Deep learning model for differentiating nasal cavity masses based on nasal endoscopy images.

BACKGROUND: Nasal polyps and inverted papillomas often look similar. Clinically, it is difficult to distinguish the masses by endoscopic examination. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to develop a deep learning algorithm for computer-aided diagnosis of nasal endoscopic images, which may provide a more accurate clinical diagnosis before pathologic confirmation of the nasal masses. METHODS: By performing deep learning of nasal endoscope images, we evaluated our computer-aided diagnosis system's assessment ability for nasal polyps and inverted papilloma and the feasibility of their clinical application. We used curriculum learning pre-trained with patches of nasal endoscopic images and full-sized images. The proposed model's performance for classifying nasal polyps, inverted papilloma, and normal tissue was analyzed using five-fold cross-validation. RESULTS: The normal scores for our best-performing network were 0.9520 for recall, 0.7900 for precision, 0.8648 for F1-score, 0.97 for the area under the curve, and 0.8273 for accuracy. For nasal polyps, the best performance was 0.8162, 0.8496, 0.8409, 0.89, and 0.8273, respectively, for recall, precision, F1-score, area under the curve, and accuracy. Finally, for inverted papilloma, the best performance was obtained for recall, precision, F1-score, area under the curve, and accuracy values of 0.5172, 0.8125, 0.6122, 0.83, and 0.8273, respectively. CONCLUSION: Although there were some misclassifications, the results of gradient-weighted class activation mapping were generally consistent with the areas under the curve determined by otolaryngologists. These results suggest that the convolutional neural network is highly reliable in resolving lesion locations in nasal endoscopic images.

Oxidative Stress and Antioxidants in Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyps.

Oxidative stress results from an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species and the body's antioxidant defense system. It plays an important role in the regulation of the immune response and can be a pathogenic factor in various diseases. Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a complex and heterogeneous disease with various phenotypes and endotypes. Recently, an increasing number of studies have proposed that oxidative stress (caused by both environmental and intrinsic stimuli) plays an important role in the pathogenesis and persistence of CRS. This has attracted the attention of several researchers. The relationship between the presence of reactive oxygen species composed of free radicals and nasal polyp pathology is a key topic receiving attention. This article reviews the role of oxidative stress in respiratory diseases, particularly CRS, and introduces potential therapeutic antioxidants that may offer targeted treatment for CRS.

Screening Key Genes and Biological Pathways in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma by Integrated Bioinformatics Analysis.

The purpose of this study was to identify the hub genes and biological pathways of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) through bioinformatics analysis and potential new therapeutic targets. In this study, three datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between NPC and normal tissues were analyzed using the GEO2R online tool. Volcano and heat maps of the DEGs were visualized using the hiplot database. Gene ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses of the upregulated and downregulated DEGs were performed using the DAVID database. Finally, we established a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network using the STRING database and showed the differential expression of hub genes between the normal and tumor tissues. In all, 109,371,221 upregulated DEGs and 139,226,520 downregulated DEGs were obtained in datasets GSE40290, GSE61218, and GSE53819, respectively, and 18 common differential genes, named co-DEGs, were screened in the three datasets. The most abundant biological GO terms of the co-DEGs were inflammatory response et al. The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis showed that co-DEGs mainly participated in the interleukin (IL)-17 signaling pathway et al. Finally, we identified four hub genes using PPI analysis and observed that three of them were highly expressed in tumor tissues. In this study, the hub genes of NPC, such as PTGS2, and pathways such as IL-17 signaling, were identified through bioinformatics analysis, which may be potential new therapeutic targets for NPC.

Analysis of age-related prevalence and risk factors of chronic rhinosinusitis with asthma.

OBJECTIVE: To determine age-related risk factors for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with asthma. METHODS: Data were obtained from a national survey of non-hospitalized civilians conducted by the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention. CRS diagnosis was based on the guidelines of the European Position Paper on Rhinosinusitis and Nasal Polyps 2020. Asthma was judged based on whether the patient had been diagnosed with asthma in the past. Of the 45,811 survey participants, 26,335 were included in the cross-sectional study. Participants included in the study were divided into the control, CRS, and CRS with asthma groups. Age-related risk factors were analyzed in patients aged < 60 or > 60 years. Univariate logistic analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between groups. Risk factors included age, sex, household income, residence, education level, occupation, and body mass index (BMI). RESULTS: Education level (Odds Ratio [OR]: 0.342, P = .0003), BMI (OR: 1.09, P = .0082), and total IgE (TIgE) levels (OR: 5.582, P = .003) were significantly different between the control and the CRS with asthma group. Education level (OR: 0.478, P = .0016) and TIgE levels (OR: 4, P = .0218) were significantly different between the CRS and CRS with asthma groups under 60 years of age. BMI (OR: 1.087, P = .0443; OR: 1.104, P = .0224) showed a significant difference between all three groups with age > 60 years. CONCLUSION: Progression to CRS with asthma is influenced by education level, occupation, and TIgE levels in patients under 60 years of age. BMI was the only influencing factor associated with the progression to CRS with asthma in those aged > 60 years.

