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Sinus disease is commonly encountered, especially in the acute care setting. Imaging can support a diagnosis of sinusitis, help identify an etiology, and delineate intracranial and extracranial complications. Suspicion of complicated rhinosinusitis is an indication for contrast-enhanced computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. It is important for radiologists to be familiar with patient risk factors that predispose to uncommon but aggressive forms of sinus disease such as invasive fungal sinusitis. Lastly, many conditions, ranging from benign to malignant, can mimic rhinosinusitis clinically and on imaging. Radiologists can help by recognizing these entities and facilitating appropriate referral and follow-up. This article reviews the breadth of sinus disease commonly encountered in the emergency setting, potential complications, and mimics.

The nucleus pulposus is an avascular and aneural tissue that has significant influence on the homeostasis and overall function of the intervertebral disc. The nucleus pulposus is comprised of a heterogeneous population of cells including large notochord cells and smaller chondrocyte-like cells. Loss of notochord cells has been correlated with the pathogenesis of disc degeneration and consequently, it has been hypothesized that regeneration of the disc could be mediated by notochord cells. Attempts to grow and expand notochord cells in vitro have thus far been limited by cell availability and ineffective culturing methodologies. As a result, co-culturing techniques have been developed in order to exploit notochord-derived signals for the differentiation of proliferative mesenchymal stem cells. A recent study by Korecki et al. has demonstrated that notochord cell conditioned medium has the ability to differentiate mesenchymal stem cells toward a nucleus pulposus-like fate, producing high levels of glycosaminoglycans and type III collagen. These findings suggest that growth factors and other soluble proteins may be able to stimulate endogenous IVD tissue maintenance in vivo. While this study advances our understanding of intervertebral disc cell-cell interactions, limitations remain in our ability to determine the phenotype of terminally differentiated cells within the nucleus pulposus (ie mature notochord cells) and therefore assess the relevance of differentiated mesenchymal stem cells for disc regeneration. In order for the field to progress, elucidation of the notochord phenotype remains of utmost importance. © 2011 The International CCN Society.

Following publication of our recent article [1], an error in Figure 5d was noticed. In Figure 5d, the β-actin blot corres ponding to α-SMA blot was captured on the chemi luminescence imaging system in an inverted orientation. Since this imager does not capture the protein marker, an error in the orientation of the membrane while capturing the picture of the blot occurred. During preparation of the fi gures for Figure 5d, the α-SMA blot was in right orientation but since orientation of β-actin blot was inverse as it was captured inversely resulted in non-corresponding β-actin blot with respect to α-SMA blot. We have rectifi ed this error now and β-actin blot now corresponds to α-SMA blot. Th e corrected fi gure 5 is given here as Figure 1 and a supplementary fi gure 1 (Additional fi le 1) showing another set of blots representing Figure 5d is also provided.