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Objectives: The study aims to provide insights into the characteristics of Polish patients with different salivary gland pathologies. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective study conducted at a single center, including patients who underwent surgery for salivary gland pathologies between 2012 and 2022. Results: This study included 239 patients who underwent surgery for salivary gland tumors or inflammatory diseases. Malignant tumors were diagnosed in 9.8% of participants, while 64% had benign tumors and 21% suffered from inflammation. The occurrence of complications after surgery was relatively low, with 9.9% of participants experiencing slight facial weakness or mild dysfunction, and 3% experiencing complete paralysis of the facial nerves. Significant differences were observed between patients with cancers and those with benign tumors and inflammation in terms of age. Cancers were more common in females (67% vs. 33%) and predominantly localized in the parotid glands (95%). Conclusion: Benign tumors, such as Warthin's tumors and polymorphous adenoma, were predominantly found in the parotid glands of patients aged 39–72 years. On the other hand, inflammatory diseases were primarily localized within the submandibular glands of males aged 40–68 years. Additionally, the presence of a malignant tumor was associated with longer hospitalization periods related to surgery and a higher risk of severe complications. Clinical relevance: This study on Polish patients with salivary gland tumors provides valuable clinical insights that can aid in diagnosis, treatment planning, patient counseling, and further research in the field of oncology. It contributes to the overall understanding of salivary gland tumors, potentially benefiting both patients and healthcare providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the HYSPLIT model was used to reproduce birch pollen concentrations in Poland for the years 2015 and 2016, where there was significant variation in terms of pollen concentrations and start/end dates of the pollen season. The analysis of pollen observations showed that the seasonal pollen integral (SPIn) was low in 2015 with a shorter season compared to 2016. In 2016, SPIn was unusually high. The HYSPLIT model simulation, with a one-hour temporal resolution, was conducted during the birch pollen season (from March to May) for 2015 and 2016. Meteorological data were obtained from the WRF model. The birch coverage map of the European Forest Institute was used. The emission, introduced to the model, covered Central Europe with a resolution of 0.3° × 0.3°. The results were compared to data from 11 observation stations in Poland. The measured birch pollen concentrations for 2015 were overestimated by HYSPLIT at 8 of the 11 stations (normalized mean bias/NMB from 0.13 to 2.53) and underestimated for three stations (NMB from − 0.44 to − 0.15). For 2016, the model highly underestimated the pollen concentrations, with NMB ranging from − 0.45 to − 0.93. In general, the results show that the model can resolve the main peaks of pollen concentrations, which is a step forward in the application of the HYSPLIT model for birch pollen forecasting over Poland. We suggest the application of methods that can reduce the bias of temperature such as meteorological data assimilation or bias correction, which could improve calculation of the start of emissions and consequently the start of the pollen season as well as pollen concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, allergies due to airborne pollen allergens have shown an increasing trend, along with the severity of allergic symptoms in most industrialized countries, while synergism with other common atmospheric pollutants has also been identified as affecting the overall quality of citizenly life. In this study, we propose the state-of-the-art WRF-Chem model, which is a complex Eulerian meteorological model integrated on-line with atmospheric chemistry. We used a combination of the WRF-Chem extended towards birch pollen, and the emission module based on heating degree days, which has not been tested before. The simulations were run for the moderate season in terms of birch pollen concentrations (year 2015) and high season (year 2016) over Central Europe, which were validated against 11 observational stations located in Poland. The results show that there is a big difference in the model's performance for the two modelled years. In general, the model overestimates birch pollen concentrations for the moderate season and highly underestimates birch pollen concentrations for the year 2016. The model was able to predict birch pollen concentrations for first allergy symptoms (above 20 pollen m−3) as well as for severe symptoms (above 90 pollen m−3) with probability of detection at 0.78 and 0.68 and success ratio at 0.75 and 0.57, respectively for the year 2015. However, the model failed to reproduce these parameters for the year 2016. The results indicate the potential role of correcting the total seasonal pollen emission in improving the model's performance, especially for specific years in terms of pollen productivity. The application of chemical transport models such as WRF-Chem for pollen modelling provides a great opportunity for simultaneous simulations of chemical air pollution and allergic pollen with one goal, which is a step forward for studying and understanding the co-exposure of these particles in the air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of minimally invasive procedures such as the balloon dilation Eustachian tuboplasty (BET) is an alternative to the grommet tympanum membrane. BET is applied in the cases where, after elimination of all factors influencing the ET and middle ear functioning, no sufficient improvement is observed. The aim of this study was to present the therapeutic benefits of the BET method in the treatment of ETD caused by disorders in the middle ear ventilation. The BET procedure was offered to four patients (3 men and 1 woman) after subjective, physical, otorhinolaryngological and audiometric examinations including pure tone audiometry, tympanometry and pressure-swallow test. As the method was novel, preinterventional CT angiography of the carotid arteries was performed in all patients. Any complications were noticed during and after the procedure (bleeding or damage of regional mucosa) in any patients. Our clinical studies assessed the feasibility and safety of the BET during a short-term period-only a 6-week observation. Although patients revealed a significant improvement of ET score, longer long-term studies are necessary to determine whether this method will demonstrate lasting benefits and safety in the treatment of chronic Eustachian tube dysfunction. In other investigations, improvement was found to be time dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim is to determine the efficacy and pain level associated with the use of dissolvable carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) foam dressing in functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) in adult patients. In the present prospective study, 60 patients with bilateral chronic rhinosinusitis were included. All patients underwent bilateral FESS. Thirty patients had both nasal cavities packed with dissolvable CMC foam (CMCF) and another 30 patients had their nasal cavities packed with routine nasal packing (RNP) in latex glove fingers. The haemostatic effect of the CMCF was assessed during the recovery period, and pain levels were recorded by the patients on a visual analogue scale 24 h after surgery. The prevalence of postoperative middle meatal synechia formation was assessed 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks after the operation. Four (13.3%) of the patients packed with CMCF had primary postoperative bleeding during the recovery period and required additional dressing. Bleeding appeared in two (6.7%) patients packed with RNP. The mean level of pain was 0.962 (range 0–4) for patients packed with CMCF but was 5.5 (range 3–9) for patients packed with RNP. Four (6.7%) of 26 CMCF patients and 10 (35.7%) of 28 RNP patients developed a synechia in the middle meatus. We found that dissolvable CMC foam dressing is associated with very low levels of localised pain and with low levels of postoperative bleeding and synechia formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]