Hereditary hearing loss(HHL),a genetic disorder that impairs auditory function,significantly affects quality of life and incurs substantial economic losses for society.To investigate the underlying causes of HHL and e...Hereditary hearing loss(HHL),a genetic disorder that impairs auditory function,significantly affects quality of life and incurs substantial economic losses for society.To investigate the underlying causes of HHL and evaluate therapeutic outcomes,appropriate animal models are necessary.Pigs have been extensively used as valuable large animal models in biomedical research.In this review,we highlight the advantages of pig models in terms of ear anatomy,inner ear morphology,and electrophysiological characteristics,as well as recent advancements in the development of distinct genetically modified porcine models of hearing loss.Additionally,we discuss the prospects,challenges,and recommendations regarding the use pig models in HHL research.Overall,this review provides insights and perspectives for future studies on HHL using porcine models.展开更多
In advanced otological surgeries, powered instruments form an indispensable part. The risk of deterioration to hearing in the operated ear is a commonly discussed issue, however, there remains a possibility of affecti...In advanced otological surgeries, powered instruments form an indispensable part. The risk of deterioration to hearing in the operated ear is a commonly discussed issue, however, there remains a possibility of affecting the hearing in the contralateral ear due to transcranial vibration. So in this study we aimed to assess the possibility of the non-operated ear being affected by the noise generated during ear surgeries and whether it is temporary or permanent in nature. Methodology: This study included 63 patients diagnosed with unilateral disease who underwent mastoid surgery. Preoperatively all the patients were subjected to Pure tone audiometry (PTA), Transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) and Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE). Patients were operated using both cutting and diamond burrs of ranging from sizes 1 - 6 mm. Total drilling time was recorded. Results: Post-operative hearing evaluation was done at 1 week, 4 weeks and 12 weeks. The sound emitted by various burrs was recorded by Sound Level Meter. Out of the total 58 patients that followed up, 46 showed change in at least one of the hearing parameters. Patients showing changes had a higher drilling time as compared to those with no changes. Of these, the changes associated with the total drilling time and with cutting burr time were found to be significant. The hearing changes seen on PTA, TEOAE and DPOAE were transient in nature with only one patient having a persistent decreased high frequency threshold at the end of 12 weeks. It was also found that cutting burrs produce more sound as compared to diamond burrs and a larger size burr of a type produces more sound than a smaller one of its type. Conclusion: The drilling of mastoid bone during ear surgeries can transiently impair the hearing in the contralateral ear which is of great significance in patients with only one hearing ear.展开更多
Objective:To evaluate the effect and efficiency of ear tip bloodletting combined with Xianfang Huoming Yin(XFH)in the treatment of early-stage wheals.Methods:70 patients with early-stage wheals admitted from September...Objective:To evaluate the effect and efficiency of ear tip bloodletting combined with Xianfang Huoming Yin(XFH)in the treatment of early-stage wheals.Methods:70 patients with early-stage wheals admitted from September 2020 to September 2022 were divided into two groups by randomized numerical table method,with 35 cases/group.Both groups received conventional treatment,the control group combined with XFH,and the observation group combined with ear tip bloodletting therapy and XFH.Conscious symptom scores,ocular indexes,therapeutic effects,and sleep quality between the two groups were compared.Results:After the treatment,the patients in the observation group had lower self-awareness symptom scores and sleep quality scores as compared to those in the control group;the diameter of the mass in the observation group was smaller than that of the control group after treatment;the average tear film rupture time and the time taken for the first non-contact tear film to rupture were longer in the observation group than those in the control group;the total effective rate of the treatment in the observation group was higher than that of the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion:Ear tip bloodletting combined with XFH was ideal for the treatment of early-stage wheals and has a high effective rate.展开更多
Human recognition technology based on biometrics has become a fundamental requirement in all aspects of life due to increased concerns about security and privacy issues.Therefore,biometric systems have emerged as a te...Human recognition technology based on biometrics has become a fundamental requirement in all aspects of life due to increased concerns about security and privacy issues.Therefore,biometric systems have emerged as a technology with the capability to identify or authenticate individuals based on their physiological and behavioral characteristics.Among different viable biometric modalities,the human ear structure can offer unique and valuable discriminative characteristics for human recognition systems.In recent years,most existing traditional ear recognition systems have been designed based on computer vision models and have achieved successful results.Nevertheless,such traditional models can be sensitive to several unconstrained environmental factors.As such,some traits may be difficult to extract automatically but can still be semantically perceived as soft biometrics.This research proposes a new group of semantic features to be used as soft ear biometrics,mainly inspired by conventional descriptive traits used naturally by humans when identifying or describing each other.Hence,the research study is focused on the fusion of the soft ear biometric traits with traditional(hard)ear biometric features to investigate their validity and efficacy in augmenting human identification performance.The proposed framework has two subsystems:first,a computer vision-based subsystem,extracting traditional(hard)ear biometric traits using principal component analysis(PCA)and local binary patterns(LBP),and second,a crowdsourcing-based subsystem,deriving semantic(soft)ear biometric traits.Several feature-level fusion experiments were conducted using the AMI database to evaluate the proposed algorithm’s performance.The obtained results for both identification and verification showed that the proposed soft ear biometric information significantly improved the recognition performance of traditional ear biometrics,reaching up to 12%for LBP and 5%for PCA descriptors;when fusing all three capacities PCA,LBP,and soft traits using k-nearest neighbors(KNN)classifier.展开更多
目的对结直肠癌外科患者治疗过程中,快速康复(enhanced recovery after surgery,ERAS)计划的应用价值进行分析。方法选择2020年7月1日—2022年3月1日常德市第一人民医院普通外科结直肠癌患者150例,按随机数字表法分为研究组与对照组,每...目的对结直肠癌外科患者治疗过程中,快速康复(enhanced recovery after surgery,ERAS)计划的应用价值进行分析。方法选择2020年7月1日—2022年3月1日常德市第一人民医院普通外科结直肠癌患者150例,按随机数字表法分为研究组与对照组,每组各75例,分别对患者进行传统开腹手术+EARS计划与传统开腹手术治疗,分析两组并发症、炎症因子水平、首次下床活动时间、进食时间、术后住院天数、排气时间、排便时间、满意度。结果研究组术后住院天数、排便、首次下床活动、进食、排气时间等指标均短于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。治疗有效率比较,研究组高于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。对照组并发症发生率高于研究组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。研究组炎症因子水平均低于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论EARS计划推广价值较高,可以抑制炎症因子水平,提升治疗效果,预后效果显著。展开更多
