Age-related hearing loss and dementia: a 10-year national population-based study.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is postulated to affect dementia. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between ARHL and the prevalence, and 10-year incidence of dementia in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). We selected patients diagnosed with ARHL from the NHIRD.

Increased risk of depression in patients with acquired sensory hearing loss: A 12-year follow-up study.

Acquired sensory hearing loss (SHL) is suggested to be associated with depression. However, some studies have reported conflicting results. Our study investigated the relationship between the prevalence of SHL and the incidence of depression over 12 years of follow-up by using data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD).

The Changes of Ethical Dilemmas in Palliative Care. A Lesson Learned from Comparison Between 1998 and 2013 in Taiwan.

The current ethical dilemmas met by healthcare professionals were never compared with those 15 years ago when the palliative care system was newly developing in Taiwan. The aim of the study was to investigate the ethical dilemmas met by palliative care physicians and nurses in 2013 and compare the results with the survey in 1998. This cross-sectional study surveyed 213 physicians and nurses recruited from 9 representative palliative care units across Taiwan in 2013.

Risk factors for the recurrence of post-semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo after canalith repositioning.

This retrospective study was conducted to determine the relationship between variable factors and the recurrence rate of post-semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (PSC-BPPV) after canalith repositioning procedure (CRP). Patients with PSC-BPPV were diagnosed by history and the presence of a positive Dix-Hallpike maneuver between 2008 and 2010. In total, 243 patients (47 males and 196 females, average age = 57.

Tracking sinks of atmospheric methane using small world networks.

The present study uses small world network to highlight the key hubs for CH4 atmospheric pathways without considering rate constant of each reaction and concentrations of each species. The atmospheric methane sources and sinks were formulated into a well-organized network of 49 nodes and 302 links. In the network, reactions (including substrates and products) are considered as nodes and their pathways as links.

Myelination progression in language-correlated regions in brain of normal children determined by quantitative MRI assessment.

Objective: To investigate the myelination progression course in language-correlated regions of children with normal brain development by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis compared with histological studies.

Methods: The subjects were 241 neurologically intact neonates, infants and young children (128 boys and 113 girls) who underwent MRI between 2001 and 2007 at the University of Tokyo Hospital, ranging in age from 0 to 429 weeks corrected by postnatal age. To compare their data with adult values, 25 adolescents and adults (14 men and 11 women, aged from 14 to 83 years) were examined as controls.

Temporal bone pathological study on maxillary sinus carcinoma with bilateral temporal bone metastasis.

We report a case in which metastasis occurred from a left-side maxillary carcinoma to bilateral temporal bones through different routes, manifested by rapidly progressing left-side mixed hearing loss, left-side vestibular dysfunction, and serous otitis media. Later the left-side hearing threshold became severely elevated, suggesting profound sensory hearing loss. Histopathology of the temporal bones revealed that the side with the lesion was severely damaged by tumor through direct and hematogenous metastasis.