Evaluation of expression of B-cell lymphoma-2 of peripheral blood T lymphocytes and soluble Fas in children with allergic rhinitis and allergic rhinitis combined with asthma

The function of apoptosis [programmed cell death; PCD] is to eliminate unnecessary or dangerous cells. The balance between production and death is important in the control of cell numbers within physiological ranges. The dysregulation ofapoptosis and the expression of apoptosis-related molecules of allergen-reactive T lymphocytes have been suggested to play a key role in the development and maintenance of the inflammatory reactions in allergic diseases. The present study was undertaken to investigate the expression of apoptosis-related molecules Fas and B-cell lymphoma [Bcl]-2 of peripheral blood T lymphocytes in allergic rhinitis children and in allergic rhinitis children combined with asthma. The plasma concentration of serum Fas was measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA]. The expression of the Bcl-2 molecule in T lymphocytes was assessed by flow cytometry. We examined two groups of patients with allergy. The first group consisted of 23 children with allergic rhinitis only. The second group consists of 22 children with allergic rhinitis combined with asthma. The study was done during the season of allergy from March 2007 to September 2007. The control group comprised 20 apparently healthy, age and sex matched subjects. The results showed that the serum level of Fas was significantly elevated in allergic rhinitis patients combined with asthma when compared to patients suffering from allergic rhinitis only and to control subjects [P= 0.007]. The levels of Bcl-2 were significantly lowered in both groups of our study compared to control group [P<0.001]. In conclusion, the lower serum levels of soluble Fas in patients with allergic rhinitis in contrast to its elevation in allergic rhinitis patients combined with bronchial asthma suggesting a different pathogenesis for allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma at the apoptosis-linked step. While the lower levels of Bcl-2 in both groups revealed that, there was need for further investigations on the dysregula-tion of activation-induced cell death of T lymphocytes

Role of respiratory viruses in the etiopathogenesis of acute otitis media. How could be avoided?

Acute otitis media is one of the most common infection among children and although the treatment of it is directed towards the elimination of the bacteria from the middle ear space, viruses may also play an important etiologic role in this disease process [Mein, et al., 1979]. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of various respiratory viruses in middle ear effusion [MEE] and nasopharyngeal specimen in children with recurrent acute otitis media [AOM] who had failed to improve after antimicrobial therapy and to determine the incidence of respiratory syncytial virus [RSV] as one of the most common respiratory viruses in AOM. Middle ear effusion [MEE]samples collected at the time of tympanostomy tube placement from 54 children with recurrent AOM were subjected to reverse transecriptase polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR] to detect the presence of RSV genomic sequences. Also MEE and nasopharyngeal specimens were subjected to viral and bacterial cultures to detect viral antigens. The viral cause of infections was also assessed by serologic studies of serum samples obtained during the acute illness and convalescence. Viral infection was detected in 43 out of 54 children [79.6%], RSV was isolated from 57.1% of patients by viral culture and antigen detection and from 81.5% by RT-PCR. So, we can conclude that viral infection particularly RSV either alone or concurrent with bacteria is present with large percentage of children with recurrent AOM than previously suspected and PCR has proved to be more sensitive and specific than viral cultures and immunoassays in the detection of viruses in specimen. This would be helpful in guiding the use of preventive measures such as RSV vaccine

Hot versus cold tonsillectomy

Tonsillectomy is one of the most commonly performed otolaryngology procedures. Several techniques for this procedure have been described including blunt dissection, electrocautery. laser, electro surgical scissors, coblation and ultrasonic dissection. Therefore this study was done to show the comparison between Coblacion Tonsillectomy using [ENTEC EVAC 70: ARTHROC. RE] and Traditional Dissection technique in a prospective. blinded fashion. This study was done on 30 children, between 5 and 12 years of age with recurrent acute tonsillitis. Each participant had one tonsil removed by coblation and the other by traditional technique. We receded. by side. the surgical rime, blood loss, operative difficulty, pain in postoperative days [1. 2. 3, 5. 7, 10, 14] and the side made each patient preferred. Coblation tonsillectomy was found signiflcancly less painful than dissection tonsillectomy on day 1 [P<0.001]. day 2 [P=0.003] and day 3 [0-0.98]. For all subsequent postoperative days, there was no significant difference in pain levels between the two techniques. The coblation side was preferred by 26 of 30 patiems

Endoscopic sphenoidotomy, comparative study between transseptal and transnasal approaches

Sphenoid sinus represents the body of the sphenoid bone and it has an intimate relation to varies important structures as the internal carotid artery and the optic nerve. Because of this peculiar situation a lot of approaches had been designed to reach the sphenoid sinus [Rosen etal 2006]. The aim of this work is to compare transseptal or transnasal approach as regard safety and conservation of nasal anatomy .This study was conducted upon 20 patients diagnosed to have sphenoid sinus lesion by endoscopic examination and CT scanning, 10 patients underwent transseptal approach and 10 underwent transnasal one. The postoperative results of the two groups were more or less similar as regard the efficacy of the improvement of the complaints but the transseptal approach was found to be superior to the transnasal one in some points

Hot versus cold tonsillectomy

Tonsillectomy is one of the most commonly performed otolaryngology procedures. Several techniques for this procedure have been described including blunt dissection, electrocautery, laser, electrosurgical scissors, co-blation and ultrasonic dissection. Therefore this study was done to show the comparison between Coblation Tonsillectomy using [ENTEC EVAC 70; ARTHROCARE] and Traditional Dissection technique in a prospective, blinded fashion. This study was done on 30 children between 5 and 12 years of age with recurrent acute tonsillitis. Each participant had one tonsil removed by coblation and the other by traditional technique. We receded, by side, the surgical time, blood loss, operative difficulty, pain in postoperative days [1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14] and the side that each patient preferred. Coblation tonsillectomy was found significantly less painful than dissection tonsillectomy on day 1 [P<0.001], day 2 [P=0.003] and day 3 [0-0.98]. For all subsequent postoperative days, there was no significant difference in pain levels between the two techniques. The coblation side was preferred by 26 of 30 patients