EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY ON HEAD AND NECK MALIGNANCIES - A STUDY OF 150 CASES

OBJECTIVE: In the present study we investigate the head and Neck Malignancy cases presenting to the ENT department of our Hospital, and analyze the same to give inputs as to the incidence of head and neck malignancies, the symptoms and stage of presentation, lifestyle and habits as contributory risk factors, identify ENT primary in neck secondaries, histopathological types and selection of best treatment.METHODS: Prospective analysis of 150 patients with newly diagnosed malignancies of nasopharynx, oropharynx, larynx, hypopharynx and ear.RESULTS: Most malignancies are common in patients greater than 40 years of age. 88% of cancer occur in males. Oropharynx cancer is the most common cancer in our study, with the commonest subsite as base of tongue. Supraglottic and pyriform fossa tumours are the commonest tumour in laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers  respectively. The most common presentation is dysphagia. Synergistic effect of smoking and alcohol is seen in 50% of patients. Most of the cases were seen in stage III and IV except glottis cancer which is predominantly seen in stage I, almost all cases were squamous cell carcinoma.CONCLUSION:The results of our study were in conformity with other similar studies. In larynx, Supraglottic was more common as opposed to glottis in certain western studies. Analysis of various factors helps in early diagnosis and management.KEYWORDS:Cancer, Head and Neck Malignancy, Larynx, pharynx, Nasopharynx, Neck secondaries.

A STUDY ON CHRONIC OTITIS MEDIA ACTIVE MUCOSAL TYPE WITH SINUSITIS AS FOCAL SEPSIS

AIM : To establish the role of Sinusitis as Focal sepsis in Chronic Otitis media active mucosal disease, to emphasizethe need of proper diagnostic endoscopic evaluation and improvement in middle ear mucosal disease status afterfunctional endoscopic sinus surgery.METHODS : 60 Patients in the age groups of 18-49 years Chronic otitis media active mucosal disease wereidentified and screened for evidence of Focal Sepsis in Pasanasal sinus by Diagnostic Nasal endoscopy andcomputed tomography of paranasal diseases. Then Functional endoscopic sinus surgery was done to clear sinusitisand middle ear mucosal disease status assessed.RESULTS :Evaluation revealed that sinusitis in these patients was the cause for persistent discharge. All patients hadone or more evidence of sinusitis like pus in middle meatus, deviated nasal septum and turbinoseptal deformities,prominent enlarged bullae, enlarged middle turbinate on DNE and CT. The otoendoscopy showed inflamed andboggy middle ear mucosal status. All patients underwent septoplasty/FESS depending on findings. Out of 60patients 52 patient had improvement in middle ear mucosal status with surgery.In the adult population sinusitis is the most important focal sepsis in case of persistent ear discharge in ChronicOtitis Media active mucosal type of disease.A proper diagnostic nasal evaluation of all Chronic Otitis Media activemucosal type of patients is necessary in comprehensive management of the disease. The clearance of sinusitis hasimproved the middle ear mucosal status. Unilateral ear discharge is associated with sinusitis only on thecorresponding side, which is in concurrence with our study. Functional endoscopic sinus surgery has emerged as thebest procedure for clearance of sinusitis.

A STUDY ON EFFICACY OF AUTOLOGOUS PLATELET RICH PLASMA IN MYRINGOPLASTY

Objective: To study the efficacy and advantage in using autologus platelet rich plasma during myringoplasty in closure of tympanic membrane perforation   preventing the graft displacement, promoting quicker healing & improving overall outcome.Methods : Platelet rich plasma(PRP) is an autologus platelet rich concentrate prepared from patients own blood  with growth factors up to 8 times that of normal serum and its efficacy when used during myringoplasty is studied.50 patients with chronic otitis media inactive mucosal disease were randomly chosen and 25 of them was the study group and other 25 were the control group. Both group patients underwent myringoplasty and PRP was used in the study group and the results were evaluated.Results: In our study among 25 cases that underwent myringoplasty with use of platelet rich fibrin, 24 had complete tympanic membrane closure and only one failure has been noticed. In controls 5 out of 25 cases had failure. The graft take up rate in our study is comparable with the reference studies. Use of PRP accelerates graft uptake.Conclusion: Platelet rich plasma is a cheap and cost effective platelet concentrate with enriched growth factors. It accelerates the tympanic membrane closure following myringoplasty.

