Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic value of narrow-band imaging (NBI) for the detection of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Study Design: Prospective study. Setting: Tertiary medical center. Subjects and Methods: Between December 2009 and June 2010, a total of 1,854 patients were examined by means of an electronic nasopharyngolaryngoscope equipped with conventional white light (WL) and an NBI system. The sensitivity, specificity and positive/negative predictive values for detecting NPC were calculated and compared. Results: Of these patients, 62 cases (3.34%) were pathologically confirmed as NPC. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for detecting NPC significantly increased from 90.3, 75.4, 11.3 and 99.6% with WL up to 100, 99.2, 81.6 and 100% with NBI, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that NBI endoscopy might serve as an ideal tool in the detection of NPC.

Background One of the important pathogeneses of eustachian tube dysfunction (ETD) is nasal inflammatory disease. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis (AR) in adults ranges from 10 to 30% worldwide. However, research on the status of eustachian tubes in AR patients is still very limited. Methods This prospective controlled cross-sectional study recruited 59 volunteers and 59 patients with AR from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital. Visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for AR symptoms and seven-item Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire (ETDQ-7) scores were collected for both groups. Nasal endoscopy, tympanography and eustachian tube pressure measurement (tubomanometry, TMM) were used for objective assessment. All AR patients underwent 1 month of treatment with mometasone furoate nasal spray and oral loratadine. Then, the nasal condition and eustachian tube status were again evaluated. Results TMM examination revealed that 22 patients (39 ears, 33.1%) among the AR patients and 5 healthy controls (7 ears, 5.9%) had abnormal eustachian pressure. Twenty-two AR patients (37.3%) and 9 healthy controls had an ETDQ-7 score ≥ 15. With regard to nasal symptoms of AR, the VAS scores of nasal obstruction were correlated with the ETDQ-7 scores, and the correlation coefficient was r = 0.5124 ( p < 0.0001). Nasal endoscopic scores were also positively correlated with ETDQ-7 scores, with a correlation coefficient of 0.7328 ( p < 0.0001). After 1 month of treatment, VAS scores of nasal symptoms, endoscopic scores and ETDQ-7 scores were significantly decreased in AR patients ( p < 0.0001), and TMM examination also suggested that eustachian tube function was significantly improved after treatment ( p < 0.0001). Conclusions AR patients, especially those with severe nasal obstruction, could have ETD. The local conditions of the pharyngeal orifices of the eustachian tubes are closely related to the symptoms of ETD. After treatment with nasal glucocorticoids and oral antihistamines, eustachian tube function can significantly improve as nasal symptoms subside. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registery (ChiCTR2000029071) Registered 12 January 2020—Retrospectively registered, http://www.chictr.org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=48328&htm=4

Apoptosis proteins have a central role in the development and homeostasis of an organism. These proteins are very important for the understanding the mechanism of programmed cell death, and their function is related to their types. The apoptosis proteins are categorized into the following four types: (1) Cytoplasmic protein; (2) Plasma membrane-bound protein; (3) Mitochondrial inner and outer proteins; (4) Other proteins. A novel method, the Hilbert-Huang transform, is applied for predicting the type of a given apoptosis protein with support vector machine. High success rates were obtained by the re-substitute test (98/98=100%), jackknife test (91/98 = 92.9%)

Therapeutic endoscopy in combination with nasal steroid sprays and nasal irrigation provides a convenient, simple, effective, and minimally invasive therapy to treat early radiation-induced nasal adhesion patients.