Background & Objective:Pleomorphic hyalinizing angiectatic tumor (PHAT) is a rare fibrohistiocytic neoplasm, classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a "neoplasm of uncertain behavior of connective or soft tissue" within the soft tissue and bone tumor group. A literature review via Scopus and PubMed revealed approximately 133 reported cases worldwide, affecting individuals aged 10 to 86 years, with a slight female predominance and wide anatomical distribution. Case Presentation:We report a series of 4 PHAT cases, the first from India and the fourth largest globally. The cases include a 37-year-old male with a large upper abdominal wall mass, a 46-year-old male with a forearm swelling, a 36-year-old female with a lower leg mass, and a 40-year-old male with a lower abdominal mass. Histopathology showed characteristic features, including ectatic vessels, hyalinization, and pleomorphic spindle cells. Conclusion:Given its rarity and histologic overlap with other tumors, increased awareness and accurate histopathological diagnosis of PHAT are essential.
In an uncontrolled scenario like hospitals, medical research centres, laboratories, forensics, the voice recordings are normally affected with babble noise. Most of the speech enhancement (SE) methods are limited by the colour noise due to non-consideration of phase aspect. Hence, the objective of the work is to depict a more efficient and compact SE method through the comparative study of conventional SE methods taking into account of both continuous speech and sustained vowels. This approach is supported with supervised voice activity detection (VAD). The study includes an experimental investigation of time and transform-based seven conventional methods. This approach consists of pre-processing, SE evaluation block and supervised VAD section. The speech segments are efficiently detected by VAD using bio-inspired Mel frequency cepstral coefficients and nonlinear features with support vector machine. This supervised VAD helps in reliable estimation of SNR-based parameters. The performance of each of the methods is evaluated with continuous NOIZEUS corpus at varying signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels, laryngeal pathology-based data from Saarbruecken voice database and voice disorder data collected from cancer hospitals. Experimental results show that the performance of the Wiener filtering and geometrical-based SE methods is found to be better comparatively, as far as continuous and sustained vowels are concerned with babble noise. The paper also reveals the significant involvement of nonlinear features in VAD, as the nonlinear dynamical methods are capable of analysing irregular behaviours of vocal cords.
Objective: To analyze the pathological response and clinical outcomes in patients receiving Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery in locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: Retrospective study of prospectively collected data of 87 patients who received Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery in locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma from 2018 to 2021 was done in the department of head and neck surgery. The pathological response to Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was assessed and classified into complete response, partial response and no response. Pathological response and its prognostic importance with various parameters were evaluated. Results: Total number of 87 patients received Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery for locally advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma, 58 cases were of buccoalveolar complex, 27 were of tongue and 2 were of metastasis of unknown origin , complete response to Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was seen in 4 tongue and 2 buccoalveolar complex and 2 metastasis of unknown origin cases, partial response to Neoadjuvant chemotherapy was seen in 35 buccoalveolar complex and 11 tongue cases. Out of total 87 patients 25 patients defaulted adjuvant therapy and did not completed prescribed treatment and were lost to follow up. 62 patients who completed treatment and follow up, 38 (61.2%) patients were present in the complete (6) and partial response (32) group, rest (24) in no response group. In the median follow up period of 42 months, the complete and partial response group patients showed better overall survival (P = 0.058) and disease-free survival (P = 0.174) then the no response group overall survival (P = 0.058) and disease-free survival (P = 0.174) but statistically no significant changes amongst group were observed. Conclusion: The lesions of the tongue are better responding to buccoavleolar complex lesions in complete response groups. disease-free survival and overall survival are higher in the complete response group compared to no response group.
Background: Aim of the research was to study the incidence of hearing loss in high risk children up to 5 years age and determine the common etiological factors associated with it. Methods: Total 140 neonates falling under the norms of inclusion criteria and the children brought by parents with suspicion of having impaired hearing were subjected to thorough history taking and clinical examination followed by audiological examination in the form of otoacoustic emission (OAE) and brainstem evoked response audiometry (BERA). Those showing REFER or FAIL were subjected to BERA. Results were documented accordingly and analysed for identifying the common risk factors and degree of hearing loss. Results: Maximum number of subjects with hearing loss were in the age group of 25-36 months age. Most common risk factor found was Consanguinity and most common postnatal risk factor was found to be hyperbilirubinemia. When compared to BERA, sensitivity of DPOAE was 97.59%, and the specificity was 92.98%. Conclusions: Universal hearing screening of neonates at birth in the form of DPOAE and followed by BERA can reduce the average age of diagnosis of hearing loss and therefore, can provide an opportunity to initiate an appropriate rehabilitative program.
AIM:The second Asia-Pacific Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APAC APCCC 2020) gathered insights into the real-world application in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region of consensus statements from the 3rd Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC 2019). METHODS:The 4-h our virtual meeting in October 2020 brought together 26 experts from 14 APAC countries to discuss APCCC 2019 recommendations. Presentations were prerecorded and viewed prior to the meeting. A postmeeting survey gathered views on current practice. RESULTS:The meeting and survey highlighted several developments since APAC APCCC 2018. Increased access and use in the region of PSMA PET/CT imaging is providing additional diagnostic and staging information for advanced prostate cancer and influencing local and systemic therapy choices. Awareness of oligometastatic disease, although not clearly defined, is increasing. Novel androgen receptor pathway antagonists are expanding treatment options. Cost and access to contemporary treatments and technologies continue to be a significant factor influencing therapeutic decisions in the region. With treatment options increasing, multidisciplinary treatment planning, shared decision making, and informed choice remain critical. A discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted challenges for diagnosis, treatment, and clinical trials and new service delivery models that will continue beyond the pandemic. CONCLUSION:APAC-specific prostate cancer research and data are important to ensure that treatment guidelines and recommendations reflect local populations and resources. Facilitated approaches to collaboration across the region such as that achieved through APAC APCCC meetings continue to be a valuable mechanism to ensure the relevance of consensus guidelines within the region.
