scholarly journals Whispered Hearing Analyzer — a device for preventive examinations to detect early hearing loss

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 62-66
Author(s):  
V. I. Martiusheva
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Diagnostic Errors ◽  
Hearing Level ◽  
Diagnostic Efficiency ◽  
Medical Academy ◽  
Whispered Speech ◽  
State Medical Academy ◽  
Medical Examinations

Introduction. The problem of hearing loss and deafness, due to the general prevalence of hearing loss in different age groups, is significant not only for medicine, but also for the social sphere of society. Nowadays, just as 40 years ago, preventive medical examinations and initial examinations by an otorhinolaryngologist use methods of testing hearing by means of whispered speech, which has its own characteristics for everyone. This leads to diagnostic errors and does not allow to detect hearing loss in its early stages. Purpose of the study—development of a whispered-speech apparatus for early express diagnosis of hearing loss, and study of the effectiveness of the developed apparatus. Materials and methods. The Department of Hygiene at the Izhevsk State Medical Academy, as part of the program "Umnic-2018" a whispered hearing analyzer — a device for early express diagnosis of hearing loss was developed. The device was tested on the basis of otorhinolaryngologist offices in Izhevsk and Tchaikovsky. The study group included 53 patients aged 19 to 76. As part of the testing of the device, the subjects underwent whispered speech hearing tests using acumetric Voyacek word tables; express diagnostics of the hearing level with the whispered hearing analyzer and tonal threshold audiometry using the ITERA II diagnostic audiometer (Otometrics, Denmark). Results. As a result of the testing of the developed device, we found that the use of the whispered hearing analyzer allows you to reduce the time of examination and increase its diagnostic efficiency compared to conventional methods of hearing level examination at medical check-ups. Discussion. The Whispering Hearing Analyzer is designed to quickly and accurately detect hearing loss during medical examinations. The results obtained with this instrument can only tell you that you have a hearing loss, but it is not possible to make a diagnosis. Conclusion. The problem of disabling hearing loss can be solved through preventive measures, one of which is the developed device for early express diagnosis of hearing loss. The use of this device eliminates the occurrence of diagnostic errors associated with the researcher's speech characteristics, thereby making it possible to detect hearing loss at an early stage.

A CLINICAL CASE OF PRIMARY HYPERPARATHYROIDISM OF THE OSTEO-VISCERAL FORM

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-161
Author(s):  
Poselyugina O.B. ◽  
Kulish A.S. ◽  
Vasiliev D.F.
Keyword(s):  
Primary Hyperparathyroidism ◽  
Clinical Case ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Diagnostic Errors ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Medical Documentation ◽  
Screening Methods ◽  
Internal Organs ◽  
Blood Calcium ◽  
Slow Development

Introduction. Primary hyperparathyroidism is an endocrine disease resulting from a primary pathology of the parathyroid gland, characterized by increased secretion of parathyroid hormone and increased blood calcium levels. Among the endocrine diseases, primary hyperparathyroidism is the third most common after diabetes mellitus and thyroid disease. In Russia, according to epidemiological studies, primary hyperparathyroidism is found in 1% of the population, women suffer 2-3 times more often than men do, and the average age of diagnosis is 54-59 years. In the absence of a timely diagnosis, primary hyperparathyroidism causes systemic damage to internal organs: renal impairment, nephrolithiasis, esophageal affection, cardiovascular and nervous system involvement, and it leads to a violation of bone tissue integrity. The aim is to demonstrate a clinical case of a patient with primary hyperparathyroidism and to analyze the stages of diagnosis of the disease and treatment. Material and methods. The review of medical literature on the problem of diagnostics and treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism was performed, as well as an analysis of the patient’s medical documentation with this pathology. Results and discussion. A variant of complicated course of primary hyperparathyroidism of bone and visceral form is considered. About 15 years passed from the moment of appearance of the first symptoms of the disease to the development of complications of renal and bone system. Despite the slow development of the disease and availability of screening methods, hyperparathyroidism was detected at the stage of complications. This article provides a detailed analysis of the primary hyperparathyroidism history, as well as analyzes the possibilities of diagnosis, treatment and prevention of this pathology. The efficacy of the therapy has been assessed, and ways of correction have been outlined. The analysis of the reasons that made it difficult to diagnose this pathology at an early stage, before the development of serious complications of internal organs, has been carried out. Conclusions: It can be assumed that the presented clinical case will increase the awareness of physicians, especially therapists, about the primary manifestations of this pathology and the peculiarities of its detection and routing the patient, which will allow avoiding many diagnostic errors.

