The use of sodium enoxaparin in the treatment of tinnitus.

Tinnitus is a pathological event caused by abnormal stimulation of any point along the acoustic pathway. Generally, it produces a sharp tone accompanied by hearing impairment. Currently, no widely used standard protocol for treatment of this condition exists, and vascular microthrombotic factors are considered as the main determinants.

Short ribosomal prophylaxis in the prevention of clinical recurrences of chronic otitis media in children.

The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and the safety of a short oral ribosomal immunotherapy (Immucytal) in the prevention of chronic otitis media in children. Seventy-two patients were enrolled in this study, 41 males and 31 females, aged between 6 and 14 years, with an history of recurrent otitis media. Patients were randomised to receive Immucytal (group A) or placebo (group B) according to the following protocol: one tablet daily in the morning 8 days per month for three consecutive months.

OSAS in children.

Background: Major risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in children include adenotonsillar hypertrophy, neuromuscular disease and syndromes such as Down's or Pierre-Robin's syndrome; there is currently no consensus concerning diagnosis and therapy.

Methods: The study analyses 40 children, aged 2 through 14 years, with macroscopic tonsillar hypertrophy (without recurrent tonsillitis but with OSAS) underwent adenotonsillectomy. Parents were invited to indicate the intensity of their children's symptomatology using a subjective evaluation scale, each patient underwent cephalometric analysis and polysomnography (PSG) before and after surgery.

Efficacy of cefpodoxime in the prophylaxis of recurrent pharyngotonsillitis.

Background: Recurrent acute pharyngotonsillitis remains a common illness in children and young adults and can lead to serious complications if not treated. cefpodoxime proxetil is a second-generation oral cephalosporin, which shows potent antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and high stability in the presence of beta-lactamases.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of second-generation cephalosporins in the prophylaxis of recurrent pharyngotonsillitis in children.

Airbags and permanent auditory deficits. A real correlation?

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between airbag-induced noise and individual metabolic risk factors in determining persistent hypoacusia in drivers after road accidents.

Methodology: We selected 22 patients previously involved in a car accident with deployment of airbags. Patients underwent general and audiological clinical history, tonal audiometric examination, vocal audiometric examination, impedance meter examination and blood tests.

Restoration of hearing loss with tissue plasminogen activator. Case report.

A 59-year-old man with a 2-year history of sudden onset of hearing loss in the left ear was treated with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) for myocardial infarction. The patient had 50 dB of hearing recovery after the full dose (100 mg of tPA followed by 3 mg/d of tPA for 2 weeks).

Intravenous infusion of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for the treatment of patients with sudden and/or chronic hearing loss.

Seventeen patients with sudden hearing loss and 10 patients with chronic hearing loss were treated with intravenous infusion of tissue plasminogen activator. For sudden hearing loss, the recombinant tissue plasminogen activator was used, and 3 mg (in 3 mL of diluent) was diluted into 250 mL of physiological saline solution and given intravenously every 12 hours. Sixteen patients of the sudden hearing loss group and all 10 patients of the chronic hearing loss group showed an improvement after this treatment.

The Oldowan industry of Peninj and its bearing on the reconstruction of the technological skills of Lower Pleistocene hominids.

The Oldowan technology has traditionally been assumed to reflect technical simplicity and limited planning by Plio-Pleistocene hominids. The analysis of the Oldowan technology from a set of 1.6-1.

TUNEL-positive labeling in mouse inner ear caused by tubulin immunization is not apoptosis.

Apoptosis is involved in all fundamental processes of the immune system. To study whether apoptosis plays any role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune inner ear disease, we immunized Balb/c mice with tubulin. The inner ears were examined with TUNEL (in situ terminal dUTP nick-end labeling) and immunocytochemistry of the apoptosis regulatory proteins Bcl-2 and Bax.

Distribution of beta-tubulin in guinea pig inner ear.

Our previous research had suggested that beta-tubulin might be an autoantigen for autoimmune inner ear disease. In this study, the expression of beta-tubulin in inner ears of normal and tubulin-immunized guinea pigs was examined by immunohistochemical staining. Strong immunoreactivity to beta-tubulin monoclonal antibody was found in stria vascularis, neurons of the spiral ganglion, cochlear nerve fibers and spiral ligament.

Betahistine dihydrochloride in the treatment of peripheral vestibular vertigo.

The present study compares the efficacy and safety of betahistine dihydrochloride to that of a placebo in recurrent vertigo resulting from Meniere's disease (MD) or in paroxysmal positional vertigo (PPV) of probable vascular origin. The design was double-blind, multicentre and parallel-group randomised. Eleven Italian centres enrolled 144 patients: 75 of the patients were treated with betahistine (41 MD/34 PPV) and 69 with placebos (40 MD/29 PPV).

[Computerized modification of Fukuda test].

Objectives: To study a new method to apply to Fukuda test in order to overcome the interpretational difficulty associated with a subjective evaluation of the exam.

Materials And Methods: During the exam, the patient wears a specially-designed headpiece, with a band at the back fitted with a sensor accommodating both a gyroscope and a bi-axial accelerometer. When asked to step in place, he does so in the Romberg position, eyes closed, successively rotating his head to the right and to the left.

[Behavior of serum IgE and IgA in patients with allergic rhinitis treated with iodine bromide thermal water].

