Towards a Consensus on an ICF-Based Classification System for Horizontal Sound-Source Localization.

The study aimed to develop a consensus classification system for the reporting of sound localization testing results, especially in the field of cochlear implantation. Against the background of an overview of the wide variations present in localization testing procedures and reporting metrics, a novel classification system was proposed to report localization errors according to the widely accepted International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework. The obtained HEARRING_LOC_ICF scale includes the ICF graded scale: 0 (no impairment), 1 (mild impairment), 2 (moderate impairment), 3 (severe impairment), and 4 (complete impairment).

Philosophy of Cancer Theranostics.

Imagine a theranostic nuclear physician oncologist engaged in a Socratic philosophic dialogue. Questions that may be posed include the status of our current knowledge base of radiomolecular tumor biology, the meaning of precision in personalized dosimetry, the nature of responsibility for direct patient care, and the moral and ethical dimensions of individual quality of life (QOL) when survival is prolonged. This review invites reflective enquiry into one's personal practice of theranostics in cancer care, with the objective of optimizing clinical outcomes, not only in terms of prolonged survival but also individual QOL, in respect of its meaning for each patient, both physically and emotionally.

Odd-even oddball task: Evaluating event-related potentials during word discrimination compared to speech-token and tone discrimination.

Tonal and speech token auditory oddball tasks have been commonly used to assess auditory processing in various populations; however, tasks using non-word sounds may fail to capture the higher-level ability to interpret and discriminate stimuli based on meaning, which are critical to language comprehension. As such, this study examines how neural signals associated with discrimination and evaluation-processes (P3b) from semantic stimuli compare with those elicited by tones and speech tokens. This study comprises of two experiments, both containing thirteen adults with normal hearing in both ears (PTA ≤ 20 dB HL).

Cortical auditory evoked potential in cochlear implant users: An objective method to improve speech perception.

Objective: To investigate if cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) measures can be used to verify the cochlear implant (CI) map and consequently improve CI outcomes in adults with bilateral hearing loss.

Design: CAEPs were measured in CI recipients using the speech tokens /m/, /g/, /t/ and /s/. If CAEP responses were present for all speech tokens, the participant's map was considered "satisfactory".

Systematic Literature Review of Hearing Preservation Rates in Cochlear Implantation Associated With Medium- and Longer-Length Flexible Lateral Wall Electrode Arrays.

Background: The last two decades have demonstrated that preoperative functional acoustic hearing (residual hearing) can be preserved during cochlear implant (CI) surgery. However, the relationship between the electrode array length and postoperative hearing preservation (HP) with lateral wall flexible electrode variants is still under debate.

Aims/objectives: This is a systematic literature review that aims to analyze the HP rates of patients with residual hearing for medium-length and longer-length lateral wall electrodes.

Suitable Electrode Choice for Robotic-Assisted Cochlear Implant Surgery: A Systematic Literature Review of Manual Electrode Insertion Adverse Events.

Background And Objective: The cochlear implant (CI) electrode insertion process is a key step in CI surgery. One of the aims of advances in robotic-assisted CI surgery (RACIS) is to realize better cochlear structure preservation and to precisely control insertion. The aim of this literature review is to gain insight into electrode selection for RACIS by acquiring a thorough knowledge of electrode insertion and related complications from classic CI surgery involving a manual electrode insertion process.

Using Generic and Disease-Specific Measures to Assess Quality of Life before and after 12 Months of Hearing Implant Use: A Prospective, Longitudinal, Multicenter, Observational Clinical Study.

The primary objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of hearing implant (HI) use on quality of life (QoL) and to determine which QoL measure(s) quantify QoL with greater sensitivity in users of different types of HIs. Participants were adult cochlear implant (CI), active middle ear implant (VIBRANT SOUNDBRIDGE (VSB)), or active transcutaneous bone conduction implant (the BONEBRIDGE (BB)) recipients. Generic QoL and disease-specific QoL were assessed at three intervals: pre-activation, 6 months of device use, and 12 months of device use.

Perspectives on Support Material for Referrals to Cochlear Implantation Teams.

