Effects of sound source localization of masking sound on perception level of simulated tinnitus.

Tinnitus therapies have been combined with the use of varieties of sound/noise. For masking external sounds, location of the masker in space is important; however, effects of the spatial location of the masker on tinnitus are less understood. We aimed to test whether a masking sound location would affect the perception level of simulated tinnitus.

Traumatic Nonmissile Penetrating Transnasal Anterior Skull Base Fracture and Brain Injury with Cerebrospinal Fluid Leak: Intraoperative Leak Detection and an Effective Reconstruction Procedure for a Localized Skull Base Defect Especially After Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak.

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage after penetrating skull base injury is relatively rare compared with close head injuries involving skull base fractures.

Case Description: We report the case of a 65-year-old man who had presented with epistaxis and serous rhinorrhea. When he had fallen to the ground near his bee boxes, a garden pole had poked into his right nostril.

Patient-specific 3D-printed Model-assisted Supracochlear Approach to the Petrous Apex.

Objective: To present a case of pediatric cholesteatoma that invaded the petrous apex (PA) and discuss the usefulness of preoperative three-dimensional (3D) surgical simulation on a personal computer (PC) and patient-specific 3D printed model-assisted surgery.

Patient: A 5-year-old boy with congenital cholesteatoma underwent a planned two-stage canal wall up mastoidectomy. The cholesteatoma had invaded the PA from a small space anterior to the superior semicircular canal (SSCC).

Effects of unilateral sinonasal surgery on sleep-disordered breathing.

To examine the effects of surgery for unilateral sinonasal lesions on sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Oxygen desaturation index (3%ODI) as a marker of SDB and bilateral/unilateral nasal resistance were measured before and after surgery for 18 patients with unilateral sinonasal lesions. Various parameters were compared between those who achieved 60% or less decrease of 3%ODI and those who did not.

Medial pontomedullary junctional infarction presenting vertigo, ipsilateral facial paresis, contralateral thermal hypoalgesia and dysphagia without lateral gaze palsy, curtain sign and hoarseness: a case presentation of a novel brain stem stroke syndrome with sensory disturbance-based dysphagia and review of the literature.

In this report, we describe unilateral medial pontomedullary junction (MPMJ) syndrome as a novel brain stem stroke syndrome. A 68-year-old woman suddenly developed vertigo, ipsilateral facial paresis, contralateral thermal hypoalgesia (TH) and dysphagia without lateral gaze palsy, curtain sign and hoarseness. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging showed a small infarction at the right MPMJ.

[RESULTS OF TONSILLECTOMY AND STEROID PULSE THERAPY IN 20 CASES OF RECURRENT IgA NEPHROPATHY AFTER KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATION].

(Background) The standard treatment for recurrent immunoglobulin A nephropathy (rIgAN) after kidney transplantation (KTx) has not been established. (Methods) The results of treatment consisting of tonsillectomy and steroid pulse therapy in 20 recipients who were diagnosed as rIgAN were retrospectively analyzed. (Results) The level of proteinuria significantly decreased from 0.

Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Glasgow Edinburgh Throat Scale (GETS-J): Use for a symptom scale of globus sensation.

Objective: Globus sensation, a feeling of lump or something stuck in the throat, could be caused by structural, functional, and psychogenic diseases. Due to a possible multifactorial nature of the disease, neither diagnosing test battery nor standard treatment for globus sensation has been established. Therefore, a questionnaire to accurately identify globus patients and evaluate the severity of the disease is desired.

Comprehensive microbiome analysis of tonsillar crypts in IgA nephropathy.

Background: Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most prevalent primary chronic glomerular disease, in which the mucosal immune response elicited particularly in the tonsils or intestine has been estimated to be involved in the development of the disease. To explore the relationship between IgAN and bacterial flora in the tonsils, we conducted a comprehensive microbiome analysis.

Methods: We enrolled 48 IgAN patients, 21 recurrent tonsillitis (RT) patients without urine abnormalities and 30 children with tonsillar hyperplasia (TH) who had undergone tonsillectomy previously.

Mechanisms and prevention of sudden death in multiple system atrophy.

Background: Sudden death in multiple system atrophy (MSA) usually occurs during sleep and was therefore attributed to suffocation resulting from vocal cord abductor paralysis, a characteristic laryngeal finding of MSA. This led to the use of tracheostomy and noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) for the prevention of sudden death. However, neither method has been able to prevent sudden death, and both have occasionally precipitated treatment-related complications, including central sleep apneas and exacerbation of floppy epiglottis.

Laryngeal stridor in multiple system atrophy: Clinicopathological features and causal hypotheses.

Laryngeal stridor is recognized as a characteristic clinical manifestation in patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA). However, the pathogenic mechanisms underlying this symptom are controversial. Neurogenic atrophy of the posterior cricoarytenoid muscle has been identified in cases of MSA, suggesting that laryngeal abductor weakness contributes to laryngeal stridor.

Risk Factors and Clinical Outcomes of Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve Paralysis After Esophagectomy for Thoracic Esophageal Carcinoma.

Background: The objectives of this study were to assess the incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis (RLNP) using laryngoscopy after esophagectomy for thoracic esophageal carcinoma and to clarify the risk factors influencing postoperative RLNP.

Methods: A total of 299 patients who underwent laryngoscopic examination after esophagectomy were retrospectively reviewed. Patients who were found to have postoperative RLNP were followed up every 1–3 months, with a median follow-up period of 3 months.

Discontinuation of continuous positive airway pressure treatment in multiple system atrophy.

Objective: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is used for the management of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA). However, the long-term outcome after CPAP treatment is yet to be ascertained.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed to investigate the frequency and causes of CPAP treatment discontinuation, and to ascertain the determinations of CPAP treatment duration in Japanese patients diagnosed with probable MSA based upon the consensus diagnostic criteria, who were admitted to our hospital from 2001 to 2012.

Mild noise-induced hearing loss at young age affects temporal modulation transfer functions in adult cat primary auditory cortex.

Kittens were exposed for 2h to a 1/3rd octave band of noise centered at 5kHz and at 120dB SPL. After the exposure, they were kept in a quiet room for at least 4 weeks, and until they were mature. The noise-exposed cats showed on average 16.

Spectrally enhanced acoustic environment disrupts frequency representation in cat auditory cortex.

Sensory environments are known to shape nervous system organization. Here we show that passive long-term exposure to a spectrally enhanced acoustic environment (EAE) causes reorganization of the tonotopic map in juvenile cat auditory cortex without inducing any hearing loss. The EAE consisted of tone pips of 32 different frequencies (5-20 kHz), presented in random order at an average rate of 96 Hz.

Effects of noise-induced hearing loss at young age on voice onset time and gap-in-noise representations in adult cat primary auditory cortex.

Here we show that mild hearing loss induced by noise exposure in early age causes a decrease in neural temporal resolution when measured in adulthood. We investigated the effect of this chronic hearing loss on the representation of a voice onset time (VOT) and a gap-duration continuum in primary auditory cortex (AI) in cats, which were exposed at the age of 6 weeks to a 120-dB SPL, 5-kHz 1/3 octave noise band for 2 h. The resulting hearing loss measured using auditory brainstem responses and cortical multiunit thresholds at 4-6 months of age was 20-40 dB between 1 and 32 kHz.