Microbiota dysbiosis in odontogenic rhinosinusitis and its association with anaerobic bacteria.

Odontogenic rhinosinusitis is a subtype of rhinosinusitis associated with dental infection or dental procedures and has special bacteriologic features. Previous research on the bacteriologic features of odontogenic rhinosinusitis has mainly used culture-dependent methods. The variation of microbiota between odontogenic and nonodontogenic rhinosinusitis as well as the interplay between the involved bacteria have not been explored. Therefore, we enrolled eight odontogenic rhinosinusitis cases and twenty nonodontogenic rhinosinusitis cases to analyze bacterial microbiota through 16S rRNA sequencing. Significant differences were revealed by the Shannon diversity index (Wilcoxon test p = 0.0003) and PERMANOVA test based on weighted UniFrac distance (Wilcoxon test p = 0.001) between odontogenic and nonodontogenic samples. Anaerobic bacteria such as Porphyromonas, Fusobacterium, and Prevotella were significantly dominant in the odontogenic rhinosinusitis group. Remarkably, a correlation between different bacteria was also revealed by Pearson's correlation. Staphylococcus was highly positively associated with Corynebacterium, whereas Fusobacterium was highly negatively correlated with Prophyromonas. According to our results, the microbiota in odontogenic rhinosinusitis, predominantly anaerobic bacteria, was significantly different from that in nonodontogenic rhinosinusitis, and the interplay between specific bacteria may a major cause of this subtype of rhinosinusitis.

Risk of head and neck cancer in patients with peptic ulcers and the effect of Helicobacter pylori treatment.

It remained inconclusive whether patients with peptic ulcer disease had a higher risk of head and neck cancer (HNC). Therefore, we enrolled 109,360 patients with peptic ulcer disease and matched for age and sex with 218,720 controls from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database between January 1, 1997 and December 31, 2013.The HNC incidence rate was 1.33-fold higher in the peptic ulcer group than in the control group (7.52 vs. 5.68 per 100,00 person-years; crude relative risk: 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-1.63) after > 6 years of follow-up. However, in the peptic ulcer subgroup with H. pylori treatment, HNC risk was not significantly different from that of the control group (crude relative risk: 1.12; 95% CI: 0.86-1.46). Moreover, the population with peptic ulcers had the highest risk of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer (adjusted HR: 2.27 [95% CI: 1.16-4.44] and 2.00 [95% CI, 1.13-3.55]), respectively. This observational study suggested that peptic ulcer disease is associated with an increased incidence of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer and H. pylori treatment may have a role in preventing HNC in patients with peptic ulcer disease.

A Faster and Simpler Operation Method for Laparoscopic Inguinal Hernia Repair in Children.

Background: Inguinal hernias (IHs) are common in infants and children. The key step in inguinal hernia repair is high ligation of the hernia sac. The current main treatment methods for IHs are open and laparoscopic surgery. Over the past two decades, laparoscopic herniorrhaphy has increased in popularity. Herein, we introduced a new method to laparoscopically treat IHs. The goal of this study was to investigate the clinical effects and advantages of this new operation technique for IHs, which is called the "hernia sac ligation by single-incision laparoscopic surgery with a double-line band method." Patients and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of all children who underwent initial laparoscopic herniorrhaphy at our center over a 1-year period. A single surgeon performed all surgeries using the modified single-incision laparoscopic technique. Intraoperative findings and complications, operative times, and postoperative complications were reviewed for all children. Results: All 119 surgeries were successfully completed (58 bilateral and 61 unilateral). In total, 54 out of 58 children had contralateral openings discovered at time of surgery and underwent unplanned bilateral laparoscopic hernia repair. This clinical study included 99 boys patients and 20 girls patients (boy-to-girl ratio was 4.95:1). The age range at the time of surgery was 0.5 to 10 years, and the average age was 2.63 years. No patient had any intraoperative complication. Postoperative complications occurred in 1 boy (0.56%) who had a hernia recurrence that required open repair. The addition of auxiliary operating forceps was required for 8 boys (6.72%). No child had scrotum edema, wound infection, stitch granuloma, or iatrogenic cryptorchidism. Overall, a 93.3% operative success rate was noted with the modified technique. Conclusions: The modified technique is a safe and effective operation method, which can significantly shorten the operation time, reduce recurrence rates, and result in minimal scarring. Additionally, the procedure is expected to be less expensive.