BACKGROUND Cupping therapy is used across the globe since ancient Egypt.It is used as a complementary or alternative to daily clinical practice.Cupping therapy could be dry or wet(Al-hijamah)type.It is considered a re...BACKGROUND Cupping therapy is used across the globe since ancient Egypt.It is used as a complementary or alternative to daily clinical practice.Cupping therapy could be dry or wet(Al-hijamah)type.It is considered a relatively safe procedure for a variety of clinical problems like lower backache,shoulder pain,neck pain,headache,and migraine.Application of cupping therapy over body orifices is contraindicated.CASE SUMMARY A 27-year-old gentleman presented with sudden left-sided hearing loss and tinnitus for 7 d.He gave a history of upper respiratory tract infection 14 d before his complaints.He received Al-hijamah over his left ear 3 d before seeking advice from the Otolaryngology clinic,but without benefit.Physical examination showed a dull-looking left ear drum,hemotympanum in the posterior part of the tympanic cavity,two blood clots over the eardrum,and multiple bleeding points over the external ear canal and tympanic membrane.A pure tone audiogram and tympanogram confirmed the diagnosis of middle ear effusion.Conservative treatment(avoidance of water entry,antibiotics,and local and systemic decongestants)was given for 5 d.The presenting symptoms as well as ear injuries resolved completely two weeks after the follow-up.CONCLUSION We do not recommend using Al-hijamah directly over the ear as a treatment option for hearing loss to avoid unwanted ear trauma as well as there is no benefit from this kind of treatment.展开更多
Brine shrimp Artemia franciscana provide food for many migrating and staging birds that spend summer and fall on Great Salt Lake,Utah,USA.Artemia produce live young and cysts(hard-walled eggs);these cysts are commerci...Brine shrimp Artemia franciscana provide food for many migrating and staging birds that spend summer and fall on Great Salt Lake,Utah,USA.Artemia produce live young and cysts(hard-walled eggs);these cysts are commercially harvested on Great Salt Lake and support a large industry in Utah.It is unclear the impact that millions of hungry birds have on the Artemia population in the lake.To help assess that,this study evaluated cyst viability(percentage of cysts that contain an embryo)and hatchability(percent of cysts that hatch)from cysts that had passed through the digestive tract of eared grebes Podiceps nigricollis and cysts obtained directly from Great Salt Lake at the same site where each grebe was collected.Hatchability was significantly higher for cysts collected from the water column(19%)than from the stomach(0.3%)or intestines(3%)of eared grebes.Viability also was significantly different for cysts collected from the water column(29%),stomach(0.7%),and intestines(5%).These results indicate that eared grebes nutritionally benefit from eating cysts and that they may be an important food source for grebes in late fall after the adult population of Artemia dies off due to the water becoming too cold.Also,enough cysts survive their passage through the digestive system that grebes can vector hatchable cysts to other waterbodies.展开更多
In flowering plants,the inflorescence meristem(IM)provides founder cells to form successive floral meristems,which are precursors of fruits and seeds.The activity and developmental progression of IM are thus critical ...In flowering plants,the inflorescence meristem(IM)provides founder cells to form successive floral meristems,which are precursors of fruits and seeds.The activity and developmental progression of IM are thus critical for yield production in seed crops.In some cereals,such as rice(Oryza sativa)and maize(Zea mays),the size of undifferentiated IM,which is located at the inflorescence apex,is positively associated with yield traits such as spikelet number.However,the relationship between IM size and yieldrelated spike traits remains unknown in the Triticeae tribe.Here we report that IM size has a negative correlation with yield traits in barley(Hordeum vulgare).Three FASCIATED EAR(FEA)orthologs,HvFEA2,HvFEA3,and HvFEA4,regulate IM size and spike morphogenesis and ultimately affect yield traits.Three HvFEAs genes are highly expressed in developing spikes,and all three loss-of-function mutants exhibit enlarged IM size,shortened spikes,and reduced spikelet number,which may lead to reduced grain yield.Natural variations identified in HvFEAs indicate selection events during barley domestication.We further reveal that HvFEA4,as a transcription factor,potentially targets multiple pathways during reproductive development,including transcriptional control,phytohormone signaling,and redox status.The roles of barley FEA genes in limiting IM size and promoting spikelet formation suggest the potential of increasing yield by manipulating IM activity.展开更多
With the rapid spread of the coronavirus epidemic all over the world,educational and other institutions are heading towards digitization.In the era of digitization,identifying educational e-platform users using ear an...With the rapid spread of the coronavirus epidemic all over the world,educational and other institutions are heading towards digitization.In the era of digitization,identifying educational e-platform users using ear and iris based multi-modal biometric systems constitutes an urgent and interesting research topic to pre-serve enterprise security,particularly with wearing a face mask as a precaution against the new coronavirus epidemic.This study proposes a multimodal system based on ear and iris biometrics at the feature fusion level to identify students in electronic examinations(E-exams)during the COVID-19 pandemic.The proposed system comprises four steps.Thefirst step is image preprocessing,which includes enhancing,segmenting,and extracting the regions of interest.The second step is feature extraction,where the Haralick texture and shape methods are used to extract the features of ear images,whereas Tamura texture and color histogram methods are used to extract the features of iris images.The third step is feature fusion,where the extracted features of the ear and iris images are combined into one sequential fused vector.The fourth step is the matching,which is executed using the City Block Dis-tance(CTB)for student identification.Thefindings of the study indicate that the system’s recognition accuracy is 97%,with a 2%False Acceptance Rate(FAR),a 4%False Rejection Rate(FRR),a 94%Correct Recognition Rate(CRR),and a 96%Genuine Acceptance Rate(GAR).In addition,the proposed recognition sys-tem achieved higher accuracy than other related systems.展开更多
