Investigating the Effects of Smoking on Young Adult Male Voice by Using Multidimensional Methods.

OBJECTIVES: Smoking is one of the most common harmful habits in the world, especially common among young adult male population in Turkey. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of smoking on the young adults' male voice using multidimensional voice assessment methods. STUDY DESIGN: This is a case-control study. METHODS: The study included 109 young adult men, 51 nonsmokers and 58 smokers between the ages of 20 and 34 years. The voice evaluation protocol consisted of voice handicap index (VHI), maximum phonation time (MPT), and perceptual, acoustic, and videostroboscopic analyses. RESULTS: A statistically significant increase for physical, physiological, and total scores of VHI was found in smokers group (P < 0.05). MPT showed significantly lower values among smokers (P < 0.05). There were no significant changes in perceptual analysis of voice samples between smoker and nonsmoker groups. There were no significant changes in any of the acoustic parameters between smoker and nonsmoker groups. Results of videostroboscopic analysis showed significant relationships between smoking and increased vocal fold erythema (P < 0.05). In addition, significantly asymmetry, amplitude, and periodicity abnormality of vocal fold movements were observed in smoker group during phonation (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that observable signs of laryngeal irritation and disturbed phonatory physiology occur even in young adults with relatively brief smoking habits. Subjective symptoms of smoking on voice appear to occur earlier than objective findings.

TRAIL and TRAIL receptors in patients with laryngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Tumor necrosis factor-related associated-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a death ligand currently under clinical trials for laryngeal carcinoma. METHODS: Paraffin-embedded tissues from 40 patients with laryngeal carcinoma and 20 patients with benign laryngeal pathologies were retrospectively analyzed using immunohistochemistry in terms of distribution and intensity, and for final analysis of immunoreactivity of receptors, H-score was used. The study group was assessed in terms of localization, lymph node staging, tumor stage, overall survival, disease-free survival, locoregional control, perineural invasion, and vascular invasion. RESULTS: The H-score of decoy-R2 (DcR2) staining were increased significantly in tumor tissue (p = .04). A significantly greater increase in terms of H-score of DR5 receptor staining (p = .06) was detected in tumor tissue. CONCLUSION: TRAIL-mediated gene therapy may not be effective. Indeed, the findings may indicate treatment resistance. TRAIL and TRAIL receptor levels were not associated with prognosis © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: E535-E541, 2016.

Evaluation of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 Levels of the Patients with Nasal Polyposis After Corticosteroid Therapies.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of intrapolyp, systemic and local corticosteroid treatment modalities on MMP-9 and TIMP-1 level in polyp tissues. This study included 71 patients and five groups. Group A treated with oral methylprednisolone, Group B, treated with topical steroid spray, Group C treated with intralesional triamcinolone acetonide, Group D patients with nasal polyposis who has not given any medication, Group E had surgery for concha bullosa without nasal polyp disease. Samples from group A were collected endoscopically 1 day after treatment was stopped. Group B samples were collected at the end of the first month. Video guided sample collection from Group C was also performed on the 7th day after treatment. MMP-9 and TIMP-1 levels were measured by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. When we compared the MMP-9 levels of all groups, there were no significant differences. There was significant difference of TIMP-1 level between Groups C and E (pC-E = 0.0019), however there was no difference among the level of the other groups. When MMP-9/TIMP1 rates of all groups were compared, there were significant difference between Group A and D (pA-D = 0.005) and between Group A and E, also between Group C and E. Our study is the first study to evaluate the effects of different corticosteroid treatment modalities on MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in nasal polyps and concluded that corticosteroid did not do a significant impact on this pathway.