Patients with parotid gland, TMJ involvement, and previous middle ear surgery for chronic otitis media had poor outcomes.

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Post-irradiation EAC SCC has similar symptoms and invades similar regions as primary EAC SCC. The proportion of early stage tumors in the post-irradiated EAC SCC group was higher than that in the primary EAC SCC group. High incidence of radionecrosis was observed after the second course of radiotherapy. Aggressive surgical treatment is strongly recommended, but adjuvant radiotherapy for early stage EAC SCC should be provided cautiously.

Objective: To report of the presentation, diagnosis, and management of a spontaneous temporomandibular joint (TMJ) herniation. Patients: A 69-year-old man with a spontaneous TMJ herniation. Interventions: Diagnostic evaluation and surgical approaches. Main Outcome Measures: Imaging, and medical and surgical treatment outcomes. Results: At 14 months follow-up, the patient reported improved tinnitus and on examination there was no evidence of a hypertrophic scar or canal stenosis, no recurrence of TMJ herniation, no signs of otorrhea, otalgia; and with normal TMJ function. Conclusions: The advantages of repairing spontaneous TMJ herniation through a transcanal approach using oto-endoscopy include a high definition video of surgical field, minimal invasiveness, and good postoperative cosmetic outcome.

Hypothesis: We hypothesize that degenerated spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) in guinea pigs reduces auditory brainstem responses evoked by pulsed infrared stimulation. Background: Pulsed infrared laser excitation can directly evoke physiological responses in neuronal and other excitable cells in vivo and in vitro. Laser pulses could benefit patients with cochlear implants to stimulate the auditory system. Methods: Pulsed infrared lasers were used to study evoked optical auditory brainstem responses (oABRs) in normal hearing and deafened animals. Also, the morphology and anatomy of SGNs in normal hearing and deafened guinea pigs were compared. Results: By recording oABRs evoked by varying infrared laser pulse durations, it is suggested that degeneration of SGNs in deafened guinea pigs was associated with an elevated oABR threshold and with lower amplitudes. Moreover, oABR threshold decreased while amplitudes increased in both normal hearing and deafened animals as the pulse duration prolonged. Electron microscopy revealed that SGNs in deafened guinea pigs had swollen and vacuolar mitochondria, as well as demyelinated soma and axons. Conclusion: Infrared laser pulses can stimulate SGNs to evoke oABRs in guinea pigs. Deafened guinea pigs have elevated thresholds and smaller amplitude responses, likely a result of degenerated SGNs. Short pulse durations are more suitable to evoke responses in both normal hearing and deafened animals.

Accumulating evidence has indicated that lncRNAs regulate various biological and pathological processes in diverse malignant tumors. The roles of LINC00667 in cancer development have been explored in glioma, hepatocellular carcinoma and non-small cell lung cancer, but not in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). In the present study, we characterize the role and molecular mechanism of LINC00667 in NPC progression. It was found that LINC00667 was overexpressed in NPC cells compared to normal cells. Silencing LINC00667 suppressed the proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in NPC cells. In addition, bioinformatics analysis revealed that LINC00667 acted as a ceRNA to absorb miR-4319. Further investigations illustrated that miR-4319 had low expression in NPC cells and functioned as a tumor suppressor in the progression of NPC. Mechanistic study identified forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) as a functional target of miR-4319. The effect of LINC00667 in NPC development was mediated by the miR-4319/FOXQ1 axis. Analysis on tumorxenograft mouse model demonstrated that knockdown of LINC00667 repressed NPC tumor growth in vivo and confirmed the in vitro results. Our present study suggested that LINC00667 promoted the malignant phenotypes of NPC cells by competitively binding to miR-4319 to up-regulate FOXQ1 expression. Our results reveled that LINC00667 could be a diagnostic and therapeutic target for NPC patients.

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An implantable optrode with micro-thermal detectors was designed to investigate the availability and safety of INS using high repetition rates. Optical auditory brainstem responses (oABRs) were recorded in normal-hearing guinea pigs, and the energy thresholds, pulse durations, and amplitudes evoked by the varied stimulus repetitions were analyzed. Stable oABRs could be evoked through INS even as the repetition rate of stimulation reached 19[Formula: see text]kHz. The energy threshold of oABRs was elevated, the amplitudes decreased as pulse durations increased and repetition rates were higher, and the latencies were delayed as the pulse durations increased. The temperature variation curves on the site of stimulation significantly increased as the pulse duration increased to 400 [Formula: see text]s. INS elevated the temperature around the stimulus site area via thermal accumulation during radiation, especially when higher repetition stimuli were used. Our results demonstrate that high repetition infrared stimulations can safely evoke stable and available oABRs in normal-hearing guinea pigs.