Clinical observations and risk factors for tinnitus in a Sicilian cohort

The aims of this study were to determine the distribution of risk factors associated with tinnitus analysing their role in the development of tinnitus and the effects of their interaction; to evidence the importance of a suitable and adequate clinical and audiologic assessment to avoid those modifiable risk factors responsible for cochlear dysfunction and tinnitus onset. 46 subjects with tinnitus and 74 controls were studied according to: age, sex, Body Mass Index (BMI), neck circumference, tobacco smoking, feeling fatigue or headache, self reporting snoring, hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and/or hyperlipidemia, and laboratory finding as lipid profile and levels of reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROM). Audiological assessment was performed by multi-frequency audiometry (PTA0.5–16 kHz) and transient-evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE diagnostic). Univariate analysis was performed to examine the association between determinants and occurrence of tinnitus; Mantel–Haenszel test (G.or) was used to investigate the joint effect of determinants on tinnitus. Tinnitus was more frequent among males with age [50 years; BMI[30 kg/m2, neck circumference[40 cm, headache, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia resulted significant risk factors for tinnitus (P.0001). Tinnitus group had more comorbidity (P.0001) and worse audiometric thresholds (60.87 Vs 21.62 % hearing loss; P.0001) with respect to control group. The interaction between hypertension–BMI C 30 kg/m2 (G.or = 8.45) and smoking–hypercholesterolemia (G.or = 5.08) increases the risk of tinnitus (P.0001). Our results underline that several factors either individually or jointly contribute to tinnitus onset; a comprehensive knowledge about tinnitus risk factors and associated clinical conditions could contribute to minimizing this disorder

UNILATERAL SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS IN SCHOLASTIC AGE SUBJECTS: PSYCHOPEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS

The Authors want to assess a probable significant relation between the unilateral sensorineural hearing loss and some learning difficulties and language acquisitions, often found, through our observation, in impaired children. The Authors have examined a group of subjects in their scholastic age who have this kind of hearing loss and, through several dialogues with them, they have gathered some relevant data about the difficulties that children have at school, and drawn up a questionnaire

Neutron Transfer reactions induced by 8Li on 9Be

Angular distributions for the elastic scattering of 8Li on 9Be and the neutron transfer reactions 9Be(8Li,7Li)10Be and 9Be(8Li,9Li)8Be have been measured with a 27 MeV 8Li radioactive nuclear beam. Spectroscopic factors for 8Li|n=9Li and 7Li|n=8Li bound systems were obtained from the comparison between the experimental differential cross section and finite-range DWBA calculations with the code FRESCO. The spectroscopic factors obtained are compared to shell model calculations and to other experimental values from (d,p) reactions. Using the present values for the spectroscopic factor, cross sections for the direct neutron-capture reactions 7Li(n,g)8Li and 8Li(n,g)9Li were calculated in the framework of a potential model.Comment: 24 pages, 8 Figures, submitted as regular article to PR

Staple line reinforcement with nebulized cyanoacrylate glue in laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy: A propensity score-matched study

Background: A dreaded complication of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is suture leak. The study aimed to assess the efficacy of the nebulized comonomer Glubran 2® (N-butyl-cyanoacrylate + metacrylosysolfolane) applied to the LSG staple line. Methods: A propensity-matched comparison analysis was conducted in 125 patients undergoing LSG between 2017 and 2019. Groups included those treated with Glubran® (group 1, n = 70) and those without Glubran® treatment (group 2, n = 55). Results: There were differences in the mean body mass index (44.4 vs 43 kg/m2; P < 0.05) between the groups. There was a non-significant increase in the operative time for group 1 compared with group 2 (97 ± 8 vs 93.8 ± 10.7 min; P = 0.07), with a greater amount of estimated blood loss (94.5 mL vs 87.8; P < 0.01). There were more severe complications in group 2 over group 1 cases (8 vs 0%; P < 0.05), although postoperative bleeding did not differ between the two groups (1.4 vs 5.4%). There were no postoperative leaks in group 1 patients, but there were two leaks in group 2 cases with an increased length of hospital stay in patients with a leak. Conclusion: Glubran® LSG support may reduce leak risk without increasing operating time

To what extent can dynamical models describe statistical features of turbulent flows?

Statistical features of "bursty" behaviour in charged and neutral fluid turbulence, are compared to statistics of intermittent events in a GOY shell model, and avalanches in different models of Self Organized Criticality (SOC). It is found that inter-burst times show a power law distribution for turbulent samples and for the shell model, a property which is shared only in a particular case of the running sandpile model. The breakdown of self-similarity generated by isolated events observed in the turbulent samples, is well reproduced by the shell model, while it is absent in all SOC models considered. On this base, we conclude that SOC models are not adequate to mimic fluid turbulence, while the GOY shell model constitutes a better candidate to describe the gross features of turbulence.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, in press on Europhys. Lett. (may 2002

Oct analysis in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis during fingolimod therapy: 2-year longitudinal retrospective study

Many studies have demonstrated the usefulness of some optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters, like total macular volume (TMV) and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL-T), for monitoring patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, there are no real-world, long-term studies on patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) treated with fingolimod. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe retinal changes associated with fingolimod therapy during a two-year follow-up while considering previous episodes of optic neuritis (ON). Patients diagnosed with RR-MS and treated with fingolimod (46 in total) underwent a two-year follow-up. Based on previous ON history, we identified 16 ON+ and 30 ON− patients. The ophthalmological evaluations, including visual field (VF) examination and OCT, were performed at a baseline at 3–6, 12 and 24 months to evaluate the progression rate for each parameter. When analyzing the whole sample, OCT showed no cases of macular edema. Instead, we observed a significant reduction rate in the central retinal thickness (CRT) (p<0.001), TMV (p < 0.001) and RNFL (p < 0.05). Moreover, we observed a significant difference in the progression rate between ON+ and ON− patients, relative to the VF and RNFL (p < 0.05) examinations. OCT highlighted a significant progression rate of retinal damage in MS patients despite fingolimod therapy, especially in MS ON+ patients

Electromagnetic ULF/ELF oscillations caused by the eruption of the Tonga volcano

The eruption of the Tonga volcano on January 13 and 15, 2022 and related intense lightning activity led to the excitation of a number of specific electromagnetic oscillations in different frequency ranges. We examine properties of these oscillations, using data from magnetometers of various types located in Kamchatka and in the Pacific region. We confirmed that there might have been a geomagnetic response to the formation of an acoustic resonance between the Earth surface and the ionosphere: localized harmonic oscillations with a frequency 3.5–4.0 mHz, which lasted for ~1.5 hr, were detected ~15 min after the beginning of the eruption at distance of ~800 km. An increase was observed in the intensity of the Schumann resonance at stations in the Far East. Broadband emission stimulated by intense volcanic lightning was detected to occur in the Pc1 range (2–5 Hz). The emission presumably results from the excitation of the magnetosonic waveguide in the upper ionosphere by lightning activity