17 research outputs found
Comparison of endoscopy and CT scan in diagnosing chronic rhinosinusitis without polyps
No full textBackground: Definite diagnosis of Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is challenging mostly because of overlapping symptoms with other disorders. Nowadays it is mostly dependent on cross sectional imaging. When considering the prevalence and cost burden of CRS, reducing the frequency of cross sectional imaging by replacing it with endoscopic evaluation could be a cost effective way if the endoscopic examination proved to be a suitable substitution.
Aim: The aim of this study is to compare the endoscopy with CT scan- as gold standard method- in diagnosis of CRS without polyp and to find out how well the results of the two correlate with each other.
Methods:
Adult patients with symptom criteria compatible with EPOS 2020 entered the study. They were evaluated endoscopically, and then scored by Lund Mackay CT score. Cases with obvious polyps seen on rhinoscopy or endoscopic evaluation were not entered the study.
Results:
A total of 49 patients entered the study. Comparing endoscopic findings with CT scan showed the sensitivity of 69.70% and specificity of 50%. Cohen Kappa statistics of 0.191 was obtained. Positive and negative predictive value was 74.19% and 44.44% respectively. Of note, all 8 patients with Kennedy score of 4 showed positive CT results, and, all 4 cases with isolated sinusitis had negative endoscopic results. Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.63, which showed a significant positive correlation between Lund Kennedy and Lund Mackay scores. (p<0.05)
Conclusion:
Our observations lead us to a possible need for revision in presented endoscopic criteria to increase the diagnostic power of endoscopy in chronic rhinosinusitis sine nasal polyposis
Secure Obfuscation of Authoring Style
No full textPart 2: Secure Resource Sharing and Access ControlInternational audienceAnonymous authoring includes writing reviews, comments and blogs, using pseudonyms with the general assumption that using these pseudonyms will protect the real identity of authors and allows them to freely express their views. It has been shown, however, that writing style may be used to trace authors across multiple Websites. This is a serious threat to privacy and may even result in revealing the authors’s identities. In obfuscating authors’ writing style, an authored document is modified to hide the writing characteristics of the author. In this paper we first show that existing obfuscation systems are insecure and propose a general approach for constructing obfuscation algorithms, and then instantiate the framework to give an algorithm that semi-automatically modifies an author’s document. We provide a secure obfuscation scheme that is able to hide an author’s document securely among other authors’ documents in a corpus. As part of our obfuscation algorithm we present a new algorithm for identifying an author’s unique words that would be of independent interest.We present a security model and use it to analyze our scheme and also the previous schemes. We implement our scheme and give its performances through experiments.We show that our algorithm can be used to obfuscate documents securely and effectively
Weighted segmented digital watermarking
No full textWe introduce the notion of weighted watermarking for proof-of-ownership watermark protection of multimedia works that are the product of more than one author and where each author is considered to be of different importance relative to the other authors. We specifically examine weighted segmented watermarking for still images and generalise previous work on performance measurement of watermark embedding patterns in the presence of cropping attacks
Morphometric Analysis of Sphenopalatine Foramen on Computed Tomography Imaging for localization of Sphenopalatine Artery
No full textBackground: Epistaxis affects about 10% of those seeking medical treatment, with posterior epistaxis from the sphenopalatine artery (SPA) posing management challenges. The sphenopalatine foramen (SPF) is crucial for interventions, and CT imaging aids preoperative planning by detailing the SPF and adjacent structures.
Aim: Performing a morphometric analysis of the sphenopalatine foramen using CT imaging to identify and quantify anatomical landmarks that help surgeons locate the sphenopalatine artery.
Methods: A retrospective observational study analyzed Sinus CT scans from 200 adult patients to measure the sphenopalatine foramen's anteroposterior and craniocaudal dimensions. Distances from the SPF to key anatomical landmarks, such as the maxillary line and anterior head of the middle turbinate, were also measured. Statistical analysis was performed to assess variations based on sex and side of the nasal cavity, with a significance level set at p < 0.05.
Results: The average size of the SPF was 5.01 mm ± 1.37 in the anteroposterior dimension and 5.58 mm ± 1.71 in the craniocaudal dimension. The mean distances to anatomical landmarks were as follows: maxillary line 35.73 mm ± 2.47, anterior head of the middle turbinate 33.76 mm ± 4.52, basal lamella 9.71 mm ± 1.84, choanal arch 8.78 mm ± 1.62, posterior fontanelle of the maxillary sinus ostium 14.49 mm ± 1.32, and the bony attachment of the inferior turbinate 13.89 mm ± 2.01. The height above the nasal floor was 25.69 mm ± 2.43. Males exhibited longer distances to key landmarks compared to females, with no significant differences noted between the right and left nasal cavity sides.
Conclusion: Preoperative CT imaging effectively identifies key bony landmarks for accurately locating the sphenopalatine foramen, enhancing the safety and efficiency of endoscopic approaches to the sphenopalatine artery, especially in managing posterior epistaxis
Olfactory and gustatory manifestations in hospitalized patients with COVID-19
No full textBackground: Pulmonary involvement is the main clinical and imaging feature of the novel corona virus disease (COVID-19). However, some patients present with upper airway symptoms.
