Malignant tumors of the temporal bone - our experience

INTRODUCTION: Malignant tumors of the temporal bone are rare, with an estimated incidence of about 0.8-1.0 per 1,000,000 inhabitants per year. The vast majority of these tumors are squamous cell carcinomas and their treatment is eminently surgical. OBJECTIVE: This study is an attempt at systematizing the forms of clinical presentation, the therapeutic possibilities, and oncological outcomes of patients with malignant tumors of the temporal bone in a tertiary hospital in Portugal. METHODS: The authors present a retrospective study of temporal bone tumors treated and followed during otorhinolaryngology consultations between 2004 and 2014. A review of the literature is also included. RESULTS: Of the 18 patients included in the study, 16 had a primary tumor of the temporal bone, in most cases with squamous cell carcinoma histology. Of these, 13 patients were treated with curative intent that always included the surgical approach. Disease persistence was observed in one patient and local recurrence in five patients, on average 36.8 months after the initial treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The anatomical complexity of the temporal bone and the close associations with vital structures make it difficult to perform tumor resection with margins of safety and thus, tumor relapses are almost always local. A high level of suspicion is crucial for early diagnosis, and stringent and prolonged follow-up after treatment is essential for diagnosis and timely treatment of recurrances.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Room Temperature Organic Superconductor?

The electron--phonon coupling in fullerene C28 has been calculated from first principles. The value of the associated coupling constant lambda/N(0) is found to be a factor three larger than that associated with C60. Assuming similar values of the density of levels at the Fermi surface N(0) and of the Coulomb pseudopotential for C28-based solids as those associated with alkali-doped fullerides A3C60, one obtains Tc(C28) \approx 8 Tc(C60).Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Mixing Chiral Polytopes

An abstract polytope of rank n is said to be chiral if its automorphism group has two orbits on the flags, such that adjacent flags belong to distinct orbits. Examples of chiral polytopes have been difficult to find. A "mixing" construction lets us combine polytopes to build new regular and chiral polytopes. By using the chirality group of a polytope, we are able to give simple criteria for when the mix of two polytopes is chiral

Selected committee reports

Committee reports were from the Education Committee, Research Task Force for the 1991 Conference, Accreditation and Class Coverage of Accounting History task force, reports on Garner monograph and December conference, American Research Committee, editor\u27s report for the Accounting Historians Journal, and the International Research Committee

Electron-Phonon Coupling in Charged Buckminsterfullerene

A simple, yet accurate solution of the electron-phonon coupling problem in C_{60} is presented. The basic idea behind it is to be found in the parametrization of the ground state electronic density of the system calculated making use of ab-initio methods, in term of sp$^{2+x}$ hybridized orbitals. This parametrization allows for an economic determination of the deformation potential associated with the fullerene's normal modes. The resulting electron-phonon coupling constants are used to calculate Jahn-Teller effects in C_{60}^-, and multiple satellite peaks in the corresponding photoemission reaction. Theory provides an accurate account of the experimental findings.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Chem. Phys. Let

Clinical and immunological correlates of pre-co-seasonal sublingual immunotherapy with birch monomeric allergoid in patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.

Sublingual immunotherapy is safe and efficacious in the treatment of patients with allergic rhinitis. The clinical and biological efficacy of modified allergens (allergoids) has not been fully clarified. We investigated in birch allergic patients the effect of a pre-co-seasonal sublingual immunotherapy regimen with a modified allergen extract on clinical parameters and on T cell proliferation and regulatory cytokine production (IL-10, TGF-beta). We found that during the birch pollen season symptoms and drug usage scores were 30 and 40% improved, respectively, in treated versus control subjects (p<0.0001 for both comparisons) whereas well days were 23.5 (33%) versus 16.9 (23%) (p=0.0024), respectively. Bet v 1 allergen specific proliferation decreased (p = 0.0010), whereas IL-10 transcription increased (p = 0.0010) in treated, but not in control patients. Moreover, TGF-beta transcription was increased, although not significantly (p=0.066), following immunotherapy. Thus, sublingual immunotherapy with modified allergen in birch-allergic subjects was safe, clinically efficacious and associated with the reduction of allergen-specific proliferation and with the increased production of the IL-10 regulatory cytokine