Chronic rhinosinusitis after radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer: a population-based cohort study in Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a common post-radiotherapy (RT) side effect in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). However, whether RT is a risk factor for CRS in patients with other types of head and neck cancer remains unclear. This study investigated the association, if any, between CRS and RT in patients with head and neck cancer. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included the data of patients newly diagnosed as having head and neck cancer between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2008, from the 2005 Longitudinal Health Insurance Database. Patients were categorized into the following groups according to the treatment regimens received: RT alone (RT-alone), RT combined with other treatments (any-RT), and treatments without RT (no-RT). The outcome was the occurrence of CRS after treatment. RESULTS: Of the 701 patients, 7% experienced CRS within 5 years after initial treatment. Patients were divided into subgroups according to different treatment policies, and the RT-alone group, any-RT group, and no-RT group had 5-year incidence of CRS of 12%, 9.3%, and 4.5%, respectively. Patients in the RT-alone and any-RT groups exhibited an increased risk of CRS compared with patients in the no-RT group (hazard ratio: 6.76 and 2.91; 95% confidence interval: 2.60 to 17.5 and 1.60 to 5.31, respectively). CONCLUSION: This is the first nationwide population-based cohort study to evaluate the risk of posttreatment CRS in patients with head and neck cancer. Our findings indicate that RT is a major risk factor for CRS. Thus, physicians should consider this potential risk in patients with head and neck cancer after RT.

Microbiota Dysbiosis in Fungal Rhinosinusitis.

Fungal rhinosinusitis is a unique phenotype of chronic rhinosinusitis with unique clinical and histological characteristics. The role of bacterial microbiota in various phenotypes chronic rhinosinusitis is not thoroughly understood. Therefore, we conducted 16s rRNA amplification sequencing to determine differences in bacterial communities between phenotypes (fungal vs. non- fungal) and anatomical sites (middle meatus vs. nasopharynx). Endoscope-guided swabs were used to collect samples from the middle meatus and nasopharynx of seven consecutive patients with fungal and 18 consecutive patients with non-fungal rhinosinusitis. DNA was extracted and investigated through 16S rRNA amplification. Among samples from the middle meatus, Shannon diversity was significantly lower in those from the fungal rhinosinusitis group (p = 0.029). However, no significant differences in diversity were noted between nasopharynx samples (p = 0.85). Fungal rhinosinusitis samples exhibited a distinct distribution of taxon relative abundance, which involved not only the absence of rhinosinusitis-associated commensal Corynebacterium and Fusobacterium in the middle meatus but also a significant increase in Haemophilus prevalence and abundance. This is the first study to compare bacterial communities in fungal and non-fungal rhinosinusitis samples. Our findings demonstrated that bacterial community dysbiosis was more apparent in fungal rhinosinusitis samples and was limited to the middle meatus.

Factors associated with the true location of ingested fishbones.

OBJECTIVES: Fishbone ingestion is a common problem worldwide, and the first step for managing this condition is to locate the fishbone precisely. However, until now, no study has analysed the true location of fishbone and its associated factors. Thus, this study identified the factors predicting the true location of fishbone and subsequently attempted to provide a management algorithm for fishbone ingestion. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was carried out at St Martin De Porres Hospital, Taiwan, between January 2015 and January 2016. All patients were diagnosed as having fishbone ingestion within the pharynx and underwent fishbone removal. RESULTS: This study included 198 consecutive patients with a mean age of 43.1 years (range: 1-84 years). The sensitivity of lateral neck radiography in the diagnosis of fishbone in the pharynx was only 22%. The fishbone locations were as follows: the tonsil in 72 (36.4%) patients, the tongue base / vallecula in 112 (56.6%) and the hypopharynx in 14 (7.0%). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that patient age and fishbone length were significant independent risk factors associated with the true location of fishbone ingestion. Among all patients, fishbone was removed transorally under direct vision in 73 (36.9%) patients and using flexible nasopharyngoscopy in 125 (63.1%) patients. CONCLUSION: Patient age and fishbone length are important independent factors associated with the location of ingested fishbone. Lateral neck radiography is not beneficial for diagnosing fishbone ingestion within the pharynx. Flexible nasopharyngoscopy, by contrast, is an important method for the diagnosis and treatment of fishbone ingestion within this location.