Objective:To observe whether the Ear Well infant ear correction system makes any difference in terms of the treatment effect,duration,complication rate,and nursing care requirements in different types of infant auricl...Objective:To observe whether the Ear Well infant ear correction system makes any difference in terms of the treatment effect,duration,complication rate,and nursing care requirements in different types of infant auricle deformities.Methods:A total of 93 infant patients with auricular deformity(age:<3 months of age)who were diagnosed and treated in Guangzhou Children and Women’s Medical Center from April 2018 to September 2020 were selected and treated with the Ear Well infant ear correction system.We observed and recorded the effects of the Ear Well infant ear correction system,the treatment duration,the number of rebound cases,and complications that are likely to occur during treatment,and noted the related factors causing complications and the relative requirements for nursing care.Results:The Earwell infant ear correction system could effectively correct infant auricle deformities.Among the 93 cases,90 cases had positive therapeutical outcome and the effective rate was 96.77%.The treatment duration for lop ear and protruding ear was longer than for other auricle deformities;the deformity recoil and the treatment compilation rates were much higher for these 2 deformity types,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusions:The treatment suggestion for the wearing duration of the Ear Well infant ear correction system for lop ear and protruding ear is a prolonged duration compared with that for other infant auricle deformities.Fur ther,the requirements for nursing care intensity and infant patient’s guardian’s nursing knowledge and skill are obviously increased for these 2 types of auricle deformities.展开更多
Background Ears play an important role in facial profiles.Lying ears are not perceived favorably in Asian cultures;therefore,surgical procedures are implemented to adjust this defect.However,surgery has complications ...Background Ears play an important role in facial profiles.Lying ears are not perceived favorably in Asian cultures;therefore,surgical procedures are implemented to adjust this defect.However,surgery has complications and requires recovery time.We introduced a hyaluronic acid(HA)injection technique to aesthetically improve ear prominence.Methods This retrospective study examined 25 Chinese patients aged 20-47 years with congenital lying ears who received HA injections in the auricular base at Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital and Hangzhou Yijie Medical Cosmetology Clinic between November 2019 and December 2022.The average injection volume was 6.32±1.22 mL in the auricular base unilaterally,and the follow-up time ranged from 6 to 24 months.Morphological measurement data were recorded.Two-dimensional(2D)and three-dimensional(3D)images were obtained to evaluate the effects.Results All patients showed improvements in ear prominence.The cranioauricular angle(CAA)increased from 22.24°±4.53°to 65.90°±5.38°immediately post-injection and was maintained at 49.18°±4.74°6 months later.The ear projection(EP)increased from 14.75±2.72 mm to 26.26±2.94 mm immediately post-injection and was 22.51±2.68 mm after 6 months.No serious complications were noted.Conclusion HA injection in the auricular base effectively corrected the lying ears and aesthetically optimized the facial profile.It also had a face-lift effect that made the face look younger and more compact.The injection procedure was minimally invasive and required no recovery period.The effect was maintained for a long time and was satisfactory.展开更多
Technological advancements are continuously changing the paradigm of human existence.Human beings are constantly engaging in various measures to reduce the extent of sensory and motor impairment.This has been in the f...Technological advancements are continuously changing the paradigm of human existence.Human beings are constantly engaging in various measures to reduce the extent of sensory and motor impairment.This has been in the form of various devices,e.g.orthopedic prosthesis,visual aids (spectacles) and hearing aids.Countless attempts throughout the centuries have been made in an effort to improve sound amplification in patients.This article seeks to highlights the technological journey of one such implant,the middle ear implant,from its inception to the more technological advanced futuristic proposals.While there are many amplification devices available presently,there still remains a group of patients who have not experienced adequate amplification for their hearing loss and this subset may gain the greatest benefit from middle ear implants.展开更多
Introduction: Acute mastoiditis is the most common complication of Acute Otitis Media (AOM) and it’s the cause of serious morbidity. There is no standard universally agreed-upon management approach to acute mastoidit...Introduction: Acute mastoiditis is the most common complication of Acute Otitis Media (AOM) and it’s the cause of serious morbidity. There is no standard universally agreed-upon management approach to acute mastoiditis. This study aims to view the clinical presentation and management approaches in Khartoum Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. Methodology: This is a prospective case series and a hospital-based study conducted at Khartoum Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital during the period from November 2017 to November 2019. A total of 61 patients were included in the study. Results: The median age at presentation is 5 years old, males are more affected than females with a ratio of 1.35:1, and the mean duration of symptoms prior to hospital admission was 9.6 days. The most common presenting symptoms were otalgia (83.3%), ear discharge (83.3%) and post-auricular swelling (83.3%), and the most common signs at admission were tenderness over the mastoid (95.1%), retroauricular swelling and protrusion of the auricle (82%), and redness over the mastoid (77%). The abnormal tympanic membrane was found in all patients with central perforation being the commonest finding (73.8%), and bulging tympanic membrane (21.3%). 34.4% of patients received oral antibiotics before admission and the mean duration of symptoms prior to admission increased significantly in those who received antibiotics 12.7 days in comparison to those who didn’t 8.3 days. Only 52.5% of patients had a past history of recurrent acute otitis media, and 8.2% had a past history of acute mastoiditis. All the patients with recurrent mastoiditis had a past history of recurrent acute otitis media. Computed Tomography (CT) scans were obtained for 50.8% and 83.9% of those scans showed coalescent mastoiditis. Further evidence of intracranial extension was found in 6.5% and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was obtained for them. Of the study group, 67.2% presented with subperiosteal abscess, 4.9% with facial nerve palsy and 3.3% with brain abscess. Thirteen patients with no complications were managed initially with injectable and topical antibiotics and were successful in only 6 of them (46%), abscess incisions and drainages were needed in 46 patients and were successful in 34 of them (73.9%). Eighteen patients (29.5%) needed mastoidectomy and all of them were managed successfully (100%). One patient (1.6%) was referred for intracranial abscess drainage in a specialized hospital, also one patient (1.6%) initially presented with intracranial abscess died on the second day of admission and 96.8% were discharged in good condition. The mean duration of hospital stay was 7.5 days. Conclusion: Patients present to the hospital after a prolonged period with a higher rate of complications, and the delayed presentation increased significantly in patients who received oral antibiotics prior to admission. Conservative medical treatment in non-complicated acute mastoiditis was ineffective in more than half of the patients and abscess incision and drainage and/or mastoidectomy are often necessary for the management.展开更多
