The role of dyslipidemia in sensorineural hearing loss in children

Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2009 Nov 23. [Epub ahead of print]

Anbari S, Isazadeh D, Safavi A, Alaie M, Azizi F.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University, M.C., Parvaneh St., Yaman St., Velenjak, Tehran, Iran.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between dyslipidemia and hearing is controversial; especially in children, the available evidences are scarce. This study is designed to determine whether dyslipidemia is associated with sensorineural hearing loss in a group of 5-18-year-old children and adolescents.

METHODS: Through an analytic cross-sectional study, records of all 5-18-year-old children who attended the pediatric endocrinology clinic of Loghman Hospital in Tehran, Iran, between April 2007 and April 2009 were reviewed. Records with a lipid profile were determined. Lipid profiles were repeated for eligible cases; they were enrolled if the results were the same as before (normal or dyslipidemic). Hearing loss, speech discrimination scores and lipid profiles were analyzed.

RESULTS: When controlled for age and sex, no association between dyslipidemia and sensorineural hearing loss were found. There was also no statistically significant relationship between dyslipidemia and sensorineural hearing loss in different age groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Dyslipidemia seems to have no association with sensorineural hearing loss in 5-18 years old children according to this study.

PMID: 19939472 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Vestibular autonomic regulation (including motion sickness and the mechanism of vomiting).

Curr Opin Neurol. 1999 Feb;12(1):29-33.

Balaban CD.

Collaborators (1)

University of Pittsburgh, Department of Otolaryngology, PA 15213, USA. cbalaban@vms.cis.pitt.edu

Autonomic manifestations of vestibular dysfunction and motion sickness are well established in the clinical literature. Recent studies of 'vestibular autonomic regulation' have focused predominantly on autonomic responses to stimulation of the vestibular sense organs in the inner ear. These studies have shown that autonomic responses to vestibular stimulation are regionally selective and have defined a 'vestibulosympathetic reflex' in animal experiments.

Outside the realm of experimental preparations, however, the importance of vestibular inputs in autonomic regulation is unclear because controls for secondary factors, such as affective/emotional responses and cardiovascular responses elicited by muscle contraction and regional blood pooling, have been inadequate. Anatomic and physiologic evidence of an extensive convergence of vestibular and autonomic information in the brainstem suggests though that there may be an integrated representation of gravitoinertial acceleration from vestibular, somatic, and visceral receptors for somatic and visceral motor control. In the case of vestibular dysfunction or motion sickness, the unpleasant visceral manifestations (e.g. epigastric discomfort, nausea or vomiting) may contribute to conditioned situational avoidance and the development of agoraphobia.

PMID: 10097881 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Neuroanatomic substrates for vestibulo-autonomic interactions.

J Vestib Res. 1998 Jan-Feb;8(1):7-16.

Balaban CD, Porter JD.

Department of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA.

Recent anatomical studies have identified a network of central neural circuits that appear to integrate vestibular and autonomic information. Like vestibulo-ocular and vestibulospinal circuits, these pathways appear to be under inhibitory modulation by distinct regions in the medial aspect of the cerebellar cortex. These central circuits have the potential to explain the known influence of vestibular stimulation on autonomic motor responses through descending effects on brain stem autonomic regions. In a more global context, the extensive convergence of vestibular and autonomic information in both vestibular and autonomic brain regions is consistent with the concept that vestibular and visceral information (for example, blood pooling and visceral proprioception) are used to form a central representation of gravitoinertial parameters during movements. This representation can influence neural circuitry involved in postural control, cardiovascular control, perception of the spatial vertical and emotional or affective responses.

PMID: 9416584 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

What Are Cluster Headaches? What Causes Cluster Headaches?

What Are Cluster Headaches? What Causes Cluster Headaches?

How to improve the accuracy of diagnosing otitis media with effusion in a pediatric population

International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

Dong-Hee Lee

Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, College of Medicine, #65-1 Geumo-Dong, Uijeongbu City, Gyeonggi-Do, Seoul 480-717, Republic of Korea

Received 11 September 2009;  

revised 16 October 2009;  

accepted 23 October 2009.  

Available online 25 November 2009

Abstract

Objective

To determine the accuracy of pneumatic otoscopy, a tympanogram and otomicroscopy for diagnosing otitis media with effusion (OME) in a pediatric population.

Study design

Prospective blinded clinical and IRB-approved study at a secondary referral hospital.

Subjective and methods

Eighty-one children (155 ears) were recruited for this study, who were referred to my secondary referral hospital after OME was diagnosed at other primary clinics. The examiner was blinded for the findings of the diagnostic tools. Myringotomy under local anesthesia was used as the diagnostic reference standard. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of the three diagnostic tools were calculated.

Results

Otomicroscopy was the most sensitive and specific tool among the three diagnostic tools. Otomicroscopy showed the best agreement with myringotomy (kappa = 0.784).

Conclusion

Otomicroscopy can make a more accurate diagnosis even for children who are seen at an outpatient clinic. The much higher specificity of otomicroscopy makes it the best confirmative test and its much higher positive predictive value can prevent a late diagnosis of OME, which can result in severe sequelae.

Mouse study sheds light on hearing loss in older adults

Mouse study sheds light on hearing loss in older adults

Infratemporal hydatid cyst: a case presenting with blindness

The Journal of Laryngology & Otology 

Cambridge University Press

Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 2009

doi:10.1017/S0022215109991927

N Yazdania1 c1, A Basama1, M Heidaralia1, S Sharif Kashania1a2, M Hasibia3 and Z Mokhtaria1 a1 Otorhinolaryngology Research Centre, Amir-Alam Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran a2 Department of Radiology, Amir-Alam Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran a3 Department of Infectious Diseases, Amir-Alam Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Abstract

Objective: We report a very rare case of a hydatid cyst in the infratemporal fossa, causing visual loss over a 10-day period, which disappeared with rapid surgical and medical treatment.

Case report: A 14-year-old girl presented with right exophthalmos and visual loss. Over a 10-day period, her visual acuity had decreased to detection of hand motion only, due to pressure on the optic nerve caused by a parapharyngeal cyst pressing through a inferior orbital fissure on the right side. A craniotomy had previously been performed for a right frontoparietal hydatid cyst. The patient had been treated intermittently with albendazole. The patient was primarily diagnosed with hydatid cyst, on the basis of her previous medical history and radiological findings, and underwent surgery. Three cysts were carefully removed from the right maxillary sinus, via a standard Caldwell–Luc approach, and the surgical area was irrigated with hypertonic saline.

Conclusion: Infratemporal hydatidosis is very rarely reported in the world literature, although hydatid cysts are endemic in many countries, including Iran. We discuss the common presenting features, investigation and treatment options for infratemporal hydatosis. Constant evaluation of adjacent organs is necessary, with treatment as required, due to the propensity of hydatidosis to recur in essential organs. Immediate surgery is recommended, both to prevent the development of disease and to improve the prognosis.

(Accepted July 23 2009)

Correspondence:
^c1 Address for correspondence: Dr S Sharif Kashani, Radiology Department, Amir-Alam Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Sadi St, Enghelab Ave, Tehran, Iran Fax: 00982166704805 E-mail: Sh_Sh_md_rad@yahoo.com

Footnotes