Primary paranasal sinus clear cell carcinoma with EWSR1-ATF1 fusion: report of 2 molecularly confirmed cases exhibiting unique histopathology.

Hyalinizing clear cell carcinoma (HCCC) is a rare low-grade tumor of the salivary glands made up of clear cells that form cords and nests in hyalinized stroma. To date, primary HCCCs of the paranasal sinus have not been described. This article presents 2 cases of HCCC of the maxillary sinus with unusual glandular formation and lymphoplasmacytic stroma in case 1 and a characteristic solid nest pattern and fibrocellular and hyalinized stroma in case 2. Immunohistochemical studies excluded myoepithelial origin and sinonasal renal cell-like adenocarcinomas. Negativity for p63 and p40 in case 1 ruled out a squamous cell origin. Both cases showed a rearranged EWSR1 gene. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction detected EWSR1-ATF1 fusion gene transcripts, and Sanger sequencing confirmed an EWSR1 exon 11 fused in-frame to ATF exon 3.

Expression of Beclin Family Proteins Is Associated with Tumor Progression in Oral Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 are autophagy-related proteins that show similar amino acid sequences and domain structures. Beclin 1 established the first connection between autophagy and cancer. However, the role of Beclin 2 in cancer is unclear. The aims of this study were to analyze Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 expressions in oral cancer tissues and in cell lines, and to evaluate their possible roles in cancer progression. METHODS: We investigated Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 expressions by immunohistochemistry in 195 cases of oral cancer. The prognostic roles of Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 were analyzed statistically. In vitro, overexpression and knockdown of Beclin proteins were performed on an oral cancer cell line, SAS. The immunofluorescence and autophagy flux assays confirmed that Beclin proteins were involved in autophagy. The impacts of Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 on autophagy and tumor growth were evaluated by conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II and by clonogenic assays, respectively. RESULTS: Oral cancer tissues exhibited aberrant expressions of Beclin 1 and Beclin 2. The cytoplasmic Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 expressions were unrelated in oral cancer tissues. In survival analyses, high cytoplasmic Beclin 1 expression was associated with low disease specific survival, and negative nuclear Beclin 1 expression was associated with high recurrent free survival. Patients with either high or low cytoplasmic Beclin 2 expression had significantly lower overall survival and disease specific survival rates than those with moderate expression. In oral cancer cells, overexpression of either Beclin 1 or Beclin 2 led to autophagy activation and increased clonogenic survival; knockdown of Beclin 2 impaired autophagy and increased clonogenic survival. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that distinct patterns of Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 were associated with aggressive clinical outcomes. Beclin 1 overexpression, as well as Beclin 2 overexpression and depletion, contributed to tumor growth. These findings suggest Beclin proteins are associated with tumorigenesis.

Acute calcific prevertebral tendinitis: rare cause of neck pain.

Case: We report a case of acute calcific prevertebral tendinitis and discuss the clinical signs, symptoms, and radiologic findings of the disease. Outcome: This 47-year-old man suffered from neck pain, odynophagia, and sore throat for 2 days. Acute calcific prevertebral tendinitis was noted. This disease, brought on by prolonged minor repetitive tendon injury, is an often overlooked cause of acute neck pain. The typical radiologic appearances of the disease include the calcification of the anterior surface of the C1-C2 spine and smooth soft tissue swelling over the retropharyngeal space. Conclusion: Generally this disease is benign and may be misdiagnosed as deep neck infection. Drainage on this patient would be considered malpractice.