A retrospective cohort study of telephone versus face-to-face clinics for the management of new otology referrals.

Purpose: To compare outcomes of telephone and face-to-face consultations for new otology referrals and discuss the wider use of telemedicine in otology.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study including new adult otology referrals to our unit, sampled consecutively between March 2021 and May 2021, seen in either a face-to-face or telephone clinic. Primary outcome measure was the proportion of patients with a definitive management outcome (discharged or added to waiting list for treatment) versus the proportion of patients requiring follow-up for further assessment or review.

Cochlear implantation under local anesthetic: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: As the population ages and implantation criteria are relaxed, more patients with complex comorbidities are becoming eligible for cochlear implantation (CI). These patients have higher risks associated with general anesthesia. This systematic review assesses outcomes and complications following CI under local anesthetic to examine utility for patients deemed not suitable or at high risk for general anesthesia.

Early versus late oral feeding following total (pharyngo)laryngectomy: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Timing of oral feeding following total laryngectomy is a contentious issue with highly varied practices. Multiple database search was performed to identify studies comparing outcomes of early (≤5 days) versus late (>5 days) oral feeding. Bias assessment was carried out using Cochrane bias tool.

Outcomes and prognosticators in regionally recurrent cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Introduction: Data regarding regionally metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (cSCCHN) is limited and derived almost exclusively from Australian and United States (US) institutions. We report the first United Kingdom perspective, with the aims of benchmarking survival outcomes and identifying clinically relevant prognosticators.

Materials And Methods: Ninety-one patients with regionally recurrent cSCCHN treated with curative intent over a ten-year period (2009-2018) were studied retrospectively.

Novel Minimal Access Bone Anchored Hearing Implant Surgery and a New Surface Modified Titanium Implant, the Birmingham Experience.

Background: Bone anchored hearing implants (BAHI) are widely used and highly successful, accompanied with a high level of patient satisfaction across most techniques. A large UK teaching hospital switched from the previously used wide diameter titanium fixture and drilling system to the novel minimally invasive technique and laser ablated titanium implant. Before this change the rates of fixture failure and skin problems necessitating abutment change were 1% each.

Competing Lagrangians for incompressible and compressible viscous flow.

A recently proposed variational principle with a discontinuous Lagrangian for viscous flow is reinterpreted against the background of stochastic variational descriptions of dissipative systems, underpinning its physical basis from a different viewpoint. It is shown that additional non-classical contributions to the friction force occurring in the momentum balance vanish by time averaging. Accordingly, the discontinuous Lagrangian can alternatively be understood from the standpoint of an analogous deterministic model for irreversible processes of stochastic character.

Inter-rater Reliability and Validity of Holgers Scores for the Assessment of Bone-anchored Hearing Implant Images.

Objectives: This study aims to review the utility and interassessor reliability of Holgers classification by simultaneously testing various professionals of the bone-anchored implant team for their impression of a series of randomized images.

Study Design: Retrospective review of a randomized series of bone-anchored implant fixture clinical photographs from the database at a tertiary referral university hospital. Raters were blinded to the contemporaneous Holgers grading assigned by the Clinical Nurse Specialist at initial assessment.

Can Preoperative High Resolution Computed Tomography Be Rationalized in Adult Cochlear Implant Candidates?

Objective: To establish whether criteria can be used to identify patients who do not need high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) scans before cochlear implant operations, by retrospectively applying a preoperative selection pathway, the Cambridge Cochlear Implant Protocol (CCIP).

Study Design: Retrospective case series.

Setting: Tertiary referral center, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK (QEHB).

Quantum Hall effect in hydrogenated graphene.

The quantum Hall effect is observed in a two-dimensional electron gas formed in millimeter-scale hydrogenated graphene, with a mobility less than 10  cm2/V·s and corresponding Ioffe-Regel disorder parameter (k(F)λ)(-1) ≫ 1. In a zero magnetic field and low temperatures, the hydrogenated graphene is insulating with a two-point resistance of the order of 250h/e2. The application of a strong magnetic field generates a negative colossal magnetoresistance, with the two-point resistance saturating within 0.

Decoration of graphitic surfaces with Sn nanoparticles through surface functionalization using diazonium chemistry.

