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Background: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) is an important complication of low-dose aspirin. There are few and conflicting results about the etiology of UGIB in relation to low-dose aspirin. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the upper gastrointestinal endoscopy of patients taking low-dose aspirin who developed UGIB. Materials and Methods: The medical records of patients with UGIB who referred to Fatemieh Hospital, Semnan, Iran during 2001-2011 were studied and eligible patients were enrolled to the study. The endoscopic data were extracted and compared between the patients taking low-dose aspirin and who were not taking aspirin (control). Results: 419 cases were studied. 58 (13.8%) patients consumed low-dose aspirin and 204 (48.7%) patients did not consume aspirin. The average age of the patients who received low-dose aspirin and those in the control groups were 65.9 ± 5.9 and 50.4 ± 22.3 years, respectively (p = 0.000). 46.6% and 32.4% of the patients in low-dose aspirin and control groups were women, respectively, and the remaining patients were men (p > 0.05). The main endoscopic findings in low-dose aspirin and control groups were erosions of the stomach, duodenum, and esophagus (55.9% and 51.7%) and peptic ulcer (50% and 43.6%), respectively. The other findings such as neoplasia, Mallory Weiss, and hiatal hernia were uncommon (1.7% and 5.9%). The prevalence of endoscopic findings was not statistically significant between the two groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion: In this small study, although patients with UGIB and low-dose aspirin consumption had more peptic ulcers and erosions in comparison with the control group, the difference was not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Rhinosinus polyposis is associated with voice quality reduction. There has been little evidence about the efficacy of rhinosinus polyps surgery on patients' voice quality so far. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the nasality and acoustic voice changes after rhinosinus polyposis surgery., Materials and Methods: The population in this study composed of 30 eligible patients with rhinosinusitis and rhinosinus polyposiss. The functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) was the therapeutic intervention. Acoustic voice parameters were jitter (%), shimmer (db), noise to harmonic ratio (NHR), and fundamental frequency (F0) for the vowels [a, o, e, aa, ie, and ou]. For nasality evaluation, the articulation of vowel [a] was examined using nasometer device. The changes regarding the patients' voice were evaluated one day before and one month after the surgery., Results: The mean age of the participants was 41.2±14.3 years. Considering gender distribution, 20 (66.7%) subjects were men. After the operation, the nasality increased significantly from 40.8% to 74.3% (P<0.001). In addition, the findings revealed the increase of shimmer and F0 (P>0.05). On the other hand, jitter and NHR changes were insignificant., Conclusion: The findings of the current study showed that hyponasality decreased a month after the treatment of rhinosinus polyposis with FESS. However, the acoustic quality of voice had no significant changes after the surgery.