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Purpose: Nasal Septum Deviation (NSD), which is defined as a dislocated septum, is a prevalent condition that is mostly asymptomatic; however, it can cause difficulties such as nasal obstruction and rhinosinusitis symptoms. Other Paranasal Sinuses (PNS) disorders, e.g., Osteo Meatal Complex (OMC) obstruction, have been assumed to be correlated with NSD. This study investigates the possible correlation of specific radiological findings of PNS pathologies in patients with or without the existence and direction of NSD. We also discussed the different types of NSD and their incidence among different groups stored by age, gender, etc. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted at multiple imaging centers in Iran between July 2019 and February 2020 to estimate the prevalence of deviated nasal septum and correlate between NSD and other findings using paranasal sinus scans. All the individuals who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were included in the study. NSD types have been classified based on Mladina's method. Results: We prospectively reviewed PNS Computed Tomography (CT) scans obtained from 254 cases (82 men and 172 women), aged 18 to 81 years (mean: 35.53), evaluated over seven months. Out of 254 cases, 135 (53 %) patients had NSD, without any direction predominance (right-sided vs. left-sided), and equally distributed between genders. The most common NSD types were type V with a frequency of 42.22% and type III with a frequency of 24.44%. Other PNS CT findings were also investigated in our patients, like OMC obstruction, pansinusitis, mucocele, air-fluid level, mucosal thickening, and concha bullosa. There was no statistically significant correlation between any of these pathologies and NSD (P-value > 0.05). Conclusion: Although NSD was observed in more than half of our cases' PNS CTs, there was no significant correlation between NSD and other findings in most subjects. This reveals that the effectiveness of septal repair surgeries in relieving patients' symptoms might not be as high as expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In COVID-19 pandemics days, wearing facial mask in public places has become obligatory to prevent the virus spread. In addition to its valuable protection, wearing facial mask can affect verbal communication in an adverse fashion and makes mutual understanding difficult. This happens because the mask eliminates the positive effect of the lip-reading phenomenon in direct communications. The mirror neuron system is responsible for automatic imitation, associative sequence learning, and motor mimicry. This system is a strong candidate justifying an unexpected action described in this article. Purpose: Taking the facial mask off, to help the listener understanding better is a normal reaction. However, unexpectedly, one does the same as the listener when he/she is unable to comprehend the speaker. Herein, we suggest a hypothesis proposing the basic role of Mirror neuron system in this action. Most of the research on these cells have been conducted on monkeys, where the researchers observed that, these neuron discharge pulses both when a monkey performs an action and when it observes another monkey or a person committing the similar action. Conclusion: The driving mechanism of an unanticipated action of taking off mask while listening to a speaker is emphasized in this paper. Herein, we try to clarify how we came up with the idea that mirror neuron system drives a surprising action observed in COVID-19 pandemics days. As a result, we suggest possible clinical studies to verify our hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aimed to evaluate the clinical features and computed tomography (CT) scans associated with poor outcomes in COVID-19 patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). A total of 351 COVID-19 patients (100 AKI, 251 non-AKI) hospitalized at Imam Hossein Teaching Hospital affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences were included. To investigate the factors associated with in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients developing AKI, COX univariate and multivariate regression models were applied after controlling other confounding variables. C-reactive protein CRP, lactate, and procalcitonin levels were significantly higher in AKI patients than in non-AKI patients (P < .05). In addition, AKI patients had higher frequencies of lymphopenia and leukocytosis (P < .05). The troponin levels and WBC were the most significant factors for predicting mortality in patients with AKI. Our findings showed that AKI per se is much more important than any other prognostic factor affecting non-AKI patients. However, AKI patients with higher CRP, PCT, and lactate levels had a poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]