Validation of the BODY-Q Chest module in Finnish trans men undergoing chest wall masculinization.

Background And Objective: The aim of gender affirmation surgery is to ease gender dysphoria. In transgender men, chest wall masculinization is the most common gender affirmation surgery. The BODY-Q Chest module is currently the only instrument developed to measure health-related quality of life (HRQL) in men undergoing chest wall surgery.

Cardiometabolic Health Among Adult Offspring of Hypertensive Pregnancies: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

Background: Cardiometabolic health among adult offspring of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) is relatively unknown. We hypothesized that offspring of HDP would have abnormalities in the retinal microvasculature and cardiac structure by midadulthood.

Methods And Results: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study included randomly selected children from 5 Finnish university cities.

Eustachian Tube Mucosal Inflammation Scale Validation Based on Digital Video Images.

Background: The most common cause for Eustachian tube dilatory dysfunction is mucosal inflammation. The aim of this study was to validate a scale for Eustachian tube mucosal inflammation, based on digital video clips obtained during diagnostic rigid endoscopy.

Methods: A previously described four-step scale for grading the degree of inflammation of the mucosa of the Eustachian tube lumen was used for this validation study.

Unilateral common cavity deformity: Recurrent meningitis due to insufficient newborn hearing screening.

Insufficient newborn hearing screening may leave the other ear with undetected hearing loss. Subsequently, the missed pathology behind the impairment may have potential risk for severe infections. We describe a case of recurrent Streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis in an infant with unilateral common cavity deformity.

Sequential bilateral cochlear implantation improves working performance, quality of life, and quality of hearing.

Conclusions: This prospective study shows that working performance, quality of life (QoL), and quality of hearing (QoH) are better with two compared with a single cochlear implant (CI). The impact of the second CI on the patient's QoL is as significant as the impact of the first CI.

Objectives: To evaluate the benefits of sequential bilateral cochlear implantation in working, QoL, and QoH.

Histopathology of balloon-dilation Eustachian tuboplasty.

Objectives/hypothesis: Surgical intervention of the Eustachian tube (ET) has become increasingly common in the past decade, and balloon dilation has shown promising results in recent studies. It is unclear how balloon dilation enhances ET function. Our aim was to evaluate histological changes in the ET's mucosal lumen comparing before balloon dilation, immediately after, and postoperatively.

Balloon Dilation of the Cartilaginous Portion of the Eustachian Tube.

Objective: Studies of balloon Eustachian tuboplasty (BET) have shown encouraging results in small series with short follow-ups. Our pilot study suggested that patients with protracted otitis media with effusion (OME) or atelectasis of the tympanic membrane (TM) could benefit from BET.

Study Design: A prospective study where subjects act as their own controls.

Comparison of stapedotomy minus prosthesis, circumferential stapes mobilization, and small fenestra stapedotomy for stapes fixation.

Objective: To compare the outcomes of 3 surgical techniques for primary stapes fixation: stapedotomy minus prosthesis (STAMP), circumferential stapes mobilization (CSM), and small fenestra stapedotomy (SFS).

Study Design: Retrospective review of 277 primary cases operated for stapes fixation from 1997 to 2007.

Setting: Tertiary academic center.

Polymorphism of the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) and angiotesinogen (AGT) genes and their associations with blood pressure and carotid artery intima media thickness among healthy Finnish young adults--the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.

The roles of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) insertion-deletion (I/D) and angiotensinogen (AGT) m235t polymorphisms in cardiovascular diseases have been investigated extensively during the past decade but results have been inconsistent. A sex-specific association between the ACE I/D polymorphism and systolic blood pressure (BP) was seen among Finnish children and adolescents previously. We investigated if these polymorphisms associate with the BP and carotid artery intima media thickness (IMT) in the same cohort during their adulthood.

Longitudinal study of maternal depressive symptoms and child well-being.

Objective: To investigate whether prenatal, postnatal, and/or current maternal depressive symptoms are associated with low level of psychosocial functioning or high level of emotional/behavioral problems in school-age children.

Method: As part of a prospective longitudinal study, maternal depressive symptoms were screened with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale prenatally, postnatally, and when the children were 8 to 9 years old. The original sample of 349 mothers was collected in 1989-1990 in Tampere, Finland.

Grading of diffusely infiltrating astrocytomas by quantitative histopathology, cell proliferation and image cytometric DNA analysis. Comparison of 133 tumours in the context of the WHO 1979 and WHO 1993 grading schemes.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the applicability of quantitative histopathology as an aid for grading diffusely infiltrating astrocytomas. Primary astrocytomas were analysed for parameters (mean nuclear size, mitosis count, area fraction of endothelial cells and tumour necrosis, area fraction of nuclei, and Ki-67 (MIB-1) labelling index), which are closely related to the World Health Organization (WHO) 1979 and WHO 1993 grading criteria. All estimates correlated with the WHO histopathological grade and patient outcome.

Histological improvement of oesophagitis after Nissen fundoplication.

Nissen fundoplication gives lasting relief from symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux and cures endoscopic oesophagitis effectively. The histological effect on the oesophageal mucosa is less clear. We studied the long-term histological effect of Nissen fundoplication on refractory gastro-oesophageal disease with erosive oesophagitis or Barrett's metaplasia in 33 patients with biopsy both before and after antireflux surgery.