Acquired atresia of the external auditory canal: long-term clinical and audiometric results after surgery.

Objective: Acquired atresia of the external auditory canal is a rare condition in which the medial part of the external auditory canal is obliterated by a soft fibrous plug, mostly as a result of chronic inflammation of the outer ear canal. In this study, the clinical and audiometric long-term postsurgical results were assessed.

Patients: Records of patients with acquired atresia, surgically treated in a tertiary referral center during the period 2000-2009, were retrospectively reviewed.

Drift-reducing nozzles and their biological efficacy.

In 2007 and 2008, field trials were carried out with different standard and drift-reducing nozzles in sugar beet, maize, chicory, Belgian endive (all herbicide applications), wheat (fungicide application) and potatoes (Haulm killing herbicide application). The effect of nozzle type (standard flat fan, low-drift flat fan, air injection), nozzle size (ISO 02, 03 and 04) and application volume on the biological efficacy was investigated. All applications were done using a plot sprayer with volume rates ranging from 160 to 320 l.

Humoral immune response of tuberculous patients against the three components of the Mycobacterium bovis BCG 85 complex separated by isoelectric focusing.

An isoelectric-focusing technique followed by Western blot (immunoblot) analysis was used to investigate the immunoglobulin G response of tuberculous patients against each of the three components of the Mycobacterium bovis BCG antigen 85 complex. The 85A component was stained by the tuberculous as well as the non-tuberculous sera. In contrast, the 85B and the 85C proteins of the complex were not stained by the control sera but were stained by 20 of 28 tuberculous serum samples.