Parathyroid adenoma localization: surgeon-performed ultrasound versus sestamibi.

Objectives: Compare surgeon-performed ultrasound versus sestamibi for preoperative parathyroid adenoma localization.

Study Design: Single-institutional cohort.

Methods: One hundred six consecutive patients undergoing parathyroidectomy at an academic institution between 2004 to 2005 were included.

Steroids for post-tonsillectomy pain reduction: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Objectives: To determine whether meta-analysis supports the use of corticosteroids to reduce post-tonsillectomy pain for pediatric patients.

Methods: A systematic review of currently available randomized controlled trials using a single-dose, intravenous corticosteroid during pediatric tonsillectomy was performed. Visual analog pain scale (VAS) data was extracted with reviewers blinded to results.

Plasticity of spontaneous neural activity in the dorsal cochlear nucleus after intense sound exposure.

Increases in multiunit spontaneous activity (hyperactivity) can be induced in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) by intense sound exposure. This hyperactivity has been observed in the hamster and rat following exposure to a 10 kHz tone at a level of 125-130 dB SPL for a period of 4 h. The present study demonstrates that the onset of this hyperactivity is not immediate, but develops in the DCN between 2 and 5 days after exposure.

Cisplatin-induced increases in spontaneous neural activity in the dorsal cochlear nucleus and associated outer hair cell loss.

Tinnitus is one of the consequences of cisplatin chemotherapy, but its underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Since it has been shown that cisplatin causes outer hair cell loss, it is possible that loss of these cells might induce tinnitus by increasing spontaneous activity in the central auditory system. To test this possibility, the present study examined the effects of cisplatin treatment on cochlear hair cells and on spontaneous neural activity in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of hamsters.

Hyperactivity in the dorsal cochlear nucleus after intense sound exposure and its resemblance to tone-evoked activity: a physiological model for tinnitus.

Intense tone exposure induces increased spontaneous activity (hyperactivity) in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) of hamsters. This increase may represent an important neural correlate of noise-induced tinnitus, a condition in which sound, typically of very high pitch, is perceived in the absence of a corresponding acoustic stimulus. Since high pitch sounds are thought to be represented in central auditory structures by the place of activation across the tonotopic array; it is therefore possible that the high pitch of noise-induced tinnitus occurs because intense sound exposure induces a tonotopic distribution of chronic hyperactivity in the DCN similar to that normally evoked only under conditions of high frequency stimulation.