Accidental Entry of Fish into Throat While Bathing in a Pond

While fish bones are common foreign bodies in the throat, a whole live fish in the pharynx is very rare. We report a case where a whole fish accidentally entered the throat of a 52-year-old male, where it became lodged causing throat pain and dysphagia. The fish was removed as an emergency procedure

Study of pnictides for photovoltaic applications

For the transition into a sustainable mode of energy usage, it is important to develop photovoltaic materials that exhibit better solar-to-electricity conversion efficiencies, a direct optimal band gap, and made of non-toxic, earth abundant elements compared to the state-of-the-art silicon photovoltaics. Here, we explore the non-redox-active pnictide chemical space, including binary A$_3$B$_2$, ternary AA'$_2$B$_2$, and quaternary AA'A"B$_2$ compounds (A, A', A" = Ca, Sr, or Zn; B = N or P), as candidate beyond-Si photovoltaics using density functional theory calculations. Specifically, we evaluate the ground state configurations, band gaps, and 0 K thermodynamic stability for all 20 pnictide compositions considered, besides computing the formation energy of cation vacancies, anion vacancies, and cation anti-sites in a subset of candidate compounds. Importantly, we identify SrZn$_2$N$_2$, SrZn$_2$P$_2$, and CaZn$_2$P$_2$ to be promising candidates, exhibiting optimal (1.1-1.5 eV) hybrid-functional-calculated band gaps, stability at 0 K, and high resistance to point defects (formation energies $>$1 eV), while other possible candidates include ZnCa$_2$N$_2$ and ZnSr$_2$N$_2$, which may be susceptible to N-vacancy formation. We hope that our study will contribute to the practical development of pnictide semiconductors as beyond-silicon light absorbers

From rocksalt to perovskite: a metathesis route for the synthesis of perovskite oxides of current interest

Solid state metathesis reactions between lithium containing rocksalt metal oxides and appropriate lanthanum/alkaline earth metal oxychloride/chloride provide a convenient route for the synthesis of several perovskite oxides of current interest, such as LaCoO3, LaMnO3, AMnO3 and ATiO3 (A = Ca, Sr, Ba). Similarly, metathesis reactions between Li2TiO3/Li2ZrO3 and PbSO4 (instead of PbCl2) yield PbTiO3, PbZrO3 and PbZr1- xTixO3 perovskites. BaPbO3 and superconducting BaPb0.75Bi0.25O3 could also be synthesized by the metathesis reaction between Li2PbO3/Li2(Pb,Bi)O3 and Ba(OH)2·8H2O. Uniformly in all cases, the perovskite oxides were obtained in the form of loosely connected submicron sized particles at considerably lower temperatures than those usually employed for their synthesis by ceramic methods

EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY ON HEAD AND NECK MALIGNANCIES - A STUDY OF 150 CASES

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: In the present study we investigate the head and Neck Malignancy cases presenting to the ENT department of our Hospital, and analyze the same to give inputs as to the incidence of head and neck malignancies, the symptoms and stage of presentation, lifestyle and habits as contributory risk factors, identify ENT primary in neck secondaries, histopathological types and selection of best treatment. METHODS: Prospective analysis of 150 patients with newly diagnosed malignancies of nasopharynx, oropharynx, larynx, hypopharynx and ear. RESULTS: Most malignancies are common in patients greater than 40 years of age. 88% of cancer occur in males. Oropharynx cancer is the most common cancer in our study, with the commonest subsite as base of tongue. Supraglottic and pyriform fossa tumours are the commonest tumour in laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers respectively. The most common presentation is dysphagia. Synergistic effect of smoking and alcohol is seen in 50% of patients. Most of the cases were seen in stage III and IV except glottis cancer which is predominantly seen in stage I, almost all cases were squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION: The results of our study were in conformity with other similar studies. In larynx, Supraglottic was more common as opposed to glottis in certain western studies. Analysis of various factors helps in early diagnosis and management. This record was migrated from the OpenDepot repository service in June, 2017 before shutting down

In vitro comparism of the extracellular secretion of inulosucrase enzyme in potential probiotic Escherichia coli 16 and BL-21

Escherichia coli 16 has potential probiotic properties including antimicrobial activity due to extracellular secretion of colicins E1/1a1b. Inulosucrase (InuJ) enzyme catalyses the polymerization of a fructose moiety of sucrose leading to the formation of fructooligosaccharides. The present investigation compared the activity of InuJ enzymes cloned into pMAL-p2ΔlacIQ a deletion vector and transformed into E. coli 16 and standard strain that is, E. coli BL21. Specific activities of InuJ enzyme were estimated in supernatant, periplasm and lysate. Specific activities of InuJ activity in cell lysate were similar in E. coli 16 and E. coli BL21 without induction of tac promoter with isopropyl thio-β-Dgalactoside (IPTG). InuJ activity is mainly present in the periplasm of E. coli BL21 whereas in E. coli 16, most of the activity is in the supernatant. Superantant of E. coli 16 strain also showed good antibacterial activity due to colicin E1/Ia1b. Colicin E1/1a1b transport system could allow extracellular secretion of InuJ proteins in probiotic E. coli 16.Key words: Colicin, extracellular, E. coli, fructooligosaccharide, inulosucrase, prebiotic, probiotic