role of plasma endothelin in the acute stage of idiopathic facial palsy in children

Based on the hypothesis that endothelin, which is a potent vasoconstrictor, may play a role in the mechanism of the facial nerve paralysis and in the view of the fact that the etiology of Bell's palsy is still unknown, the plasma endothelin level in the acute stage in children with Bell's palsy was determined. The study involved 15 patients [ten males and five females with an age ranged from 9-14 years, mean age 12 years] tested within ten days of onset of Bell's palsy as well as 20 healthy persons at the same age served as control subjects. The results have shown that the patients who were suffering from Bell's palsy exhibited a statistically significant increase in the endothelin level compared with that in the 20 normal control subjects. It was concluded that endothelin, which has vasoconstrictor effects, may contribute to the pathogenesis of the microcirculatory impairment that occurs in patients with Bell's palsy mainly by promoting secondary ischemia

Comparative study of hypertonic saline versus normal saline nasal wash in pediatric chronic sinusitis.

The objective of this study was to compare the effect of nasal wash with hypertonic saline [HS] [3.5%] versus normal saline [NS] [0.9%] on CS. Thirty patients with chronic sinusitis [CS] aged 3-16 years were studied. They were randomly divided into two treatment groups matched in age and severity of the disease. Each individual was treated with either HS or NS for four weeks. All patients were evaluated by two clinical scores [cough and nasal secretions/postnasal drip, PND] and by a radiology score at the beginning of the study and after four weeks. The results showed that the HS group was significantly improved in all scores [average +/- SD], e.g. cough score from 3.6 +/- 0.51 to 1.6 +/- 0.74, nasal secretion/PND score from 2.86 +/- 0.35 to 1.6 +/- 0.74 and radiology score from 8.06 +/- 1.28 to 2.66 +/- 1.04. The NS treatment group showed a significant improvement only in the PND score [from 2.66 +/- 0.49 to 1.53 +/- 0.83], but no significant change was reported in both cough score [from 3.53 +/- 0.52 to 3.33 +/- 0.49] and the radiology score [from 8.13 +/- 1.25 to 7.86 +/- 0.91]. It was concluded that HS nasal wash is an efficient treatment of CS