated Syk/NF-κB signaling pathway in Talaromyces marneffei infection

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Role and mechanism of the Dectin-1-mediated Syk/NF-κB signaling pathway in <em>Talaromyces marneffei</em> infection Via Experimental and therapeutic medicine Exp Ther Med. 2022 Jan;23(1):84. doi: 10.3892/etm.2021.11007. Epub 2021 Nov 25. ABSTRACT Dendritic cell-associated C-type lectin-1 (Dectin-1), a C-type lectin receptor, serves a critical role in host antifungal immunity. However, the molecular mechanism and function of Dectin-1-mediated signaling in response to infection by the pathogenic fungus Talaromyces marneffei remains unclear. To understand the role of Dectin-1 signaling against T. marneffei infection, the phosphorylation of spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk), nuclear factor of κ light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor, α (IκBα) and NF-κB were analyzed using western blotting, and the secretion of cytokines was detected using ELISA. Upon sporular or hyphal heat-killed T. marneffei stimulation, Dectin-1 in THP-1 macrophages recognized and induced the activation of Syk, and in turn triggered phosphorylation of downstream molecules IκBα and NF-κB, thus increasing the secretion of TNF-α and IL-8. Conversely, knockdown of Dectin-1 in THP-1 macrophages downregulated the phosphorylation of Syk, IκBα and NF-κB molecules, and significantly decreased the production of TNF-α and IL-8. These results indicated that Dectin-1 may have a crucial role in inducing the inflammatory response via increasing levels of TNF-α and IL-8 induced by T. marneffei, whereas NF-κB may be the key downstream molecule involved in the response to T. marneffei infection. Subsequently, THP-1 macrophages could orchestrate the innate immune system by releasing the cytokines TNF-α and IL-8. Therefore, it was hypothesized that regulation of the Dectin-1 signaling pathway may effectively interfere with the defense ability of the host against T. marneffei infection. PMID:34938366 | PMC:PMC8688926 | DOI:10.3892/etm.2021.11007 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Differential Outcomes Among Survivors of Head and Neck Cancer Belonging to Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Differential Outcomes Among Survivors of Head and Neck Cancer Belonging to Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups Via JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery Online First This cohort study examines differential survival and identify n onclinical factors associated with stage of presentation among patients with head and neck cancer who belong to racial and ethnic minority groups. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Physical Therapy for Muscle Tension Dysphonia with Cervicalgia

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Physical Therapy for Muscle Tension Dysphonia with Cervicalgia Via ear nose throat Ear Nose Throat J. 2021 Dec 23:1455613211063239. doi: 10.1177/01455613211063239. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the effectiveness of a specialized manual physical therapy (PT) program at improving voice among patients diagnosed with concomitant muscle tension dysphonia (MTD) and cervicalgia at a tertiary care voice center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cervicalgia was determined by palpation of the anterior neck. Both voice therapy (VT) an d PT was recommended for all patients diagnosed with MTD and cervicalgia. PT included full-body manual physical therapy with myofascial release. Patients underwent: 1) VT alone, 2) concurrent PT and VT (PT with VT), 3) PT alone, 4) VT, but did not have PT ordered by treating clinician (VT without PT order) or 5) VT followed by PT (VT then PT). The pairwise difference in post-Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) controlling for baseline variables was calculated with a linear regression model. RESULTS: 178 patients met criteria. All groups showed improvement with treatment. The covariate-adjusted differences in mean post-VHI-10 improvement comparing the VT alone group as a reference were as follows: PT with VT 9.95 (95% confidence interval 7.70, 12.20); PT alone 8.31 (6.16, 10.45); VT without PT order 8.51 (5.55, 11.47); VT then PT 5.47 (2.51, 8.42). CONCLUSION: Among patients diagnosed with MTD with cervicalgia, treatment with a specialized PT program was associated with impr ovement in VHI-10 scores regardless of whether they had VT. While VT is the standard of care for MTD, PT may also offer benefit for MTD patients with cervicalgia. PMID:34939450 | DOI:10.1177/01455613211063239 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Association of Maternal Thyroid Function with Gestational Hypercholanemia

