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Objectives: The specific objectives of the study are to examine the mental health (depression and anxiety) of the first generation of post-Taliban government and compare these measures with its preceding generation, and to assess war experience of the first generation of post-Taliban government. We also wanted to assess the daily stressors and their contribution to the mental health, and to assess mental health as a result of war experiences and daily stressors with respect to demographic measures such as sex, marital status, age, mother's age, birth order, and ethnicities. Methods: In a cross-sectional design, 621 high school students, were randomly selected to participate in the study to assess war experience, daily stressors, and mental health among the first generation of young adults under post-Taliban government. Results: The participants had 17.37 ± 0.9 mean years of ages, 94.8% of them were unmarried. Poor mental health was significantly associated with higher exposure to war, but not with the age of participants (P = 0.08). There was no association between war experiences and the age and ethnicity of our participants (p = 0.9, p = 0.7). Age differences were negligible for daily stressors too (P = 0.07). Daily stressors scores were higher for female than male students (P = 0.02). The majority of young adults surveyed, declared themselves in agreement with statements such as the security situation in Afghanistan makes me frustrated (56%), air pollution as a concern (41%), and not having anyone to talk about what is in their heart (28.8%). Gender differences were highly significant for mental health, as appraised by both The Hopkins Symptoms Checklist (HSCL) –depression and HSCL-anxiety. Girls presented higher rates of depression, anxiety, and daily stressors than boys, and boys presented higher rates of war experiences than girls. Conclusion: War experience, daily stressors, and mental health were irrelevant with age, ethnicity and marital status. Factor such as being the first-born child of the family, higher reported war experiences, and daily stressors all negatively impact mental health. Alongside war and its direct effects, the existing socio-cultural context must be considered as a potential factor mediating the mental health of girls in Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cholesteatoma is a benign tumoral lesion of squamous epithelial cells in middle ear that can exist as congenital or acquired forms. A 35-year-old housewife presented to ENT clinic of a private hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, with a complete facial nerve paralysis in the right side. In her antecedents, there is a tympanomastoidectomy due to chronic middle ear infection. First symptom was right side earache without any discharge. She started to notice a progressive nodule in the posterior-inferior side of her right ear. The patient was taken to the operating room. She underwent general anesthesia, an extensive cholesteatoma was removed, and a limited area of the fallopian canal in which facial nerve oedema or redness was evident. Post-operative House Brackmann grade was 1 on day 15 after the surgery. Cholesteatoma is primarily managed surgically and currently there is no suitable medical substitute treatment strategy for cholesteatoma. Hearing improvement, making the ear dry and total omission of cholesteatoma are primary goals of surgical interventions in cholesteatoma management. Cholesteatoma after surgical manipulations of middle ear is a rare complication with notable morbidity that has been reported almost from all around the world but our patient is the first reported case of cholesteatoma formation after surgical management of COM from Afghanistan that presented with facial nerve paralysis and hear decline. • Although cholesteatoma is a benign tumoral lesion of middle ear it can cause serious morbidity. • Facial nerve paralysis after otologic surgical interventions should make physicians suspicious to cholesteatoma formation. • There is not any medical substitution for surgery in management of cholesteatoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]