Green synthesis of nanomaterials for early lung cancer detection

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Green Synthesis ◽  
Cancer Detection ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Early Lung Cancer ◽  
Lung Cancer Detection ◽  
Synthesis Of Nanomaterials

Lung cancer is the foremost cause of cancer-related deaths world-wide [1]. It affects 100,000 Americans of the smoking population every year of all age groups, particularly those above 50 years of the smoking population [2]. In India, 51,000 lung cancer deaths were reported in 2012, which include 41,000 men and 10,000 women [3]. It is the leading cause of cancer deaths in men; however, in women, it ranked ninth among all cancerous deaths [4]. It is possible to detect the lung cancer at a very early stage, providing a much higher chance of survival for the patients.

miR-224 is an early-stage biomarker of hepatocellular carcinoma with miR-224 and miR-125b as prognostic biomarkers

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 1485-1500
Author(s):  
Lichao Yang ◽  
Chunmeng Wei ◽  
Yasi Li ◽  
Xiao He ◽  
Min He
Keyword(s):  
Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Survival Analysis ◽  
Sensitivity And Specificity ◽  
Poor Prognosis ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Benign Lesion ◽  
Diagnostic Efficiency ◽  
Low Expression

Aim: The aim was to systematically investigate the miRNA biomarkers for early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Materials & methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of miRNA expression in HCC were performed. Results: A total of 4903 cases from 30 original studies were comprehensively analyzed. The sensitivity and specificity of miR-224 in discriminating early-stage HCC patients from benign lesion patients were 0.868 and 0.792, which were superior to α-fetoprotein. Combined miR-224 with α-fetoprotein, the sensitivity and specificity were increased to 0.882 and 0.808. Prognostic survival analysis showed low expression of miR-125b and high expression of miR-224 were associated with poor prognosis. Conclusion: miR-224 had a prominent diagnostic efficiency in early-stage HCC, with miR-224 and miR-125b being valuable in the prognostic diagnosis.

Measurements of Loudness Growth in 1/2-Octave Bands for Children and Adults With Normal Hearing

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melisa R. Ellis ◽  
Michael K. Wynne
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Lower Boundary ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Boundary Values ◽  
Simple Modification ◽  
Point Data ◽  
Loudness Growth

The loudness growth in 1/2-octave bands (LGOB) procedure has been shown previously to provide valid estimates of loudness growth for adults with normal hearing and those with hearing loss (Allen, Hall, & Jeng, 1990), and it has been widely incorporated into fitting strategies for adult hearing aid users by a hearing aid manufacturer. Here, we applied a simple modification of LGOB to children and adults with normal hearing and then compared the loudness growth functions (as obtained from end-point data) between the two age groups. In addition, reliability data obtained within a single session and between test sessions were compared between the two groups. Large differences were observed in the means between the two groups for the lower boundary values, the upper boundary values, and the range between boundaries both within and across all frequencies. The data obtained from children also had greater variance than the adult data. In addition, there was more variability in the data across test sessions for children. Many test-retest differences for children exceeded 10 dB. Adult test-retest differences were generally less than 10 dB. Although the LGOB with the modifications used in this study may be used to measure loudness growth in children, its poor reliability with this age group may limit its clinical use for children with hearing loss. Additional work is needed to explore whether loudness growth measures can be adapted successfully to children and whether these measures contribute worthwhile information for fitting hearing aids to children.

