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Objective:To compare the auditory outcomes of Carina middle-ear implants with those of conventional hearing aids in patients with moderate-to-severe mixed hearing loss.Methods:The study comprised nine patients (six males, three females) who underwent middle-ear implantation with Carina fully implantable active middle-ear implants to treat bilateral moderate-to-severe mixed hearing loss. The patients initially used conventional hearing aids and subsequently received the Carina implants. The hearing thresholds with implants and hearing aids were compared.Results:There were no significant differences between: the pre-operative and post-operative air and bone conduction thresholds (p > 0.05), the thresholds with hearing aids and Carina implants (p > 0.05), or the pre-operative (mean, 72.8 ± 19 per cent) and post-operative (mean, 69.9 ± 24 per cent) speech discrimination scores (p > 0.05). One of the patients suffered total sensorineural hearing loss three months following implantation despite an initial 38 dB functional gain. All except one patient showed clinical improvements after implantation according to quality of life questionnaire (Glasgow Benefit Inventory) scores.Conclusion:Acceptance of Carina implants is better than with conventional hearing aids in patients with mixed hearing loss, although both yield similar hearing amplification. Cosmetic reasons appear to be critical for patient acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives:The aim of this study is to examine the obstacles in people with traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) face performing intermittent catheterization (IC), also their worries and level of satisfaction.Methods:Two hundred sixty-nine patients performing IC for at least 3 months were asked to fill-out a questionnaire about their opinions on IC.Results:In total, 69.5% of patients performed IC themselves, 10.4% had performed by their mothers, 7.8% by another caregiver and 7.4% by their spouse. For the 72 (26%) patients unable to apply IC, reasons were insufficient hand function (56.1%), being unable to sit appropriately (35.4%) and spasticity (8.5%). In all, 70% of male patients had insufficient hand function, 20% could not sit and 10% had spasticity while 56.3% of female patients could not sit, 37.5% had insufficient hand function and 63% had spasticity. Difference between sexes was found to be statistically significant (P<0.05). Worries patients had when starting IC were fear of being dependent on IC (50.2%), accidentally injuring self (43.8%), embarrassment (43.2%), causing an infection (40.2%), bleeding (32.7%), fear of feeling pain (30.2%) and hygiene (24.7%). More women felt embarrassment; other items were similar in both sexes. In all, 46.9% of patients had urinary incontinence in intervals.Conclusion:In total, 69.5% of patients performed IC themselves. Men's most common obstacle was insufficient hand function while women's was being unable to sit appropriately. Patients' most common worries were being dependent on IC for life. In all, 46.9% had incontinence in intervals; 47.9% said IC improved their life quality; and 97.4% preferred IC over continuous catheterization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study design:Multi-center, cross-sectional study.Objectives:Our aim was to evaluate the treatment methods and follow-up of neurogenic bladder in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury retrospectively using a questionnaire.Setting:Turkey.Methods:Three hundred and thirty-seven patients who had spinal cord injury for at least 2 years were enrolled from six centers in the neurogenic bladder study group. They were asked to fill-out a questionnaire about treatments they received and techniques they used for bladder management.Results:The study included 246 male and 91 female patients with a mean age of 42±14 years. Intermittent catheterization (IC) was performed in 77.9% of the patients, 3.8% had indwelling catheters, 13.8% had normal spontaneous micturition, 2.6% performed voiding maneuvers, 1.3% used diapers and 0.6% used condom catheters. No gender difference was found regarding the techniques used in bladder rehabilitation (P>0.05). Overall, 63.2% of patients used anticholinergic drugs; anticholinergic drug use was similar between genders (P>0.05). The most common anticholinergic drug used was oxybutynin (40.3%), followed by trospium (32.6%), tolterodine (19.3%) darifenacin (3.3%), propiverine (3.3%) and solifenacin (1.1%). The specialties of the physicians who first prescribed the anticholinergic drug were physiatrists (76.2%), urologists (22.1%) and neurologists (1.7%). Only four patients had previously received injections of botulinum-toxin-A into the detrusor muscle and three of them stated that their symptoms showed improvement. Most of the patients (77%) had regular follow-up examinations, including urine cultures, urinary system ultrasound and urodynamic tests, when necessary; the reasons for not having regular control visits were living distant from hospital (15.3%) and monetary problems (7.7%). Of the patients, 42.7% did not experience urinary tract infections (UTI), 36.4% had bacteriuria but no UTI episodes with fever, 15.9% had 1-2 clinical UTI episodes per year and 5% had ⩾3 clinical UTIs. The clinical characteristics of patients with and without UTI (at least one symptomatic UTI during 1 year) were similar (P>0.05). The frequency of symptomatic UTI was similar in patients using different bladder management techniques (P>0.05).Conclusion:The most frequently used technique for bladder rehabilitation in patients with SCI was IC (77.9%). In all, 63.2% of patients used anticholinergic drugs, oxybutynin being the most commonly used drug. Also, 77% of patients had regular control visits for neurogenic bladder; 42.7% did not experience any UTIs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study design:Multi-center, cross-sectional study.Objectives:To investigate the effects of different bladder management methods on the quality of life (QoL) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI).Setting:Turkey.Methods:Consecutive SCI patients (n=195, 74.4% males), for whom at least 6 months had elapsed since the injury, were included and evaluated in five groups: normal spontaneous micturition (NSM), micturition with assisted