Development of a novel Italian speech-in-noise test using a roving-level adaptive method: adult population-based normative data

Negli ultimi anni, il crescente sviluppo di dispositivi acustici ha condotto a unanalisi critica dei metodi standard che sono stati impiegati per valutare la funzione uditiva. Gli esami audiologici tradizionali, basati sulla soglia audiometrica tonale e sulle liste di parole mono/ bisillabiche nel silenzio, si sono nel tempo dimostrati inadeguati perché troppo distanti dalla realtà. Un test audiometrico vocale nel rumore, che utilizza un metodo roving-level adattivo, adopera segnali target e segnali competitivi modificabili con lo scopo di riprodurre le condizioni di eloquio della vita quotidiana, quindi esplorare un più ampio range uditivo. A oggi, solamente pochi test roving-level adattivi sono disponibili in letteratura. Gli autori hanno condotto un test roving-level adattivo in adulti italiani sani, al fine di ottenere nuovi dati normativi in una lingua di origine latina

A parametric model for the changes in the complex valued conductivity of a lung during tidal breathing

Classical homogenization theory based on the Hashin-Shtrikman coated ellipsoids is used to model the changes in the complex valued conductivity (or admittivity) of a lung during tidal breathing. Here, the lung is modeled as a two-phase composite material where the alveolar air-filling corresponds to the inclusion phase. The theory predicts a linear relationship between the real and the imaginary parts of the change in the complex valued conductivity of a lung during tidal breathing, and where the loss cotangent of the change is approximately the same as of the effective background conductivity and hence easy to estimate. The theory is illustrated with numerical examples, as well as by using reconstructed Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) images based on clinical data from an ongoing study within the EU-funded CRADL project. The theory may be potentially useful for improving the imaging algorithms and clinical evaluations in connection with lung EIT for respiratory management and monitoring in neonatal intensive care units

Oral peanut challenge identifies an allergy but the peanut allergen threshold sensitivity is not reproducible.

BACKGROUND: Double-blind placebo-controlled food challenge, DBPCFC, the gold standard for diagnosing food allergy, is time-consuming and potentially dangerous. A basophil allergen threshold sensitivity test, CD-sens, has shown promising results as a diagnostic tool in food allergy. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the reproducibility of oral peanut challenge and compare the outcome to CD-sens in peanut-sensitized children. METHODS: Twenty-seven children (4-19 years) underwent a DBPCFC followed by a single-blind oral food-challenge. The peanut challenges (1 mg to 5 g) were evaluated by severity scoring. Blood samples were drawn for CD-sens before the two first challenges. RESULTS: Thirteen children (48%) did not react at any of the challenges. Fourteen reacted at both peanut challenges but not to placebo. Only two of these children reacted at the same threshold dose and with the same severity score. All other children scored differently or reacted at different doses. For children with a positive challenge the geometric mean of the ratio of the doses was 1.834 (p = 0.307) and the arithmetic mean of the difference between the severity scores was 0.143 (p = 0.952). No association was obtained between the two peanut challenges regarding severity score (r(s) = 0.11, p = 0.71) or threshold dose (r(s) = 0.35, p = 0.22). Among the children positive in peanut challenge, 12 were positive in CD-sens. Two were low-responders and could not be evaluated. Geometric mean of the ratio of CD-sens values in children with a positive challenge was 1.035 (p = 0.505) but unlike for the severity score and the threshold dose the association between the two CD-sens values was strong (r(s) = 0.94, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: For a positive/negative test the reproducibility is 100% for both peanut challenge and CD-sens. However, a comparison of the degree of allergen threshold sensitivity between the two tests is not possible since the threshold dose and severity scoring is not reproducible

Sviluppo di un innovativo test audiometrico vocale nel rumore in Italiano che utilizza un metodo “roving-level” adattivo: Dati normativi basati sulla popolazione adulta

In recent years the increasing development of hearing devices has led to a critical analysis of the standard methods employed to evaluate hearing function. Being too far from reality, conventional investigation of hearing loss based on pure-tone threshold audiometry and on mono/disyllabic word lists, presented in quiet conditions, has been shown to be inadequate. A speech-in-noise test using a roving-level adaptive method employs target and competing signals varying in level in order to reproduce everyday life speaking conditions and explore a more complete sound range. Up to now, only few roving-level adaptive tests have been published in the literature. We conducted a rovinglevel adaptive test in healthy Italian adults to produce new normative data on a language of Latin origin