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Association of Maternal Thyroid Function with Gestational Hypercholanemia Via liebertpub1 Thyroid, Ahead of Print. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Intracorporeal Cortical Telemetry as a Step to Automatic Closed-Loop EEG-Based CI Fitting: A Proof of Concept

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Intracorporeal Cortical Telemetry as a Step to Automatic Closed-Loop EEG-Based CI Fitting: A Proof of Concept Via cortical auditory Audiol Res. 2021 Dec 13;11(4):691-705. doi: 10.3390/audiolres11040062. ABSTRACT Electrically evoked auditory potentials have been used to predict auditory thresholds in patients with a cochlear implant (CI). However, with exception of electrically evoked compound action potentials (eCAP), conventional extracorporeal EEG recording devices are still needed. Until now, built-in (intracorporeal) back-telemetry options are limited to eCAPs. Intracorporeal recording of auditory responses beyond the cochlea is still lacking. This study describes the feasibility of obtaining longer latency cortical responses by concatenating interleaved short recording time windows used for eCAP recordings. Extracochlear reference electrodes were dedicated to record cortical responses, while intracochlear electrodes were used for stimulation, enabling intracorporeal telemetry (i.e., without an EEG device) to assess higher cortical processing in CI recipients. Simulta neous extra- and intra-corporeal recordings showed that it is feasible to obtain intracorporeal slow vertex potentials with a CI similar to those obtained by conventional extracorporeal EEG recordings. Our data demonstrate a proof of concept of closed-loop intracorporeal auditory cortical response telemetry (ICT) with a cochlear implant device. This research breaks new ground for next generation CI devices to assess higher cortical neural processing based on acute or continuous EEG telemetry to enable individualized automatic and/or adaptive CI fitting with only a CI. PMID:34940020 | DOI:10.3390/audiolres11040062< /p> View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Going Beyond Rote Auditory Learning: Neural Patterns of Generalized Auditory Learning

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Going Beyond Rote Auditory Learning: Neural Patterns of Generalized Auditory Learning Via cortical auditory J Cogn Neurosci. 2021 Dec 23:1-20. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01805. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT The ability to generalize across specific experiences is vital for the recognition of new patterns, especially in speech perception considering acoustic-phonetic pattern variability. Indeed, behavioral research has demonstrated that listeners are able via a process of generalized learning to leverage their experiences of past words said by difficult-to-understand talker to improve their understanding for new words said by that talker. Here, we examine differences in neural responses to generalized versus rote learning in auditory cortical processing by training listeners to understand a novel synthetic talker. Using a pretest-posttest design with EEG, participants were trained using either (1) a large inventory of words where no words were repeated across the experiment (generalized learning) or (2) a small inventory of words where words were repeate d (rote learning). Analysis of long-latency auditory evoked potentials at pretest and posttest revealed that rote and generalized learning both produced rapid changes in auditory processing, yet the nature of these changes differed. Generalized learning was marked by an amplitude reduction in the N1-P2 complex and by the presence of a late negativity wave in the auditory evoked potential following training; rote learning was marked only by temporally later scalp topography differences. The early N1-P2 change, found only for generalized learning, is consistent with an active processing account of speech perception, which proposes that the ability to rapidly adjust to the specific vocal characteristics of a new talker (for which rote learning is rare) relies on attentional mechanisms to selectively modify early auditory processing sensitivity. PMID:34942645 | DOI:10.1162/jocn_a_01805 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Prevalence and Treatment Outcomes of Marine-Lenhart Syndrome in Japan

