Eustachian Tubes: Pop It Like It’s Hawt

This topic is a bit related to the ear tubes topic, and I think it's worth covering because I get...

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Trend in risk of delay in diagnosis of new pulmonary tuberculosis in Northwest China from 2008 to 2017

With great changes over the past 10 years in China, especially the rapid economic development, population mobility, urbanization and aging, dynamic change on risk of delay, to our knowledge, has not been well ...

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Herpes zoster incidence in Germany - an indirect validation study for self-reported disease data from pretest studies of the population-based German National Cohort

Until now, herpes zoster (HZ)-related disease burden in Germany has been estimated based on health insurance data and clinical findings. However, the validity of self-reported HZ is unclear. This study investi...

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A Crisis of Competence: Benevolent Sexism Affects Evaluations of Women’s Competence

Abstract

People higher in benevolent sexism often outwardly endorse gender equality, but support men over women for challenging positions and experiences. Reflecting shifting standards (a tendency to evaluate stereotyped group members against within-category judgment standards), people higher in sexism may evaluate prominent women's competence against a lower competency standard for women (who are stereotyped as less competent than men are), and not against a standard for men. Thus prominent women could be perceived as especially competent (versus other women), yet men might still garner ultimate support. Study 1 tested for this possibility using an ecologically valid example: the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Study 1 showed that benevolent (and not hostile) sexism predicted less opposition to Donald Trump's candidacy and more positive attitudes toward the election outcome among 57 mostly female U.S. college students. Study 1 also showed that benevolent sexism positively predicted competence perceived in Hillary Clinton. To determine if this positive relationship reflected shifting standards, we manipulated the gender to which a prominent woman would be compared in Study 2 with 189 U.S. adults. Reflecting shifting standards, benevolent sexism related to evaluating women as more competent when they were evaluated against other women versus other men. Shifting standards also mediated a relationship between benevolent sexism and expecting lower female success. Using shifting standards may be one way that people higher in benevolent sexism might evaluate prominent women as especially competent, yet ultimately support men.

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Perioperative olfactory dysfunction in patients with meningiomas of the anteromedial skull base

Objective

Olfactory dysfunction represents a main symptom in olfactory groove meningiomas (OGM). Besides this, olfactory function has been sparsely investigated in patients suffering from supratentorial meningiomas. Here, the authors explore pre‐ and postoperative variables associated with olfactory dysfunction in supratentorial meningioma patients.

Methods

This is a retrospective study on supratentorial meningioma patients who underwent meningioma resection between January 2015 and January 2016. Preoperative and postoperative olfactory performance was quantified using a lateralized sniffin' stick odor identification test.

Results

Meningiomas affecting the olfactory system (n=23) were compared to meningiomas in other locations among the control group (n=40). Meningiomas that affected the olfactory system had odds of 3.6 and 3.7 in being associated with ipsilateral (lesional) and bilateral anosmia, respectively. Subgroup analysis revealed that meningiomas causing a midline shift across the frontal base and older age represented risk factors for preoperative anosmia. The odds of experiencing acquired postoperative ipsilateral anosmia were significantly increased in olfactory system affected meningiomas (OR 11.1). Subgroup analysis highlighted OGMs to represent the predominant location associated with deterioration. General surgical complications predisposed patients to loss of contralateral (OR 12.3) and bilateral olfactory function (OR 27. 8).

Conclusions

Older age and meningiomas causing a midline shift across the frontal base predispose patients to preoperative olfactory dysfunction. Resection of OGMs and surgical complications are risk factors for postoperative olfactory deterioration to anosmia. Likely, olfactory dysfunction is underrecognized even in OGMs. In OGM surgery, however, preoperative lateralized testing might be critical to selecting an appropriate surgical route to preserve olfactory function.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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Early reoperation following pancreaticoduodenectomy: impact on morbidity, mortality, and long-term survival

Abstract

Background

Reoperation following PD is a surrogate marker for a complex post-operative course and may lead to devastating consequences. We evaluate the indications for early reoperation following PD and analyze its effect on short- and long-term outcome.

Methods

Four hundred and thirty-three patients that underwent PD between August 2006 and June 2016 were retrospectively analyzed.

Results

Forty-eight patients (11%; ROp group) underwent 60 reoperations within 60 days from PD. Forty-two patients underwent 1 reoperation, and 6 had up to 6 reoperations. The average time to first reoperation was 10.1 ± 13.4 days. The most common indications were anastomotic leaks (22 operations in 18 patients; 37.5% of ROp), followed by post-pancreatectomy hemorrhage (PPH) (14 reoperations in 12 patients; 25%), and wound complications in 10 (20.8%). Patients with cholangiocarcinoma had the highest reoperation rate (25%) followed by ductal adenocarcinoma (12.3%). Reoperation was associated with increased length of hospital stay and a high post-operative mortality of 18.7%, compared to 2.6% for the non-reoperated group. For those who survived the post-operative period, the overall and disease-free survival were not affected by reoperation.

Conclusions

Early reoperations following PD carries a dramatically increased mortality rate, but has no impact on long-term survival.

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Expression of activator protein-1 in papillary thyroid carcinoma and its clinical significance

Abstract

Background

The abnormal expression of activator protein-1(AP-1) has recently been investigated in a variety of tumors. While the relationship between AP-1 and thyroid cancer is poorly studied, our study was to evaluate the protein expression and clinical value of AP-1 in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

Methods

The expression of AP-1 was examined by immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissues obtained from PTC and correspondent paracancerous tissues of 82 patients.

Results

Compared with paracancerous tissues, AP-1 expression was significantly elevated in PTC tissues and the positive rate was 79.3% (65/82). Our study found a linear trend relationship between the expression of AP-1 and tumor size. However, the differences in AP-1 expression among gender, age, lymph node metastasis, number of lesions, location of the lesion, and extrathyroid invasion are not statistically significant.

Conclusions

The expression of AP-1 plays an important role in the proliferation process of PTC.

http://bit.ly/2GcHVvp