Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of endoscopic myringoplasty and comparison with conventional myringoplasty. Materials and methods:Sixty cases of clinically diagnosed chronic suppu rative otitis media with dry central perforation were taken into account of which 30 cases were undergone endoscopic myringo plasty and 30 cases undergone conven tional myringoplasty. All patients were followed up on 3rd, 7th, 15th day, 6th weeks, 3rd and 6th months after surgery. Results:The tympanic membrane's perforation healing rate was 86% (26/30), in conventional group of myringoplasty and 83% (25/30) in endoscopic group of myringoplasty and average hearing gain in conventional group was 13.96 dB and in endoscopic group was 15.03 dB. Conclusion:The surgical outcome of endoscope assisted myringoplasty in terms of graft uptake and hearing improvement was comparable to the conventional microscope assisted myringoplasty, but in terms of cosmesis and postoperative recovery patients in the endoscope group had better results.

BackgroundWe previously demonstrated that nuclear and cytoplasmic accumulation of the intracellular domain (Ep-ICD) of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) accompanied by a reciprocal reduction of its extracellular domain (EpEx), occurs in aggressive thyroid cancers. This study was designed to determine whether similar accumulation of Ep-ICD is a common event in other epithelial cancers.Methodology and ResultsTen epithelial cancers were immunohistochemically analyzed using Ep-ICD and EpEx domain-specific antibodies. The subcellular localization of EpEx and Ep-ICD in the human colon adenocarcinoma cell line CX-1 was observed using immunofluorescence. Nuclear and cytoplasmic Ep-ICD expression was increased in cancers of the breast (31 of 38 tissues, 82%), prostate (40 of 49 tissues, 82%), head and neck (37 of 57 tissues, 65%) and esophagus (17 of 46 tissues, 37%) compared to their corresponding normal tissues that showed membrane localization of the protein. Importantly, Ep-ICD was not detected in the nuclei of epithelial cells in most normal tissues. High nuclear and cytoplasmic Ep-ICD accumulation also occurred in the other six epithelial cancer types analyzed - lung, colon, liver, bladder, pancreatic, and ovarian. A concomitant reduction in membrane EpEx expression was observed in a subset of all cancer types. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed nuclear Ep-ICD distinguished breast cancers with 82% sensitivity and 100% specificity and prostate cancers with 82% sensitivity and 78% specificity. Similar findings were observed for cytoplasmic accumulation of Ep-ICD in these cancers. We provide clinical evidence of increased nuclear and cytoplasmic Ep-ICD accumulation and a reduction in membranous EpEx in these cancers.ConclusionsIncreased nuclear and cytoplasmic Ep-ICD was observed in all epithelial cancers analyzed and distinguished them from normal tissues with high-sensitivity, specificity, and AUC. Development of a robust high throughput assay for Ep-ICD will facilitate the determination of its diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic relevance in epithelial cancers.

No abstract

Whole body cooling in term infants with perinatal asphyxia is achievable, safe and inexpensive in a low-resource setting.