It is not often that doctors practising in otolaryngology are recognised in national awards. Hence, it is important for us to celebrate the achievement of the Britain Nepal Otology Service (BRINOS). This UK–Nepal non-government organisation (NGO) has received two prestigious awards at the recent BMJ Group Awards in London: ‘Karen Woo Surgical Team of the Year' and overall ‘UK Medical Team of the Year'.¹ The work of BRINOS has included surgical ‘ear camps' as well as the development of a community ear care programme, and has been well documented in The Journal of Laryngology & Otology.Reference Weir^2–Reference Youngs, Weir, Tharu, Bohara and Bahadur⁴

This issue of the JLO has a number of key review articles highlighting clinical and research aspects of important otolaryngological conditions. Eisele and Richmon emphasise the importance of multidisciplinary involvement in the management of parapharyngeal space neoplasms.Reference Eisele and Richmon⁵ Gonçalves and colleagues review the mechanisms of cisplatin ototoxicity from a theoretical perspective, and conclude that these adverse events proceed via the formation of reactive oxygen species in cochlear tissue, with apoptotic cell death as a consequence.Reference Gonçalves, Silveira, Teixeira and Hyppolito⁶ Louw reviews the molecular events leading to acquired cholesteatoma, and concludes that the role of lipids is relatively unexplored and requires further research.Reference Louw⁷

Finally, Kulkarni and colleagues analyse research output from UK otorhinolaryngologists during the period 2000–2010.Reference Kulkarni, Kulkarni, Ramsden and Silva⁸ The perception of many is that research output has fallen due to many factors, such as funding restriction, difficulty obtaining project approval and changes in training programmes. It is encouraging, therefore, that these authors have found that on a worldwide basis the research output from the UK and Ireland grew by 22.8 per cent during the 10-year study period.