All Cartilage No Stitch Type 1 Tympanoplasty – A Prospective Study

Introduction Although temporalis fascia is the commonly used graft material for tympanoplasty, cartilage has become the material of choice in cases with eustachian tube dysfunction, bilateral disease, total or anterior perforation of tympanic membrane, tympanosclerosis etc. Cartilage slices < 0.5 mm thick are similar to the tympanic membrane in their acoustic properties. The present study is aimed to describe stitch-less type 1 tympanoplasty with sliced tragal cartilage-perichondrium and evaluate anatomical, audiological and cosmetic outcomes. Materials and Methods A prospective study was conducted from March 2014 to August 2016, in ENT department of a Government Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal, India. Primary tympanoplasty cases irrespective of age, size and site of perforation, laterality and eustachian tube function were included in the study. History of previous tympanoplasty or mastoid surgery and cases requiring ossicular reconstruction or mastoidectomy were excluded from the study. Sliced tragal cartilage-perichondrium graft of 0.2 mm thickness was placed in underlay fashion through trans-canal or end-aural route. Results Among 95 cases 38 were male, 57 were female with age range between 7 to 68 years. Average operative time was 30 minutes. Graft take was successful in 97.89% of cases. Average Air Bone Gap 12 months after operation was 13.03dB. Conclusion Sliced cartilage-perichondrium graft gives good balance between sufficient stability and adequate acoustic sensitivity. Moreover, no stitch technique reduces operative time and increases cosmesis

Assessing Smell Alteration as Clinical Feature of COVID-19: A Descriptive Study in a Rural Based Tertiary Care COVID Hospital

Introduction COVID-19 is an ongoing viral pandemic and a very contagious disease. Other than common symptoms like fever, cough and malaise; alteration in smell and taste perception may be the presenting symptoms in a significant number of patients infected with COVID-19. Materials and Methods Presence of smell alteration assessed among 150 mild to moderate COVID-19 positive patients admitted at our COVID hospital as well as 150 COVID-19 negative patients in May-June, 2021. Use and throw smell cards were used to detect smell alteration for all. Symptom onset and its resolution were noted. Smell alteration was also evaluated in different age group and gender. Results 81 (54%) patients among 150 COVID positive cases had smell alteration compared to 9 (6%) patients among non-COVID arm (p value <0.0001). Overall smell alteration was more prevalent among male COVID patients. Hyposmia is more prevalent among younger age group compared to anosmia, which is more among older side. Olfactory dysfunction is seen to be developed at presentation or within 5 days from starting of infection with other symptoms. More than 90% patients regained smell perception within two months post infection. Conclusion 54% COVID positive patients reported smell loss either at presentation or within 5 days of infection. Using smell cards for smell assessment and being cautious about smell alteration as early symptom helps us to diagnose COVID-19 early

Fabrication of Germanium-on-insulator in a Ge wafer with a crystalline Ge top layer and buried GeO2 layer by Oxygen ion implantation

The paper reports fabrication of Germanium-on-Insulator (GeOI) wafer by Oxygen ion implantation of an undoped single crystalline Ge wafer of orientation (100). Oxygen ions of energy 200 keV were implanted. The implanted wafer was subjected to Rapid Thermal Annealing to 650 C. The resulting wafer has a top crystalline Ge layer of 220 nm thickness and Buried Oxide layer (BOX) layer of good quality crystalline Germanium oxide with thickness around 0.62 micron. The crystalline BOX layer has hexagonal crystal structure with lattice constants close to the standard values. Raman Spectroscopy, cross-sectional HRTEM with SAED and EDS established that the top Ge layer was recrystallized during annealing with faceted crystallites. The top layer has a small tensile strain of around +0.4\% and has estimated dislocation density of 2.7 x 10^{7}cm^{-2}. The thickness, crystallinity and electrical characteristics of the top layer and the quality of the BOX layer of GeO_{2} are such that it can be utilized for device fabrication

