Cure for Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?

Normally, when mammals (including humans) are exposed to very loud sounds, permanent hearing loss may result due to cochlear hair cell injury. However, an experimental drug code-named LY411575 was found to regenerate new hair cells by suppressing a protein called Notch.In essence, this drug restored hearing to mice deafened by loud noise.Listen to an explanation by Harvard researcher Dr. Edge in this video.However, human trials are a very long...

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Submental Intubation [video]

Holy moly... Never realized submental intubation was actually a procedure that really is performed. Check out this video (or watch below) showing a submental intubation being performed.First, an incision is created right below the jawline slightly off from midline. Dissection is bluntly carried right to the floor of the mouth under the tongue. The endotracheal tube is than grasped and pulled through this opening resulting in a submental intubation.Seems quick and elegant with minimal bleeding... but I have some big issues with this procedure....

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ENT Doctor iPhone App Games

This was bound to happen sooner or later… thanks to @hobsonent who brought this to my attention.This Nose Doctor iPhone app game basically is to try and remove nasal hair as well as boogers from different characters' noses using different instruments.Another iPhone app game is Ear Doctor which deals more with ear problems (obviously).Although these iPhone apps makes a game out of it, do ENT doctors actually professionally remove boogers,...

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What are Hot Dogs Made of? Pathological Analysis...

Ever since the publication of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair in 1906 about the US meat industry, there has been a negative connotation on what hot dogs are actually made of. Urban legend will report anything and everything can potentially be found in a hot dog including rats, human extremities, feces, etc.So this begs the question of what really is found inside a hot dog when looked under the microscope to bring light of truth upon this murky question.in...

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Exactly What is Fast Food Hamburger Meat Made of? Pathological Analysis...

I freely admit that in my youth, I loved eating burgers from fast food joints like McDonald's. But after getting married and being encouraged to eat healthier by my wife who felt fast food burgers were unhealthy (disgusting) because they weren't actually made of meat, I've always wondered what hamburger meat was truly made of...Well... a group of pathologists actually performed a pathologic analysis on 8 different fast food hamburger meat. No......

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Nasacort Steroid Nasal Spray to be Available Over-The-Counter!

Sanofi announced today that the FDA has approved Nasacort steroid nasal spray to be made available over-the-counter (OTC) starting sometime spring 2014.Nasacort is a steroid nasal spray used to treat allergies in patients start from the age of 2 years old. It will also be the very first steroid nasal spray made OTC in the United States which can be both a blessing as well as a curse.Why?With Nasacort going OTC which will certainly make it more convenient...

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Surgeons Should be Good at Social Media

Not just surgeons, but also any procedural intensive medical specialties like interventional cardiology and radiology should be reasonably good at social media.Why?Because we have built-in time points within our daily routine schedule that enable such activities.Let me explain... Between every surgical case, there is downtime that lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to as long as 45 minutes.It is the time during which the operating room is being cleaned,...

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First Implantation of Human Artificial Larynx Announced!

Image taken from DNAProTip SAS and Strasbourg University Hospitals announced that a fully artificial larynx was implanted into a human for the first time.Made entirely of titanium, the surgery was performed in two stages into a man with throat cancer that required his entire voicebox to be removed (laryngectomy).Stage 1:In June 2012, the larynx was removed and a titanium tracheal ring was implanted in its place.Stage 2:In November 2012, a removable...

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Ear Tube Placement in Kids WITHOUT Sedation (Starting at 12 Months of Age)

A recent report describes how using a relatively old technology, ear tube placement can now be performed in children starting at 12 months of age with chronic ear infections or hearing loss due to fluid buildup without the need for sedation of any kind nor aggressive restraints (ie papoose). Historically, ear tube placement in the office without sedation is typically performed starting at around 12 years of age using standard local anesthesia...

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Presentation on Social Media Given at AAO-HNS Meeting in Vancouver, BC

It was with great honor and pleasure that I was asked by the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery to co-present a 90 minute long mini-seminar on social media in medicine on October 2, 2013 in Vancouver, BC.Dr. Wendy Stern (Vice Chair - Public Relations Committee of the Board of Governors of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery) along with Dr. John Carter (AAO-HNS Section for Residents and Fellows) organized...

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Aspirin Allergy and Desensitization Protocols

For patients who suffer from terrible allergies, asthma, nasal polyps, and also suffer an allergy to aspirin, desensitization to aspirin can profoundly improve overall allergies and airway hyper-reactivity through an as yet unknown mechanism. It is hypothesized that aspirin desensitization works by decreasing leukotriene production and downregulating cystienyl leukotriene receptors resulting in a decrease in histamine and tryptase release from mast...

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