The known millipede fauna of Ethiopia is reviewed, and its provisional checklist currently contains fewer than 40 species. A new monotypic genus of Spirostreptidae is described from an evergreen tropical forest in Oromiya State, Ethiopia: Altisternostreptusgen. nov., with A. harennasp. nov. as the type species. The new genus differs from other genera of Spirostreptidae/Perustreptinae/Perustreptini primarily by: (1) the remarkably high and narrow gonopod sternum, coupled with the combination of the body ring pleura meeting and fusing in the midline behind the second pair of legs of each ring; (2) the gonopod coxal metaplica showing both a prominent mesal (map) and a smaller lateral (lap) process apically, lap being remarkably unciform and directed apicad; (3) the gonopod telopodite very long and slender, devoid of an antetorsal process or spine, but at about 1/3 of its exposed part markedly torsate through 360° and then coiled into a complete and tight circle; (4) the post-torsal part of the telopodite very simple, subflagelliform, with no side branches apart from a small post-torsal fold (ptf) that tightly envelopes the telopodite at about its midway and distal to the twist on the caudal face; and (5) the efferent canal (= seminal groove) in the gonopod telopodite unbranched, terminating on a simple, barely bifid and only slightly sigmoid tip.

Nasal polyp (NP) is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the nasal cavity and sinuses. Although some authors have suggested that NP is related to inflammatory factors such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-5, IL-8, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and IL-17, the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and progression of NP remain obscure. This study investigated the expression and distribution of IL-17 and syndecan-1 in NP, and explored the roles of these two molecules in the pathogenesis of eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (Eos CRSwNP) and non-Eos CRSwNP. Real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the expression of IL-17 and syndecan-1 in samples [NP, unciform process (UP) from patients with CRS, and middle turbinate (MT) from healthy controls undergoing pituitary tumor surgery]. The results showed that the expression levels of IL-17 and syndecan-1 were upregulated in both NP and UP tissues, but both factors were higher in NP tissues than in UP tissues. There was no significant difference in IL-17 levels between the Eos CRSwNP and non-Eos CRSwNP samples, and syndecan-1 levels were increased in the non-Eos CRSwNP tissues as compared with those in Eos CRSwNP tissues. In all of the groups, there was a close correlation between the expression of IL-17 and syndecan-1 in nasal mucosa epithelial cells, glandular epithelial cells, and inflammatory cells, suggesting that IL-17 and syndecan-1 may play a role, and interact with each other, in the pathogenesis of non-Eos CRSwNP.

We have examined and treated 14 patients suffering from recurrent bacterial sinusitis (RBS) in abnormal unciform process (UP). The duration of the disease was 1 to 3 years, mean 1.9 years. The patients had UP hypoplasia (n=7), UP perforation (n=4), defects due to endonasal surgical intervention (n=3). We made surgical remodeling of the UP by two original techniques. After follow-up for 1-1.5 years the results of the treatment in patients with recurrent bacterial maxillary ethmoiditis were satisfactory in 12 (85.7%) patients and unsatisfactory in 2 (14.3%) patients.

Pancreato-duodenal resections (PDR) were made in 134 patients with cancer of the pancreas, in 31 (23.1%) of them the tumor was localized in the unciform process of the pancreas. In 7 patients the destructive pancreatitis which complicated cancer PDR was completed by the external drainage of the pancreatic duct. Combined PDR were fulfilled in 14 (10.4%) patients including 9 (29.0%) of 31 patients who had cancer of the unciform process. In 48 (35.8%) patients PDR was followed by complications. The most frequent of them were acute pancreatitis of the stump (32.1%) and incompetent pancreatoenteroanastomosis (18.7%). Postoperative lethality after PDR was 6.7%. During the recent six years no lethal outcomes have been observed after 45 PDR. Cancer of the uniform process of the pancreas is the least favorable localization. Combined PDR are followed by a great number of intraoperative, postoperative complications and high lethality rate. If the patients had mechanical jaundice, the use of double step PDR gave better results. If there were intraoperative signs of acute pancreatitis it was necessary to drain the pancreatic duct outside. The using of intraoperative occlusions of the pancreatic ducts is hardly justified because of a high risk of the development of acute pancreatitis.

To evaluate efficacy of endoscopic surgery in the treatment of maxillary cysts (MC), 152 operations in 134 patients were analysed. Besides MC, 91% of the patients had additional involvement of the nasal cavity and middle nasal passage which required surgery. By computer tomography data, all the cysts were divided into four groups by wall location: posteroinferior, superior, lateral, medial or anterior. Such division is important for the choice of the surgical approach: cysts of the first three locations can be easily removed through the middle nasal passage, in medial and anterior cysts this approach is effective only in half the cases. In the rest cases the sinus was opened through the anterior wall. In all, removal of the cyst by the endonasal approach proved feasible in 73.7%, by the anterior wall--in 26.3% of cases. The algorithm proposed for the choice of optimal intervention implies the initial use of the external approach only in MC located on the anterior and medial walls in the absence of concomitant lesions. In all the other cases, surgery should begin with partial resection of the unciform process and revision of the natural anastomosis of the sinus.

