Childhood obesity is a common and significant public health problem all over the world. As a well-known fact obese children have an increased risk of obesity-associated comorbidities, including obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes, and cardiovascular disorders at an earlier age compared to their normal weight peers. They also have an increased risk of poor self-esteem, greater body dissatisfaction, and increased peer teasing that lead to a lower health-related quality of life. While the presence of adenoid hypertrophy and increased rate of obstructive sleep apnea frequently co-exists in majority of cases. We have limited knowledge about the effect of adenotonsillar hypertrophy on development of childhood obesity. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between obesity, presence of adenotonsillar hypertrophy and the quality of life parameters in obese children as measured by the OSA-18 quality of life questionnaire. Fifty obese children aged between 3 and 18 years and 50 age- and gender-matched otherwise children were enrolled to the study. All subjects were routinely examined by the otolaryngologist before enrollment. The size of adenoid hypertrophy was measured using lateral cephalometric radiographs. The tonsils were also graded using the schema recommended by Brodsky et al. We used OSA-18 questionnaires to evaluate the subjects' quality of life issues. We found, 34 % of obese group had tonsillar hypertrophy while the rate was 6 % in control group. Similarly 16 % of obese group had tonsillar hypertrophy compared to only 4 % in non-obese group. It was also noted that total OSA-18 scores of obese group were significantly higher than those of non-obese group. In subgroup analysis of obese group, total OSA-18 score of obese subjects with either adenoid and/or tonsillar hypertrophy was significantly higher than that of obese subjects without adenoid or tonsillar hypertrophy. As the related literature suggests that the impact of adenotonsillar size on OSA symptoms is prominent especially in children under 7 years of age, but its impact on the development of childhood obesity is still controversial. Our results revealed a possible relation between adenotonsillar hypertrophy and obesity rates. Further studies on larger populations should be planned to better define the real impact of adenotonsillar hypertrophy in obese children.

In the study, eight patients of the BPPV group (16%) had a high thyroid antibody level. In the non-BPPV group, six patients (11.5%) had elevated thyroid antibodies. In the control group, 15 patients (25%) had elevated thyroid antibodies. TSH values of all subjects were detected to be within normal range. No statistical difference was found between the groups with respect to TG-Ab and TPO-Ab values (p-values = 0.729 and 0.812, respectively).

BackgroundTinnitus refers to the objective or subjective perception of a series of sounds most frequently described as ringing in the ear or within the head itself. Anxiety and depressive disorders frequently accompany this complaint. In this study, we aimed to investigate the presence of psychiatric symptoms and the degree of anxiety sensitivity in patients with chronic tinnitus.MethodsFifty patients with chronic tinnitus who had been followed up for at least 6 months or longer were enrolled in this study. All subjects completed the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3), Stait-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Symptom Check List-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) questionnaires. Fifty healthy volunteers were given the same tests and a statistical comparison of the psychometric outcome data was done for subjects with and without chronic tinnitus.ResultsPatients with chronic tinnitus demonstrated higher statistically meaningful scores than the healthy group. Comparison between chronic tinnitus group and control group scores showed that patient group has a high rate of statistically significant results than controls; ASI-3, STAI-2, SCL-90-R GSI, SCL-90-R Somatization, SCL-90-R Depression, SCL-90-R Anxiety (z=−8.00, P<0.01), SCL-90-R Phobic Anxiety.ConclusionHigher scores for anxiety sensitivity and other psychiatric symptoms in patients with chronic tinnitus reflects the prevalence of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, somatoform disorder, and chronic tinnitus. The finding of more psychiatric comorbidity in patients with chronic tinnitus indicates that planning and follow-up in both otolaryngology and psychiatry is necessary to improve the overall results of treatment.

Balloon sinuplasty (BS) is a relatively new conservative approach, first licensed for the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis in 2006. The philosophy of the technique is to improve impaired sinus drainage by enlarging stenosed or obstructed natural sinus ostiums. The recent improvements in balloon sinuplasty made virtually all paranasal sinus ostiums to be safely accessible with this technique. Compared to classical endoscopic technique, the main advantage of balloon sinuplasty is the low complication rate reported. It is very seldom to encounter major complications related to critical structures such as orbits and skull base. Since its first description, very few severe complications directly attributable to the technique have been reported in literature as of today. In this article, we report a case of medial orbital wall fracture developed due to the pressure of the inflated balloon in a balloon sinuplasty procedure.

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To provide ideal examination comfort and optimum patient tolerability during TFL evaluation of upper respiratory airway topical lidocaine and prilocaine applications were found to be more efficacious and effective medication for anesthesia of the intranasal mucosa compared with bupivacaine and ropivacaine solutions.

Correlation between olfactory bulb volume and chronic depression: a magnetic resonance imaging study Objective: Olfactory dysfunction can be seen secondary to various diseases, such as sinonasal disease, infections of the upper respiratory tract, head trauma, and neurodegenerative diseases. A small number of recent studies have focused on olfactory dysfunction in different neuropsychiatric disorders. This study aimed to investigate olfactory bulb (OB) volume in patients with chronic major depression, as diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). In particular, we investigated patients treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate this subject. Methods: Participants included 31 outpatients (17 females and 14 males) with chronic major depression recruited from the University School of Medicine and Public Hospital psychiatry outpatient clinic between March 1 and August 31, 2013. Participants were examined using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). All patients were receiving treatment with a single SSRI. The BDI was also administered to a control group of 31 healthy volunteers (16 females, 15 males). All participants were recruited over the telephone after the study design was finalized. Additionally, both groups underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan with a 1.5-Tesla MRI system. Volumes of the right and left OBs were determined using MRI scans of the head and a standardised protocol for OB examination. Results: OB volumes were calculated separately for the depressed and the control groups. MRI measurements revealed significantly smaller olfactory bulb volume in patients with chronic major depression as compared to the control group. Furthermore, we detected a negative correlation between BDI score and olfactory bulb volume. Conclusions: Olfactory bulb volumes are notably smaller in patients with chronic major depression treated only with SSRIs (fluoxetine, sertraline, citalopram, escitalopram, paroxetine). To our knowledge, this is the first study to reveal reduced olfactory bulb volume in patients with chronic major depression. This study has demonstrated a negative correlation between OB volume and elevated depression scores.

In our study, while mild and moderate septal deviations lacked any significant affect on OB volumes, severe deviations were found to have significant impact on these parameter. Additionally the contralateral OB volumes in the severe septum deviation group were significantly bigger when compared to the ipsilateral OB volumes. Further multidisciplinary studies are required to evaluate the clinical significance of OB volume changes in diagnosis and follow-up of several otolaryngologic or nonotolaryngologic diseases.