Introduction: The congenital malformations of the ear are rare and often isolated, may be unilateral or bilateral, and can be associated with another syndromic malformation. Such malformations so not necessarily impac...Introduction: The congenital malformations of the ear are rare and often isolated, may be unilateral or bilateral, and can be associated with another syndromic malformation. Such malformations so not necessarily impact aesthetics and social relations. Case Presentation: The authors report the case of Samuel M, male born at 38 WA, who is the first child of healthy parents from the same socio-cultural area. His birth weight was 2800 g and he did not have any risk factors for deafness or concept of obstetrical trauma. He presented with congenital malformation manifesting as bilateral ear aplasia with unilateral facial paralysis. Computed tomography revealed abnormalities of the inner ear;functional explorations, such as PEA and OEA, showed findings in favor of bilateral cophosis. ASSR (Auditory Steady-State Responses) was not performed. The announcement of the serious diagnosis of deafness requires multidisciplinary care in order to plan a therapeutic program to limit the impact on the development of language, schooling, and consequently, the socio-professional future of children. Conclusion: This clinical case underlines the fact that interest of the clinical interview before possible multiple surgery does not always guarantee the satisfaction of the desire for repair in this type of patient.展开更多
Ear recognition is a new kind of biometric identification technology now.Feature extraction is a key step in pattern recognition technology,which determines the accuracy of classification results.The method of single ...Ear recognition is a new kind of biometric identification technology now.Feature extraction is a key step in pattern recognition technology,which determines the accuracy of classification results.The method of single feature extraction can achieve high recognition rate under certain conditions,but the use of double feature extraction can overcome the limitation of single feature extraction.In order to improve the accuracy of classification results,this paper proposes a new method,that is,the method of complementary double feature extraction based on Principal Component Analysis(PCA)and Fisherface,and we apply it to human ear image recognition.The experiment was carried out on the ear image library provided by the University of Science and Technology Beijing.The results show that the ear recognition rate of the proposed method is significantly higher than the single feature extraction using PCA,Fisherface,or Independent component analysis(ICA)alone.展开更多
Objective: A common cavity deformity(CCD) is a deformed inner ear in which the cochlea and vestibule are confluent forming a common rudimentary cystic cavity that results in profound hearing loss. There are few studie...Objective: A common cavity deformity(CCD) is a deformed inner ear in which the cochlea and vestibule are confluent forming a common rudimentary cystic cavity that results in profound hearing loss. There are few studies paying attention to common cavity. Our group is engrossed in observing the improvement of auditory and verbal abilities in children who have received cochlear implantation(CI), and comparing these targets between children with common cavity and normal inner ear structure.Material and methods: A retrospective study was conducted in 12 patients with profound hearing loss that were divided into a common cavity group and a control group, six in each group matched in sex, age and time of implantation, based on inner ear structure. Categories of Auditory Performance(CAP) and speech intelligibility rating(SIR) scores and aided hearing thresholds were collected and compared between the two groups. All patients wore CI for more than 1 year at the Cochlear Center of Anhui Medical University from 2011 to 2015.Results: Postoperative CAP and SIR scores were higher than before operation in both groups(p < 0.05), although the scores were lower in the CCD group than in the control group(p < 0.05). The aided threshold was also lower in the control group than in the CCD group(p < 0.05).Conclusion: Even though audiological improvement in children with CCD was not as good as in those without CCD, CI provides benefits in auditory perception and communication skills in these children.展开更多
Diabetes mellitus(DM) is a chronic systemic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, with various pathogenic mechanisms. From absolute or relative insulin deficiency, patients with DM often demonstrate various levels o...Diabetes mellitus(DM) is a chronic systemic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, with various pathogenic mechanisms. From absolute or relative insulin deficiency, patients with DM often demonstrate various levels of metabolic disorders. Major clinical manifestations of DM include metabolic disorders, vascular lesions, circulatory disturbances and neurologic complications. Along with advances in DM research, reports of DM related tinnitus and hearing impairment have increased continuously. Research on DM related auditory system dysfunction has focused on cochlear microcirculation, cellular homeostasis, genetics and aging. Cochlear microcirculation plays an important role in cochlear physiology and its disorders are associated with many inner ear diseases. Ischemia and subsequent reperfusion seen in cochlear microcirculation disorders are important factors in hearing damage. Understanding cochlear microcirculation and structural as well as functional changes in DM patients with hearing loss and their causal factors will help reveal pathogenic mechanisms in diabetic hearing loss and provide new ideas in developing interventions and preventing damages caused by diabetes.展开更多
Exposure to explosive shockwave often leads to blast-induced traumatic brain injury in military and civilian populations.Unprotected ears are most often damaged following exposure to blasts.Although there is an associ...Exposure to explosive shockwave often leads to blast-induced traumatic brain injury in military and civilian populations.Unprotected ears are most often damaged following exposure to blasts.Although there is an association between tympanic membrane perforation and TBI in blast exposure victims,little is known about how and to what extent blast energy is transmitted to the central nervous system via the external ear canal.The present study investigated whether exposure to blasts directed through the ear canal causes brain injury in LongEvans rats.Animals were exposed to a single blast(0–30 pounds per square inch(psi))through the ear canal,and brain injury was evaluated by histological and behavioral outcomes at multiple time-points.Blast exposure not only caused tympanic membrane perforation but also produced substantial neuropathological changes in the brain,including increased expression of c-Fos,induction of a profound chronic neuroinflammatory response,and apoptosis of neurons.The blast-induced injury was not limited only to the brainstem most proximal to the source of the blast,but also affected the forebrain including the hippocampus,amygdala and the habenula,which are all involved in cognitive functions.Indeed,the animals exhibited long-term neurological deficits,including signs of anxiety in open field tests 2 months following blast exposure,and impaired learning and memory in an 8-arm maze 12 months following blast exposure.These results suggest that the unprotected ear canal provides a locus for blast waves to cause TBI.This study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Mississippi Medical Center(Animal protocol#0932 E,approval date:September 30,2016 and 0932 F,approval date:September 27,2019).展开更多