Novel Therapy for Pseudocyst of Pinna – An Institutional Study

Introduction Pseudocyst of pinna is a cystic swelling with collection of serous fluid between the auricular cartilage and perichondrium. Successful treatment of pseudocyst of pinna is challenging because of its high propensity for recurrence and cosmetic deformity. None of the treatment modalities described in literature gives fully satisfactory result. So a novel treatment modality is required which gives good cosmetic outcome with zero recurrence. Materials and Methods                                                        A prospective study was done in the Department of ENT and Head and Neck Surgery of a Government Medical College, West Bengal from April 2014 to March 2017. The effusion was aspirated aseptically with sterilized 10 ml syringe with 18G IV needle. An equal amount of Inj. Dexamethasone and Inj. Gentamicin 80 mg in 1:1 ratio mixed in a new 10 ml syringe was injected into the swelling through the same prick point. Result Most of the patients in this study were males between 31-40 years of age and labourer by profession. Maximum number of patients had swelling involving concha. Only one case of one month old infant had bilateral involvement. All patients were cured without any recurrence or disfigurement. Conclusion The results of present study points to the fact that aspiration and instillation of equal amount of Inj. Dexamethasone and Inj. Gentamicin works very good in treatment of pseudocyst of pinna. This therapy is minimally invasive, less painful, cost-effective and less cumbersome for the surgeon. It gives faster recovery, good cosmetic outcome and recurrence is prevented

Three Years’ Experience of Management of Different Types of Rhinosporidiosis in Rural Part of Western West Bengal

Introduction: The incidence of different types of rhinosporidiosis is very high in the rural western part of West Bengal.  The treatment of choice is surgical excision and cauterization of the base. The recurrence rate is very high. Aims and objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the distribution of rhinosporidiosis according to age, sex, presenting features, site of origin, recurrence rate and compare them with literature; and describe the surgical technique to reduce recurrence of the disease. Materials and methods: This prospective case study was done in the department of Otorhinolaryngology in a tertiary care hospital in the western part of West Bengal from April 2012 to March 2015. Wide local excision of rhinosporidiosis along with electrocautery of the base was done. We took the help of endoscope and microscope whenever needed. Regular follow up with endoscope was done in postoperative period. Results: Out of total 112 patients 62 were male and 50 were female. Commonest age group affected was 2nd decade. There was no recurrence in patients undergoing operation for the first time. Recurrence was noted in nasopharynx of 3 patients undergoing revision surgery. Conclusion: Complete removal of rhinosporidiosis from the base is the basic criterion to reduce recurrence. It is possible by using meticulous technique along with the guidance of endoscope or microscope whenever needed. Regular postoperative follow up with endoscope is must to detect and treat early recurrence

All Cartilage No Stitch Type 1 Tympanoplasty – A Prospective Study

Introduction Although temporalis fascia is the commonly used graft material for tympanoplasty, cartilage has become the material of choice in cases with eustachian tube dysfunction, bilateral disease, total or anterior perforation of tympanic membrane, tympanosclerosis etc. Cartilage slices < 0.5 mm thick are similar to the tympanic membrane in their acoustic properties. The present study is aimed to describe stitch-less type 1 tympanoplasty with sliced tragal cartilage-perichondrium and evaluate anatomical, audiological and cosmetic outcomes. Materials and Methods A prospective study was conducted from March 2014 to August 2016, in ENT department of a Government Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal, India. Primary tympanoplasty cases irrespective of age, size and site of perforation, laterality and eustachian tube function were included in the study. History of previous tympanoplasty or mastoid surgery and cases requiring ossicular reconstruction or mastoidectomy were excluded from the study. Sliced tragal cartilage-perichondrium graft of 0.2 mm thickness was placed in underlay fashion through trans-canal or end-aural route. Results Among 95 cases 38 were male, 57 were female with age range between 7 to 68 years. Average operative time was 30 minutes. Graft take was successful in 97.89% of cases. Average Air Bone Gap 12 months after operation was 13.03dB. Conclusion Sliced cartilage-perichondrium graft gives good balance between sufficient stability and adequate acoustic sensitivity. Moreover, no stitch technique reduces operative time and increases cosmesis

Intravitreal Injection of Brolucizumab for Recalcitrant Macular Edema due to Central Retinal Vein Occlusion: A Small Case Series