Composites of tin nanoparticles (Sn NP) and graphene are candidate materials for high capacity and mechanically stable negative electrodes in rechargeable Li ion batteries. A uniform dispersion of Sn NP with controlled size is necessary to obtain high electrochemical performance. We show that the nucleation of Sn particles on highly ordered pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) from solution can be controlled by functionalizing the HOPG surface by aryl groups prior to Sn deposition.

Effect of tribological factors on wet adhesion of a microstructured surface to peritoneal tissue.

Bio-inspired microstructured surfaces have been developed that attach effectively to a wet surface. However, little is known about the associated tribological and adhesion properties involved. In this paper, the adhesion of a microstructured surface to peritoneal tissue is investigated as a function of preload, speeds of approach and angle of tilt to the horizontal.

Graphene epitaxy by chemical vapor deposition on SiC.

We demonstrate the growth of high quality graphene layers by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on insulating and conductive SiC substrates. This method provides key advantages over the well-developed epitaxial graphene growth by Si sublimation that has been known for decades. (1) CVD growth is much less sensitive to SiC surface defects resulting in high electron mobilities of ∼1800 cm(2)/(V s) and enables the controlled synthesis of a determined number of graphene layers with a defined doping level.

High spatial resolution ellipsometer for characterization of epitaxial graphene.

An ellipsometer with 3μm×5μm spot size constructed with a single focusing and imaging element is used to measure the layer number of exfoliated graphene on glass and expitaxial graphene on SiC. Ellipsometric sensitivity to graphene layer number increases with decreasing layer number and decreasing substrate refractive index. Single-atomic-layer sensitivity has been achieved.

Optical reflection and transmission properties of exfoliated graphite from a graphene monolayer to several hundred graphene layers.

The optical reflection contrast and optical transmission contrast of graphitic films on glass ranging in thickness from a monolayer to the limit of bulk graphite have been experimentally measured. For samples with more than 10 graphene layers where optical contrast quantization becomes difficult to observe, atomic force microscopy was used to measure the sample thickness. The visible optical reflection and transmission of thin graphitic films is found to depend strongly on the real component of the optical conductance per graphene layer, and comparatively weakly on the imaginary component of optical conductance.

An open-source, extensible system for laboratory timing and control.

We describe a simple system for timing and control, which provides control of analog, digital, and radio-frequency signals. Our system differs from most common laboratory setups in that it is open source, built from off-the-shelf components, synchronized to a common and accurate clock, and connected over an Ethernet network. A simple bus architecture facilitates creating new and specialized devices with only moderate experience in circuit design.

Importance of prey and predator feeding behaviors for trophic transfer and secondary poisoning.

Hydrophobic contaminants accumulate within aquatic sediments, hence pelagic predators may have limited direct contact with such compounds, but can be exposed via their benthic prey (i.e., via dietary exposure).

Recent advances in computational fluid dynamics relevant to the modelling of pesticide flow on leaf surfaces.

Increasing societal and governmental concern about the worldwide use of chemical pesticides is now providing strong drivers towards maximising the efficiency of pesticide utilisation and the development of alternative control techniques. There is growing recognition that the ultimate goal of achieving efficient and sustainable pesticide usage will require greater understanding of the fluid mechanical mechanisms governing the delivery to, and spreading of, pesticide droplets on target surfaces such as leaves. This has led to increasing use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) as an important component of efficient process design with regard to pesticide delivery to the leaf surface.

Sublethal effects and predator-prey interactions: implications for ecological risk assessment.

Ecological risk assessments tend to focus on contaminant effects on single species in isolation. However, additional effects from interactions between species (e.g.

Longitudinal follow-up of late-onset Alzheimer disease families.

Historically, data for genetic studies are collected at one time point. However, for diseases with late onset or with complex phenotypes, such as Alzheimer disease (AD), restricting diagnosis to a single ascertainment contact may not be sufficient. Affection status may change over time and some initial diagnoses may be inconclusive.

Morphology and dynamics of droplet coalescence on a surface.

The coalescence of a pair of droplets on a surface is investigated experimentally with images from detailed flow visualisations revealing the morphology of the process. It is found that they merge and evolve to a final state with a footprint that is peanut like in shape, with bulges along the longer sides resulting from the effects of inertia during spreading. The associated dynamics involve a subtle interplay between (i) the motion of the wetting process due to relaxation of the contact angle and (ii) a rapid rise in free-surface height above the point where coalescence began due to negative pressure generated by curvature.