microRNAs in sudden hearing loss.

Objectives: To compare the circulating microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles between sudden sensory neural hearing loss (SSNHL) patients and age-matched normal hearing controls.

Study Design: Prospective cohort multi-center study.

Methods: Patients presenting within 28 days of onset of SSNHL were prospectively recruited along with contemporaneous age-matched controls.

Cervical spine abnormalities in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Objective: The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome is among the most common head-and-neck-related syndromes. The literature has examined many of the phenotypic features of 22q11.

Nasal spray adherence after sinus surgery: problems and predictors.

Objectives: To assess patient adherence to nasal spray regimens after endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS) and to study factors that predict adherence.

Methods: A three-arm, randomized, blinded, controlled trial was conducted at a tertiary care academic hospital, studied via a prospective longitudinal survey, of 60 consecutive chronic rhinosinusitis patients managed with ESS and started on one of three postoperative nasal spray regimens. Structured telephone interviews were conducted after surgery over a 12-month period using a validated questionnaire that assessed both spray adherence and barriers to adherence.

Superiorly based pharyngeal flap for velopharyngeal insufficiency: intermediate and longer-term perceptual speech and nasometric outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate the intermediate and longer-term perceptual and objective speech outcomes in velopharyngeal insufficiency (VPI) patients treated with a superiorly based pharyngeal flap.

Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: Tertiary care centre, London, Ontario.

Prospective, randomized controlled assessment of the short- and long-term efficacy of a hearing conservation education program in Canadian elementary school children.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of a hearing conservation program in changing acoustic risk-taking and hearing conservation behaviors in elementary school children.

Study Design: Prospective, randomized, mixed design controlled study.

Methods: Participants were grade-six students from 16 Vancouver School Board schools.

Bilateral Ménière's disease.

Purpose Of Review: Bilateral Ménière's disease treatment can be extremely challenging and, like its unilateral variant, remains highly controversial. There are few articles in the literature that have focused specifically on the treatment of bilateral Ménière's disease, despite significant numbers of unilateral cases evolving toward bilaterality - a process which complicates management and is not simple to foresee. This study reviews the most up-to-date concepts in its diagnosis and treatment, with a special focus on recent advances.

A preformed complex of postsynaptic proteins is involved in excitatory synapse development.

Nonsynaptic clusters of postsynaptic proteins have been documented; however, their role remains elusive. We monitored the trafficking of several candidate proteins implicated in synaptogenesis, when nonsynaptic clusters of scaffold proteins are most abundant. We find a protein complex consisting of two populations that differ in their content, mobility, and involvement in synapse formation.