Audiometric Characteristics in Patients With Noise-Induced Hearing Loss After Sodium Enoxaparin Treatment

OBJECTIVES:The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of sodium enoxaparin treatment on patients with noise-induced hearing loss. METHODS: Sixty patients with noise-induced hearing loss were included and randomly divided into two numerically equal groups. Group A underwent therapy with sodium enoxaparin for 10 days, followed by an additional 10 days of treatment after 10 days of no treatment. Group B received placebo as a control. Before treatment, at the end of treatment, and 2 months after the end of treatment, all patients underwent evaluation by laboratory tests, pure tone audiometry, transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) testing, distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) testing, and auditory brain stem response testing. RESULTS: In contrast to group B, at the end of the treatment in group A pure tone audiometry showed a significant (p < 0.05) improvement of the audiometric thresholds at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 8 kHz. Depending on the air and bone conduction thresholds, TEOAEs and DPOAEs, which had previously been absent, were evoked at the frequencies examined. These improvements were confirmed at last follow-up. We found no significant differences in auditory brain stem responses or laboratory results. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data encourage further studies to collect additional evidence on the effect of sodium enoxaparin in preventing the development of noise-induced hearing loss

Septal Nasal Extramedullary Plasmacytoma: A Rare Tumor in an Unusual Area

We present an extreme rare case of extramedullary nasal plasmacitoma that arise from nasal septum. The mass surgically removed was analyzed by a pathologist who diagnosed an extramedullary nasal plasmacytoma. The patient did not present systemic involvement. A short cycle of radiotherapy was performed after the surgery. At 9-month follow-up, the patient is recurrence free

Surgical management of pleomorphic adenoma of parotid gland in elderly patients: Role of morphological features.

The neoplasms of the salivary glands account for 2% of head and neck tumors and the most common form is the Pleomorphic Adenoma (PA). Parotid gland is affected from 80% to 90% of cases. In elderly this tumors occurs mostly in females. These benign tumors are composed of epithelial and myoepithelial cells that are arranged with various morphological patterns and subtypes. The classification of these tumors is also based on the amount and nature of the stroma. In literature there is a almost complete consensus that, in the major salivary glands, PAs are enclosed by a layer of fibrous tissue often called "capsule" but there is disagreement about the form, extention and thickness of this layer. The treatment is surgical and there are two main different surgical approaches: an enucleation (local dissection) or so-called subtotal superficial parotidectomy and lateral or superficial total parotidectomy. Histopathological characteristics of PAs especially of capsular alterations such as thin capsule areas, capsule-free regions, capsule penetration, satellite nodules and pseudopodia in the different subtypes are important for the choice of surgical treatment and the first explanation for tumor recurrence. In our study we describe a morphological features of 84 cases of pleomorphic adenoma of parotid gland from elderly patients treated by a surgical "enucleation like" method called nucleoresection

Hydrogen Refueling Stations: Prevention and Scenario Management. Large Scale Experimental Investigation of Hydrogen Jet-Fires

Hydrogen is becoming an attractive alternative for energy storage and transportation, because of the elevated energy content per unit of mass and possibility to have zero carbon-emission vehicles. For these reasons, hydrogen's share in global market is expected to grow substantially in the coming years. Today, hydrogen-fueled buses and cars are already available, and several refueling stations are operating in different countries around the world. A key role of the deployment of hydrogen fueled-vehicles is the presence of a widespread network of refueling stations, especially close to residential and industrial areas. This fact poses attention to the safety aspects related to hydrogen, with particular interest to its high flammability that can lead to catastrophic consequences for personnel and equipment. As a matter of fact, hydrogen is a comparatively less safe fuel compared to conventional fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Hydrogen infrastructures are characterized by operating pressure up to 1000 bar that, in case of an unintended loss of containments, produce a highly under expanded turbulent jet. If ignited, this hydrogen jet may give rise to very severe scenarios, mainly related to high temperatures and the oriented flows. As recently suggested by Moradi and Groth (Moradi and Groth, 2019), there is a lack of experimental and on-site data for almost all of the storage and delivery technologies relevant to the hydrogen infrastructures. Experimental data is vital to support model validation, especially in the case of the very peculiar combustion process of hydrogen. In this way, a real-scale experimental campaign is proposed to investigate the main characteristic of the hydrogen jet fire resulting from its rapid fired depressurizations. Focus of the experimental campaign is evaluation of safety distance for person and device (i.e. pressurized tanks) in order to avoid critical conditions and domino effects in real refueling station. Different initial conditions, i.e., storage pressures, are exploited, and the resulting jet across specified orifice is investigated. More specifically, temperatures at various locations are measured through an arrangement of thermocouples. Values up to 1200 °C were obtained in the core of the jet. Moreover, it was found that the recorded temperatures, especially those at the outer portion of the jet, are very sensitive to the initial conditions