Therapeutic Strategies of Biologics in Chronic Rhinosinusitis: Current Options and Future Targets.

Chronic rhinosinusitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the upper airways, for which treatment options include medical or surgical therapy. However, there are limitations to conservative treatment strategies, such as the relapse of nasal polyps. In this review, we discuss the rising role of biomolecular mechanisms associated with various biologics that have been approved or are undergoing clinical trials to treat chronic rhinosinusitis. We also highlight the potential molecular therapeutic targets for managing and treating chronic rhinosinusitis.

Effect of fasting time before anesthesia on postoperative complications in children undergoing adenotonsillectomy.

OBJECTIVES: Although the guidelines clearly recommend the fasting time of children before anesthesia, it is usually difficult to control. For pediatric patients, prolonged fasting time before surgery will lead to dehydration and hypoglycemia. Adenotonsillectomy is one of the most common operations in pediatric patients, but its complications are not rare. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between preoperative fasting time and postoperative complications in children undergoing adenotonsillectomy. METHODS: The medical and surgical records of 480 pediatric patients who underwent adenotonsillectomy were analyzed retrospectively. They were divided into three groups, including adenoidectomy group, tonsillectomy group, and adenotonsillectomy group. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the effect of preoperative fasting time on postoperative complications and hospital stay in pediatric patients of the three groups. RESULTS: The postoperative bleeding rate in the adenoidectomy group (5.16%) was lower than tonsillectomy group and adenoidectomy group (P < .001). Logistic regression analysis showed that the fasting time was positively correlated with the vomiting and pain in adenoidectomy group, tonsillectomy group, and adenotonsillectomy group. And, the postoperative hospital stay was also positively correlated with fasting time in three groups. CONCLUSION: The prolonged fasting time before otolaryngology surgery in children is related to the occurrence of postoperative complications like vomiting and pain, and also to the increase of postoperative hospital stay.

Advances in the Knowledge of the Underlying Airway Remodeling Mechanisms in Chronic Rhinosinusitis Based on the Endotypes: A Review.

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the nasal and paranasal sinus mucosa that affects up to 10% of the population worldwide. CRS is the most representative disease of the upper respiratory tract where airway remodeling occurs, including epithelial damage, thickening of the basement membrane, fibrosis, goblet cell hyperplasia, subepithelial edema, and osteitis. CRS is divided into two phenotypes according to the presence or absence of nasal polyps: CRS with nasal polyp (CRSwNP) and CRS without nasal polyps (CRSsNP). Based on the underlying pathophysiologic mechanism, CRS is also classified as eosinophilic CRS and non-eosinophilic CRS, owing to Type 2 T helper (Th2)-based inflammation and Type 1 T helper (Th1)/Type 17 T helper (Th17) skewed immune response, respectively. Differences in tissue remodeling in CRS are suggested to be based on the clinical phenotype and endotypes; this is because fibrosis is prominent in CRSsNP, whereas edematous changes occur in CRSwNP, especially in the eosinophilic type. This review aims to summarize the latest information on the different mechanisms of airway remodeling in CRS according to distinct endotypes.

TRPV4-Mediated Epithelial Junction Disruption in Allergic Rhinitis Triggered by House Dust Mites.

BACKGROUND: Epithelial barrier disruption is a crucial feature of allergic rhinitis (AR). Previous reports have indicated the role of transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV) 4 in regulating the intercellular junctions in various cells. However, the role of TRPV4 and its regulation by T helper 2 cell cytokines in the epithelial cells of patients with AR remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to elucidate the expression of TRPV4 in nasal epithelial cells and its cytokine-induced regulation, and to reveal its role in house dust mite-induced junction disruption in AR. METHODS: The expression of TRPV4 in nasal epithelial cells was measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blot, and immunohistochemical assays, and the expression levels were compared between the patients with AR and healthy controls. Altered expression of TRPV4 was induced in cultured nasal epithelial cells by stimulation of interleukin (IL) 4, IL-13, and tumor necrosis factor alpha. In addition, expression of E-cadherin and zonula occludens 1 was induced in Der p 1-stimulated epithelial cells by treatment with either a TRPV4 agonist (GSK1016790A) or a TRPV4 antagonist (RN1734). RESULTS: TRPV4 expression was increased in epithelial cells harvested from the affected turbinates compared to those from the normal turbinates. The stimulation of cultured epithelial cells with IL-4 and IL-13 resulted in TRPV4 upregulation. Additionally, E-cadherin and zonula occludens 1 expression levels decreased in the cultured epithelial cells treated with GSK1016790A after stimulation with Der p 1, whereas Der p 1 stimulation alone showed no effect on junctional protein expression. CONCLUSIONS: Increased TRPV4 expression occurred in epithelial cells harvested from patients with AR and epithelial cells stimulated by Th2 cytokines. Decreased junctional protein expression in epithelial cells after the stimulation by house dust mite allergen with TRPV4 agonist indicates a possible role of TRPV4 in the pathogenesis of allergen-induced epithelial barrier disruption in AR.