Middle ear osteoma is an extremely rare benign tumor of the middle ear.Due to its very slow growth rate and benign nature,osteoma of the middle ear can be found incidentally without causing any symptoms.The most commo...Middle ear osteoma is an extremely rare benign tumor of the middle ear.Due to its very slow growth rate and benign nature,osteoma of the middle ear can be found incidentally without causing any symptoms.The most common clinical signs are conductive hearing loss,the sense of fullness in the ear,tinnitus,and otorrhea.Small-sized osteomas can be misdiagnosed as otosclerosis without showing any signs other than conductive hearing loss.When the mass becomes very large,and symptoms caused by the tumor increase,treatment also becomes difficult.In this paper,we report a case of middle ear osteoma causing conductive hearing loss and effusion due to the effect of pressure on the middle ear ossicles and the Eustachian tube.We also present a review of the pertinent literature.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFA0805902,2022YFF0710703)National Natural Science Foundation of China (32201257)+1 种基金Science and Technology Innovation Project of Xiongan New Area (2022XAGG0121)Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by the China Association for Science and Technology (2019QNRC001)。
文摘Hereditary hearing loss(HHL),a genetic disorder that impairs auditory function,significantly affects quality of life and incurs substantial economic losses for society.To investigate the underlying causes of HHL and evaluate therapeutic outcomes,appropriate animal models are necessary.Pigs have been extensively used as valuable large animal models in biomedical research.In this review,we highlight the advantages of pig models in terms of ear anatomy,inner ear morphology,and electrophysiological characteristics,as well as recent advancements in the development of distinct genetically modified porcine models of hearing loss.Additionally,we discuss the prospects,challenges,and recommendations regarding the use pig models in HHL research.Overall,this review provides insights and perspectives for future studies on HHL using porcine models.
文摘In advanced otological surgeries, powered instruments form an indispensable part. The risk of deterioration to hearing in the operated ear is a commonly discussed issue, however, there remains a possibility of affecting the hearing in the contralateral ear due to transcranial vibration. So in this study we aimed to assess the possibility of the non-operated ear being affected by the noise generated during ear surgeries and whether it is temporary or permanent in nature. Methodology: This study included 63 patients diagnosed with unilateral disease who underwent mastoid surgery. Preoperatively all the patients were subjected to Pure tone audiometry (PTA), Transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) and Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE). Patients were operated using both cutting and diamond burrs of ranging from sizes 1 - 6 mm. Total drilling time was recorded. Results: Post-operative hearing evaluation was done at 1 week, 4 weeks and 12 weeks. The sound emitted by various burrs was recorded by Sound Level Meter. Out of the total 58 patients that followed up, 46 showed change in at least one of the hearing parameters. Patients showing changes had a higher drilling time as compared to those with no changes. Of these, the changes associated with the total drilling time and with cutting burr time were found to be significant. The hearing changes seen on PTA, TEOAE and DPOAE were transient in nature with only one patient having a persistent decreased high frequency threshold at the end of 12 weeks. It was also found that cutting burrs produce more sound as compared to diamond burrs and a larger size burr of a type produces more sound than a smaller one of its type. Conclusion: The drilling of mastoid bone during ear surgeries can transiently impair the hearing in the contralateral ear which is of great significance in patients with only one hearing ear.
文摘Objective:To evaluate the effect and efficiency of ear tip bloodletting combined with Xianfang Huoming Yin(XFH)in the treatment of early-stage wheals.Methods:70 patients with early-stage wheals admitted from September 2020 to September 2022 were divided into two groups by randomized numerical table method,with 35 cases/group.Both groups received conventional treatment,the control group combined with XFH,and the observation group combined with ear tip bloodletting therapy and XFH.Conscious symptom scores,ocular indexes,therapeutic effects,and sleep quality between the two groups were compared.Results:After the treatment,the patients in the observation group had lower self-awareness symptom scores and sleep quality scores as compared to those in the control group;the diameter of the mass in the observation group was smaller than that of the control group after treatment;the average tear film rupture time and the time taken for the first non-contact tear film to rupture were longer in the observation group than those in the control group;the total effective rate of the treatment in the observation group was higher than that of the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion:Ear tip bloodletting combined with XFH was ideal for the treatment of early-stage wheals and has a high effective rate.
基金supported and funded by KAU Scientific Endowment,King Abdulaziz University,Jeddah,Saudi Arabia.
文摘Human recognition technology based on biometrics has become a fundamental requirement in all aspects of life due to increased concerns about security and privacy issues.Therefore,biometric systems have emerged as a technology with the capability to identify or authenticate individuals based on their physiological and behavioral characteristics.Among different viable biometric modalities,the human ear structure can offer unique and valuable discriminative characteristics for human recognition systems.In recent years,most existing traditional ear recognition systems have been designed based on computer vision models and have achieved successful results.Nevertheless,such traditional models can be sensitive to several unconstrained environmental factors.As such,some traits may be difficult to extract automatically but can still be semantically perceived as soft biometrics.This research proposes a new group of semantic features to be used as soft ear biometrics,mainly inspired by conventional descriptive traits used naturally by humans when identifying or describing each other.Hence,the research study is focused on the fusion of the soft ear biometric traits with traditional(hard)ear biometric features to investigate their validity and efficacy in augmenting human identification performance.The proposed framework has two subsystems:first,a computer vision-based subsystem,extracting traditional(hard)ear biometric traits using principal component analysis(PCA)and local binary patterns(LBP),and second,a crowdsourcing-based subsystem,deriving semantic(soft)ear biometric traits.Several feature-level fusion experiments were conducted using the AMI database to evaluate the proposed algorithm’s performance.The obtained results for both identification and verification showed that the proposed soft ear biometric information significantly improved the recognition performance of traditional ear biometrics,reaching up to 12%for LBP and 5%for PCA descriptors;when fusing all three capacities PCA,LBP,and soft traits using k-nearest neighbors(KNN)classifier.
