Olfactory Dysfunction is Associated with More Severe Clinical Course in COVID-19.

To perform a quantitative olfactory test in positive COVID19 RT-PCR admitted patients and asymptomatic ones, to evaluate the association between hyposmia and disease severity. This is a Cross sectional study. Ninety-one patients including 68 inpatients and 23 asymptomatic healthcare workers with positive COVID-19 RT-PCRs. Methods: Demographics and clinical characteristics were collected. Iran Smell Identification Test (IR-SIT), a highly accurate 6-odorant test was used to evaluate the reliability of self-reported hyposmia and determine the correlation of the measured olfactory dysfunction with disease severity. Twenty-two of 91 patients (24%) reported hyposmia, while 41/91 (45%) patients had measurable olfactory dysfunction (IR-SIT score 1-4, p < 0.05). Mean age of the 68 inpatients and 23 asymptomatic patients were 43.97 ± 16.13 years; M:F 43:25, and 43.87 ± 12.76 years; M:F 8:15 respectively. Of 68 patients, 20 were graded as severe, and 48/68 had mild course of disease. IR-SIT detected hyposmia in 80% of patients with severe disease, and 50% with mild disease, respectively. The risk of disease severity was significantly increased for patients with olfactory dysfunction and was detected 4 times higher when compared to patients with mild disease (OR 4, 95% CI: 1.166-13.728, p = 0.028). Olfactory Dysfunction was present in 80% of patients with severe course. The risk of disease severity is significantly increased with olfactory dysfunction in admitted patients.

Survivin gene polymorphism association with tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

SUBJECT: Survivin expression is correlated with tumor aggressiveness and severity in head and neck carcinoma. A polymorphism at position -31 (G/C) (rs 9904341) has been associated with cancer risk in several studies. We evaluated the correlation of this polymorphism with clinical manifestation of patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in an Irananian population. METHODS: Paraffin-embedded tissue sections from patients with tongue SCC (n=91) were evaluated for association between the survivin -31 (G/C) polymorphism and tumor staging, pathological grade, lymph node metastasis, tumor size, and recurrence of tumor. RESULTS: There was a significant increase of presence of allele C in patients who were at stages III and IV compared to patients with lower stages [GC+CC vs. GG, p=0.025, odds ratio [OR] 2.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.03-7.4]). In addition, presence of allele C was significantly decreased in patients with T1 tumor size compared to patients with larger tumor size (p=0.03, OR 0.6, 95% CI [0.2-2.03]). CONCLUSION: Presence of the C allele was significantly associated with tumor stage and size; therefore, survivin might be an important marker in the prognosis of tongue SCC that requires further investigation.

Outcomes of concurrent endoscopic sinus surgery and rhinoplasty: a case control study.

To evaluate results of concurrent functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) and nasal plastic surgery in terms of safety, efficacy and patient satisfaction, and compare them with the results of single procedures. We conducted a prospective case control study in three groups of patients with chronic sinusitis and nasal deformity; 25 cases had concurrent FESS and rhinoplasty, 25 controls had FESS, and 25 controls had rhinoplasty alone. The patients preoperative and postoperative sino-nasal outcome test (SNOT22) and also patients' satisfaction using the visual analogue scale were evaluated after one year. There were no significant differences between aesthetic indexes of concurrent surgery and control groups. Also, we found no significant inter-group difference between SNOT22 scores. There was no major complication in the studied patients. Conducting nasal plastic surgery and FESS concurrently can be a feasible surgery with functional and aesthetic results comparable to those with individual FESS or rhinoplasty.