Effects of rhinoseptoplasty on the internal nasal dimensions and speech resonance in individuals with repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate: assessment by acoustic rhinometry and nasometry

Objetivo: Analisar os efeitos da rinosseptoplatia sobre as áreas seccionais e volumes nasais e a nasalância da fala de indivíduos com fissura de lábio e palato unilateral reparada, utilizando rinometria acústica e nasometria. Modelo: Análise prospectiva. Local de Execução: Centro Cirúrgico e Laboratório de Fisiologia, HRAC-USP. Participantes: Indivíduos com fissura de lábio e palato unilateral reparada (n=21, idade=15-46 anos) foram avaliados antes da cirurgia (PRE) e 6-9 meses (POS1) e 12-23 meses (POS2) após. Variáveis: Na rinometria acústica foram aferidas as áreas de secção transversa dos segmentos correspondentes à válvula nasal (AST1), porção anterior (AST2) e porção posterior da concha nasal inferior (AST3), e, os volumes da região da válvula (V1) e conchas (V2) nasais, de ambas os lados, antes e após a descongestão nasal com vasoconstrictor tópico. Na nasometria, avaliou-se a nasalância na leitura de um texto contendo predominantemente sons nasais, e, outro, exclusivamente sons orais. Resultados: No lado fissurado, antes da descongestão nasal, observou-se um aumento significante (p<0.05) nos valores médios de AST1 e V1 em POS1 e POS2, relativamente ao PRE. Após a descongestão, observou-se aumento também para AST2 e V2 em POS2. No lado não-fissurado, não foram observadas variações significativas. Os valores médios de nasalância em PRE, POS1 e POS2 não diferiram entre si, nos textos oral e nasal. Conclusão: A medida das áreas seccionais e volumes mostraram que a rinosseptoplastia levou, na maioria dos casos analisados, a um aumento significativo da permeabilidade nasal, sem modificações concomitantes na ressonância da fala, estimada pela medida da nasalância.Objective: To analyze the effects of rhinoseptoplasty on the nasal cross-sectional areas and volumes, and the speech nasalance of individuals with repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate, assessed by acoustic rhinometry and nasometry. Design: Prospective analysis. Setting: Surgery Service and Laboratory of Physiology at the Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies (HRAC-USP). Participants: Individuals with previously repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate (n=21, age=15-46 years) were evaluated before surgery (PRE) after 6-9 months (POST1) and after 12-18 months (POST2). Variables: Acoustic rhinometry was used to measure the cross-sectional areas of segments corresponding to the nasal valve (CSA1), anterior portion (CSA2) and posterior portion (CSA3) of the lower turbinate, and the nasal volumes at the regions of the nasal valve (V1) and nasal turbinates (V2) at both sides, before and after nasal decongestion with a topical vasoconstrictor. Nasometry was employed to evaluate the speech nasalance during the reading of a text predominantly containing nasal sounds and other containing only oral sounds. Results: At the cleft side, before nasal decongestion, there was a significant increase (p<0.05) in mean CSA1 and CSA2 values at POST1 and POST2 compared to PRE. After decongestion, increased values were also observed for CSA2 and V2 at POST2. No significant changes were observed at the non-cleft side. The mean nasalance values at PRE, POST1 and POST2 were not different from each other in both oral and nasal texts. Conclusion: The measurement of cross-sectional areas and volumes by acoustic rhinometry revealed that rhinoseptoplasty provided, in most cases analyzed, a significant increase in nasal patency, without concomitant changes in speech resonance, as estimated by nasalance assessment

Avaliação estética do lábio nos portadores de fissura pré-forame incisivo unilateral completa, submetidos a queiloplastia primária com a técnica de Spina

A proposição da presente pesquisa consiste em avaliar subjetivamente e objetivamente a estética do lábio de 38 pacientes, portadores de fissura pré-forame incisivo unilateral completa, sendo 21 do sexo masculino e 17 do sexo feminino com idade entre quatro e 14 anos, com média de oito anos e oito meses, submetidos à queiloplastia primária com a técnica de Spina, e correlacionar a avaliação estética subjetiva com as mensurações objetivas. A avaliação subjetiva foi realizada por 20 avaliadores provenientes de quatro grupos constituídos por: fonoaudiólogas; pais e pacientes portadores de fissura de lábio e/ou palato; cirurgiões dentistas, fisiologistas e geneticista; cirurgiões plásticos do Hospital de Reabilitação de Anomalias Craniofaciais, da Universidade de São Paulo. A avaliação objetiva consistiu de mensurações no lábio superior dos lados fissurado e não fissurado realizadas pelo autor. Os resultados mostraram que as mensurações dos lados fissurado e não fissurado apresentaram-se diferentes e 70% das avaliações dos examinadores foram satisfatórias. Não houve correlação significante entre o julgamento dos avaliadores e as diferenças mensuradas entre os lados fissurado e não fissurado.The aim of the present study was to subjectivelly and objectivelly evaluate the aesthetics of the lip of 38 cleft lip patients, 21 males and 17 females, aging 4 to 14 years (mean eight years and eight months) who have undergone lip surgery by the SPINA’S technique, and to correlate both kinds of evalutions. Subjective evaluation was performed by 20 individuals among speech/language pathologistis, cleft lip and palate patients, cleft lip and palate patients parents, dentists, physiologists, geneticist and plastic surgeons from the Hospital of Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies, University of São Paulo. Objective evaluation consisted of measurements in the cleft and noncleft sides of the upper lip, which were performed by the author. The results have shown that there were differences in the measurements in both sides of the lip, and 70% of the subjective evaluations were considered satisfactoriy. No significant correlation was found between the subjective evaluation and the measurements obtained in the cleft and noncleft sides of the patients lips