文摘目的对结直肠癌外科患者治疗过程中,快速康复(enhanced recovery after surgery,ERAS)计划的应用价值进行分析。方法选择2020年7月1日—2022年3月1日常德市第一人民医院普通外科结直肠癌患者150例,按随机数字表法分为研究组与对照组,每组各75例,分别对患者进行传统开腹手术+EARS计划与传统开腹手术治疗,分析两组并发症、炎症因子水平、首次下床活动时间、进食时间、术后住院天数、排气时间、排便时间、满意度。结果研究组术后住院天数、排便、首次下床活动、进食、排气时间等指标均短于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。治疗有效率比较,研究组高于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。对照组并发症发生率高于研究组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。研究组炎症因子水平均低于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论EARS计划推广价值较高,可以抑制炎症因子水平,提升治疗效果,预后效果显著。
文摘BACKGROUND Cupping therapy is used across the globe since ancient Egypt.It is used as a complementary or alternative to daily clinical practice.Cupping therapy could be dry or wet(Al-hijamah)type.It is considered a relatively safe procedure for a variety of clinical problems like lower backache,shoulder pain,neck pain,headache,and migraine.Application of cupping therapy over body orifices is contraindicated.CASE SUMMARY A 27-year-old gentleman presented with sudden left-sided hearing loss and tinnitus for 7 d.He gave a history of upper respiratory tract infection 14 d before his complaints.He received Al-hijamah over his left ear 3 d before seeking advice from the Otolaryngology clinic,but without benefit.Physical examination showed a dull-looking left ear drum,hemotympanum in the posterior part of the tympanic cavity,two blood clots over the eardrum,and multiple bleeding points over the external ear canal and tympanic membrane.A pure tone audiogram and tympanogram confirmed the diagnosis of middle ear effusion.Conservative treatment(avoidance of water entry,antibiotics,and local and systemic decongestants)was given for 5 d.The presenting symptoms as well as ear injuries resolved completely two weeks after the follow-up.CONCLUSION We do not recommend using Al-hijamah directly over the ear as a treatment option for hearing loss to avoid unwanted ear trauma as well as there is no benefit from this kind of treatment.
基金Supported by the Great Salt Lake Ecosystem Program of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources,Utah Agricultural Experiment Station(article No.9534)and Ecology Center of Utah State Universityapproved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Utah State University(10087)+2 种基金permitted by the state of Utah(1BAND10069,2COLL10039)the U.S.Bird Banding Lab(21175)and the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service(MB693916-0).
文摘Brine shrimp Artemia franciscana provide food for many migrating and staging birds that spend summer and fall on Great Salt Lake,Utah,USA.Artemia produce live young and cysts(hard-walled eggs);these cysts are commercially harvested on Great Salt Lake and support a large industry in Utah.It is unclear the impact that millions of hungry birds have on the Artemia population in the lake.To help assess that,this study evaluated cyst viability(percentage of cysts that contain an embryo)and hatchability(percent of cysts that hatch)from cysts that had passed through the digestive tract of eared grebes Podiceps nigricollis and cysts obtained directly from Great Salt Lake at the same site where each grebe was collected.Hatchability was significantly higher for cysts collected from the water column(19%)than from the stomach(0.3%)or intestines(3%)of eared grebes.Viability also was significantly different for cysts collected from the water column(29%),stomach(0.7%),and intestines(5%).These results indicate that eared grebes nutritionally benefit from eating cysts and that they may be an important food source for grebes in late fall after the adult population of Artemia dies off due to the water becoming too cold.Also,enough cysts survive their passage through the digestive system that grebes can vector hatchable cysts to other waterbodies.
基金financially supported by the Science and Research Grant of Southwest University of Science and Technology(19zx7146)the start-up grant from Nanjing Agricultural University(to Gang Li)+2 种基金the Australia–China Science and Research Fund Joint Research Centre grant(ACSRF48187)the Australian Research Council(DP170103352)the Waite Research Institute(WRI)of the University of Adelaide。
文摘In flowering plants,the inflorescence meristem(IM)provides founder cells to form successive floral meristems,which are precursors of fruits and seeds.The activity and developmental progression of IM are thus critical for yield production in seed crops.In some cereals,such as rice(Oryza sativa)and maize(Zea mays),the size of undifferentiated IM,which is located at the inflorescence apex,is positively associated with yield traits such as spikelet number.However,the relationship between IM size and yieldrelated spike traits remains unknown in the Triticeae tribe.Here we report that IM size has a negative correlation with yield traits in barley(Hordeum vulgare).Three FASCIATED EAR(FEA)orthologs,HvFEA2,HvFEA3,and HvFEA4,regulate IM size and spike morphogenesis and ultimately affect yield traits.Three HvFEAs genes are highly expressed in developing spikes,and all three loss-of-function mutants exhibit enlarged IM size,shortened spikes,and reduced spikelet number,which may lead to reduced grain yield.Natural variations identified in HvFEAs indicate selection events during barley domestication.We further reveal that HvFEA4,as a transcription factor,potentially targets multiple pathways during reproductive development,including transcriptional control,phytohormone signaling,and redox status.The roles of barley FEA genes in limiting IM size and promoting spikelet formation suggest the potential of increasing yield by manipulating IM activity.
文摘With the rapid spread of the coronavirus epidemic all over the world,educational and other institutions are heading towards digitization.In the era of digitization,identifying educational e-platform users using ear and iris based multi-modal biometric systems constitutes an urgent and interesting research topic to pre-serve enterprise security,particularly with wearing a face mask as a precaution against the new coronavirus epidemic.This study proposes a multimodal system based on ear and iris biometrics at the feature fusion level to identify students in electronic examinations(E-exams)during the COVID-19 pandemic.The proposed system comprises four steps.Thefirst step is image preprocessing,which includes enhancing,segmenting,and extracting the regions of interest.The second step is feature extraction,where the Haralick texture and shape methods are used to extract the features of ear images,whereas Tamura texture and color histogram methods are used to extract the features of iris images.The third step is feature fusion,where the extracted features of the ear and iris images are combined into one sequential fused vector.The fourth step is the matching,which is executed using the City Block Dis-tance(CTB)for student identification.Thefindings of the study indicate that the system’s recognition accuracy is 97%,with a 2%False Acceptance Rate(FAR),a 4%False Rejection Rate(FRR),a 94%Correct Recognition Rate(CRR),and a 96%Genuine Acceptance Rate(GAR).In addition,the proposed recognition sys-tem achieved higher accuracy than other related systems.
