SUMMARYOSA is a condition characterised by episodes of complete or partial obstruction of the upper airway, associated with blood-gas changes and atypical sleep patterns. Early diagnosis of OSA may reduce the occurrence of systemic complications over time, although the diagnosis of OSA is, unfortunately, often late. The aim of the work is to review the current concepts in evaluation of paediatric obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), with an updated revision of the literature considering risk factors, clinical manifestations, and basic and advanced assessment in the paediatric population. For this narrative review, PubMed, Embase and Cinahl databases were searched for the last 10 years, according to PRISMA criteria/guidelines. Assessment of paediatric OSA remains challenging and paediatric patients should always be carefully evaluated; polysomnography is the gold standard for diagnosis of paediatric OSA.

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Purpose: To evaluate, using drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE), sites of upper airway obstruction and pattern of collapse in patients over 65 years old affected by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). To compare sites and pattern of collapse of elderly patients with a group of patients younger than 65 years. Methods: A group of 55 patients aged over 65 years old were enrolled in this prospective study. Fifty patients under 65 years old were collected in the control group.

Background. Previous studies reported human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in middle ear tumors, whereas these viruses have been poorly investigated in chronic inflammatory middle ear diseases. We investigated HPVs in non-tumor middle ear diseases, including chronic otitis media (COM). Methods. COM specimens (n = 52), including chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) (n =38) and cholesteatoma (COMC) (n = 14), as well as normal middle ear (NME) specimens (n = 56) were analyzed. HPV sequences and DNA loads were analyzed by quantitative-PCR. HPV genotyping was performed by direct sequencing. Results. HPV DNA was detected in 23% (12/52) of COM and in 30.4% (17/56) of NME (p > 0.05). Specifically, HPV DNA sequences were found in 26.3% (10/38) of CSOM and in 14.3% (2/14) of COMC (p > 0.05). Interestingly, the HPV DNA load was higher in COMC (mean 7.47 copy/cell) than in CSOM (mean 1.02 copy/cell) and NME (mean 1.18 copy/cell) (P = 0.03 and P = 0.017 versus CSOM and NME, respectively). HPV16 and HPV18 were the main genotypes detected in COMC, CSOM and NME. Conclusions. These data suggest that HPV may infect the middle ear mucosa, whereas HPV-positive COMCs are associated with higher viral DNA loads as compared to NME.Pathogens 2020, 9, 224 2 of 10 mucosa sampled from CSOM patients [11]. However, the etiology of CSOM remains to be determined. The relationship between HPV infection and inflammation has been previously reported [12]. It has been shown that persistent infection with high-risk HPVs leads to an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6, TNF-α and MIP-1α [13]. In addition, high-risk HPV type 16 (HPV16) is able to increase the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), a key enzyme in the synthesis of prostaglandins, which are important mediators of inflammation [14,15]. Until now, only a single study has reported HPV DNA sequences in CSOM, whereby different HPV genotypes, including HPV16, HPV18 and HPV6, have been detected in 30.7% of CSOM [4].COMC is a form of expanding growth consisting of keratinizing squamous cell epithelium [16]. There is great interest in the etiopathogenesis of HPV-associated cholesteatoma because HPV commonly infects the stratified epithelium [17,18]. However, conflicting data have been reported for HPV in COMC [10,[19][20][21]. HPV sequences have been detected in COMC with different prevalence, ranging from 3% to 70% [10,[19][20][21]. Moreover, no specific HPV genotypes have been associated with COMC, as high-and low-risk HPVs, such as HPV16, HPV18 and HPV6 and HPV11, have been detected [10,[19][20][21].There is emerging evidence that HPV infection can occur in different anatomical sites. Since HPV infects epithelia [22], all anatomical sites covered with epithelial tissue are potentially exposed to HPV infection. Apart from pluristratified tissues of the cervix [23], vulva [24] and oral pharynx [25], HPV sequences have been detected in simple epithelia from several anatomical sites such as lung [26], upper respiratory tract [27], larynx [28] and nose [29]. Since the middle ear muc...

Barbed reposition pharyngoplasty (BRP) can be considered an effective procedure on the basis of the postoperative outcomes. ESP still proves to be a good technique especially when performed by experienced surgeons. Both techniques proved to be superior to UPPP.