BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Patulous Eustachian tube (PET) causes troublesome autophony. We treated PET using tragal cartilage chip insertion to fill in the concavity within the tubal valve and evaluated the feasibility of this method. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study used a prospective design. Eleven patients with PET disorder were included. Tragal cartilage chip insertion via a transcanal approach into the Eustachian tube (ET) was performed in 14 ears of those patients. They were followed-up for at least 12 months after surgery and were evaluated by symptom questionnaire scores. RESULTS: The average follow-up was 16.4 months. Thirteen of fourteen ears received immediate complete relief of autophony symptoms. Autophony symptoms at the last follow-up were as follows: four ears (28.6%) had complete relief; five ears (35.7%) showed satisfactory improvement; four ears (28.6%) showed significant but unsatisfactory improvement; and one ear (7.1%) was unchanged. The PET symptom questionnaire in the affected ears showed a significant reduction in autophony (p=0.047) and improvement in breathing sound conduction (p=0.047). There were no complications such as otitis media or occlusion symptom. CONCLUSIONS: Transtympanic cartilage chip insertion into the ET provides a safe and accessible surgical option for the treatment of PET.
Cartilage ; Ear ; Eustachian Tube ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Methods ; Otitis Media ; Prospective Studies ; Respiratory Sounds

Pneumocephalus is commonly seen after craniofacial injury. The pathogenesis of pneumocephalus has been debated as to whether it was caused by ball valve effect or combined episodic increased pressure within the nasopharynx on coughing. Discontinuous exchange of air and cerebrospinal fluid due to “inverted bottle” effect is assumed to be the cause of it. Delayed tension pneumocephalus is not common, but it requires an active management in order to prevent serious complication. We represent a clinical case of a 57-year-old male patient who fell down from 3 m height, complicated by tension pneumocephalus on 5 months after trauma. We recommend a surgical intervention, but the patient did not want that so we observe the patient. The patient was underwent seizure and meningitis after 7 months after trauma, he came on emergency room on stupor mentality. Tension pneumocephalus may result in a neurologic disturbance due to continued air entrainment and it significantly the likelihood of intracranial infection caused by continued open channel. Tension pneumocephalus threat a life, so need a neurosurgical emergency surgical intervention.
Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak ; Cough ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Emergencies ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Humans ; Male ; Meningitis ; Middle Aged ; Nasopharynx ; Pneumocephalus* ; Seizures ; Stupor

Adoptive cell therapy with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells (CAR-Ts) has emerged as an innovative immunotherapy for hematological cancer treatment. However, the limited effect on solid tumors, complex processes, and excessive manufacturing costs remain as limitations of CAR-T therapy. Nanotechnology provides an alternative to the conventional CAR-T therapy. Owing to their unique physicochemical properties, nanoparticles can not only serve as a delivery platform for drugs but also target specific cells. Nanoparticle-based CAR therapy can be applied not only to T cells but also to CAR-natural killer and CAR-macrophage, compensating for some of their limitations. This review focuses on the introduction of nanoparticle-based advanced CAR immune cell therapy and future perspectives on immune cell reprogramming.

PURPOSE: The high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein has roles in apoptosis and immune responses by acting as a ligand for receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), Toll-like receptors (TLRs), and triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1. In particular, HMGB1/RAGE is involved in tumor metastasis by inducing matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) and MMP9 expression. We investigated the associations between genetic variations in HMGB1-related genes and disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in Korean female breast cancer patients. METHODS: A total of 2,027 patients in the Seoul Breast Cancer Study were included in the analysis. One hundred sixteen single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were extracted from eight genes. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI) of each SNP. The effects of the SNPs on breast cancer prognosis were assessed at cumulative levels with polygenic risk scores. RESULTS: The SNPs significantly associated with DFS were rs243867 (hazard ratio, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.05–1.50) and rs243842 (hazard ratio, 1.24; 95% CI, 1.03–1.50); both SNPs were in MMP2. The SNPs significantly associated with OS were rs243842 in MMP2 (hazard ratio, 1.33; 95% CI 1.03–1.71), rs4145277 in HMGB1 (hazard ratio, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.00–1.66), rs7656411 in TLR2 (hazard ratio, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.60–0.98), and rs7045953 in TLR4 (hazard ratio, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.29–0.84). The polygenic risk score results for the DFS and OS patients showed third tertile hazard ratios of 1.72 (95% CI, 1.27–2.34) and 2.75 (95% CI, 1.79–4.23), respectively, over their first tertile references. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicate that genetic polymorphisms in HMGB1-related genes are related to breast cancer prognosis in Korean women.
Advanced Glycosylation End Product-Specific Receptor ; Apoptosis ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease* ; Genetic Variation ; HMGB1 Protein ; Humans ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; Myeloid Cells ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Polymorphism, Genetic ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Prognosis* ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Seoul ; Toll-Like Receptors