Development of the Chinese nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) questionnaire / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To develop the Chinese version of the nasal obstruction symptom evaluation (NOSE) questionnaire.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>After introduction, forward and backward translation, synthesis, expert committee review, pretest, adaptation and validation followed the international guidelines, the Chinese version of NOSE scale was tested among 223 nasal septal deviation patients and 80 health volunteers to further assess its psychometric and clinical properties. SPSS 19.0 software was used to analyze the data.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The Chinese version demonstrated satisfactory evaluation results. The acceptance rate of the questionnaire was 97.6% and 94.1% in the patient group and control group respectively, and the completion time was (1.5 ± 0.5)min and (1.0 ± 0.5)min. Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α) was calculated to be 0.869. Test-retest reliability coefficient was adequate at rs = 0.996. Content validity was approved by our expert committee. Criteria validity (Spearman correlation coefficient) between NOSE Chinese version and SF-36, as well as VAS was -0.837 and 0.725 separately. Construct validity of Chinese version was similar to that of the original edition. The standardized response mean and the effect size at three months postoperatively was respectively 1.34 and 1.21, indicating high responsiveness. Calculated by Mann-Whitney U test, the instrument showed excellent sensitivity to discriminate the subjects with or without nasal obstruction (P < 0.01). The NOSE scores were also correlated with nasal resistance by rhinomanometry.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The NOSE Chinese version was successfully cross-cultural adapted and validated. It therefore can be recommended as a robust tool for future measuring subjective severity of nasal obstruction in China.</p>

Carcinoma de células de Merkel: a propósito de dos casos / Merkel cell carcinoma: report of two cases

El carcinoma de células de Merkel es un raro carcinoma neuroendocrino primario de la piel que generalmente se presenta como un nódulo redondeado, violáceo, solitario o como una placa indurada en áreas fotoexpuestas de pacientes añosos. El diagnóstico histopatológico puede ser difícil debido a su semejanza con el carcinoma metastásico de células pequeñas de pulmón, linfomas y otros tumores cutáneos. Para la distinción de tumores primarios pobremente diferenciados o metástasis se requiere de análisis inmunohistoquímico. La citoqueratina 20 constituye un marcador sensible y específico para este tumor y es útil para distinguirlo de otras neoplasias, malignas o benignas. Presentamos dos casos vistos en nuestro Servicio con este diagnóstico y una breve revisión de la literatura.

Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of the skin that usually appears as a solitary, violaceous, dome-shaped nodule or indurated plaque in a sun exposed area of elderly patients. Histopathologic diagnosis may be difficult because of histologic and immunohistochemical similarities with metastatic small cell lung carcinomas, lymphomas, and other cutaneous neoplasms. Distinction from poorly differentiated oat cell primary tumors or metastasis requires immunohistochemical analysis. Cytokeratin 20 is a sensitive and specific marker for Merkel cell carcinoma and is helpful in distinguishing this tumor among other malignant and benign neoplasms. We report two cases with this diagnosis seen at our department and a brief report of the literature.

Tuberculosis control in Papua New Guinea

@#No abstract available