maneuvers (MAM), aseptic intermittent catheterization by patient (IC-P), aseptic IC by an attendant/caregiver (IC-A) and indwelling catheterization. The King's Health Questionnaire was used to evaluate the patients' QoL.Results:The bladder management groups were similar regarding age, time elapsed since injury, education level, marital and occupational status. There was no difference among the groups in general health perception, personal relationships and sleep/energy domain scores. While the NSM group had generally the lowest scores, that is, better QoL, the IC-A group had the highest scores, that is, poorer QoL, in most of the domains. When the patients were grouped according to the frequency of urinary incontinence or American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grades, no difference was found in the domain scores of the groups except the symptom severity domain scores. No significant difference was found between paraplegic and tetraplegic patients in the King's Health Questionnaire domains.Conclusion:The QoL was notably affected in SCI patients in IC-A group and negative effects on emotional status, physical and social activity limitations were observed, as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:To evaluate the serum melatonin levels in acute period of the spinal cord injury (SCI) caused by trauma in the rats.Background:Traumatic SCI induces many types of physiological and pathological damage, including hormonal level variations.Methods:Forty male Sprague–Dawley rats were divided randomly into four groups. In the control group, neither laminectomy nor SCI were performed; only a large laminectomy was performed without SCI in the sham group. In the cervical and thoracic spinal trauma groups, laminectomies at C5-6 and a T6-7 were performed, respectively, followed by clip compression of the spinal cord. Blood samples were drawn 2, 6, 12 and 24 h after the procedures and assayed immediately.Results:The levels of melatonin in the neurotrauma groups were high in the first 2 h, but at the end of sixth hour, melatonin levels increased in sham-operated group, decreased in neurotrauma groups and did not change in control group. At the 12th hour, melatonin levels continued to decrease in thoracic group significantly. At the 24th hour, the melatonin levels decreased in the cervical, control and sham groups, whereas melatonin levels increased in the thoracic group.Conclusions:The present study revealed that (1) activation of endogen melatonin secretion of the organism starts immediately after the SCI, but it shows a great lowering trend between 2 and 6 h post-SCI, (2) the tetraplegic rats, which had complete injuries at the lower cervical spinal cord, could not produce enough melatonin secretion; on the contrary, the paraplegic rats, which had complete injury at the upper thoracic spinal cord, showed normal melatonin secretion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the intra-abdominal adhesion formation following ventral hernia repair by using oxidized regenerated cellulose (ORC) as a barrier underneath polypropylene mesh (PPM), and sodium hyaluronate/carboxymethylcellulose (HA/CMC)-coated PPM. Methods: A ventral abdominal defect was created in each of 30 male rats which were divided into three groups. In group 1 (control) the defect was repaired with PPM; in group 2 ORC was laid over the viscera and the defect was repaired with PPM, and in group 3 HA/CMC-coated PPM was used for the repairing procedure. On the 28th postoperative day all the rats were sacrificed and adhesions were evaluated by laparoscopic exploration followed by histopathological examination. Results: Animals treated with ORC and PPM, and HA/CMC-coated PPM showed significantly less adhesions than the control group (p = 0.026) and the intra-abdominal adhesions of the rats in these two groups were significantly easier to release than in the control group (p = 0.001). There was no significant difference between the ORC and HA/CMC groups. Conclusions: ORC used together with PPM is as effective as HA/CMC-coated PPM and ORC can be used as an adhesion barrier in intra-abdominal hernia repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we modify an iteration process to prove strong convergence and Δ— convergence theorems for a finite family of nonexpansive multivalued mappings in hyperbolic spaces. The results presented here extend some existing results in the literature.

Study design:Cross-sectional controlled study.Objectives:To evaluate the elbow joint with ultrasound in paraplegic patients, determine the related factors and compare it with healthy controls.Setting:A training and research rehabilitation hospital in Istanbul.Methods:A total of 30 paraplegic patients and 20 healthy controls were included in the study. Patients demographic data, pain in the elbow joint, level and duration of injury, ambulation status, type of wheelchair used, daily duration of wheelchair and other ambulation equipment usage, transfers being dependent or independent, daily number of push-ups were recorded. Elbow joints were evaluated with ultrasound for presence of fluid and thickness of the triceps tendon.Results:Mean triceps tendon thickness values of the right side were larger in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients when compared with those of healthy controls'. Joint effusion on the right elbow joint was also found to be more common in SCI patients than in normal subjects. Triceps tendon thickness measurements were not found to be correlated with demographic and clinical factors. Seven paraplegic patients (23%) reported that they have pain in the elbow.Conclusion:In this preliminary study, our results showed that right elbow effusion was more frequent and right triceps tendon was thicker in SCI patients when compared with healthy subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We prove the weak and strong convergence of S iterative scheme to a common fixed point of a family of nonself asymptotically I-nonexpansive mappings {Ti}Ni i and a family of nonself asymptotically nonexpansive mappings {Ii}Ni i defined on a nonempty closed convex subset of a Banach space. Our scheme converges faster than Mann and Ishikawa iteration for contractions. Our weak convergence theorem is proved under more general setup of space as different from weak convergence theorems proved in previously.