Purpose: This study used a collaborative approach to explore the needs, barriers, and facilitators to developing cochlear implant referral information material that would be valuable for hard of hearing adults and referring audiologists.

Method: During the development of a prototype referral aid to be used within the Australian context, a multistage qualitative study was conducted using a consultative process, informal and semistructured interviews, as well as online surveys. A deductive directed content analysis approach was applied to assess respondents' perspectives.

Consensus guidelines for the diagnosis and management of invasive candidiasis in haematology, oncology and intensive care settings, 2021.

Patients with haematological malignancies, haemopoietic stem cell transplant recipients and patients requiring admission to intensive care settings are at high risk for invasive candidiasis (IC). Over the past decade, there has been increased reporting of non-albicans species and fluconazole resistance in Australia. These guidelines provide updated evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and management of IC in adult and paediatric haematology, oncology and intensive care settings.

Life-Saving Cancer Care.

What, precisely, are we seeking to achieve in offering 'life-saving' treatment to patients with cancer? Research funding agencies and pharmaceutical industry media releases, and government cancer screening programs all promise that their cancer programs save lives. But everybody dies. The nature of life and death from cancer is explored philosophically in this essay, with particular reference to the quality of life, and its meaning, during the period of prolongation of survival by 'life-saving' cancer care.

Effectiveness of Computer-Based Auditory Training for Adult Cochlear Implant Users: A Randomized Crossover Study.

The aim of this study was to assess whether a computer-based speech-in-noise auditory training (AT) program would lead to short- and long-term changes in trained and untrained measures of listening, cognition, and quality of life. A secondary aim was to assess whether directly training the underlying cognitive abilities required for speech perception in noise, using a computer-based visual training (VT) program without the auditory component, would elicit comparable outcomes as the AT program. A randomized crossover study with repeated measures was conducted with 26 adult cochlear implant users.

Characteristics of quality activities in a tertiary teaching hospital in Western Australia.

Background: Despite all the resourcefulness and efforts in the last 30 years for quality in healthcare, safety and quality considerations are recognized with up to 17% of total hospital activity and expenditure related to adverse events. A knowledge gap is identified in the literature that few studies have reported from a whole hospital perspective on what and how quality activities are being performed, particularly in the Australian context.

Objective: This study aims to describe the characteristics of quality activities in a tertiary quaternary hospital in Western Australia.

Increasing incidence of invasive group A streptococcal disease in Western Australia, particularly among Indigenous people.

Objective: To quantify the burden of invasive group A Streptococcus (GAS) disease in Western Australia during 2000-2018.

Design, Setting: Population-based data linkage study: Hospital Morbidity Data Collection (HMDC; all WA public and private hospital records), PathWest pathology data (government-owned pathology services provider), and death registrations.

Participants: People with invasive GAS disease, defined by an isolate from a normally sterile site (PathWest) or a hospital-based principal ICD-10-AM diagnosis code (HMDC).

Journey-Deuce bicompartmental knee arthroplasty with the addition of computer navigation achieves good clinical outcomes and implant survival at 10 years.

Purpose: To report 10-year outcomes and survivorship in patients undergoing bicompartmental knee arthroplasty (BCKA) using the Journey-Deuce prosthesis in a consecutive prospective case series.

Methods: Between November 2006 and November 2009, 41 patients with a mean age of 69.6 years (range 51-86) underwent 51 bicompartmental knee arthroplasties with the Journey-Deuce knee prosthesis.

Extended scope of practice audiology in the ENT outpatient clinic - a pilot study.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of using an extended scope (ES) audiology service to provide care to non-urgent adult patients waiting for an Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) appointment.

Design: Based on suitability criteria developed by the Audiology and ENT departments, an internal review of the ENT wait list identified patients who would be suitable for an ES audiology clinic.

Study Sample: 220 non-urgent patients on the ENT wait list with hearing loss and/or tinnitus.

Psychological flexibility is associated with less diabetes distress and lower glycated haemoglobin in adults with type 1 diabetes.

Background: Diabetes distress, self-efficacy and health literacy are associated with diabetes self-management and health outcomes. Measures of coping styles and their impact on diabetes self-management and diabetes-related distress might add value in identifying those at risk of poorer health outcomes. Current evidence of associations between psychological flexibility/inflexibility and diabetes-related health outcomes is limited.

