RESEARCH PRIZES 2012 of the EUROPEAN RHINOLOGIC SOCIETY

The European Rhinologic Society biennally awards two Research Prizes; one is awarded for original basic research, and the second for original clinical research in the field of Rhinology.

In 2012 again, these prizes will be awarded, and therefore ENT Residents and Fellows are kindly requested to apply. Entries will have to meet the following conditions:

• Only candidates below the age of 40 years can apply. They should be members of the ERS (e.g. Junior Members)
• Each applicant is allowed one entry. The author indicates whether the paper is a basic research or a clinical study. (We define clinical research as studies that deal with patients or normal subjects in a clinical set-up, whereas basic research refers to studies performed with either animals or tissues taken from patients or normal subjects. )
• Entries are to be submitted in the form of a scientific paper. Papers that have been accepted for publication by an international scientific journal will also be considered. Scientific papers - as well as supplements and Ph.D.-theses - that have already been published are excluded from competition.
• The research paper submitted is either the result of individual research activities or resulting from a team effort. In the latter case the first author will be considered as the nominee.
• The executive Committee of the European Rhinologic Society, supported by a number of invited experts, will act as the jury and will select both prize winners.
• The prizes, each of which amounts to Euro 1.500,- will be awarded during te Opening Ceremony of the forthcoming ERS congress at Toulouse, France 17-06-2012 – 21-06-2012.

Laureates are waived of registration fee of the congress,a free membership of the ERS and free subscription for Rhinology for the year 2012 and they receive a bank cheque. Conditions and details are published in Rhinology.

Please send you contribution digital to: v.lund@ucl.ac.uk with a copy to m.b.vanhuiden@amc.uva.nl
Papers should be directed before: April 1^st 2012.

BACKGROUND: Loss of sense of smell is one of the most frequent complaints in patients with nasal polyposis (NP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of asthma and its severity on the sense of smell.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients with massive NP and healthy controls were included. More than half of patients presented with asthma. Olfactometry by Barcelona Smell Test 24, nasal symptoms score, nasal endoscopy, allergy study, and paranasal sinus CT scan were assessed.
RESULTS: NP patients showed a significant impairment in smell detection, identification, and forced choice compared to the control. Asthmatics reported lower scores for detection, identification, and forced choice than non-asthmatic patients. Patients with persistent asthma had an increased impairment of sense of smell on detection, identification, and forced choice than patients with intermittent asthma. No significant differences were found between mild, moderate, and severe persistent asthmatics. Paranasal sinuses opacification was inversely correlated with smell detection, identification and forced choice.
CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that patients with NP have an impaired sense of smell, that asthma -particularly persistent asthma- has a further impact on sense of smell, and that loss of smell may be used as a clinical tool to identify the severity of both NP and asthma.

The differences in the shape and size of the nose have been proposed to be an adaptation to climate with broad noses (platyrrhine) evolving in a warm humid environment where there was little need for air conditioning and narrow noses (leptorrhine) evolving in colder climates where the air needed more warming. The main aim of this research was to determine if there was any relationship between the shape of the nose as expressed in terms of nasal height and width (nasal index) and total nasal airway resistance (NAR), as one would predict that the narrower leptorrhine noses would have a greater resistance to air flow than the broader platyrrhine noses. It was also proposed that the narrow leptorrhine nose would have better developed vascular tissue than the broad platyrrhine nose in order to condition cold air, and would exhibit a greater response to nasal decongestion. No correlation was found between nasal index and NAR (r = -0.09) and similarly no correlation was found between nasal index and response to a topical nasal decongestant (r = 0.02). The absence of any physiological differences between the different nose types may be due to acclimatisation of participants to the area of recruitment.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of smoking on long-term outcomes of endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis.
METHODS: The study prospectively enrolled 274 patients at the Department of Otolaryngology of the Warsaw Medical University from 1993 to 2000. All patients were diagnosed with chronic rhinosinusitis and scheduled for the endoscopic sinus surgery. We evaluated subgroups of patients with respect to bronchial asthma, allergy, aspirin triad, gastro-esophageal reflux disease and nasal septal deviation. Patients were divided into smokers and non-smokers. Patient CT scan results were recorded according to the four-grade classification system by Kennedy. Patients were observed over a period between 2 to 9 years following the surgical intervention and had their surgery revised if the severity of symptoms were at the same level or worsened.
RESULTS: Prior to endoscopic sinus surgery, 23% of smokers and 20% of non-smokers scored III or IV on the Kennedy Scale. The revision ESS was carried out in 27 patients. In this group there were 20% smokers and 7% non-smokers, with the difference being significant. There was no significant difference in the postoperative quality of life scale scores.
CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that while smoking did not influence preoperative symptoms, smokers had worse postoperative outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Intestinal-type sinonasal adenocarcinoma (ITAC) is an epithelial cancer of the sinonasal sinuses that shows histological similarity to colorectal cancer (CRC) and share chronic inflammation as a possible etiological factor. The Wnt-pathway is one of the most important tumourigenic pathways in CRC. The aim of this study was to investigate if the Wnt-pathway is activated in ITAC.
METHODOLOGY: Protein expression profiles of E-cadherin, β-catenin, c-myc and cyclin D1 were analysed by immunohistochemistry in 83 samples of ITAC, organized into tissue microarray blocks.
RESULTS: Nuclear β-catenin expression was observed in 31% of the cases and was twice as frequent in papillary/colonic ITAC compared to solid/mucinous subtypes. Loss of membranous β-catenin staining occurred in 24% and loss of membranous E-cadherin in 6% of the cases and this was more prominent in mucinous types. Strong c-myc and cyclin D1 expression was observed in 30% and 4% of the cases, respectively. Nuclear β-catenin expression was significantly related to poor clinical outcome, independent from established factors as tumour stage and histological type.
CONCLUSION: The presence of nuclear β-catenin in 31% of patients with ITACs indicated that in a subset of patients, the Wnt-pathway is active and conveys a worse prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Recently, solitary chemosensory cells have been described in the respiratory and vomeronasal epithelium of the rodent nose. Expressing G-protein coupled receptors for sweet, umami and bitter taste transduction, these cells are thought to mediate trigeminal reflexes upon stimulation with chemical irritants. The present study analyzes human nasal mucosa for the presence of solitary chemosensory cells.
METHODOLOGY: In human tissue samples from respiratory mucosa and the vomeronasal organ, gene expression of taste receptors families was studied in five patients using the Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST Array and immunohistochemistry with specific antibodies.
RESULTS: Immunohistochemistry revealed that solitary chemosensory cells expressing G-protein coupled receptors for sweet, umami and bitter taste transduction are present in the human nose. cDNA microarray analysis congruently showed that cells expressing bitter taste receptors accumulate in the vomeronasal organ compared to the respiratory epithelium. CONCLUSIONS: Solitary chemosensory cells expressing taste receptors are also present in the human nose. Since they are thought to mediate trigeminal reflexes, their role in the pathogenesis of nasal hyperreagibility should be elucidated in further studies.