Acute sensorineural hearing loss in hemodialysis patients

Abstract

Background: Approximately, 30–40% of patients experienced hearing loss under regular hemodialysis.

Objective: This study reviewed our experience on treating acute hearing loss in patients under regular hemodialysis over the past two decades.

Methods: Twenty-six patients having acute hearing loss under hemodialysis were divided into two groups based on their etiologies. Sixteen patients (16 ears) with sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) were assigned to Group A and 10 patients (13 ears) with endolymphatic hydrops (EH) were assigned to Group B.

Results: No significant difference was noted between Groups A and B, regardless of hemodialysis duration, clinical manifestation, underlying systemic diseases, blood examination, and vestibular test battery. In contrast, serum osmolality was significantly lower in Group B (292?±?11 mOsm/kg) than in Group A (310?±?11 mOsm/kg). Furthermore, Group B (40?±?14?dB) had better mean hearing level than Group A (87?±?21?dB) in the initial audiogram, and a higher hearing improvement rate (69%) than Group A (19%).

Conclusions and significance: Both SSHL and EH are major causes for precipitating acute hearing loss in hemodialysis patients. Compared to SSHL, the less deteriorated MHL and lower serum osmolality in EH provide two clues for differentiating acute hearing loss in hemodialysis patients.     

急性CO中毒迟发性脑病患者早期血浆HMGB1的表达与预后

目的：探讨急性一氧化碳(CO）中毒迟发性脑病患者血浆高迁移率族蛋白B1(HMGB1）的表达与预后。方法回顾性分析2012年1月—2015年1月该院接收的最终确诊为急性CO中毒迟发性脑病患者10例，另选取同时期内急性CO中毒患者10例以及健康体检者10例作为对照组。分别对各组患者的血浆HMGB1水平进行检测。另外，分别采用日常生活能力量表(ADL）、常识-记忆-注意测验(IMCT）、长谷川痴呆量表(HDS）分析急性CO中毒迟发性脑病患者血浆HMGB1水平变化及与量表评分之间的关系。结果 CO中毒迟发性脑病患者急性期血浆HMGB1水平为(14.23±10.32）ng/mL，明显高于恢复期的(7.93±4.99）ng/mL，差异有统计学意义(t=2.653，P<0.05）；CO中毒迟发性脑病组急性期、恢复期血浆HMGBl水平与HDS以及ADL评分呈现显著正相关(r=0.610；r=0.605；r=0.607；r=0.610,P<0.05）。结论HMGBl参与急性CO中毒迟发性脑病的炎症反应前过程，且与HDS以及ADL评分呈正相关。     

Intravenous Thrombolysis Is Safe and Effective for the Cryptogenic Stroke in China: Data From the Thrombolysis Implementation and Monitor of Acute Ischemic Stroke in China (TIMS-China)

Background

The intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) therapy is safe and efficient during the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. Nonetheless, the different outcomes among various stroke subgroups have limited data with regard to the safety and efficacy of cryptogenic stroke (CS). The present study compared the safety and efficacy when IVT with rt-PA was used for the treatment of CS and the other stroke subtypes.

An Environmental Scan of the National and Provincial Diagnostic Reference Levels in Canada for Common Adult Computed Tomography Scans

Several regulatory bodies have agreed that low-dose radiation used in medical imaging is a weak carcinogen that follows a linear, non-threshold model of cancer risk. While avoiding radiation is the best course of action to mitigate risk, computed tomography (CT) scans are often critical for diagnosis. In addition to the as low as reasonably achievable principle, a more concrete method of dose reduction for common CT imaging exams is the use of a diagnostic reference level (DRL). This paper examines Canada's national DRL values from the recent CT survey and compares it to published provincial DRLs as well as the DRLs in the United Kingdom and the United States of America for the 3 most common CT exams: head, chest, and abdomen/pelvis. Canada compares well on the international scale, but it should consider using more electronic dose monitoring solutions to create a culture of dose optimization.     

Drug discovery strategies for acute radiation syndrome

Introduction: There are at the minimum two major, quite different approaches to advance drug discovery. The first being the target-based drug discovery (TBDD) approach that is commonly referred to as the molecular approach. The second approach is the phenotype-based drug discovery (PBDD), also known as physiology-based drug discovery or empirical approach.

Area covered: The authors discuss, herein, the need for developing radiation countermeasure agents for various sub-syndromes of acute radiation syndromes (ARS) following TBDD and PBDD approaches. With time and continuous advances in radiation countermeasure drug development research, the expectation is to have multiple radiation countermeasure agents for each sub-syndrome made available to radiation exposed victims.

Expert opinion: The majority of the countermeasures currently being developed for ARS employ the PBDD approach, while the TBDD approach is clearly under-utilized. In the future, an improved drug development strategy might be a ‘hybrid’ strategy that is more reliant on TBDD for the initial drug discovery via large-scale screening of potential candidate agents, while utilizing PBDD for secondary screening of those candidates, followed by tertiary analytics phase in order to pinpoint efficacious candidates that target the specific sub-syndromes of ARS.     

The relationships among monocyte subsets,miRNAs and inflammatory cytokines in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Background

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) causes irreversible myocardial damage and release of inflammatory mediators, including cytokines, chemokines and miRNAs. We aimed to investigate changes in the levels of cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10), miRNAs profiles (miR-146 and miR-155) and distribution of different monocyte subsets (CD14++CD16-, CD14++CD16+, CD14+CD16++) in the acute and post-healing phases of AMI.

Éthique de la recherche : réglementations françaises et applications en oncologie radiothérapie

French regulations about research ethics are based on the so-called Jardé law, which defines researches involving human beings. Researches involving human beings require the submission of research protocols to a committee for protection of persons with a precise list of documents to submit for a favourable opinion. This law describes different categories of researches and determines the ethical procedures to apply before setting up a research protocol. This issue of categorisation is central and must be taken into account by researchers from the beginning of the research process. Researches considered as not involving human beings also require a set of ethical precautions focused on patients’ information and the collection of their non-opposition (due to the application of the General Data Protection Regulation adopted by the European Parliament). Thus, many regulations exist and they require a real work for researchers to meet these requirements in research ethics. This article aims to summarise French regulations. Selected examples are specifically taken into the field of radiation oncology research.     

Influenza vaccination and the endurance against air pollution among elderly with acute coronary syndrome

ObjectiveAir pollution, weather condition and influenza are known risk factors of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) among elderly people. The influenza vaccine (IV) has been shown to reduce major cardiovascular events. The purpose of this study was to compare resistance to air pollution and weather factors causing ACS between vaccinated and less-vaccinated elderly people.MethodsA case–crossover design was applied to 1835 elderly ACS patients who were obtained from the 1-million sample of Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Data with inclusion criteria: (1) the first diagnosis of ACS was in cold season and at age 68 or more, (2) had received the free IV program at least once during the period 3 years before the ACS. They were stratified into two groups: 707 had received flu vaccinations for all the 3 years and the remaining 1128 had not. The measurements of air pollutants, temperature, and humidity corresponding to each of the 3 days prior to the ACS diagnosis date were retrieved from the data banks of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration and Central Weather Bureau.FindingsIncreases in air pollution concentrations of CO, NO₂, PM₁₀ or PM_2.5 and decreases in temperature significantly influenced the risk of ACS for the non-continuously vaccinated elderly population; however, less significant effects were observed for the continuously vaccinated population.ConclusionConsecutive influenza vaccination may potentially offer resistance against the detrimental effects of air pollution and changes in temperature in frail elderly adults with ACS. Future studies are needed to directly assess the interaction effect between the vaccination and environmental factors on ACS.