Postpartum spinal osteoporosis (PPSO) is a rare condition characterized by osteoporosis associated with pregnancy. The most common symptoms are low back pain and loss of height due to vertebral compression fractures. It is observed in the last trimester of pregnancy or subsequent to delivery. Herein; we report 2 cases of PPSO who presented with low back pain in the postpartum period, aiming to draw attention to this unusual cause of low back pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the cytotoxic effects of endodontic cements on human tooth germ stem cells (hTGSCs). MTA Fillapex, a mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA)-based, salicylate resin containing root canal sealer, was compared with iRoot SP, a bioceramic sealer, and AH Plus Jet, an epoxy resin-based root canal sealer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To evaluate cytotoxicity, all materials were packed into Teflon rings (4 mmµ3 mm) and co-cultured with hTGSCs with the aid of 24-well Transwell permeable supports, which had a pore size of 0.4 µm. Coverslips were coated with MTA Fillapex, iRoot SP and AH Plus Jet and each coverslip was placed onto the bottom of one well of a six-well plate for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Before the cytotoxicity and SEM analysis, all samples were stored at 37ºC and at 95% humidity and 5% CO2 for 24 hours to set. The cellular viability was analyzed using MTS test (3-(4,5-dimethyl-thiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxy-methoxy-phenyl)-2-(4-sulfo-phenyl)-2H-tetrazolium). The cytotoxic effects and SEM visualization of the tested materials were analyzed at 24-hour, 72-hour, one-week and two-week periods. RESULTS: On the 1st day, only MTA Fillapex caused cytotoxicity compared to negative control (NC) group (p0.05). After 14 days of incubation with the test materials, MTA Fillapex exhibited significantly higher cytotoxicity compared with iRoot SP, AH Plus Jet and the NC group (P

Objectives: Hydrocephalus can be defined broadly as a disorder of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) formation or absorption, leading to an increase in volume occupied by this fluid in the central nervous system (CNS). Birth defects or acquired other things in later life can cause Hydrocephalus. Birth defects arise from neural tube defects or aquaductal stenosis. Other reasons include meningitis, brain tumors, intracerebral hemorrhages, subarachnoid hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury. Hydrocephalus is generally treated by the surgical intervention of shunt system. The aim of this report of case with hydrocephalus is to demonstrate early outputs in pursuit of cochlear implantation in the same side with shunt system in teenage girl. We investigate whether the shunt system suitable or not when thought together with other complications. Case Presentation: There are not any risk factors at prenatal medical history of the 14 year-old girl who suffers from Hydrocephalus. At natal medical history low birth weight, premature birth and anoxaemia problems are observed. Also, the mentioned patient was born via in vitro fertilization and her twin sister was born as dead. Considering the postnatal medical history, the patient has undergone the highest increased level of bilirubin and throughout 2 months she has been treated with phototherapy at newborn intensive care unit. She had a shunt surgical operation at the right side when she was just 3 months because of hydrocephalus as craniofacial abnormality. Up to 13 years old, she had hypothyroid treatment, epilepsy treatment, laser eye surgical operation and now, she has only hearing and communication disorders. Her hearing loss was recognized by her teacher when she was 6 years old and then she has been bilateral hearing aid user. In addition her hearing loss progressed in time, we determined bilaterally profound hearing loss at last assessment. And also her hearing aids are not sufficient for hearing performance and language development. Gains of left hearing aid were better than right one so when the cochlear implantation was planned, it should be operated on the right side. Language performance was assessed with PLS- 4 and receptive-expressive language age was detected as 5,5-6 year-old and she lives many difficulties at her academic progress. On the other side there aren't any complications with regards to cochlear implantation at brain diffusion and temporal bone magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography. In accordance with these findings, she was followed as a cochlear implant candidate and eventually she underwent surgery at last March. Med --El Synchrony implant was implanted and Sonnet sound processor was preferred. Because of the shunt system has not an electromagnetic feature, there were not any complications during the surgical placement. Also during follow- up, she was assessed and supported through therapies in the sense of auditory perception. Conclusion: The most comfortable levels with cochlear implant were adjusted via auropalpebral reflexes at the first post-op fitting whereas the threshold levels were regulated according to automatically %10 of most comfortable levels. We determined free field thresholds with cochlear implant at post-op first control approximately 40 -50 dB HL. In conclusion, she has better hearing performance and enhanced quality of life according to before. We will continue intensive auditory verbal therapy and following for the best outcomes from implantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Surface electromyography (sEMG) has been used in a wide range of studies conducted in the field of dysphagia., Objectives: The main aim of this case-control study is to obtain how submental and infrahyoid sEMG signals differ based on residue, penetration and aspiration., Methods: A total of 100 participants (50 patients with suspected dysphagia and 50 healthy controls) were enrolled in the present study. Participants with suspected dysphagia underwent a detailed fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) to observe the efficiency and safety of swallowing using the Yale Pharyngeal Residue Severity Rating Scale (YPRSRS) and the Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS), respectively. Afterward, sEMG parameters, including submental muscle activity duration (SMM-AD), infrahyoid muscle activity duration (IM-AD), amplitude of submental muscles (A-SMM) and amplitude of infrahyoid muscles (A-IM) were obtained during three consecutive dry swallows from all study cohorts., Results: There were significantly higher SMM-AD values in patients with a YPRSRS score of 1-2 and a YPRSRS score of 3-5 for residue in vallecula compared to the controls (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Both subgroups of patients with a YPRSRS score of 1-2 and a YPRSRS score of 3-5 for residue in piriforms showed significantly higher SMM-AD values compared to the controls (p < 0.001 and p = 0.048, respectively). The same prolongation of SMM-AD was also evident for the patients with airway invasion (penetration or aspiration) compared to the controls (p = 0.042 and p < 0.001, respectively). The other measured sEMG parameters (IM-AD, A-SMM and A-IM) did not differ significantly based on FEES outcomes (p > 0.05)., Conclusion: Since the availability of instrumental swallowing assessment methods in clinical practice is quite challenging, specific sEMG parameters may be useful to predict possible residue, penetration, or aspiration events in patients with dysphagia. SMM-AD can be considered as a first-line assessment parameter for possible residue, penetration, and aspiration events before referring patients for further instrumental methods., (© 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Oral Rehabilitation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: This study aimed to attenuate cochlear inflammation following noise-induced hearing loss by targeting IL-1. We evaluated the effectiveness of IL-1 inhibition through auditory and histological assessments in an animal model., Study Design: Experimental animal study., Setting: Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey., Methods: Twenty-four rats were randomly assigned into 3 groups: Anakinra, dexamethasone, and control groups. All animals were exposed to broadband noise (110 dB SPL, 8 hours), auditory brainstem response (ABR) tests were conducted before noise exposure, immediately after, and on Day 14. Anakinra, dexamethasone, and saline were administered intraperitoneally, cochlear tissues were harvested for histological and immunohistochemical evaluation., Results: On Day 14, ABR thresholds in Anakinra group were better than the control group across all frequencies, with a significant difference observed at 8 kHz (P = .036). The mean number of OHC was significantly higher in Anakinra group compared to the control group (P < .05). The mean number of IHC in the Anakinra group was greater than in the dexamethasone group. IL-1β immunopositivity in the stria vascularis and spiral ganglia was significantly higher in Anakinra group compared to dexamethasone group (P = .022 and P = .013, respectively). TNF-α immunopositivity in the stria vascularis and spiral ganglia was significantly greater in control group than in Anakinra group (P = .037 and P = .01, respectively)., Conclusion: The comparable efficacy of Anakinra and dexamethasone in both histological and auditory assessments suggests that Anakinra may serve as a promising therapeutic option for noise-induced hearing loss., (© 2024 American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation.)

Purpose: The effect of the inter-implant interval time on language and communication skills has been a subject of research for years in children with bilateral cochlear implants. This study aimed to investigate language and some attention and memory skills in children with bilateral sequential and simultaneous cochlear implants., Method: The study included a total of 40 children aged between 6 and 8 years old, grouping bilateral simultaneous cochlear implanted children, sequential implanted children with 0-2 years interval, sequential implanted children with 2-4 years interval, and normal hearing peers. The language skills of the children were assessed using the Test of Language Development: Primary 4th edition, their selective attention and coping skills with disruptive effect were evaluated using the Stroop test, sustained attention and visual-motor synchronization skills were assessed using the Cancellation Test, and short-term memory skills were evaluated using the Visual Auditory Digit Span Test. The findings were analyzed using nonparametric statistical methods, with a significance level set at 0.05., Results: Children with bilateral simultaneous cochlear implants demonstrated better performance in language skills and the attention-related subtests of the Stroop test (p < 0.05). On the other hand, children with simultaneous and sequential cochlear implants achieved similar scores in the Cancellation and the Visual Auditory Digit Span Test (p > 0.05)., Conclusions: Bilateral simultaneous cochlear implantation in children is beneficial for language, selective attention, and coping with the Stroop effect. However, these children may still lag behind their normal-hearing peers in terms of language, attention, and memory skills., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflicts of interest: There are no conflicts of interest, financial, or otherwise., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the effect of auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder (ANSD) on postoperative auditory perception and listening difficulties in pediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients., Method: The Children's Auditory Perception Test (CAPT) assesses auditory perception skills, and the Children's Home Inventory of Listening Difficulties (CHILD) Scale evaluates daily listening difficulties. The study involved pediatric CI recipients ( n = 40) aged between 5 and 7 years, with and without diagnosis of ANSD. The research ensured homogeneity across various factors, including chronological age, age at diagnosis, age at initial implantation, bilateral simultaneous surgery, etiologies of hearing loss, and family education level., Results: The findings have demonstrated that children without ANSD exhibited better performance in integrating visual-auditory stimuli and overall listening performance, distant sound source scores, and noisy environment scores (respectively p = .047, p = .001, p = .028, and p = .010). Additionally, children with better speech perception also have a better ability to integrate audiovisual stimuli ( p = .005, r = .438)., Conclusions: There are significant differences in postoperative listening skills and auditory perceptions between children with and without an ANSD who have CIs. Accordingly, children without an ANSD perform better.

