Comparison of Impact Factors of Journals and H Index of Faculty Members of Different Medical Specialties in Loghman Hakim General Hospital

Background: With the advancement of knowledge, increasing science production and competition, evaluation of scientific products becomes one of the challenging and undeniable necessary subjects. In Iran, Deputy of Research for Ministry of Health uses H index as one of the scientometrics index for evaluation of research activities of the board members. In journals rating system Impact Factor index, is used.Purpose: This study aims to compare H index of the board members and impact factor in top journals of each medical specialty.Methods: In this descriptive study, data for H index of the board members gathered via Google Scholar citation database and impact factor of top journals, from SClmago database, supported by Scopus. 10 top journals with the highest impact factor in medical specialties, until the end of 2015, were studied. Study population of Loghman Hakim Medical Center was selected as a sample of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science. In the present study, 10 medical specialties were studied and information for each field including analyzed and compared.Results: From 10 medical fields, infectious diseases had the highest and otolaryngology had the lowest mean of the impact factor. Toxicology had the highest and radiology had the lowest mean H index. Comparing means of H index and impact factor between the medical specialties, showed that the mentioned indexes in various fields have significant difference statistically.Conclusion: Applying equal criteria for evaluation of medical specialties will lead to a bias. Comparing research activities of a researcher in otolaryngology field with other fields, relying on the current criteria, will leads to completely wrong interpretation

Cell Therapy Development in Hearing Loss

Since the potential of stem cells (SCs) in treating diseases is superb, it is believed that the use of SCs is a promising therapeutic approach in hearing damage. More than 250 million people of worldwide are born deaf. The deaf hearing generally originate from defect on sensory receptors (hair cells) or nerves associated with them (spiral ganglion neurons). Hair cells in some animals such as fish, amphibians and birds can regenerate or replace by new cells, but damage to the hair cells in mammals are not being replaced through cell division or regeneration in the inner ear. Cell therapy for hearing loss is still several years away, but researches opens up possibilities for restoring hearing in the future. Here we review developments in cell therapy approach in treatment of hearing loss

Symptoms related to anatomical variations of osteomeatal complex (OMC) in patients with sinonasal symptoms referred to ENT clinic of Loghman Hakim hospital between Sep 2014-Sep 2015

 Introduction: Headache or facial pain, nasal obstruction, nasal discharge, PND and hyposmia or anosmia are all symptoms of rhinosinusitis. Approximately 10% of people will experience these symptoms throughout their lives. Acute and chronic rhinosinusitis causes both symptomatic inflammation of the nasal and sinus mocusa. The role of anatomical variations of osteomedal complex (OMC) in development of these symptoms has so far been discussed. The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency of these disorders in the target population and determine their possible role in the occurrence of sinonasal symptoms. Material and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study in which patients with sinonasal symptoms referred to the ENT clinic of Loghman Hakim hospital during the period of September 2014 to September 2015 were enrolled in the study and their CT scan in the coronal view, reviewed for the existence of different anatomical variations of osteomalacial unit. Their symptoms were recorded in the table of symptoms. At the end of the study, we searched for any relation between anatomical variation of OMC and sinonasal symptoms. Results: A total of 100 patients were enrolled in the study, of which 66 were female and 34 were male. The most common symptoms in these patients were nasal obstruction 72%, headache 67%, nasal discharge 31% and hyposmia 29%. Nasal anatomical variations were also prevalent: nasal deviation 49.57%, nasal spur 25.21%, concha bollusa 23.5%, and Infraorbital cell 1.6%. Conclusion: The incidence of headache was higher in a group of patients with septal deviation than those with other anatomical variations and this difference was significantly higher in the group with septal spur and septal deviation at the same time than other anatomical variants. The incidence of nasal obstruction in patients with septal deviation and patients with septal deviation and septal spur at the same time was significantly higher than other variances. There was no statistically significant relationship with the effect of other anatomical variations on sinonasal symptoms.

Signaling Pathways Involved in Auditory Hair Cells Development

Auditory hair cells (HCs) cannot be spontaneously regenerated or replaced in mammalian damaged cochlea which leads to permanent deafness. On the other hand, regenerative ability of HCs in lower vertebrates such as birds and amphibians causes that researchers investigate underlying mechanisms and pathways which can possibly induce mammalian cochlear HCs regeneration and hearing recovery. Signaling cascades of HCs regeneration in lower vertebrate can be considered as the potential therapeutic option for the hearing loss in human. This paper reviews current knowledge about the main signaling pathways involved in HCs development in the mammalian cochlea

Bilateral Hearing Loss Following Unilateral Stapes Surgery

Otosclerosis is a common cause of conductive hearing loss. It is surgically treated with stapedectomy or stapedotomy. Sensory- neural hearing loss is an uncommon but known complication of this surgery. A 25-year-old Iranian female patient with bilateral otosclerosis underwent right stapedotomy and developed bilateral sensorineural hearing loss a few days after the surgery which recovered with appropriate treatment. The possible causes and their clinical courses are discussed in this study. Sensorineural hearing loss after stapedotomy has many different etiologies. Generally, causes which are not directly related to the surgery should also be considered

