Assessing Academic Preferential Hiring Practices in Highly Ranked Otolaryngology Departments.

Objective: To assess whether preferential hiring practices, particularly self-hiring, are present in academic otolaryngology departments. Setting: A list of academic Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (O-HNS) departments ranked #1-40 was generated from the Doximity 2021 rankings. The educational background and training information of clinical faculty members and departmental leadership was extracted from each department's online directories. Methods: Descriptive statistics were used to examine inter/intradepartmental relationships and affiliations of included clinical faculty and departmental leadership based on current employment and medical training sites. A "prior affiliation ratio" was calculated to assess the degree of self-hiring and account for multiple possible prior affiliations (medical school, residency, and fellowship) by dividing all prior self-hired affiliations of faculty by the total number of faculty at each department. Results: A total of 1344 clinical faculty were identified, and 596 (44.35%) had at least 1 prior affiliation with their department. The overall prior affiliation ratio was 0.6, and 7 departments had a value >0.8, with the highest being 1.27 (>1.0 indicating multiple prior affiliations per individual such as both residency and fellowship). A network map of departments #1-10 showed heavy intradepartmental faculty recruitment with 24% of faculty having completed a #1-10 residency, 24% a #11-20 residency, 13% a #21-30 residency, and 11% a #31-40 residency. Totaling this data, 76% of faculty at departments ranked #1-10 had completed training at a program ranked #1-40. Furthermore, our data shows high rates of self-hiring among departmental leadership, (40% of Departmental Chairs and 62.5% of Program Directors) though rates are not significantly higher than self-hiring among faculty overall. Conclusion: The top 40 ranked O-HNS departments have high rates of self-hiring, relying on prestige of training programs and prior affiliation in hiring decisions. The effect on departmental productivity and training is unclear.

Dexmedetomidine and surgical field visibility in nasal surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Nasal and sinus surgery, especially using endoscopy, relies upon adequate haemostasis to be safe and effective. Often other haemostatic methods, such as cautery are not viable, and other methods must be employed. This study examines the effectiveness of dexmedetomidine in controlled hypotension and for surgical field visibility in endoscopic sinus surgery and other nasal surgeries. REVIEW METHODS: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL and Central for randomised controlled trials using dexmedetomidine for controlled hypotension in adult patients undergoing endoscopic sinus surgery or other nasal surgery. Meta-analysis of mean differences and single means were performed. RESULTS: Of 935 identified studies, 31 met the inclusion criteria. A statistically significant difference in Fromme-Boezaart surgical field visibility scores was found comparing dexmedetomidine to placebo (p < 0.00001) and propofol (p < 0.0001), but not other agents. A significant difference in intraoperative blood loss volume was found compared with placebo (51.5mL, p < 0.00001) and propofol (13.6mL, p < 0.0001), but not other agents. CONCLUSION: Dexmedetomidine demonstrated significantly improved surgical field visibility and blood loss volume compared with placebo and propofol, but not other agents. Dexmedetomidine is viable and useful for controlled hypotension in nasal surgery. Choice of controlled hypotension agent should follow patient and procedure-specific considerations.

Global Otitis Media Incidence Changes During the COVID Pandemic: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to analyze the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdowns on the incidence of otitis media (OM), a common otolaryngologic disease. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL. REVIEW METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed using PRISMA reporting guidelines. OM incidence (measured as newly diagnosed OM cases over total patients seen over a time period), OM antibiotic prescriptions (OM cases for which antibiotics were prescribed over total OM cases), and tympanostomy tube surgeries (all tympanostomy tube surgeries over total surgical cases) were extracted. Meta-analysis of proportions and comparison of proportions were performed. RESULTS: Of 1004 studies screened, 26 studies in 11 countries met inclusion criteria. The percentages of OM cases pre- and during-lockdown were 6.67%, 95% CI [4.68%, 8.99%], and 2.63% [2.02%, 3.31%], respectively, with an OR of 0.31 favoring during-lockdown [0.25, 0.39] (p < 0.00001). Antibiotic prescriptions per all OM episodes pre- and during-lockdown were 1.61% [0.17%, 8.46%] and 0.62% [0.07%, 3.32%], with an OR of 0.37 favoring during-lockdown ([0.35, 0.40], p < 0.00001). Tympanostomy tube surgery proportions pre- and during-lockdown were 31.64% [6.85%, 64.26%] and 29.99% [4.14%, 66.55%], with an OR of 0.94 favoring neither during- nor pre-lockdown [0.45, 2.00] (p = 0.88). CONCLUSION: The incidence of OM decreased significantly following international lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with antibiotic prescriptions for OM episodes showing a corresponding decrease. Despite these reductions, numbers of tympanostomy tube procedures did not change significantly. These reductions are likely due to social distancing, decreased exposure through high transmission facilities such as day cares, decreased health care utilization, and even possibly decreased air pollution. Laryngoscope, 134:2028-2037, 2024.