文摘Objective:To observe whether the Ear Well infant ear correction system makes any difference in terms of the treatment effect,duration,complication rate,and nursing care requirements in different types of infant auricle deformities.Methods:A total of 93 infant patients with auricular deformity(age:<3 months of age)who were diagnosed and treated in Guangzhou Children and Women’s Medical Center from April 2018 to September 2020 were selected and treated with the Ear Well infant ear correction system.We observed and recorded the effects of the Ear Well infant ear correction system,the treatment duration,the number of rebound cases,and complications that are likely to occur during treatment,and noted the related factors causing complications and the relative requirements for nursing care.Results:The Earwell infant ear correction system could effectively correct infant auricle deformities.Among the 93 cases,90 cases had positive therapeutical outcome and the effective rate was 96.77%.The treatment duration for lop ear and protruding ear was longer than for other auricle deformities;the deformity recoil and the treatment compilation rates were much higher for these 2 deformity types,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusions:The treatment suggestion for the wearing duration of the Ear Well infant ear correction system for lop ear and protruding ear is a prolonged duration compared with that for other infant auricle deformities.Fur ther,the requirements for nursing care intensity and infant patient’s guardian’s nursing knowledge and skill are obviously increased for these 2 types of auricle deformities.
文摘Background Ears play an important role in facial profiles.Lying ears are not perceived favorably in Asian cultures;therefore,surgical procedures are implemented to adjust this defect.However,surgery has complications and requires recovery time.We introduced a hyaluronic acid(HA)injection technique to aesthetically improve ear prominence.Methods This retrospective study examined 25 Chinese patients aged 20-47 years with congenital lying ears who received HA injections in the auricular base at Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital and Hangzhou Yijie Medical Cosmetology Clinic between November 2019 and December 2022.The average injection volume was 6.32±1.22 mL in the auricular base unilaterally,and the follow-up time ranged from 6 to 24 months.Morphological measurement data were recorded.Two-dimensional(2D)and three-dimensional(3D)images were obtained to evaluate the effects.Results All patients showed improvements in ear prominence.The cranioauricular angle(CAA)increased from 22.24°±4.53°to 65.90°±5.38°immediately post-injection and was maintained at 49.18°±4.74°6 months later.The ear projection(EP)increased from 14.75±2.72 mm to 26.26±2.94 mm immediately post-injection and was 22.51±2.68 mm after 6 months.No serious complications were noted.Conclusion HA injection in the auricular base effectively corrected the lying ears and aesthetically optimized the facial profile.It also had a face-lift effect that made the face look younger and more compact.The injection procedure was minimally invasive and required no recovery period.The effect was maintained for a long time and was satisfactory.
文摘Technological advancements are continuously changing the paradigm of human existence.Human beings are constantly engaging in various measures to reduce the extent of sensory and motor impairment.This has been in the form of various devices,e.g.orthopedic prosthesis,visual aids (spectacles) and hearing aids.Countless attempts throughout the centuries have been made in an effort to improve sound amplification in patients.This article seeks to highlights the technological journey of one such implant,the middle ear implant,from its inception to the more technological advanced futuristic proposals.While there are many amplification devices available presently,there still remains a group of patients who have not experienced adequate amplification for their hearing loss and this subset may gain the greatest benefit from middle ear implants.
文摘Introduction: Acute mastoiditis is the most common complication of Acute Otitis Media (AOM) and it’s the cause of serious morbidity. There is no standard universally agreed-upon management approach to acute mastoiditis. This study aims to view the clinical presentation and management approaches in Khartoum Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. Methodology: This is a prospective case series and a hospital-based study conducted at Khartoum Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital during the period from November 2017 to November 2019. A total of 61 patients were included in the study. Results: The median age at presentation is 5 years old, males are more affected than females with a ratio of 1.35:1, and the mean duration of symptoms prior to hospital admission was 9.6 days. The most common presenting symptoms were otalgia (83.3%), ear discharge (83.3%) and post-auricular swelling (83.3%), and the most common signs at admission were tenderness over the mastoid (95.1%), retroauricular swelling and protrusion of the auricle (82%), and redness over the mastoid (77%). The abnormal tympanic membrane was found in all patients with central perforation being the commonest finding (73.8%), and bulging tympanic membrane (21.3%). 34.4% of patients received oral antibiotics before admission and the mean duration of symptoms prior to admission increased significantly in those who received antibiotics 12.7 days in comparison to those who didn’t 8.3 days. Only 52.5% of patients had a past history of recurrent acute otitis media, and 8.2% had a past history of acute mastoiditis. All the patients with recurrent mastoiditis had a past history of recurrent acute otitis media. Computed Tomography (CT) scans were obtained for 50.8% and 83.9% of those scans showed coalescent mastoiditis. Further evidence of intracranial extension was found in 6.5% and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was obtained for them. Of the study group, 67.2% presented with subperiosteal abscess, 4.9% with facial nerve palsy and 3.3% with brain abscess. Thirteen patients with no complications were managed initially with injectable and topical antibiotics and were successful in only 6 of them (46%), abscess incisions and drainages were needed in 46 patients and were successful in 34 of them (73.9%). Eighteen patients (29.5%) needed mastoidectomy and all of them were managed successfully (100%). One patient (1.6%) was referred for intracranial abscess drainage in a specialized hospital, also one patient (1.6%) initially presented with intracranial abscess died on the second day of admission and 96.8% were discharged in good condition. The mean duration of hospital stay was 7.5 days. Conclusion: Patients present to the hospital after a prolonged period with a higher rate of complications, and the delayed presentation increased significantly in patients who received oral antibiotics prior to admission. Conservative medical treatment in non-complicated acute mastoiditis was ineffective in more than half of the patients and abscess incision and drainage and/or mastoidectomy are often necessary for the management.