Background: Vocal fold nodules are most common in women and patients with vocal fold nodules represent the largest group in voice clinics. The prevalence of vocal fold nodules is particularly high in professions where the voice is used on a regular basis. The quality of the voice is influenced by a number of factors, including temperament, stress, and emotional state. These factors can influence the physiological conditions of phonation. The objective of this study was to assess the acoustic parameters of voice in patients with vocal nodules in comparison to healthy controls, and to determine whether voice quality is influenced by emotional state and coping with stress., Methods: A total of 32 patients admitted to the ENT Department of the University Medical School with voice disorders between March and June 2007 constituted the study group. All patients were found to have a vocal nodule on physical and stroboscopic examination. The control group consisted of 30 healthy individuals who did not report any voice disorders. All subjects underwent voice recordings in the voice laboratory. Following the completion of the voice evaluation form, an aerodynamic assessment (a, s, and s/z-time), an index of vocal impairment, the Rosenbaum's Learned Resourcefulness Scale, and the Temperament and Characteristics Inventory (Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, San Diego Autoquestionaire), all subjects underwent further assessment. Acoustic analysis was conducted using the CSL program in Multidimensional voice program analysis and the Vocal Assessment component of Dr. Speech., Results: The decrease in maximum phonation time in the study group was statistically significant. There were statistically significant differences in the parameters Mean Fundamental Frequence, Jitter, Relative Avarage Perturbation, Pitch Perturbation Quotient, Shimmer in dB, Shimmer, Amplitude Perturbation Quotient, Noise Hormonic Ratio, Soft Phonation Index from the Multidimensional voice program analysis, Jitter, Shimmer% from the voice assessment, and the perceptual rating (H, R, and B) from Dr. Speech's voice assessment analysis. The differences in the dimensions of anxious temperament and the examination of stress problem-solving strategies were significant between the study group and the control subjects. Differences in aerodynamic and acoustic parameters were found between disordered and healthy groups, as well as between individuals with different personalities. Overall, those with nodules were less likely to manage stress well than those without nodules., Conclusions: The study group and the control subjects showed significant differences in anxious temperament dimensions and stress problem-solving strategies. There were also differences in aerodynamic and acoustic parameters between the disordered and healthy groups, as well as between the groups with and without personality temperament differences. Overall, those with nodules were less likely to manage stress well than those without nodules. This finding indicates that stress management options are not effectively utilized in patients with vocal fold nodules. So, it might be a good idea to look into some kind of therapeutic approach and patient education for stress management., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The author declares that she has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this article., (Copyright © 2024 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) patients may experience balance problems in various environmental conditions other than positional dizziness. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the postural control abilities and the ability to use sensory inputs in BPPV patients in different conditions., Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the postural control performance of middle-aged adult BPPV patients in easy and difficult balance tasks, the effect of vestibular stimulation on the maintenance of balance, and the risk of falling, by posturographic evaluation in various conditions., Method: A total of 26 patients diagnosed with posterior canal BPPV and 26 controls were included in the study. Sensory Organization Test (SOT), Vestibular Stimulation Test (VST), and fall risk assessment (FRA) were applied to the participants, respectively., Results: Significant difference was observed in SOT medio-lateral (ML) plane in Conditions 2 and 5 ( p < .05). A significant difference was observed in the vestibular score in the SOT ML plane. No significant difference was observed in VST test scores ( p > .05). In the FRA test, a significant difference was observed in the energy and gain parameters in the anterio-posterior plane ( p < .05)., Conclusions: The current study examined postural control abilities of patients with BPPV in extensive external conditions and in both planes, using various sensory perturbations and stimulation. It was thought that while BPPV patients were in the active phase of the disease, their postural control skills in the ML plane decreased and they might be at risk of falling.

Purpose: The main purpose of the study is to investigate whether the presence of residual hearing before cochlear implantation has an effect on temporal pattern recognition skills and musical perception in adults., Method: The study included adults with cochlear implants who were between the ages of 20 and 45 years. Adults with cochlear implants were divided into two groups: absent ( n = 20) and available ( n = 20) groups according to residual hearing before implantation. Frequency Pattern and Duration Pattern tests were applied to evaluate temporal pattern recognition, and the "Music-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire" was applied to evaluate musical perceptions., Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the groups in terms of cochlear-implanted hearing thresholds and speech recognition scores, musical perception, and musical activities, according to their residual hearing. On the other hand, the frequency and duration pattern recognition skills were statistically significantly better in adults with residual hearing. Also, statistically significant correlations were obtained in terms of temporal skills and musical perception subskills., Conclusions: The presence of residual hearing before cochlear implantation may affect temporal auditory processing skills. It is concluded that the integration of cochlear implants may affect temporal processing skills in adults as well as quality of life. It is recommended that experts be aware of this issue and pay attention to residual hearing.