Validity of hearTest Smartphone-Based Audiometry for Hearing Screening in Workers Exposed to Noise

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luma Cordeiro Rodrigues ◽  
Silvia Ferrite ◽  
Ana Paula Corona
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
High Specificity ◽  
Hearing Screening ◽  
Youden Index ◽  
Hearing Level ◽  
Predictive Values ◽  
Auditory Thresholds ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Low Sensitivity ◽  
Sensitivity Specificity

Abstract Purpose This article investigates the validity of a smartphone-based audiometry for hearing screening to identify hearing loss in workers exposed to noise. Research Design This is a validation study comparing hearing screening with the hearTest to conventional audiometry. The study population included all workers who attended the Brazilian Social Service of Industry to undergo periodic examinations. Sensitivity, specificity, the Youden index, and positive (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV) for hearing screening obtained by the hearTest were estimated according to three definitions of hearing loss: any threshold greater than 25 dB hearing level (HL), the mean auditory thresholds for 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz greater than 25 dB HL, and the mean thresholds for 3, 4, and 6 kHz greater than 25 dB HL. Note that 95% confidence intervals were calculated for all measurements. Results A total of 232 workers participated in the study. Hearing screening with the hearTest presented good sensitivity (93.8%), specificity (83.9%), and Youden index (77.7%) values, a NPV (97.2%), and a low PPV (69.0%) for the identification of hearing loss defined as any auditory threshold greater than 25 dB HL. For the other definitions of hearing loss, we observed high specificity, PPV and NPV, as well as low sensitivity and Youden index. Conclusion The hearTest is an accurate hearing screening tool to identify hearing loss in workers exposed to noise, including those with noise-induced hearing loss, although it does not replace conventional audiometry.

scholarly journals Phenotype of the Aging-Dependent Spontaneous Onset of Hearing Loss in DBA/2 Mice

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Min-Soo Seo ◽  
Byeonghyeon Lee ◽  
Kyung-Ku Kang ◽  
Soo-Eun Sung ◽  
Joo-Hee Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Auditory Brainstem ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Intrinsic Properties ◽  
Hearing Ability ◽  
Brainstem Response ◽  
Long Term Observation ◽  
Spontaneous Onset

DBA/2 mice are a well-known animal model for hearing loss developed due to intrinsic properties of these animals. However, results on the phenotype of hearing loss in DBA/2 mice have been mainly reported at an early stage in mice aged ≤7 weeks. Instead, the present study evaluated the hearing ability at 5, 13, and 34 weeks of age using DBA/2korl mice. Auditory brainstem response test was performed at 8–32 KHz at 5, 13, and 34 weeks of age, and hearing loss was confirmed to be induced in a time-dependent manner. In addition, histopathological evaluation at the same age confirmed the morphological damage of the cochlea. The findings presented herein are the results of the long-term observation of the phenotype of hearing loss in DBA/2 mice and can be useful in studies related to aging-dependent hearing loss.

The Global Hemostatic Thrombodynamics Assay in Healthy Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seregina EA ◽  
◽  
Kumskova MA ◽  
Gracheva MA ◽  
Poletaev AV ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Velocity ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Medical Examinations ◽  
Adult Volunteers ◽  
Generation Test

Background: There is evidence that the concentrations of clotting and anticoagulant factors in children depend on age and differ from those found in adults. The results of APPT, TT, PT, fibrinogen are similar in children and adults in some studies, while PT and APTT show differences in others. Recent studies on global hemostatic assays Thromboelastography (TEG) revealed no significant differences in test results between healthy children and adults, while the thrombin generation test (TGT) showed significant differences. The Thrombodynamics (TD) assay is a new global hemostasis assay that considers the spatial organization of coagulation. Methods: APTT, TT, PR, fibrinogen and TD assays were performed in 102 healthy children between the ages of 1 and 17 years who underwent annual medical examinations and in 91 healthy adult volunteers. The following TD assay parameters were determined: lag time (Tlag), initial clot growth velocity (Vi), stationary clot growth velocity (Vs), clot size 30 minutes after the start of clot growth (CS) and clot Density (D). Written consent was obtained from all participants or their parents after they received complete information about the tests. Results: Age-specific reference values for the TD assay in healthy children aged 1-17 years are presented. No significant differences were observed between different age groups of children (15 years, 6-10 years, and 11-17 years) or between all children (1-17 years) and adults. Significant differences were not observed between genders. Conclusions: The TD assay results revealed no age-specific differences in the parameters between children aged 1-17 years and adults.