文摘Introduction: The congenital malformations of the ear are rare and often isolated, may be unilateral or bilateral, and can be associated with another syndromic malformation. Such malformations so not necessarily impact aesthetics and social relations. Case Presentation: The authors report the case of Samuel M, male born at 38 WA, who is the first child of healthy parents from the same socio-cultural area. His birth weight was 2800 g and he did not have any risk factors for deafness or concept of obstetrical trauma. He presented with congenital malformation manifesting as bilateral ear aplasia with unilateral facial paralysis. Computed tomography revealed abnormalities of the inner ear;functional explorations, such as PEA and OEA, showed findings in favor of bilateral cophosis. ASSR (Auditory Steady-State Responses) was not performed. The announcement of the serious diagnosis of deafness requires multidisciplinary care in order to plan a therapeutic program to limit the impact on the development of language, schooling, and consequently, the socio-professional future of children. Conclusion: This clinical case underlines the fact that interest of the clinical interview before possible multiple surgery does not always guarantee the satisfaction of the desire for repair in this type of patient.
基金National Key R&D Program of China(No:2019YFD0901605).
文摘Ear recognition is a new kind of biometric identification technology now.Feature extraction is a key step in pattern recognition technology,which determines the accuracy of classification results.The method of single feature extraction can achieve high recognition rate under certain conditions,but the use of double feature extraction can overcome the limitation of single feature extraction.In order to improve the accuracy of classification results,this paper proposes a new method,that is,the method of complementary double feature extraction based on Principal Component Analysis(PCA)and Fisherface,and we apply it to human ear image recognition.The experiment was carried out on the ear image library provided by the University of Science and Technology Beijing.The results show that the ear recognition rate of the proposed method is significantly higher than the single feature extraction using PCA,Fisherface,or Independent component analysis(ICA)alone.
文摘Objective: A common cavity deformity(CCD) is a deformed inner ear in which the cochlea and vestibule are confluent forming a common rudimentary cystic cavity that results in profound hearing loss. There are few studies paying attention to common cavity. Our group is engrossed in observing the improvement of auditory and verbal abilities in children who have received cochlear implantation(CI), and comparing these targets between children with common cavity and normal inner ear structure.Material and methods: A retrospective study was conducted in 12 patients with profound hearing loss that were divided into a common cavity group and a control group, six in each group matched in sex, age and time of implantation, based on inner ear structure. Categories of Auditory Performance(CAP) and speech intelligibility rating(SIR) scores and aided hearing thresholds were collected and compared between the two groups. All patients wore CI for more than 1 year at the Cochlear Center of Anhui Medical University from 2011 to 2015.Results: Postoperative CAP and SIR scores were higher than before operation in both groups(p < 0.05), although the scores were lower in the CCD group than in the control group(p < 0.05). The aided threshold was also lower in the control group than in the CCD group(p < 0.05).Conclusion: Even though audiological improvement in children with CCD was not as good as in those without CCD, CI provides benefits in auditory perception and communication skills in these children.
基金Projects of Hebei Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine,No.2012068
文摘Diabetes mellitus(DM) is a chronic systemic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, with various pathogenic mechanisms. From absolute or relative insulin deficiency, patients with DM often demonstrate various levels of metabolic disorders. Major clinical manifestations of DM include metabolic disorders, vascular lesions, circulatory disturbances and neurologic complications. Along with advances in DM research, reports of DM related tinnitus and hearing impairment have increased continuously. Research on DM related auditory system dysfunction has focused on cochlear microcirculation, cellular homeostasis, genetics and aging. Cochlear microcirculation plays an important role in cochlear physiology and its disorders are associated with many inner ear diseases. Ischemia and subsequent reperfusion seen in cochlear microcirculation disorders are important factors in hearing damage. Understanding cochlear microcirculation and structural as well as functional changes in DM patients with hearing loss and their causal factors will help reveal pathogenic mechanisms in diabetic hearing loss and provide new ideas in developing interventions and preventing damages caused by diabetes.
基金supported by the National Institutes of Health(NIH)grants R21 DC017293(to HZ,WZ),R01 DC018919(to HZ,WZ),AG050049(to FF),AG057842(to FF),P20GM104357(to FF,RJR),and HL138685(to RJR)。
文摘Exposure to explosive shockwave often leads to blast-induced traumatic brain injury in military and civilian populations.Unprotected ears are most often damaged following exposure to blasts.Although there is an association between tympanic membrane perforation and TBI in blast exposure victims,little is known about how and to what extent blast energy is transmitted to the central nervous system via the external ear canal.The present study investigated whether exposure to blasts directed through the ear canal causes brain injury in LongEvans rats.Animals were exposed to a single blast(0–30 pounds per square inch(psi))through the ear canal,and brain injury was evaluated by histological and behavioral outcomes at multiple time-points.Blast exposure not only caused tympanic membrane perforation but also produced substantial neuropathological changes in the brain,including increased expression of c-Fos,induction of a profound chronic neuroinflammatory response,and apoptosis of neurons.The blast-induced injury was not limited only to the brainstem most proximal to the source of the blast,but also affected the forebrain including the hippocampus,amygdala and the habenula,which are all involved in cognitive functions.Indeed,the animals exhibited long-term neurological deficits,including signs of anxiety in open field tests 2 months following blast exposure,and impaired learning and memory in an 8-arm maze 12 months following blast exposure.These results suggest that the unprotected ear canal provides a locus for blast waves to cause TBI.This study was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Mississippi Medical Center(Animal protocol#0932 E,approval date:September 30,2016 and 0932 F,approval date:September 27,2019).
文摘Middle ear osteoma is an extremely rare benign tumor of the middle ear.Due to its very slow growth rate and benign nature,osteoma of the middle ear can be found incidentally without causing any symptoms.The most common clinical signs are conductive hearing loss,the sense of fullness in the ear,tinnitus,and otorrhea.Small-sized osteomas can be misdiagnosed as otosclerosis without showing any signs other than conductive hearing loss.When the mass becomes very large,and symptoms caused by the tumor increase,treatment also becomes difficult.In this paper,we report a case of middle ear osteoma causing conductive hearing loss and effusion due to the effect of pressure on the middle ear ossicles and the Eustachian tube.We also present a review of the pertinent literature.
