Endolymphatic Duct and Sac Decompression: A New Life for an Old Technique.

Background: Ménière's disease is an inner ear disorder causing recurrent vertigo, hearing loss, and tinnitus. Diagnosis is based on the variability of the symptoms over time and absence of radiological abnormalities. Medical therapy is effective only in a small percentage of patients.

1000 Days: The "WeCare Generation" Program-The Ultimate Model for Improving Human Mental Health and Economics: The Study Protocol.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic stressed the necessity of a new resilience of the human population and health system. The "WeCare Generation" program is a new proposal of territorial intervention, with a new paradigm, on the diseases of the human body and mind.

Background: In recent decades, the independent strands of investigation on brain plasticity and early trauma consequences have demonstrated that traumatic experiences in the period from pregnancy to the age of 3 years have an enormous impact on an individual's future development, and both physical and mental health.

Endolymphatic duct and sac decompression: A new technique for Ménière's disease treatment.

Background: The present article aims to introduce the endolymphatic duct and sac decompression technique (DASD) and to give a spotlight on its benefits in Ménière's disease (MD) treatment.

Methods: Eighty-two patients with intractable MD which met the inclusion criteria were recruited and underwent DASD. This technique allows a meningeal decompression of the duct and the sac from the posterior cranial fossa to the labyrinthine block.

Bifenestral surgical and chemical labyrinthectomy, a new effective ablative surgical approach to intractable vertigo in Ménière disease elderly patients.

Introduction: In this article, the bi-fenestral surgical chemical labyrinthectomy is introduced as a surgical demolition technique for treating resisting incurable forms of Meniere's disease in patients aged over 70 and/or with low hearing residues refractory to medical treatment.

Materials And Methods: The results on participants fitting the inclusion criteria (n = 16) were reported using anamnesis (frequency of the crisis), Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) and Functional Level Scale (FLS) before and after the intervention.

Results: Vertigo control was achieved in all patients of this case series.

Minimal invasive resurfacing: an innovative technique for the superior semicircular canal dehiscence. A case series.

The superior semicircular canal dehiscence is a vestibular disease recognized condition in recent years, and surgical therapy has been modeling itself over the years to ensure the control of vestibular symptoms and auditory symptoms. In this case series, the authors have experienced an intervention aimed at closing the superior semicircular canal dehiscence through the insertion of bone paté between the meninx and the residual middle cranial fossa bone wall. Seven patients underwent this intervention, they reported an improvement in all vestibular and auditory symptoms, and hearing threshold remained stable.

Algorithm for Individual Prediction of COVID-19-Related Hospitalization Based on Symptoms: Development and Implementation Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a huge strain on the health care system globally. The metropolitan area of Milan, Italy, was one of the regions most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. Risk prediction models developed by combining administrative databases and basic clinical data are needed to stratify individual patient risk for public health purposes.

SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the Lombardy Region: the increase of household contagion and its implication for containment measures.

This study aimed at the identification of the settings linked to SARS-CoV-2 transmission through the analysis of clusters and small outbreaks detected by the Lombardy Region surveillance system during the second epidemic wave. Comparing the data before and after the introduction of restrictive measures (night curfew, partial closure of schools and businesses, smaart working), we observed a significant decrease of infections in workplaces, social gatherings, coffee shops, restaurants, and sports centers; contagion in schools decreased from 9.2% to 3.

[The use of RCGO triggers in the obstetric - gynecological procedures: the impact on the reduction of adeverse events. The experience of the Lombardia Region].

The last few weeks of pregnancy are critical to a baby's health because important organs, including the brain and lungs, are not completely developed until the end of pregnancy. The adverse events during labor and childbirth can have very serious physical, psychological and financial consequences for the child, the family, health professionals and the whole community. These events can be reduced through interventions aimed at improving the safety and quality of care, based on evidence-based knowledge, guidelines and practices that must be widely and effectively applied.

Factors That Negatively Affect the Prognosis of Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia in District Hospital in Tanzania.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is still the most important cause of death in countries with scarce resources. All children (33 months ± 35 DS) discharged from the Pediatric Unit of Itigi Hospital, Tanzania, with a diagnosis of CAP from August 2014 to April 2015 were enrolled. Clinical data were gathered.

Determinant and outcome of early diagnosis of HIV infection among HIV-exposed infants in southwest Ethiopia.

Background: Preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV) has been a fundamental advancement in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) response for the past decade. Several countries have made great strides in the efforts to prevent HIV through mother-to-child transmission. The objective of this study is to assess the determinant and outcome of early diagnosis of HIV infection among HIV-exposed infants in southwest Ethiopia.

Significance of heterozygosis M34T mutation of GJB2 gene in non-syndromic congenital deafness. Retrospective analysis of 12,472 samples of amniotic fluid.

Objective: to determinate the role of heterozygosis of M34T mutation of GJB2 gene in non syndromic congenital deafness.

Methods: retrospective study between March 2010 and June 2013. Molecular screening for 35delG and M34T mutations of the GJB2 gene was offered to all women undergoing to second trimester genetic amniocentesis.

Testing ethylglucuronide in maternal hair and nails for the assessment of fetal exposure to alcohol: comparison with meconium testing.

