Ensemble machine learning classification of daily living abilities among older people with HIV.

Background: clinically relevant methods to identify individuals at risk for impaired daily living abilities secondary to neurocognitive impairment (ADLs) remain elusive. This is especially true for complex clinical conditions such as HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND). The aim of this study was to identify novel and modifiable factors that have potential to improve diagnostic accuracy of ADL risk, with the long-term goal of guiding future interventions to minimize ADL disruption.

Preservation of auditory brainstem response thresholds after cochleostomy and titanium microactuator implantation in the lateral wall of cat scala tympani.

Hypothesis: The safety of implanting a titanium microactuator into the lateral wall of cat scala tympani was assessed by comparing preoperative and postoperative auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds for 1 to 3 months.

Background: The safety of directly stimulating cochlear perilymph with an implantable hearing system requires maintaining preoperative hearing levels. This cat study is an essential step in the development of the next generation of fully implantable hearing devices for humans.

Revision stapedectomy.

During the past decade, the evolution of surgical techniques and philosophy for revision surgery after stapedectomy has accelerated. Lasers, new surgical techniques, and new prostheses now permit the precise identification and reliable correction of the conductive problem, while reducing the risk of postoperative sensorineural hearing loss that plagued nonlaser revision techniques.

Causes of conductive hearing loss after stapedectomy or stapedotomy: a prospective study of 279 consecutive surgical revisions.

Objective: To analyze the causes for residual or recurrent conductive hearing loss following stapedectomy or stapedotomy and then propose surgical techniques to avoid these complications.

Study Design: Prospective study of 279 consecutive stapedectomy or stapedotomy revisions performed by the author.

Setting: Tertiary referral center.

Carbon dioxide lasers for otosclerosis.

Over the past eight years, the senior author (SGL) has sought the ideal microsurgical laser for otosclerosis surgery. This quest required learning the principles of laser physics and of the interactions of light with matter. Rather simple thermocouple experiments were performed in the laboratories of the Midwest Ear Foundation (MEF) to confirm some of what was predicted from these principles.