This study evaluated the effects of the diameter of facial canal segments on the ipsilateral recurrence of idiopathic peripheral facial paralysis.

This study enrolled 20 patients with ipsilateral recurrent idiopathic peripheral facial paralysis. Measurements were made at the meatal foramen and mid-level of the labyrinthine segment and the narrowest and widest diameters of the mastoid and tympanic segments using the curved planar reformation technique with high-resolution computed tomography.

The diameters of the labyrinthine segment measured at the meatal foramen and mid-level segments and the narrowest and widest diameters of the tympanic and mastoid segments on the recurrent paralytic side were significantly smaller than the diameters of the segments on the healthy side.

The narrowness of the facial canal segments may be a risk factor in recurrent idiopathic peripheral facial paralysis.

In our study, we intended to observe the impact of recommending the pneumococcal vaccine to individuals who were called on the phone or interviewed face-to-face by their doctors on vaccination rates.

Two hundred individuals who were 65 years old and older were included in our study. They were questioned about their awareness regarding adult immunisation, and their knowledge level and vaccination statuses were determined regarding the tetanus, influenza, hepatitis, and pneumococcal vaccines. After they were given information about the pneumococcal vaccine, they were asked about their interest in being vaccinated. Those who agreed to be vaccinated were invited and vaccinated.

According to the questionnaire, 150 people (75%) knew of the influenza vaccine, 130 people (65%) knew of the tetanus vaccine, 53 people (26.5%) knew of the hepatitis B vaccine, and 49 people (24.5%) knew of the pneumococcal vaccine. A total of five people (2.5%) had received the pneumococcal vaccine. Fifty-eight of 97 patients (59.8%) who completed the questionnaire during a phone call and 84 of 103 patients (81.6%) who completed the questionnaire during a face-to-face interview received the pneumococcal vaccine. As a result, the rates of pneumococcal vaccination increased from 2.5% before the study to 73.5% after the study.

The findings show that the vaccination rates for pneumococcus were very low among our participants. The immunisation rates increased when doctors provided consultation to participants about adult immunisation.

Possible therapeutic and protective benefits of intratympanic autologous serum application in amikacin-induced ototoxicity were investigated.

Twenty-four guinea pigs were separated equally into two groups: therapeutic (group A) and protective (group B). Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions were recorded before and after autologous serum application. Apoptotic cells were identified in the organ of Corti, spiral limbus and spiral ganglion by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling (‘TUNEL’) method.

Transient evoked otoacoustic emission responses at 1, 1.4 and 2.8 kHz improved without significance after autologous serum application in group A (p > 0.05). A significantly protective effect of autologous serum was determined at 4 kHz in group B (p < 0.05). There were significantly fewer apoptotic cells at the spiral limbus in the therapeutic and protective groups compared to the control group (p < 0.05).

Autologous serum may offer protection against ototoxicity-induced hearing loss, but it cannot restore hearing. Immunohistochemically, autologous serum significantly decreases activation of the intrinsic pathway of pro-apoptotic signalling in mesenchymal cells compared to neurons and neurosensory cells.

This study aimed to describe the results of a retrospective analysis of a specific cohort of patients with benign lip lesions encountered in the last 15 years in the School of Medicine at Karadeniz Technical University.

A total of 312 patients were managed for lip lesions during the period 2000–2014. Data from 160 samples of benign lip biopsies were retrieved from the pathology laboratory records.

The study group included 20 different histopathological types of lesions, with mucocele being the most frequent lesion (43.13 per cent). The other frequent lesions were chronic inflammatory infiltrate (11.25 per cent), intradermal naevus (5.63 per cent), pyogenic granuloma (5.63 per cent), fibroma (5 per cent) and papilloma (5 per cent). Mucocele was significantly more common in younger patients (p < 0.001).

Knowledge of the epidemiology and distribution of oral mucosal lesions is essential to promote early diagnosis and treatment. Further epidemiological studies exploring the causal relationships and risk factors for lip lesions are necessary for a better understanding of lip diseases.

This study aimed to assess the histopathological effect of OK-432 (Picibanil) on rabbit nasal turbinates.

A total of 21 rabbits were divided into 3 treatment groups and various parts of both nasal turbinates were injected with 0.5 ml OK-432, 0.2 ml OK-432 or 0.6 ml saline (control). Bilateral nasal turbinates were later excised and studied under light microscopy to assess any histopathological changes.

Animals in the 0.2 ml and 0.5 ml OK-432 groups exhibited mild ciliary loss, goblet cell loss and epithelial damage, and a marked increase in inflammatory cell infiltration, submucosal vascularisation and fibrosis. There was a significant difference in histopathological changes between the two OK-432 treated groups. In addition, each OK-432 treated group had significantly more inflammatory cell infiltration, increased submucosal vascularisation and fibrosis compared with controls.

The marked fibrosis observed in OK-432-injected turbinates may be responsible for a reduction in turbinate size.

This study aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of maxillary sinus hypoplasia and isolated agenesis of the uncinate process in sinusitis aetiology.

Three patients with isolated agenesis of the uncinate process and 27 patients with 43 maxillary sinus hypoplasia variations were recruited. The frequencies of sinusitis episodes and radiological findings were compared between patient subgroups.

In all, 23 type I maxillary sinus hypoplasia, 13 type II maxillary sinus hypoplasia and 7 type III maxillary sinus hypoplasia variations were detected. Patients with isolated agenesis of the uncinate process underwent antibiotic treatment an average of 7 times per year, whereas those with types I, II and III maxillary sinus hypoplasia were treated 1.57, 3.22, and 5.75 times per year, respectively, over a 5-year period. The antibiotic treatment frequency for patients with isolated agenesis of the uncinate process was significantly higher than for those with types I and II maxillary sinus hypoplasia.

Isolated agenesis of the uncinate process seems to play a stronger role than types I and II maxillary sinus hypoplasia in the pathophysiology of chronic sinusitis.

This study aimed to determine whether or not the middle cranial fossa dural plate is located lower (i.e. more caudally) in patients with chronic otitis media, relative to adjacent structures.

The authors retrospectively investigated computed tomography temporal bone scans of 267 ears of 206 patients who had undergone surgery with a diagnosis of chronic otitis media, together with scans of 222 ears of 111 patients without chronic otitis media. The depth of the middle cranial fossa dural plates was recorded.

The mean depth of the middle cranial fossa dural plate was 4.59 mm in the study group and 2.71 mm in the control group (p < 0.001). The middle cranial fossa dural plate was located lower in the right ear in both the study and control groups.

The middle cranial fossa dural plate was located lower in patients with chronic otitis media, and in the right ears of both patients and controls. Surgeons should take this low location into consideration, and take extra care, during relevant surgery on patients with chronic otitis media.