Introduction  Adolescents with cochlear implants may have difficulty developing language and memory abilities. Objective  The primary objectives of this study are (1) to evaluate the language skills and verbal working memory performance of early and late diagnosed-intervened cochlear implanted adolescents and (2) to investigate the relationship between the verbal working memory and phonemic analysis skills in adolescents with cochlear implant. Methods  This study included 72 participants with cochlear implant aged between 10 and 18 years. The participants were divided into two groups; those who had first hearing aid at the age of 6 months at the latest and had a first cochlear implant in at least one ear at the latest at 24 months were included in the early group, all the others were in the late group. The phonemic analysis test, a subtest of the test of language development: Primary, 4th edition (TOLD: P-4) - Turkish version, was used to assess language-based abilities, and the meaningless word repetition (MWR) test was utilized to assess verbal working memory. Results  The adolescents with cochlear implants who received early diagnosis and intervention performed statistically significantly better in phonemic analysis scores and verbal working memory tests ( p  < 0.001). A statistically significant relationship was found between phonemic analysis and verbal working memory skills (Pearson, r = 0.567 and r = 0.659, p  < 0.001). Conclusions  Rehabilitation of phonological skills can contribute to the development of verbal working memory in adolescents with cochlear implants. There is a need for further studies on this issue with more detailed tests., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interests The authors have no conflict of interests to declare., (Fundação Otorrinolaringologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).)

Background: Pediatric intradural spinal arachnoid cysts are rare and can cause spinal cord or nerve root compression. Spinal arachnoid cysts can cause pain, motor/sensory neurological impairments, gait disturbances, spasticity, and bladder problems depending on their location. This study discusses the clinical aspects, management, surgical nuances, and postoperative clinical outcomes of symptomatic congenital intradural spinal arachnoid cysts, which are rarely seen in the pediatric population., Methods: Our study involves a retrospective evaluation of 8 pediatric patients who underwent surgery for spinal intradural arachnoid cysts at the Department of Neurosurgery, Kocaeli University School of Medicine, and the Department of Neurosurgery, Selros University School of Medicine. The demographic data of all patients, preoperative/postoperative clinical findings, surgical procedures, surgical complications, and radiological imaging were evaluated., Results: The average age of the patients was 8.7 uated. surgicrange:1-17).The female to male ratio was 4:4. The most common complaint was weakness in the lower extremities (87.5%). Urinary problems (50%) and sensory disturbances (50%) were less frequently observed. All patients had dorsal localization of the cysts. Cyst excision was performed in 7 out of 8 patients, and cyst fenestration was performed in 1 patient. Postoperatively, 7 patients showed complete symptom resolution, while one patient had partial improvement., Conclusions: The success of surgical treatment depends on cyst location, neural tissue compression, and duration of symptoms. Complete removal or fenestration is determined by cyst location and accessibility. Intracystic shunts may be used in certain cases. Timely diagnosis and surgical intervention are crucial for improving neurological function in these rare cases., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the stress, quality of life, and access to hearing health services experienced by adults and children who use hearing aid and/or cochlear implant and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic., Method: Perceived Stress Scale, Personal Wellbeing Index, and World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaires were applied online to 30 adults with hearing loss and parents of 61 children with hearing loss. Also, a survey was conducted to acquire more about the demographics of people who use cochlear implants and conventional hearing aids, as well as the difficulties they encountered during the COVID-19 period., Results: Although child user families experienced more problems than adults during the COVID-19 period, the stress levels of child user families were higher than that of adult user families ( p = .05). Even though there was no statistically significant difference, the families of pediatric users had lower quality of life than adult users., Conclusions: The stress/anxiety problems that arise as a result of this are coming to the forefront of both patients and their relatives. The findings indicate that creative strategies should be developed to give individuals with hearing loss efficient access to hearing health services.