Aim: In this study, we report upper respiratory manifestations, specifically focusing on smell and taste disorders in COVID-19.
Methods: We performed this cross-sectional prospective study in patients admitted to Masih Daneshvari Hospital, a tertiary referral center in Tehran, Iran, with severe COVID-19 as documented by the polymerase chain reaction assay.
Results: We included 268 hospitalized patients, 183 (68.3%) men and 85 (31.7%) women. The average age was 52.8±16.4. The sinonasal symptoms included nasal obstruction (44 [16.4%]), rhinorrhea (31 [11.5%]), sneeze (33 [12.3%]), headache (77 [28.6%]), facial pain (12 [4.5%]), associated with hypogeusia (65 [24.2%]) and olfactory dysfunction (90 [33.5%]). In 35 (38.9%) patients with olfactory symptoms, change in the smell was the sole initial manifestation of COVID-19. On logistic regression, the relationship between the olfactory symptoms and headache (p=0.002), nasal obstruction (p=0.0001) and sneeze (p=0.018) were statistically significant.
Conclusion: We report a considerable prevalence of olfactory and gustatory symptoms in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Not infrequently, these symptoms were the sole initial presenting symptoms in the course COVID-19. During the current pandemic, we suggest that presence of these symptoms should mandate expedited screening for COVID-19, isolation and close monitoring of the patients for evolution of the clinical course
Histopathologic Findings of Olfactory Mucosa in COVID-19 Patients
No full textBackground: Olfactory manifestations are common findings during the course of COVID-19, while exact physiopathology is not known
Aim: We review histological changes of the nasal olfactory mucosa in COVID-19 non-survivors who died in the ICU.
Methods: Sampling was done within 1 hour of death under direct vision. Specimens were taken medial to the middle turbinate in the cribriform area and embedded in paraffin blocks and stained by haematoxylin and eosin.
Results: The most frequent histologic finding was the infiltration of inflammatory cells mostly comprised of lymphocytes. Inflammatory infiltration of mucosa was seen in all 11 patients with ulceration in 9 cases and neuritis in 3 cases.
Conclusion: Inflammatory infiltration of olfactory mucosa may be associated with smell manifestations. Further histological studies will clarify the role of the nasal mucosa in the physiopathology of COVID-19 especially olfactory involvement
Otologic Manifestations and Progression in Patients with Wegener’s granulomatosis: A Survey in 55 Patients
No full textIntroduction: Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA; also known as Wegener’s granulomatosis) is a primary systemic vasculitis involving the ear, nose and throat system (ENT) and lower respiratory tract. Because of the lack of knowledge regarding the clinical findings of GPA due to the limited number of studies, the current study was designed to investigate the prevalence and nature of the otology manifestations in the disease course. Materials and Methods: In the current prospective study, patients with a diagnosis of GPA from 2012–2016 were included. A definitive diagnosis was made based on the history, physical examination (otomicroscopy, Rinne and Weber test), audiometry, tympanometry, cytoplasmic and perinuclear anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (C-ANCA and P-ANCA) investigations, and pathologic studies. Results: Twenty-seven male and 28 female patients aged 41.6±15.3 years were enrolled. Ear involvement was found in 20 patients (36.3%), and the most prevalent symptom was loss of hearing followed by otalgia and tinnitus. Tinnitus improved in none of the patients. The most prevalent sign was otitis serous followed by mastoiditis and external otitis. The most important audiometry finding was sensorineural hearing loss. Pathological studies using pulmonary samples were more useful for diagnosis. Conclusions: Precise clinical examination is crucial for the early diagnosis of GPA. Otological manifestations are common, especially loss of hearing and otitis serous, and can be the first sign of this disease. Early diagnosis can lead to better treatment of Wegener’s granulomatosis
Additional file 3 of Excess all-cause mortality and COVID-19 reported fatality in Iran (April 2013–September 2021): age and sex disaggregated time series analysis
No full textAdditional file 3: Figure S2. Weekly all-cause death, COVID-19 reported death, and COVID-19 reported cases from 23 March 2019 to 22 September 2021. Figure S3. Relation of weekly all-cause death and COVID-19 reported mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran (From March 2020 until September 2021
Additional file 2 of Excess all-cause mortality and COVID-19 reported fatality in Iran (April 2013–September 2021): age and sex disaggregated time series analysis
No full textAdditional file 2: Table S2. The seasonal excess death rate, male to female ratio, and COVID-19 reported deaths coverage from winter 2020 to summer 2021. Table S3. Excess deaths at the province level in a year from summer 2020 until spring 2021 in Iran
Additional file 1 of Excess all-cause mortality and COVID-19 reported fatality in Iran (April 2013–September 2021): age and sex disaggregated time series analysis
No full textAdditional file 1: Figure S1. The flow of mortality data through Iran’s death registration system. Table S1. The prediction model and fitness statistics are based on seasonal deaths from 2013 to autumn 2019 in Iran and Iran’s provinces