Objective Assessment of Internal Nasal Dimensions and Speech Resonance in Individuals With Repaired Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate After Rhinoseptoplasty

The objective of the current study was to analyze the effects of rhinoseptoplasty on internal nasal dimensions and speech resonance of individuals with unilateral cleft lip and palate, estimated by acoustic rhinometry and nasometry, respectively. Twenty-one individuals (aged 15-46 years) with previously repaired unilateral cleft lip and palate were analyzed before (PRE), and 6 to 9 (POST1) and 12 to 18 months (POST2) after surgery. Acoustic rhinometry was used to measure the cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of segments corresponding to the nasal valve (CSA1), anterior portion (CSA2), and posterior portion (CSA3) of the lower turbinate, and the volumes at the nasal valve (V1) and turbinate (V2) regions at cleft and noncleft sides, before and after nasal decongestion with a topical vasoconstrictor. Nasometry was used to evaluate speech nasalance during the reading of a set of sentences containing nasal sounds and other devoid of nasal sounds. At the cleft side, before nasal decongestion, there was a significant increase (P < 0.05) in mean CSA1 and V1 values at POST1 and POST2 compared with PRE. After decongestion, increased values were also observed for CSA2 and V2 at POST2. No significant changes were observed at the noncleft side. Mean nasalance values at PRE, POST1, an POST2 were not different from each other in both oral and nasal sentences. The measurement of CSAs and volumes by acoustic rhinometry revealed that rhinoseptoplasty provided, in most cases analyzed, a significant increase in nasal patency, without concomitant changes in speech resonance, as estimated by nasalance assessment

Subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin for prevention of disease in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trialResearch in context

Summary: Background: Anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin (hIG) can provide standardized and controlled antibody content. Data from controlled clinical trials using hIG for the prevention or treatment of COVID-19 outpatients have not been reported. We assessed the safety and efficacy of subcutaneous anti-COVID-19 hyperimmune immunoglobulin 20% (C19-IG20%) compared to placebo in preventing development of symptomatic COVID-19 in asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: We did a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, in asymptomatic unvaccinated adults (≥18 years of age) with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection within 5 days between April 28 and December 27, 2021. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive a blinded subcutaneous infusion of 10 mL with 1 g or 2 g of C19-IG20%, or an equivalent volume of saline as placebo. The primary endpoint was the proportion of participants who remained asymptomatic through day 14 after infusion. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of individuals who required oxygen supplementation, any medically attended visit, hospitalisation, or ICU, and viral load reduction and viral clearance in nasopharyngeal swabs. Safety was assessed as the proportion of patients with adverse events. The trial was terminated early due to a lack of potential benefit in the target population in a planned interim analysis conducted in December 2021. ClinicalTrials.gov registry: NCT04847141. Findings: 461 individuals (mean age 39.6 years [SD 12.8]) were randomized and received the intervention within a mean of 3.1 (SD 1.27) days from a positive SARS-CoV-2 test. In the prespecified modified intention-to-treat analysis that included only participants who received a subcutaneous infusion, the primary outcome occurred in 59.9% (91/152) of participants receiving 1 g C19-IG20%, 64.7% (99/153) receiving 2 g, and 63.5% (99/156) receiving placebo (difference in proportions 1 g C19-IG20% vs. placebo, −3.6%; 95% CI -14.6% to 7.3%, p = 0.53; 2 g C19-IG20% vs placebo, 1.1%; −9.6% to 11.9%, p = 0.85). None of the secondary clinical efficacy endpoints or virological endpoints were significantly different between study groups. Adverse event rate was similar between groups, and no severe or life-threatening adverse events related to investigational product infusion were reported. Interpretation: Our findings suggested that administration of subcutaneous human hyperimmune immunoglobulin C19-IG20% to asymptomatic individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection was safe but did not prevent development of symptomatic COVID-19. Funding: Grifols

Rare predicted loss-of-function variants of type I IFN immunity genes are associated with life-threatening COVID-19

BackgroundWe previously reported that impaired type I IFN activity, due to inborn errors of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity or to autoantibodies against type I IFN, account for 15-20% of cases of life-threatening COVID-19 in unvaccinated patients. Therefore, the determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 remain to be identified in similar to 80% of cases.MethodsWe report here a genome-wide rare variant burden association analysis in 3269 unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19, and 1373 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals without pneumonia. Among the 928 patients tested for autoantibodies against type I IFN, a quarter (234) were positive and were excluded.ResultsNo gene reached genome-wide significance. Under a recessive model, the most significant gene with at-risk variants was TLR7, with an OR of 27.68 (95%CI 1.5-528.7, P=1.1x10(-4)) for biochemically loss-of-function (bLOF) variants. We replicated the enrichment in rare predicted LOF (pLOF) variants at 13 influenza susceptibility loci involved in TLR3-dependent type I IFN immunity (OR=3.70[95%CI 1.3-8.2], P=2.1x10(-4)). This enrichment was further strengthened by (1) adding the recently reported TYK2 and TLR7 COVID-19 loci, particularly under a recessive model (OR=19.65[95%CI 2.1-2635.4], P=3.4x10(-3)), and (2) considering as pLOF branchpoint variants with potentially strong impacts on splicing among the 15 loci (OR=4.40[9%CI 2.3-8.4], P=7.7x10(-8)). Finally, the patients with pLOF/bLOF variants at these 15 loci were significantly younger (mean age [SD]=43.3 [20.3] years) than the other patients (56.0 [17.3] years; P=1.68x10(-5)).ConclusionsRare variants of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I IFN immunity genes can underlie life-threatening COVID-19, particularly with recessive inheritance, in patients under 60 years old