Purpose: The ongoing literature suggests that COVID-19 may have a potential impact on voice characteristics during the infection period. In the current study, we explored how the disease deteriorates different vocal parameters in patients who recovered from COVID-19., Methods: A total of 80 participants, 40 patients with a prior history of COVID-19 (20 male, 20 female) with a mean age of 39.9 ± 8.8 (range, 21-53) and 40 gender and age-matched healthy individuals (mean age, 37.3 ± 8.8; range, 21-54) were included to this study. The data of acoustic voice analyses, durational measurements, patient-reported outcomes, and auditory-perceptual evaluations were compared between the study group and the control group. Correlation analyses were conducted to examine the association between the clinical characteristics of the recovering patients and measured outcomes., Results: Maximum phonation time (MPT) and the scores of both Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) questionnaires significantly differed between the groups, which was more evident in female participants. The overall severity score of dysphonia was found to be higher in the study group than the control group (p = 0.023), but gender-based comparisons reached significance only in males (p = 0.032). VHI-10 and V-RQOL revealed significant correlations with the symptom scores of the disease., Conclusions: Patients with a prior history of COVID-19 had significantly lower MPT, increased VHI-10 scores, decreased voice-related quality of life based on the V-RQOL questionnaire, and higher overall severity scores in the auditory-perceptual evaluation. Self-reported voice complaints disclosed close relationships with the symptom scores of COVID-19 disease., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Introduction: A previous study has evaluated the association between serum tumour necrosis factor-like weak apoptosis inducer (TWEAK) levels and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In line with this investigation, the present study aimed to measure serum TWEAK levels to determine whether their eventual alteration might have etiopathogenetic significance in children with ASD. Methods: A total of 40 treatment-naive children with ASD and 40 healthy children as controls were included in the present study. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children-Present and Lifetime Version, DSM-5 was used by a psychiatrist to screen the healthy controls for psychiatric disorders after a physical examination by a paediatrician. The clinical severity of the ASD symptoms was assessed by the Childhood Autism Rating Scale. Venous blood samples were collected, and serum TWEAK levels were measured. Results: This study included 80 children in total, with 40 (50.0%) in the patient group and 40 (50.0%) in the healthy control group. Thirty four (85.0%) of the participants in the patient group, and 31 (77.5%) in the healthy control group, were male, and the remainder were female. The distribution of the gender ratio was statistically similar between groups ( p  = 0.568). The volunteers were between 36 and 59 months old. The average age in the patient group was 46.0 ± 6.5, while that in the healthy control group was 45.2 ± 6.7. The ages were also statistically similar between groups ( p  = 0.615). The TWEAK values of the patient group were found to be statistically higher than those of the healthy control group ( p  < 0.001). Discussion: This study examined whether serum TWEAK levels were related to ASD in childhood. Our findings indicate that children with ASD have higher TWEAK levels when compared to other children. The findings further indicate that serum TWEAK levels could be related to ASD etiopathogenesis independent of ASD symptom severity., Competing Interests: The authors report that there were no potential conflicts of interest., (© The British Society of Developmental Disabilities 2022.)

Background: A growing number of vestibular function tests are utilized to differentiate and verify the diagnosis of vestibular neuritis. The aim of this study is to retrospectively investigate the consistency of the results of the objective vestibular test batteries in patients with a preliminary diagnosis of vestibular neuritis., Methods: We reviewed a total of 37 adult patients (mean age: 39.03 ± 11.67, 19 females, 18 males) who met the inclusion criteria with a prediagnosis of vestibular neuritis from 379 patients suffering vestibular symptoms. Caloric test (CVT), video head impulse test (vHIT), and ocular and cervical VEMP tests were compared with Cohen's kappa (Κ) analysis according to the likely affected part of the vestibular nerve., Results: The highest statistically significant K value was found between horizontal vHIT and ocular VEMP (K = 0.707; good grade, p < 0.05). All the tests compared with CVT were poorly in agreement (K = 0.288; 0.262; 0.256 for HvHIT, oVEMP, AvHIT, respectively, p < 0.05)., Discussion: VEMP and vHIT tests have prominent diagnostic value and agree with each other for detecting and differentiating the types of vestibular neuritis. Further studies should aim to include cutting-edge technologies such as functional HIT and ocular counter roll test.

A pregnant hamster's exposure to changes in environmental factors, such as light, temperature and nutrition, may influence behavioural and physiological changes in offspring. In this study, dietary methyl donor supplementation was employed to examine the role of maternal diet on appetite, body weight, serum leptin levels and locomotor activity in male Syrian hamster offspring. Dams were fed a standard control (SC) or methyl donor-supplemented (MDSD) diet through pregnancy and lactation. At birth, offspring were cross-fostered to dams fed an SC or MDSD diet (SC-MDSD and MDSD-SC) or remained with their birth mothers (SC-SC and MDSD-MDSD). At weaning, offspring were fed a SC or MDSD diet until 60 days of age. Food intake, serum leptin levels and locomotor activity were measured from 30-60 days of age. Offspring fed a MDSD diet post-weaning (MDSD-MDSD and SC-MDSD) consumed more than double the amount of food daily compared with offspring fed a SC diet post-weaning (SC-SC, MDSD-SC). Interestingly, there were no observed differences in body weight among all four groups. Serum leptin levels at 60 days of age were depressed in offspring fed a MDSD diet post-weaning (MDSD-MDSD and SC-MDSD). There were no observed differences in wheel running activity between the SC-SC and MDSC-SC groups. Wheel running activity was at least twice the amount in offspring fed a MDSD diet post-weaning (SC-MDSD and MDSD-MDSD). Taken together, these results indicate that the timing of methyl donor supplementation appears to be an important factor during the development of offspring., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine whether the medial olivocochlear hearing system functions, the high frequency hearing thresholds and speech discrimination in noise performance can guide us