Long-Term Outcomes of Vibroplasty Coupler Implantations to Treat Mixed/Conductive Hearing Loss.

Objective: To evaluate the long-term safety and performance of four different vibroplasty couplers (round window, oval window, CliP and Bell coupler) in combination with an active middle ear implant.

Methods: This was a multicentre, prospective, long-term study including 5 German hospitals. Thirty adult subjects suffering from conductive or mixed hearing loss were initially enrolled for the study, 24 of these were included in the final analysis with up to 36 months of postsurgical follow-up data.

Multicenter Clinical Trial of Vibroplasty Couplers to Treat Mixed/Conductive Hearing Loss: First Results.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of round window (RW), oval window (OW), CliP and Bell couplers for use with an active middle ear implant.

Methods: This is a multicenter, long-term, prospective trial with consecutive enrollment, involving 6 university hospitals in Germany. Bone conduction, air conduction, implant-aided warble-tone thresholds and Freiburger monosyllable word recognition scores were compared with unaided preimplantation results in 28 moderate-to-profound hearing-impaired patients after 12 months of follow-up.

Temporal bone changes in patients with Goldenhar syndrome with special emphasis on inner ear abnormalities.

Objective: Goldenhar syndrome is a developmental disorder presenting with orofacial and vertebral anomalies, which are also accompanied by abnormalities in other organs. We examined temporal bone changes with special emphasis on inner ear abnormalities in these patients.

Study Design: A retrospective review of 7 new cases in addition to a previously published series of 14 cases with clinically diagnosed Goldenhar syndrome was carried out to search for inner ear anomalies.

Prediction of breast cancer by profiling of urinary RNA metabolites using Support Vector Machine-based feature selection.

Background: Breast cancer belongs to the most frequent and severe cancer types in human. Since excretion of modified nucleosides from increased RNA metabolism has been proposed as a potential target in pathogenesis of breast cancer, the aim of the present study was to elucidate the predictability of breast cancer by means of urinary excreted nucleosides.

Methods: We analyzed urine samples from 85 breast cancer women and respective healthy controls to assess the metabolic profiles of nucleosides by a comprehensive bioinformatic approach.