Background: The deleterious effects exerted by prenatal ethanol exposure include physical, mental, behavioral, and/or learning disabilities that are included in the term fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The measurement of ethylglucuronide (EtG) in alternative biological matrices, including neonatal and maternal hair, neonatal meconium, and maternal nails, is receiving increasing interest for the accurate evaluation of the in utero exposure to alcohol.

Objective: To evaluate the correlation between EtG in maternal hair and nails with EtG in neonatal meconium to further explore the suitability of these biomarkers in disclosing prenatal exposure to ethanol.

Compensatory role of saccule in deaf children and adults: novel hypotheses.

The aim of the present study is to measure sound sensitivity of the saccule for low frequencies in a population of both young and adult prelingual deaf patients using cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials (cVEMPs) and to correlate the findings obtained with the phonological features. The sensitivity of the saccule to sound stimuli is well known in previous studies. The functional role of the human saccule in responding to sound stimuli is still unclear.

Postural variations after breast reduction: introduction of a new technique to achieve an objective analysis.

The authors performed a prospective study to evaluate postural variations arising after reduction mammaplasty, objectively recorded by means of static stabilometry. Thirty consecutive patients affected by various degrees of breast hypertrophy were enrolled in the study. Obesity, orthopedic, and otoneurologic diseases were the exclusion criteria.

[Macrosomic infants: clinical problems at birth and afterward].

Macrosomic infants (birth weight >4000 g) show increased risk for shoulder dystocia and associated injuries, hypoglycemia and respiratory distress. Higher risk is directly related to neonatal birth weight. High birth weight is also associated with increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome later in life.

Air- and bone-conducted vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) in otosclerosis: recordings before and after stapes surgery.

Aim of the study was to investigate, in a randomized prospective trial, air-conducted vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (AC-VEMPs) and bone-conducted vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (BC-VEMPs) before and after successful stapedotomy. Enrolled in the study were 41 consecutive patients (32 female, 9 male; mean age 36 years) (42 ears) with otosclerosis. Audiological evaluations and diagnosis of otosclerosis were made according to the guidelines of the Committee on Hearing and Equilibrium.

Study of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in patients affected by Meniere's disease treated with endolymphatic mastoid shunt.

Objectives: We recorded and compared the vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) before use of an endolymphatic mastoid shunt (EMS) and 1, 12, and 48 months after placement of the shunt.

Methods: Air-conducted VEMPs were recorded in 28 patients affected by intractable Meniere's disease and treated with placement of an EMS.

Results: One month and 12 months after the surgery, VEMPs were not detectable in the operated ear in 100% and 86% of the patients, respectively.

A suitable test for identifying high risk adult patients of moderate-severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

The aim of this study was the evaluation of the usefulness of a 7-items questionnaire, Rome Questionnaire (RQ), in identifying adult patients at risk of obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS). 136 adults (76 M, 60 F) with snoring were enrolled. Each patient underwent to an overnight polysomnography (PSG) study and the patient's bed partner answered the "RQ".

The effects of logon versus click on vestibular evoked myogenic potentials.

Conclusion: Logon is superior to click to trigger larger and more consistent vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs).

Objectives: To record and compare the parameters of VEMPs evoked by bone- and air-conducted logon (l-VEMPs) and click (c-VEMPs).

Subjects And Methods: Air- and bone-conducted l-VEMPs and c-VEMPs were recorded in 28 normal ears with an Amplaid MK12 (Amplaid, Milan) equipment.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: diagnosis and treatment.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) has been recognized as the most common vestibular disorder; it is a term coined in 1952 by Dix and Hallpike, and it is most commonly used to describe a disease with a characteristic clinical presentation believed to be caused by free-floating particles leaving the macula and entering one of the semicircular canals, usually the posterior one, more rarely the horizontal or superior ones. A lot of studies showed as the prevalence is higher in females than in males with a ratio of 2:1; furthermore, prevalence increases with the age: the mean age at onset is 54 years, with a range of 11 to 84 years. The most important clinical manifestations of BPPV are: vertigo, lightheadedness, dysequilibrium and sometimes nausea, vomiting, pallor and sweating.

Preserved otoacoustic emissions in postparotitis profound unilateral hearing loss: a case report.

We report a case of a profound unilateral sensorineural hearing loss following epidemic parotitis, with good response of otoacoustic emissions. The patient was a 12-year-old girl who had developed a unilateral hearing impairment 2 weeks after the onset of mumps. Pure tone audiometry confirmed a profound left sensorineural hearing loss.

[Peripheral facial palsy in middle ear surgery: case report and review of literature].

We present a case of a patient who experienced right facial palsy after being operated for otosclerosis. Seventeen years before our patient had yet undergone the same operation on the contralateral ear and had presented a facial palsy. We also report another case of facial palsy and middle ear damage after an operation for otosclerosis.

Congenital aplasia of the parotid gland with omolateral cheek angioma: case report and review of the literature.

Congenital agenesis of the parotid gland is a rare entity whose etiopathogenesis is still unclear. It is usually bilateral and is sometimes associated with other developmental anomalies of the head and neck region. A case is presented in which aplasia of the right parotid gland was associated with an omolateral angioma of the cheek.