This was a single center, prospective uncontrolled nonrandomized case series. Two eyes with recalcitrant ME secondary to CRVO, who have received a minimum of ten intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) injections, underwent IVI brolucizumab (BRZ). Patients underwent best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) testing, ophthalmic examination, and optical coherence tomography at baseline and follow-up visits (weeks 4, 8, 12, and 16). Both patients demonstrated notable improvement in BCVA and reduction of fluid on SD-OCT lasting up to week 12. At week 16, though both the eyes maintained the visual acuity gains, early increase in fluid was noted in both cases, for which second dose of IVI BRZ was given. No ocular or systemic adverse events were noted in these 2 cases

Surface-analyte interaction as a function of topological polar surface area of analytes in metal (Cd, Al, Ti, Sn) sulfide, nitride and oxide based chemiresistive materials

Material surface - analyte interactions play important roles in numerous surface mediated processes including gas sensing. However, effects of topological polar surface area (TPSA) of target analytes on surface interactions during gas sensing have been so far largely disregarded. In this work, based on experimental observations on cross-sensitivity in cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticle based room temperature gas sensor, we found that for reactions with similar Energy Rate of Surface Interaction (ERSI), unexpected quadratic correlation exists between sensing response of CdS and TPSA of analytes. From general understanding and as reported earlier in case of drug absorption through surface of membranes, it is expected that surface interactions would decrease with increasing TPSA of analytes. Our results imply that for certain TPSA range, sensor surface-analyte interactions actually increase with increasing TPSA before it finally starts decreasing. Further experiments on four other diverse material systems like AlN, SnO2, TiO2 (Anatase) and Vanadium-doped SnO2 showed similar trend, revealing generalized picture of TPSA dependence of sensor surface-analyte interactions. A physical explanation behind the parabolic relation has been provided based on electrostatic energy minimization of interacting polar fields. Above finding is anticipated to pave way to achieve improved surface interactions and highly selective sensing performances consecutively

Beneficial effect of Sn doping on bismuth ferrite nanoparticle-based sensor for enhanced and highly selective detection of trace formaldehyde

Pure and sn-doped bismuth ferrite (BFO) nanoparticles were synthesized via facile sol-gel technique. Structural and morphological analysis of the nanoparticles were systematically carried out by using X-ray powder diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and Bru-nauer-Emmett-Teller techniques. The gas sensing properties of the sensors based on prepared nanoparticles towards formaldehyde in the temperature range from 200 ? to 400 ? revealed that the doping of Sn enhances the formaldehyde sensing performance of BFO nanoparticle by few folds. Prepared sensors demonstrate p-type behaviour and high selectivity towards formaldehyde. It was observed that the sensor based on 1.5 % Sn doped BFO nanoparticles exhibited maximum sensing response of 3.05 (R-g/R-a) to 1 ppm formaldehyde. Prepared sensors were ultra-fast (response/recovery time of 2.71 s/25.22 s) and very stable having low detection limit of 100 ppb. The enhancement of formaldehyde sensing property due to sn-doping is a combined effect of variation of charge carriers due to valency mismatch and enhanced oxygen defects as confirmed from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study. sn-doped BFO nanoparticles could be a potential candidate for the detection of trace formaldehyde gas towards the monitoring of both indoor and outdoor environmental air quality

Poly aniline (PANI) loaded hierarchical Ti1−xSbxO2 rutile phase nanocubes for selective room temperature detection of benzene vapor

Benzene is one of the aromatic yet hazardous hydrocarbons that are deceptive under their sweet odor. Even in low ppm concentration, benzene vapor in ambient surroundings have been proven to be a major human carcinogen, primarily responsible for leukemia. Often found along with traces of toluene and xylene which have similar molecular structures, selective detection of low concentration benzene, particularly at room temperature is a major challenge. In this work, using the idea that transition from uni-faceted to bi-faceted crystal growth shall induce a change in morphology from spherical to cubical; antimony doped rutile TiO2 nanocubes were synthesized and employed in benzene vapor detection. While the PANI loaded antimony doped (0.03) TiO2 nanocubes showed an enhanced 80% response to 2 ppm benzene in air at room temperature, it was selective (up to 7 times more) against 2 ppm toluene and xylene vapor. The sensors were highly stable against humidity and also reusable for a considerable span of time. The role of specificity in exposed cubical facet has been explained for eliminating cross-sensitivity in benzene detection phenomenon