Elevated Body Mass Index Associated with Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak after Lateral Skull Base Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if body mass index (BMI) increases the risk of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak after lateral skull base surgery. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus were searched from January 2010 to September 2022 for articles published in English. STUDY SELECTION: Articles that reported BMI or obesity with and without CSF leaks after lateral skull base surgery were included. DATA EXTRACTION: Two reviewers (F.G.D. and B.K.W.) independently performed study screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of 11 studies and 9,132 patients met inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis of mean difference (MD), odds ratio (OR), proportions, and risk ratio (RR) were calculated using RevMan 5.4 and MedCalc 20.110. BMI for patients with CSF leak after lateral skull base surgery (29.39 kg/m 2 , 95% confidence interval [CI] = 27.75 to 31.04) was significantly greater than BMI for patients without CSF leak after lateral skull base surgery (27.09 kg/m 2 , 95% CI = 26.16 to 28.01) with an MD of 2.21 kg/m 2 (95% CI = 1.09 to 3.34, p = 0.0001). The proportion of patients with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 that had a CSF leak was 12.7%, and the proportion of patients with BMI < 30 kg/m 2 (control) that had a CSF leak was 7.9%. The OR for CSF leak after lateral skull base surgery in patients with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 was 1.94 (95% CI = 1.40 to 2.68, p < 0.0001), and the RR was 1.82 (95% CI = 1.36 to 2.43, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Elevated BMI increases the risk of CSF leak after lateral skull base surgery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IIa.

Use of dexmedetomidine for controlled hypotension in middle ear surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Microsurgical operations such as middle ear surgery rely heavily on visibility of the surgical field. Anesthetic techniques such as controlled hypotension have been developed to improve surgical field visibility by attempting to decrease bleeding. Many agents have been utilized to achieve controlled hypotension intraoperatively. Dexmedetomidine is a relatively newer agent which works on alpha-2 receptors to decrease sympathetic tone. This paper sought to determine the efficacy of dexmedetomidine for optimizing surgical field visibility in MES. METHODS: A comprehensive search strategy was used in PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and CENTRAL through August 9, 2022 for this systematic review and meta-analysis. INCLUSION CRITERIA: adult patients undergoing middle ear surgery with dexmedetomidine used for controlled hypotension to improve surgical field visibility. Risk of bias was assessed via Cochrane RoB 2. Meta-analysis of mean difference for surgical field scores and risk ratios for positive surgical field scores were used to compare dexmedetomidine with placebo or other agents. RESULTS: Fourteen studies were included in this review. Statistically significant mean difference was found to favor dexmedetomidine over placebo for Fromme-Boezaart surgical field scores. Statistically significant results were also demonstrated favoring dexmedetomidine over other agents in risk ratio for receiving positive surgical field scores, as well as surgeon and patient satisfaction scores. CONCLUSIONS: Controlled hypotension is an invaluable tool for surgical field visibility. Improved surgical field visibility was observed with dexmedetomidine compared with placebo and various other agents. Risk of sub-optimal bleeding scores was significantly lower with dexmedetomidine. Dexmedetomidine is effective at improving surgical field visibility in middle ear surgery.

Genome Editing in Zebrafish Using CRISPR-Cas9: Applications for Developmental Toxicology.

Environment-gene interactions have a powerful impact on embryo development. The ability to precisely edit the genome makes it possible to address questions concerning the specific roles that genes or variants play in modulating the response to environmental challenges. In this chapter, we provide a simplified protocol using CRISPR-Cas9 ribonucleoproteins for genome editing in the zebrafish model organism. The genetic manipulation can then be coupled with chemical screens to identify and understand the mechanism behind toxicants or compounds that modulate development.