Influence of the quantified surface electromyography of sternocleidomastoid on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>This study investigated the correlations between electromyography (EMG) of sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP), and intended to quantify the influence of EMG of SCM on cVEMP by recording the EMG of SCM and cVEMP in different head positions.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty healthy subjects (60 ears), without the history of ear illnesses, were enrolled in this study. In addition, the recruited subjects also showed favorable differentiation of cVEMP waves induced by Blackman pip cVEMP, and EMG were recorded in different head positions(with sagittal at 90°, 60°,45° and 30°angle), as well as to analyze and quantify the influence of EMG on cVEMP.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In the case of the different EMG levels: P1 latency, (12.50 ± 2.39)ms; N1 latency, (19.79 ± 3.16)ms, and the latencies shown no statistical difference (P > 0.05). The amplitude was affected by EMG level, there was significant difference between the amplitudes(F = 55.47, P < 0.01). The different head positions on subjects their EMG level or area of EMG effects were statistically significant (P < 0.01). The study found a linear dependence of the amplitude from the EMG levels(r(2) = 0.591, Adjusted-r(2) = 9.590).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The cVEMP amplitude increases as a function of EMG target level, and the latency remains constant. The quantized data will increase the amplitude in clinical diagnosis application of sensitivity, and it will improve the diagnosis of the vestibular system diseases and some related diseases.</p>

Pepsin immunoassay in the sputum for detection of laryngopharyngeal reflux / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study whether the presence of gastric pepsin in the sputum might be used as a reliable criteria of laryngopharyngeal reflux.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fifty-six patients with the symptoms of laryngopharyngitis and fifteen healthy people were recruited. Fifty-six patients were divided into laryngopharyngeal reflux group and chronic laryngitis group by the reflux symptom index (RSI), by the reflux finding score (RFS) and by their treating experiment taking omeprazole 20 mg bid for 2 weeks. Sputum in all three groups was obtained in the morning. Pepsin in the sputum was measured by enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rate of pepsin in sputum among LPR group, chronic laryngopharyngitis group and normal group were 93.8% (30/32), 75.0% (18/24), 20.0% (3/15) respectively, and the median concentration of pepsin were 5.3 [1.3; 53.4] ng/ml, 0.8 [0.1; 17.2] ng/ml, 0.0[0.0;0.0] ng/ml (H = 23.29, P = 0.000). Compared with co-diagnosis as gold standard, the sensitivity of RSI, RFS treating experiment and the pepsin immunoassay was 59.4%, 84.4%, 81.3% and 93.8%, and the specificity of those was 87.2%, 61.5%, 95.8% and 46.2% respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Detection of pepsin in sputum by immunoassay might provide a high sensitive, noninvasive method for laryngopharyngeal reflux.</p>

Association of CXCR4 and SDF-1alpha with organ-specific metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the role of CXCR4/SDF-1alpha axis in organ-specific metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) by assessment of CXCR4 expression in NPC cells and SDF-1alpha expression in distant target organs of NPC.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty patients with NPC and fifteen normal subjects were recruited in this study. The expressions of CXCR4 in NPC and normal cases were identified by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC), then the relationship between CXCR4 expression and clinicopathological factors was analyzed. IHC was also used to analyze the SDF-1alpha protein expression in normal cervical lymph nodes (including normal superior and inferior deep cervical lymph nodes), bone marrow, lung, liver, kidney and colon tissues of NPC patients (5 cases/each group).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The relative expression level of CXCR4 mRNA in NPC (0.71 +/- 0.22) was significantly higher than that of normal nasopharynx tissues (0.14 +/- 0.07, F = 27.94, P < 0.05). The relative expression level of CXCR4 protein in NPC (1.58 +/- 0.59) was significantly higher than that of normal nasopharynx tissues (0.51 +/- 0.22, F = 17.75, P < 0.05). The high expression levels of CXCR4 mRNA and protein in NPC were closely related to clinical stage, cervical lymph node metastasis and cancer cell differentiation (P < 0.05). SDF-1alpha protein was strongly expressed in normal superior deep cervical lymph nodes, bone marrow, lung and liver (2.35 +/- 0.67), but absent or very poor expression in inferior deep cervical lymph nodes, kidney and colon tissues (0.68 +/- 0.23), and the differences between them were statistically significant (t = 10.13, P < 0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CXCR4 is closely correlated to metastasis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. CXCR4/SDF-1alpha axis may play an important role in organ-specific metastasis of NPC.</p>