DIAGNOSIS AND FOLLOW-UP OF COMPLEX CONGENITAL MALFORMATIONS/MENTAL RETARDATION (MRA/MR)

Complex congenital malformations, associated in 30% of cases with mental retardation, recognize different etiologies: environmental causes, mendelian disease, chromosomal abnormalities, imprinted anomalies. Frequently complex congenital disorders are rare diseases. Rare diseases are infrequent pathological conditions (prevalence in the general population of less than 1/2.000 live births1), and often poorly understood. Because of their rarity these morbid conditions often either go undiagnosed or are diagnosed late with a negative impact for both the affected person and the family. The birth prevalence is high (2-4% of all births). The diagnosis is essential to program complex and integrated care interventions (follow-up programs aimed at early detection of any disease associated with different syndromes) and to carry out proper genetic family counseling (risk of recurrence, prenatal diagnosis, detection of heterozygotes etc)

Quantitative assessment of dimensional evolution of solitary osteoma of the mandible through 14 years of radiographic follow-up analysis: A unique case report

Abstract Head & Neck Osteomas are extremely rare osteogenic benign tumors, with unclear pathogenesis and heterogeneous clinical behavior. There are no studies in literature showing the characteristics of dimensional growth of such lesions. We report a case of a peripheral solitary osteoma of the sigmoid notch of the mandibular ramus, describing its radiographic growth in fourteen years. Measurements from OPTs (2003–6x7mm, 2008–8x12mm, 2014–17 × 24mm, 2016–19 × 25mm and 2017–21 × 28mm) and 3d cone-beam computed tomography scan (2016–19 × 15 × 21mm, 2017–21,4 × 19,2 × 22,7) were obtained. The growth of the lesion measured on OPTs was in mean 1.1 × 1.5 mm per year. This is the first case report in literature quantitatively assessing the growth of a solitary osteoma of the mandible through radiographic imaging, which seems to be more than 1 mm per dimension per year

Expression of Matrix Metalloproteinases and Their Tissue Inhibitors in Chronic Rhinosinusitis With Nasal Polyps: Etiopathogenesis and Recurrence:

Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps is a multifactorial disease of the nasal and paranasal sinus mucosa and it includes, as comorbidities, anatomic and morphologic alterations, allergic rhinitis, and immunologic diseases. We investigated matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMP-1 and TIMP-2) concentration in different etiopathogenetical groups of patients with nasal polyposis (NP) in relation to recurrence after sinonasal surgery. The study group consisted of 45 patients with NP (those with allergic rhinitis, nonallergic rhinitis and asthma or nonallergic rhinitis, and obstruction of osteomeatal complex [OMC]) who underwent endonasal sinus surgery. We also collected 10 patients who underwent septoplasty as control. Immunohistochemistry of nasal mucosa fragments, Western blotting, and polymerase chain reaction analysis showed increased MMPs levels (MMP-9 more than MMP-2 and MMP-7) and decreased tissue inhibitors of MMPs levels (TIMP-1 less than TIMP-2), in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps compared with control group, in particular in patients with nonallergic rhinitis and asthma compared to those with allergic rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis and obstruction of OMC. We observed a higher risk of recurrence in patients with nonallergic rhinitis and asthma than in those with allergic rhinitis and nonallergic rhinitis and obstruction of OMC after 36 months from surgery. In this research, we evaluated pathogenesis of NP related to MMPs and their inhibitors concentrations in polypoid tissue