The impact of balloon catheter dilation on frequency of sinus surgery in the United States.

Purpose: Endoscopic sinus surgery for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) unresponsive to medical therapy has traditionally been performed under general anesthesia and in the operating room. Balloons for catheter dilation of paranasal sinuses were introduced in 2005, allowing sinus surgery to be safely performed either in the operating room or the office care setting, under local anesthesia. This change in care setting has raised concerns of overuse or expanded indications for sinus surgery.

Wideband aural acoustic absorbance predicts conductive hearing loss in children.

Objective: This study tested the hypothesis that wideband aural absorbance predicts conductive hearing loss (CHL) in children medically classified as having otitis media with effusion.

Design: Absorbance was measured in the ear canal over frequencies from 0.25 to 8 kHz at ambient pressure or as a swept tympanogram.

Clinical evaluation of a novel test strip technology for blood glucose monitoring: accuracy at hypoglycaemic glucose levels.

Aim: To evaluate OneTouch® Verio™ test strip performance at hypoglycaemic blood glucose (BG) levels (<3.9 mmol/L [<70 mg/dL]) at seven clinical studies.

Methods: Trained clinical staff performed duplicate capillary BG monitoring system tests on 700 individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes using blood from a single fingerstick lancing.

Alzheimer's-related peptide amyloid-β plays a conserved role in angiogenesis.

Alzheimer's disease research has been at an impasse in recent years with lingering questions about the involvement of Amyloid-β (Aβ). Early versions of the amyloid hypothesis considered Aβ something of an undesirable byproduct of APP processing that wreaks havoc on the human neocortex, yet evolutionary conservation--over three hundred million years--indicates this peptide plays an important biological role in survival and reproductive fitness. Here we describe how Aβ regulates blood vessel branching in tissues as varied as human umbilical vein and zebrafish hindbrain.

Wideband acoustic transfer functions predict middle-ear effusion.

Objectives/hypothesis: Compare the accuracy of wideband acoustic transfer functions (WATFs) measured in the ear canal at ambient pressure to methods currently recommended by clinical guidelines for predicting middle-ear effusion (MEE).

Study Design: Cross-sectional validating diagnostic study among young children with and without MEE to investigate the ability of WATFs to predict MEE.

Methods: WATF measures were obtained in an MEE group of 44 children (53 ears; median age, 1.

The effect of an instant hand sanitizer on blood glucose monitoring results.

Background: People with diabetes mellitus are instructed to clean their skin prior to self-monitoring of blood glucose to remove any dirt or food residue that might affect the reading. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers have become popular when soap and water are not available. The aim of this study was to determine whether a hand sanitizer is compatible with glucose meter testing and effective for the removal of exogenous glucose.

Detecting high-frequency hearing loss with click-evoked otoacoustic emissions.

In contrast to clinical click-evoked otoacoustic emission (CEOAE) tests that are inaccurate above 4-5 kHz, a research procedure measured CEOAEs up to 16 kHz in 446 ears and predicted the presence/absence of a sensorineural hearing loss. The behavioral threshold test that served as a reference to evaluate CEOAE test accuracy used a yes-no task in a maximum-likelihood adaptive procedure. This test was highly efficient between 0.

Review of adverse events associated with false glucose readings measured by GDH-PQQ-based glucose test strips in the presence of interfering sugars.

Objective: To assess the implications of falsely elevated glucose readings measured with glucose dehydrogenase pyrroloquinolinequinone (GDH-PQQ) test strips.

Research Design And Methods: We conducted a review of the Food and Drug Administration's Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience database and medical literature for adverse events (AEs) associated with falsely elevated glucose readings with GDH-PQQ test strips in the presence of interfering sugars.

Results: Eighty-two reports were identified: 16 (20%) were associated with death, 46 (56%) with severe hypoglycemia, and 12 (15%) with nonsevere hypoglycemia.

Capillary and venous blood glucose concentrations measured during intravenous insulin and glucose infusion: a comparison of steady and dynamic states.

Background: Patients undergoing intensive insulin therapy may have blood glucose (BG) samples drawn from arterial, capillary, or venous sources. This study compared capillary and venous BG across a range of glucose concentrations and under conditions of rapid change in BG.

Methods: Following a 10-h fast, 40 adult patients with type 1 or 2 diabetes were connected to an automated glucose clamp device (Biostator, Miles Laboratories, Inc.

Use of stimulus-frequency otoacoustic emissions to investigate efferent and cochlear contributions to temporal overshoot.

Behavioral threshold for a tone burst presented in a long-duration noise masker decreases as the onset of the tone burst is delayed relative to masker onset. The threshold difference between detection of early- and late-onset tone bursts is called overshoot. Although the underlying mechanisms are unclear, one hypothesis is that overshoot occurs due to efferent suppression of cochlear nonlinearity [von Klitzing, R.

High-frequency click-evoked otoacoustic emissions and behavioral thresholds in humans.

Relationships between click-evoked otoacoustic emissions (CEOAEs) and behavioral thresholds have not been explored above 5 kHz due to limitations in CEOAE measurement procedures. New techniques were used to measure behavioral thresholds and CEOAEs up to 16 kHz. A long cylindrical tube of 8 mm diameter, serving as a reflectionless termination, was used to calibrate audiometric stimuli and design a wideband CEOAE stimulus.

Wideband absorbance tympanometry using pressure sweeps: system development and results on adults with normal hearing.

A system with potential for middle-ear screening and diagnostic testing was developed for the measurement of wideband energy absorbance (EA) in the ear canal as a function of air pressure, and tested on adults with normal hearing. Using a click stimulus, the EA was measured at 60 frequencies between 0.226 and 8 kHz.

Performance evaluation of a new blood glucose monitor that requires no coding: the OneTouch Vita System.

Background: Improvements to blood glucose monitoring systems aim to simplify the testing process, reduce or eliminate errors, and provide additional information for patients with diabetes. New systems must continue to demonstrate high-quality analytical performance. The new OneTouch Vita System (LifeScan, Inc.

Two-tone suppression of stimulus frequency otoacoustic emissions.

Stimulus frequency otoacoustic emissions (SFOAEs) measured using a suppressor tone in human ears are analogous to two-tone suppression responses measured mechanically and neurally in mammalian cochleae. SFOAE suppression was measured in 24 normal-hearing adults at octave frequencies (f(p)=0.5-8.

Assessing glucose monitor performance--a standardized approach.

Background: Glucose monitor evaluations must be carefully designed and executed in order to control protocol-specific bias and random patient interferences. Although published guidelines and recommendations exist, investigators rarely incorporate consensus standards or quality guidelines into glucose monitor evaluation studies.

Methods: We performed a literature search for "best practice" quality guidelines for conducting and reporting glucose monitor evaluation studies.

Wideband ipsilateral measurements of middle-ear muscle reflex thresholds in children and adults.

The goals of the current study were to: 1) evaluate the feasibility of a new wideband approach to measuring middle-ear muscle reflex (MEMR) status, and 2) to test the hypothesis that ipsilateral thresholds elicited with 1 or 2 kHz tones and broadband noise activators on a wideband acoustic transfer function (WATF) system are lower than thresholds elicited on a clinical system. Clinical MEMR tests have limitations, including the need for high activator levels to elicit a shift in a narrowband probe (e.g.

Assessing the quality of glucose monitor studies: a critical evaluation of published reports.

Background: In recent years, a large number of studies have been published on the performance of glucose monitors. The quality of these reports is not known.

Methods: We searched the PubMed database for performance evaluations of handheld glucose monitors published from August 2002 to November 2006.