A precise knowledge of the anatomy of the paranasal sinuses is essential for the clinician. Conventional radiology does not permit a detailed study of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, and has now largely been replaced by computerised tomographic (CT) imaging. This gives an applied anatomical view of the region and the anatomical variants that are very often found. The detection of these variants to prevent potential hazards is essential for the use of current of endoscopic surgery on the sinuses. In the present work, we have studied the anatomical variants observed in the nasal fossae and paranasal sinuses in 110 Spanish subjects, using CT in the coronal plane, complemented by horizontal views. We have concentrated on the variants of the nasal septum, middle nasal concha, ethmoid unciform process and ethmoid bulla, together with others of lesser frequency. The population studied showed great anatomical variability, and a high percentage (67%) presented one or more anatomical variants. Discounting agger nasi air cells and asymmetry of both cavities of the sphenoidal sinus, which were present in all our cases, the variations most often observed were, in order, deviation of the nasal septum, the presence of a concha bullosa, bony spurs of the nasal septum and Onodi air cells.

A new species, Ctenophthalmus (Euctenophthalmus) parthicus sp. n., is described from social vole (Microtus socialis Pallas) from four localities of the West Kopetdag Mountains of Turkmenia. The new species is close to C.(E.) secundus Wagner and C.(E.) congener nadimi Farhang-Azad. It differs from males of the other known species by the following characters. The movable process has an infra-acetabular process whose length is the same as the height of its supra-acetabular portion. The movable process has the straight front margin, right anterior apical angle. The anterior part of the dorsal margin of the movable process is elevated, the hind part is slightly concave. The posterior apical angle of the movable process is cut. The hind margin of the movable process is convex. The apex of the distal arm of sternum IX is straight, not oblique. The female differs by the following peculiarities. Sternum VII has a well developed dorsal lobe below which there is a smaller rounded lobe and a distinct small ventral process. Unciform sclerotization of tergum VIII (or the place of connection between tergum VIII and its internal lobe) resembles an arc. The front margin of the internal lobe of tergum VIII is not sclerotized. The bursa copulatrix is as long as the dorsal spines of pronotum.

Chronic rhinosinusitis endoscopic surgery needs an accurate evaluation of diseases and paranasal sinus anatomic variations. High resolution CT by thin section (2 mm) allow this pre-operative assessment. An anatomical study of the ethmoid air cell system is always possible in axial plane. The bidimensional CT exploration (axial and coronal plane) displays the anatomic variations of ostiomeatal unit, that have been reported to predispose sinusitis. They are nasal septal deviation, pneumatization and paradoxical curvature of the middle turbinate, pneumatization of unciform process, Haller's cells, prominent agger nasi cell and ethmoid bulla. The endoscopic endonasal surgery landmarks, the individual morphologic variations, the topographic relations to the orbit and to the brain are also well shown by CT.

These last years the surgical treatment of inflammatory ethmoid disease has been completely modified, with new endoscopic conservative procedures. In a preoperative phase it is mandatory to provide optimal CT imaging of the ethmoid labyrinth, and for this purpose sections perpendicular and parallel to the nasofrontal duct axis are better than axial and coronal slices. The anatomy of the ethmoid is fairly complex; however certain constant anatomic landmarks allow a systematic analysis of the ethmoid labyrinth: the unciform process, the bulla, the middle turbinate, the superior turbinate and their respective basal lamellae.

A serie of 20 dissections carried out in the anatomy Laboratory enabled us to make a close observation of the middle meatus of the nasal cavity. Certain anatomical parts such as the bulla, the unciform process, the ostia of the maxillary and frontal sinus are relatively set in their positions, but quite variable in their shape and size. This knowledge is now indispensable, at a time when endonasal microsurgery has become commonplace in ENT.

A computed tomography (CT) study of rotation of the cervical spine was undertaken in normal subjects aged 20 to 26 years. Section scans through the neck were made with the head in maximal rotation to the right or the left. Occiput, cervical spine, and first thoracic vertebra, thus, were depicted in different degrees of rotation with respect to the sagittal plane. These differences indicated the maximal degree of rotation in each of the eight segments between occiput and thoracic spine. Mean values for these segments were 1.0 degree, 40.5 degrees, 3.0 degrees, 6.5 degrees, 6.8 degrees, 6.9 degrees, 5.4 degrees and 2.1 degrees, respectively. Measurement error proved to be relatively small. By means of CT sections in the plane of the intervertebral joints (in three subjects in midposition, in one subject in maximal rotation of the head to one side) an axis of rotation could be constructed from the anatomic shape of the uncovertebral joints. The theory of Hall that the unciform processes are essential for rotation is confirmed and further elaborated.

Following the investigations carried out on about 350 macerated vertebrae by the dissection of 120 human cadavers, a number of structural pecularities of the cervical vertebrae are described, with special emphasis on their functional and pathogenetic significance. The most specific structures of the cervical vertebrae -- the transverse, unciform, and articular processes, and the vertebral pedicle -- embody from the ontogenetic, the morphofunctional and the pathogenetic point of view, a unity named the uncotransversoarticular complex. The components of this complex delimit the spinal nerve groove, the intervertebral canal and participate in the cervical locking mechanism, in this way contributing to the protection of the vasculonervous formations passing through the cervical spine. The osteovasculonervous relationships at the level of the intervertebral canal, the anatomical variants of the intervertebral canal as well as certain possibilities of the occurrence of a cervical locking deficiency are described.