The activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) affects multiple aspects of neural precursor behaviour, including proliferation and migration. Telencephalic precursors acquire EGF responsiveness and upregulate EGFR expression at late stages of development. The events regulating this process and its significance are still unclear. We here show that in the developing and postnatal hippocampus (HP), growth/differentiation factor (GDF) 15 and EGFR are co-expressed in primitive precursors as well as in more differentiated cells. We also provide evidence that GDF15 promotes responsiveness to EGF and EGFR expression in hippocampal precursors through a mechanism that requires active CXC chemokine receptor (CXCR) 4. Besides EGFR expression, GDF15 ablation also leads to decreased proliferation and migration. In particular, lack of GDF15 impairs both processes in the cornu ammonis (CA) 1 and only proliferation in the dentate gyrus (DG). Importantly, migration and proliferation in the mutant HP were altered only perinatally, when EGFR expression was also affected. These data suggest that GDF15 regulates migration and proliferation by promoting EGFR signalling in the perinatal HP and represent a first description of a functional role for GDF15 in the developing telencephalon.

The disease-specific quality of life was significantly improved by septorhinoplasty. FROI-17 scales detect more functional aspects compared with the ROE thus establishing significant correlations with general quality of life measured by SF-36. The application of both FROI-17 and ROE in future clinical trials in septorhinoplasty patients is recommended.

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The potential of survivin as a prognostic/predictive marker is very high. The findings have to be confirmed in a larger cohort of HNSCC esp. in those tumours treated primarily with radio/radiochemotherapy.

Background: Quality of life measurements in septorhinoplasty patients so far have taken place only to a small extent. The aim of the present study was a prospective measurement of disease-specific quality of life with a newly developed and validated instrument, the Functional Rhinoplasty Outcome Inventory 17 (FROI-17). Methods: The patients completed the FROI-17 and the Rhinoplasty Outcome Evaluation (ROE) as disease-specific instruments preoperatively as well as 12 months postoperatively. As a general instrument, the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) was used. Furthermore, additional general questions were answered at both time points. Results: Out of the 103 patients, 69 patients (32 men, 37 women) responded after 12 months (response rate 67%). Thirteen patients (18%) were not satisfied with the result of surgery. However, all scales of FROI-17 and also ROE showed a significant postoperative improvement of subjective assessments by the patients. In the SF-36, this was true in 2 out of 8 scales (mental health and role-functioning physical). Furthermore, we found significant correlations between the FROI-17 and the SF-36 scales but not between the ROE and the SF-36 scales. Conclusion: The disease-specific quality of life was significantly improved by septorhinoplasty. FROI-17 scales detect more functional aspects compared with the ROE thus establishing significant correlations with general quality of life measured by SF-36. The application of both FROI-17 and ROE in future clinical trials in septorhinoplasty patients is recommended.