A randomised trial of the effectiveness of instructor versus automated manikin feedback for training junior doctors in life support skills.

Introduction: Australian Standards require that clinicians undergo regular training in skills required to respond to the acute deterioration of a patient. Training focuses on the ability to appropriately respond to cardiac arrest, including delivering cardiac compressions, ventilation and appropriate defibrillation. Providing such training comes at a significant cost to the organisation and impacts on clinician time in direct patient care.

Functional navigation in hip resurfacing.

Background: Acetabular malpositioning in total hip arthroplasty (THA) can result in edge loading, leading to increased wear, pseudotumours and bearing failure. Historically Lewinnek's safe zone has been the goal for optimal THA cup positioning; however, research indicates that one generic safe zone is not ideal. In hip resurfacing (HR) there is a lack of data regarding optimal position, and studies indicate that edge loading is related to increased inclination.

Ethics of Pharma Clinical Trials in the Era of Precision Oncology.

Pharmaceutical industry clinical trials are ethically problematic: human research subjects are being used as a means to the end of demonstrating statistically significant efficacy of novel anticancer agents to achieve regulatory registration and marketing approval. Randomized controlled trial design is inequitable since control arm patients are denied access to the postulated best treatment. Most pharma studies do not provide clinically meaningful benefit of increased overall survival and enhanced quality of life (QOL) to cohorts and are not reliably generalizable to real-world patients.

Mental health recovery and physical health outcomes in psychotic illness: Longitudinal data from the Western Australian survey of high impact psychosis catchments.

Objective: There is a dearth of longitudinal data on outcomes in prevalent cases of psychotic illness across a range of ages and levels of chronicity. Our aim was to describe changes over time in mental and physical health outcomes, as well as patterns of service utilisation that may have influenced outcomes, in a representative prevalence sample of 641 Western Australians with a psychotic illness who, at Wave 1, were part of the National Survey of High Impact Psychosis.

Methods: In Wave 1 (2010, 2012), a two-phase design was employed to ensure representativeness: Phase 1 psychosis screening took place in public mental health and non-government organisation services, while, in Phase 2, a randomised sample was interviewed.

Meniscal "Ramp" Lesions: Surgical Incidence and the Development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Diagnostic Criteria.

Purpose: To establish the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and operative incidence of ramp lesions in a consecutive group of patients who had undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and to propose a graded radiologic classification that seeks to define key preoperative features that most strongly correlate with arthroscopically confirmed ramp lesions.

Methods: After retrospective review, all consecutive patients who underwent ACLR with preoperative MRI over a 16-month period were included in the study. Diagnostic arthroscopy with direct visualization of the posteromedial compartment was used to establish the true incidence of ramp lesions.

Opioid-Free Anesthesia for Lung Cancer Resection: A Case-Control Study.

Objective: To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of an opioid-free anesthesia (OFA) technique in lung cancer resection surgery versus standard opioid-based techniques.

Design: Retrospective, propensity-matched, case-control study.

Setting: A single, specialty cardiothoracic center between January 2018 and July 2019.

The Wellness Clinic: A retrospective Quasi-experimental, longitudinal study of physical health support in an Australian mental health service setting.

The poor physical health of patients with severe/chronic mental illness is now well-known, yet little has been done to address the issue. Adverse medication effects, lifestyle, and social factors can all contribute to high morbidity and mortality rates when compared to the general population. To arrest poor physical health, a Wellness Clinic within a mental health hospital was developed to provide continuity of care when patients were discharged from the hospital.

The physical health Wellness Clinic model of care for patients with mental health issues who are 'hard to engage'.

Objective: People with chronic and severe mental health issues die 15-25 years earlier than people in the general population - the main reason for this is poor physical health. An innovative treatment model for the management of primary care within a mental health service setting for 'hard to engage' patients is presented.

Conclusion: The Wellness Clinic model provides the final level of care, where individuals who are at risk will receive a thorough physical health check and be referred for any additional tests and scans that are needed ensuring that any health issues are addressed.