Complication of Conventional Septoplasty

Background: Septoplasty is one of the most commonly performed operations with several complications.Purpose: To categorize and demonstrate the probability of the occurrence of septoplasty complications.Methods: Three hundred and twelve patients who underwent septoplasty in Loghman Hakim general hospital, Tehran, Iran, were followed up for 6 months and evaluated for probable post-operative complications.Results:The most common complication was remained deviation which was observed in 26.2% of patients   followed by synechiae and perforations. There was no case of serious and life threatening complications.Conclusion: Septoplasty has both aesthetic and functional complication. However, meticulous and careful surgery can prevent most of them

Nasal and Paranasal Sinuses Anatomical Variations in Patients with and without Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Background: The development of computed tomography (CT) technique results in development in visualization of the anatomic structures of the lateral nasal wall. It allows the anatomic variations of this region to be identified precisely, which is important in surgical treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis.Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of anatomic variations of the lateral nasal wall in a group of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and to compare these results with control group.Methods: One hundred patients with chronic rhinosinusitis and 50 control subjects who were referred to Loghman Hakim general hospital, Tehran, Iran, included in this retrospective study.Results: High septal deviation, presence of large bulla ethmoidalis and middle turbinate concha bullosa showed to be statistically correlated to increased risk of chronic rhinosinusitis .For other anatomical variations, no statistically significant differences in incidence of chronic rhinosinusitis observed.Conclusion: Relation between anatomical variation and rhinosinusitis was confirmed only for high septal deviation, middle turbinate concha bollusa and large bulla ethmoidalis. Surgical Approach to these variations may have a role in prevention or treatment of rhinosinusitis

Approaches of auditory hair cells induction from stem cells

Hair cells are the sensory epithelial cells of both the auditory and the vestibular systems in the inner ear of all vertebrates. Auditory hair cells are located in the organ of corti on a thin layer of basement membrane in the cochlea of the inner ear. Damage to hair cells decreases hearing sensitivity. When these delicate hair cells in the cochlea are damaged, sound signals cannot be sent to the brain. In general, damage to the mammalian inner ear, is not returnable. In fact, a key goal in the treatment of sensorineural hearing loss is to find appropriate procedures to replace the missing hair cells. Cell therapy is one of the treatment options for hearing loss. In this regard, studies focus on ways which hair cells can be provided from exogenous and endogenous stem cells. This review identified ways to induce auditory hair cells regeneration from stem cells as the potential therapeutic approaches for the hearing loss

Post-rhinoplasty Sinonasal Symptoms

Background: Rhinoplasty is one of the most common aesthetic procedures. It has several potential complications. There is no systematic study with direct focus on these complications.Purpose: To evaluate the likelihood for occurrence of different complications following septorhinoplasty.Methods: One hundred and fifteen patients who underwent rhinoplasty were observed for post-operative occurrence of nasal obstruction, hyponasal speech, Post Nasal Discharge (PND), rhinorrhea, facial congestion and headache. They were also examined for aesthetic results of the surgery and asked about their satisfaction about the external shape of the nose as well as overall satisfaction of surgery.Results: Twenty-one patients developed sinonasal symptoms after surgery.The most annoying symptom was permanent unilateral nasal obstruction which was observed in 38% of patients followed by long lasting PND (19%), anosmia (14%) and altered voice resonance (9%). Five patients eventually underwent surgery due to their functional problems.Conclusion: Rhinoplasty and septorhinoplasty have numerous complications. Nasal obstruction, PND and anosmia are the most common. A careful follow-up is required for diagnosis and appropriate treatment of these complications

Evaluation of Whole Pomegranate Extract as Decongestant for Preparation before Diagnostic Rigid Nasal Endoscopy: a Double Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: The use of rigid nasal endoscopy is one of the common methods to investigate anomalies and pathologies of nasal cavities in the patients with sinonasal symptoms.Purpose: To identify the effect of whole pomegranate extract on pain relief during nasal endoscopy.Methods: Adults candidate for rigid nasal endoscopy were enrolled from January 2015 to April 2015 in Loghman hospital. The patients were randomized in a double-blinded fashion, to receive two solutions; whole pomegranate extract(WPE)  and shrinkage solution (SS) that was consisted of 5cc lidocaine 2% and 5cc phenylephrin 0.5 %. The principle outcomes were severity of pain and mucosal appearance during nasal endoscopy.Results: A total of 41 patients (mean age: 40.05±12.92) were studied. There were no significant differences in severity of pain and mucosal appearance between both groups.Conclusion: A new point in modern medicine is using traditional medicine as a complementary arm.  The natural elements can be sometimes a good alternative. The pomegranate extract probably has constrictive effects and can be an alternative for vasoconstrictor drugs.   There is a need for stronger research in this field