Nasal foreign bodies in children are often managed in the pediatric emergency department. The child is usually between 2 and 4 years old, and the foreign body is most commonly a plastic toy or bead. Nasal foreign bodies are removed by a number of techniques. Positive-pressure expulsion is accomplished by orally applied pressure via a parent's mouth or an Ambu bag or by nasally applied pressure via a catheter or an oxygen source. The object can be washed out with nasally applied saline. Direct mechanical extraction is possible with a variety of tools, including forceps, hooks, or balloon-tipped catheters. Each method carries its own risks and benefits. Serious complications of nasal foreign bodies include posterior dislodgement and aspiration, trauma caused by the object itself or removal attempts, infection, and choanal stenosis. Magnets and button batteries require emergent removal as they carry the risk of septal perforation or necrosis, which may develop within a relatively short time.

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Near-infrared spectra with a resolution of lambda&solm0;Deltalambda approximately 1100 in the rest-wavelength range of 1.8-2.2 µm have been obtained for a complete sample of 33 ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs). Of the 33 objects observed, two show evidence of a central active galactic nucleus (AGN) through either a broad Paschen-alpha line or emission in the 1.963 µm fine structure of [Si vi]. In the median spectrum of the remaining 31 objects, the lines present are recombination lines of hydrogen and neutral helium, vibration-rotation lines of H2, and [Fe ii]. There is no indication of AGN activity in the median spectrum, either through broad atomic recombination lines or through high ionization lines. No trends in luminosity are apparent when subsets of the 31 non-AGN ULIRGs are binned by luminosity and median-combined. When secondary nuclei exist in ULIRGs, they typically have spectra very much like those seen in the primary nuclei.

Observational measurements of the relationship between supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the properties of their host galaxies are an important method for probing theoretical hierarchical growth models. Gravitational lensing is a unique mechanism for acquiring this information in systems at cosmologically significant redshifts. We review the calculations required to include SMBHs in two standard galactic lens models, a cored isothermal sphere and a broken power law. The presence of the SMBH produces two primary effects depending on the lens configuration, either blocking the "core" image that is usually predicted to form from a softened lens model, or adding an extra, highly demagnified, image to the predictions of the unaltered lens model. The magnitudes of these effects are very sensitive to galaxy core sizes and SMBH masses. Therefore, observations of these lenses would probe the properties of the inner regions of galaxies, including their SMBHs. Lensing cross-sections and optical depth calculations indicate that in order to fully observe these characteristic signatures, flux ratios of order 10 6 or more between the brightest and faintest images of the lens must be detectable, and thus the next generation of radio telescope technology offers the first opportunity for a serious observational campaign. Core images, however, are already detectable and with additional observations their statistics may be used to guide future SMBH searches.