Self-Perceived Hearing Loss, Hearing-Help Seeking and Hearing Aid Adoption Among Older Adults in Malaysia

2018 ◽  
Vol 127 (11) ◽  
pp. 798-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Zamratol Mai Sarah Mukari ◽  
Wan Fazlina Wan Hashim
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Pure Tone Audiometry ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Hearing Level ◽  
Low Sensitivity ◽  
Single Question

Introduction: The aims of this study were to examine the validity of self-perceived hearing loss in detecting hearing loss and factors associated with self-perceived hearing loss and hearing-help seeking and to report hearing aid adoption among a group of community-dwelling older adults in Malaysia. Methods: A total of 301 older adults (⩾60 years of age) participating in a study on aging had their hearing tested using pure-tone audiometry. Self-perceived hearing loss was assessed using a single question. Sociodemographic profile, otologic history, and general cognitive status were also obtained. Results: A single question had low sensitivity in detecting actual hearing loss: 31.3% for 4-frequency average > 25 dBHL and 48.8% for 4-frequency average > 40 dBHL. Besides hearing level, history of otorrhea and tinnitus were factors that were associated with self-perceived hearing loss among older adults with at least mild hearing loss. Hearing-help-seeking behavior was not associated with any of the tested variables. The hearing aid adoption rate was 2.7% and 7.3% among participants with 4-frequency averages > 25 dBHL and > 40 dBHL, respectively. Conclusion: The underestimation of hearing loss in the majority of older adults in this study poses a potential barrier to hearing loss intervention.

scholarly journals Effect of the SARS outbreak on visits to a community hospital emergency department

CJEM ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 8 (05) ◽  
pp. 323-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Heiber ◽  
W.Y. Wendy Lou
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Community Hospital ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
Hospital Emergency Department ◽  
Infants And Toddlers ◽  
Hospital Emergency ◽  
Ed Visits ◽  
Number Of Visits

ABSTRACTObjectives:To examine the effect of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) on visits to a community hospital emergency department (ED) during the early stage of the Toronto outbreak in 2003 and for the same period in 2004. We focused on visits for respiratory illness (SARS-like symptoms) and different age groups.Methods:This study is a retrospective review of ED discharge diagnoses obtained from a computerized database, examining the 4-week period starting March 28 for the years 2001-2004. We obtained the discharge diagnosis, age and visit date for each ED patient during the relevant time intervals, then compared visit data from 2003 and 2004 with a baseline derived from the average number of visits during 2001 and 2002. We constructed groupings based on age and respiratory-illness symptoms.Results:During the SARS outbreak in 2003, ED visits declined by 21% (95% confidence interval [CI], 18%–24%) over the 4-week study period. The greatest reduction was for combined infant and toddler visits (69%; 95% CI, 58%–79%); these did not recover the following year. However, during the SARS outbreak there was a large increase in the number of visits for respiratory illnesses in adults (61%; 95% CI, 46%–75%) and in teenagers (132%; 95% CI, 82%–182%).Conclusions:During the SARS outbreak, total ED visits fell. The relative decline was most notable for infants and toddlers. By contrast, there was an increase in respiratory illness–related visits for adults and teenagers. In 2004, the year following the SARS outbreak, visit patterns shifted toward baseline levels, but ED visits by infants and toddlers remained depressed.

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