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Prevalence and Treatment Outcomes of Marine-Lenhart Syndrome in Japan Via radioactive iodine Eur Thyroid J. 2021 Nov;10(6):461-467. doi: 10.1159/000510312. Epub 2020 Sep 30. ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Marine-Lenhart syndrome (MLS) is now understood to be a combination of Graves' disease and autonomously functioning thyroid nodule(s) (AFTNs). The prevalence of the syndrome and suitable treatments for those living in iodine-sufficient areas are uncertain. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate the prevalence, treatment, and prognosis of MLS in Japan, an iodine-sufficient area. METHODS: This study involved patients who visited our hospital between February 2005 and August 2019. Among patients with both thyrotoxicosis and thyroid nodule(s) larger than 10 mm, MLS and isolated AFTNs were diagnosed based on serum thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibody levels and scintigraphy using radioiodine or technetium-99m and thyroid uptake. RESULTS: Twenty-two patients were found to have MLS, compared to 372 with isolated AFTNs and 8,343 with Graves' disease, during the period. Therefore, the rate of MLS cases was 0.26% among all patients with Graves' disease (22/8,343). Treatments and outcomes were assessed for cases of MLS (n = 18) and isolated AFTNs (n = 269). Antithyroid drugs (ATDs) were withdrawn in 27.8% of cases in the MLS group and 10.3% in the isolated AFTN group. There was no significant difference in the clinical outcome after ATD withdrawal between the 2 groups. However, the rate of hypothyroidism after radioactive iodine (R AI) administration was significantly higher in the MLS group than in the isolated AFTN group (42.9 vs. 9.0%, p = 0.005) despite similar doses of RAI. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of MLS among patients with Graves' disease was 0.26% in Japan. RAI therapy induces hypothyroidism more frequently than in those with AFTNs probably because RAI is taken up in the surrounding Graves' tissues. PMID:34950599 | PMC:PMC8647058 | DOI:10.1159/000510312 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Incidence of Spinal CSF Leakage on CT Myelography in Patients with Nontraumatic Intracranial Subdural Hematoma

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Incidence of Spinal CSF Leakage on CT Myelography in Patients with Nontraumatic Intracranial Subdural Hematoma Via leak of cerebrospinal fluid Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Dec 6;11(12):2278. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11122278. ABSTRACT The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the incidence of spinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks in patients with nontraumatic intracranial subdural hematoma (SDH) and determine clinical parameters favoring such leaks. This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board. Patients diagnosed with nontraumatic intracranial SDH who underwent computed tomography (CT) myelography between January 2012 and March 2018 were selected. 60 patients (male: female, 39:21; age range, 20-82 years) were enrolled and divided into CSF leak-positive and CSF leak-negative groups according to CT myelography data. Clinical findings were statistically compared between the two groups. Spinal CSF leak was observed in 80% (48/60) of patients, and it was significantly associated with an age of <69 years (p = 0.006). However, patients aged ≥69 yea rs also had a tendency to exhibit spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH)-induced nontraumatic intracranial SDH (60.87%; 14/23). Therefore, CT myelography is recommended to be performed for the evaluation of possible SIH in patients with nontraumatic intracranial SDH, particularly those aged <69 years. Patients aged ≥69 years are also good candidates for CT myelography because SIH tends to occur even in this age group. PMID:34943515 | DOI:10.3390/diagnostics11122278 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Regulation of nuclear medicine services: Perception of the problems and challenges in Colombia for the approach to cancer

xlomafota13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Regulation of nuclear medicine services: Perception of the problems and challenges in Colombia for the approach to cancer Via radioactive iodine Biomedica. 2021 Dec 15;41(4):692-705. doi: 10.7705/biomedica.6123. ABSTRACT Introduction: Colombia has modified the nuclear medicine norms that impact the administration of radioactive iodine therapy in the treatment of thyroid cancer. Objective: To identify the areas of agreement regarding the issue, as well as the current and emergent requirements associated with the normative for the operation of nuclear medicine services that have an impact on the care of patients with thyroid cancer in Colombia. Materials and methods: We conducted a two-round Delphi study for each expert, clinical, and regulatory group. The first round explored views on the implications of the regulations that apply to nuclear medicine. The second round rated the statements from the first round by their relevance. Results: The issues regarding nuclear medicine services were related to the normative clarity and the lack of synergy and coherence among inspection, surveillance, and control bodies. The demands on the waste management system require a high economic investment that can influence the service offer and have an impact on the integral control of thyroid cancer. Unification of the auditors' criteria, delimitation of the acting agent functions, technical assistance to the services to comply with the normative, and the oversight of the inspection, surveillance, and control bodies by the regulatory entities are among the current and future needs. Conclusions: Our findings suggest th at nuclear medicine services are going through a time of multiple institutional, regulatory, and economic challenges that put at risk the development and maintenance of nuclear medicine in cancer care. PMID:34936254 | DOI:10.7705/biomedica.6123 View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.