The aim of this study was to test the effects of the iodine bromide water of the thermal baths of Salsomaggiore on patients suffering from specific nonseasonal rhinitis (Dermatophagoides Farinae and Dermatophagoides Pteronyssinus). The patients, 80 in all, were divided in two groups (group A and group B). All of the patients underwent rhinoscopic examination, anterior rhinomanometry, prick test, rast screening, total IgE assay together with that of the other immunoglobulins (IgA, IgM, IgG), mucociliary clearance evaluation and were asked to evaluate their degree of nasal obstruction, before and after 30 days of treatment.

Primitive malignant melanoma of the parotid gland.

Melanoma of the parotid gland is a very rare event: it can occur as a primary disease or as spread of the intraglandular nodes. The authors report a case and review the few cases of primary melanoma of the parotid gland reported in the literature.

Laboratory and histopathologic comparative study of internal ultrasound-assisted lipoplasty and tumescent lipoplasty.

Despite the advantages of using internal ultrasound-assisted lipoplasty instead of the classic tumescent lipoplasty, such as reduced bleeding and tissue damage, the authors found no objective or comparative study of these techniques in humans. For this reason, they conducted a clinical study to determine the amount of bleeding and tissue damage caused by each of the techniques. A simple clinical assay was accomplished at the Jalisco Plastic Surgery Institute on seven female patients scheduled for abdominal lipectomy.

[Allergic rhinitis: evaluation of prick test positivity for German and American cockroaches (Blatella Germanica, Periplaneta Americana)].

Allergies are a widespread phenomenon and one that is in continuous expansion, especially in large cities. A heretofore underestimated allergen, at least in Italy, is the cockroach. Between April and June 2000, we administered a prick test (including the cockroach antigen in the allergen kit) to 163 patients.

A preventive measure for otitis media in children with upper respiratory tract infections.

Recurrent upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) are very common in patients of all ages. Rhinitis, bronchitis, chronic sinusitis and otitis appear to be the prevalent forms of recurrent respiratory infections in the paediatric population. The aim of treatment is so the solution of the respiratory pathology and the also the prevention of their complications.

Apical budding of a recombinant influenza A virus expressing a hemagglutinin protein with a basolateral localization signal.

Influenza virions bud preferentially from the apical plasma membrane of infected epithelial cells, by enveloping viral nucleocapsids located in the cytosol with its viral integral membrane proteins, i.e., hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA), and M2 proteins, located at the plasma membrane.

Retrosigmoid approach for small and medium-sized acoustic neuromas.

Objective: Clinical study of the keyhole acoustic neuroma retrosigmoid approach for facial nerve and hearing preservation.

Study Design: This was a prospective case review from October 1993 to December 1998 in a referral hospital care unit.

Patients: A total of 119 consecutive patients with a tumor size of <25 mm in the cerebellopontine angle corrected by a retrosigmoid approach were included in the study.

Effects of simultaneous exposure of surfactant to serum proteins and free radicals.

Free radicals (FRs) and serum proteins have both been implicated in the pathophysiology of surfactant dysfunction during acute lung injury (ALI). This study examines how these 2 distinct mechanisms interact to contribute to altered surfactant function in this setting. Calf lung surfactant (2 mg/mL) was incubated with no additives (C = control), and with low = (LD = 125 microM FeCl2; 250 microM H2O2) and high-dose (HD = 250 microM FeCl2, 500 microM H2O2) Fenton reaction reagents to generate hydroxyl radical.

Variable tidal volume ventilation improves lung mechanics and gas exchange in a rodent model of acute lung injury.

Random variations in breath rate and tidal volume during mechanical ventilation in the setting of acute lung injury have been shown to improve arterial oxygen tension. To test whether this improvement occurs over a specific range of variability, we examined several ventilation protocols in guinea pigs with endotoxin-induced lung injury. In Group I (n = 10), after 30 min of conventional volume-cycled ventilation, animals were ventilated with variable ventilation for 30-min intervals, during which time tidal volume was randomly varied by 10, 20, 40, and 60% of the mean, while simultaneously adjusting the frequency to maintain constant minute ventilation.

Sociodemographic characteristics and HIV risk behaviour patterns of male sex workers in Madrid, Spain.

This paper describes the sociodemographic and work characteristics, prevalence of HIV infection and associated risk behaviours among male sex workers (MSWs) in Madrid (Spain). Using an anonymous semi-structured questionnaire, educators attached to a mobile unit under a street-based prostitution programme surveyed 84 MSWs from several Madrid areas. Of the total surveyed: 35% were immigrants, mean age was 23 years, mean period in prostitution was four years; 21% had no primary education; 16% had injected drugs at some time; 11% reported private sexual relationships exclusively with women; 89% always used condoms in anal practices with clients; and 41% were in sexual relationships with their partners.

Decreased surfactant protein-B expression and surfactant dysfunction in a murine model of acute lung injury.

This study examines the relationships between inflammation, surfactant protein (SP) expression, surfactant function, and lung physiology in a murine model of acute lung injury (ALI). 129/J mice received aerosolized endotoxin lipopolysaccharide [LPS] daily for up to 96 h to simulate the cytokine release and acute inflammation of ALI. Lung elastance (E(L)) and resistance, lavage fluid cell counts, cytokine levels, phospholipid and protein content, and surfactant function were measured.

Oral administration of collagen conjugated with cholera toxin induces tolerance to type II collagen and suppresses chondritis in an animal model of autoimmune ear disease.

B10.RIII (H-2r) mice were orally administered cyanogen bromide peptide 11 (CB11) or cholera toxin B (CTB)-conjugated CB11 to induce tolerance in collagen-induced autoimmune ear disease. Oral administration of a high dosage of CB11 provided partial protection from chondritis.