Device fixation in cochlear implantation: is bone anchoring necessary?

Objectives/hypothesis: To compare complication rates between patients whose cochlear implants were secured by a bony tie-down technique versus those secured by a periosteal tie-down technique.

Study Design: A retrospective review of 302 consecutive patients undergoing cochlear implantation (327 implants), including both adults and children, at a single institution by a single surgeon.

Methods: Cochlear implantation was performed in the standard fashion with bony securement of the device in the first subset of patients.

Gold laser tonsillectomy--a safe new method.

Objectives: To determine if Gold laser tonsillectomy is an acceptably safe method of removing tonsils by comparing its complication rates to other established methods, namely Coblation tonsillectomy and cold steel dissection tonsillectomy.

Study Design: A retrospective review of 748 consecutive patients, ages 2-18, undergoing tonsillectomy at a pediatric teaching institution.

Methods: Tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy was performed utilizing either the Gold laser (n=435), Coblation device (n=153), or by cold steel dissection (n=160) between August 2005 and August 2007.

Essential role of STAT3 in body weight and glucose homeostasis.

STAT3 is a ubiquitous transcription factor that is indispensable during early embryogenesis. To study the functions of STAT3 postnatally, we generated conditional STAT3-deficient mice. To that end, STAT3(lox/lox) mice were crossed with mice expressing Cre under the control of rat insulin II gene promoter (RIP-Cre mice).