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Are biofilms present in deep neck abscesses?

Why are some cervical abscesses resistant to antibiotic treatment? The authors postulate that a biofilm develops to allow the bacteria to overcome normal host defences. They investigated the micro-environment of deep neck abscesses in a largely paediatric cohort. Biopsies of...

Sublingual gland tumour resection

This paper from South Korea analyses the pathology arising from 20 malignant sublingual gland tumours. Adenoid cystic carcinoma followed by mucoepidermoid carcinomas were the most common. Tumour invasion into the lingual nerve was detected in 40% of cases, and into...

Piezoelectric saw reducing sensory disturbance in mandibular osteotomies

This paper from Seattle in the United States looked at 20 patients with a mean age of 19.9 +/- 3.2 years with a fairly standard surgical movement. They found that functional sensory recovery of the inferior alveolar nerve resulted in...

Inner ear immunity

There is much speculation regarding the ear’s immune response. The environment in which we live and breathe is getting ever more complex; aspects such as the percentage of the population with autoimmune conditions are on the rise and, therefore, it...

Diana Deutsch

Audiologists think about sound a lot. In fact, it is a bit of an occupational hazard. The majority of that time is usually devoted to thinking about sound in a purely functional sense (for example, adjusting a hearing aid to...

Small but significant

These authors try to circumnavigate the conundrum of what is influenced by what. For something so small, the impact of the Stria Vascularis cannot be understated. The difficulty in reviewing the influence of loop diuretics or aminoglycosides on the Stria...

TMJ arthrocentesis

This is a paper from Brazil where they attempted to clarify the volume required for an arthrocentesis to the temporomandibular joint. Nineteen cadavers had methylene blue injected into the upper joint space. Conventional arthrocentesis was then conducted with 300ml of...

Prevention better than cure?

This systematic review looks at methods of ‘barrier protection’ or ‘barrier-enforcing’ to minimise allergic rhinitis symptoms, using 15 RCTs. Whilst the authors admit that patient numbers were small in a number of these studies, generally it seems that barrier techniques...

Fibula free flap virtual or freehand planning and the efficiency of surgery

This is a systematic review from surgeons in Italy and Florida where, from an initial 799 potentially relevant articles, only six could be included. Efficiency was assessed by the mean ischemia time which, for the virtual group, was 73.8 minutes,...

A classification of a new cell - the retrosphenoid cell

This is a concise paper which describes a previously undefined type of cell within the sphenoethmoidal complex. It identifies the retrosphenoid cell, differentiated from an Onodi cell by being entirely within the posterior wall of the sphenoid sinus, lying between...

Smell training is also effective in older patients

Olfactory loss is a common problem with a significant impact on quality of life. It has been demonstrated that olfactory training (OT) improves olfactory function in younger patients, but this study focuses in on patients aged 45 years and older....