in assessing the risk of hearing loss among violinists. It is aimed to investigate possible hearing damage that is not reflected in pure tone hearing thresholds in violinists., Methods: The participants (n = 50) who have normal hearing and the ages of 18-30 were included in this study in two groups: violinists and controls who are unrelated to music. High frequency audiometer, auditory figure ground test (AFG) for speech discrimination in noise performance, Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) and contralateral suppression on DPOAE for medial olivocochlear system function tests were applied to all participants as well as routine audiological tests., Results: The high frequency hearing thresholds were obtained higher in violinists compared to the controls. In violinists, the AFG test scores and the suppression amount at 1 kHz were lower than the controls. In addition, DPOAE responses at 4-6 kHz were obtained lower in violinists (p < 0.05)., Conclusion: The reason for high frequency hearing loss, decreased DPOAE response amplitudes, and poor medial olivocochlear function in violinists can be explained by the long-term exposure to high-level noise caused by the violin, one of the closest musical instruments. Routine and comprehensive audiological follow-up is crucial for musicians., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: The suicide rate among adolescents around the world has increased rapidly. There are many risk factors for attempting suicide, but not all have been clarified yet. Therefore, it is very important to identify risk factors. This study evaluated adolescents with a history of suicide attempts and their association with chronic diseases. Besides, to check whether they attempted suicide multiple times. Other clinical features related to multiple suicide attempts were investigated., Method: This study used a multicentre, retrospective cross-sectional design; 253 adolescents admitted to emergency departments in 2019 for suicide attempts were evaluated., Results: Adolescents with chronic disease were at greater risk for both single and multiple suicide attempts and patients had a 6.14 times higher risk of multiple attempts ( p  = .013). The likelihood of multiple attempts did not differ according to the presence of somatic or psychiatric disease. Multiple attempters were more likely to poison themselves with their therapeutic drugs ( p  = .002)., Conclusion: When adolescents with a chronic disease present to the emergency services after a single suicide attempt using their therapeutic drugs, families should be informed regarding the potential for further attempts.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the stroke rehabilitation facilities provided by university hospitals (UHs) and training and research hospitals (TRHs) and to evaluate the geographical disparities in stroke rehabilitation., Patients and Methods: Between April 2013 and April 2014 a total of 1,529 stroke patients (817 males, 712 females; mean age: 61.7±14.0 years; range, 12 to 91 years) who were admitted to the physical medicine and rehabilitation clinics in 20 tertiary care centers were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic, regional and clinical characteristics, details of rehabilitation period, functional status, and complications were collected., Results: The median duration of stroke was five (range, 1 to 360) months. The ratio of the patients treated in the TRH in the Marmara region was 77%, but only 25% of the patients were living in the Marmara region. Duration of hospitalization was longer in the TRHs with a median of 28 days compared to those of UHs (median: 22 days) (p<0.0001). More than half of the patients (55%) were rehabilitated in the Marmara region. Time after stroke was the highest in the Southeast region with a median of 12 (range, 1 to 230) months and the lowest in the Aegean region with a median of four (range, 1 to 84) months., Conclusion: This study provides an insight into the situation of stroke rehabilitation settings and characteristics of stroke patients in Turkey. A standard method of patient evaluation and a registry system may provide data about the efficacy of stroke rehabilitation and may help to focus on the problems that hinder a better outcome., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2022, Turkish Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.)

Objective: Vestibulo-ocular reflex gain at 40, 60, and 80 ms following the head movement start is calculated as the instantaneous gain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of instantaneous gain values at 40, 60, and 80 ms with testing and retesting in healthy adults., Methods: The study was conducted with Interacoustics EyeSeeCam vHIT (Interacoustics, Denmark), and 42 healthy adults were evaluated twice at half-hour intervals (test and retest) by the same practitioner. Agreement of mean gain, gain asymmetry, and instantaneous gain was evaluated using a paired samples t-test., Results: Mean age of the participants was 33.62±11.17; 38.1% were male and 61.9% were female. In the degree of the agreement, paired sample correlation (r) between test and retest results of the horizontal semicircular canals was found to be higher than those of the vertical semicircular canals. Moreover, the highest correlation between test and retest for instantaneous gain, calculated for only horizontal semicircular canals, was found at 80 ms on each side (0.791; 0.838, right and left, respectively), while the lowest correlation between these parameters was found between the gain asymmetry values., Conclusion: The video head impulse test used in studies calculates the mean gain in approximately at 60 ms. However, the higher correlation between mean gain values at 80 ms in our findings indicates that gain calculation strategies and techniques for latencies should be discussed. Additionally, the low correlation of vertical semicircular canals for mean gain and gain asymmetry between semicircular canal pairs, which clearly shows that more standard and more reliable methods should be developed., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (©Copyright 2022 by Official Journal of the Turkish Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery.)

Background: Hepatic glycogen storage diseases are a group of diseases manifesting mainly with hypoglycemia and hepatomegaly. The patients require frequent daytime and nocturnal feedings. Hypoglycemia may cause sensorineural hearing loss and nocturnal feeding is a risk factor for the development of gastroesophageal reflux that may cause chronic otitis media and hearing loss consequently. We aimed to determine the prevalence and characteristics of hearing loss in hepatic glycogen storage diseases., Methods: A total of 24 patients with hepatic glycogen storage disease (15 glycogen storage disease type I and 9 non type I) and 24 age/sex matched healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Pure tone audiometer, immitansmetry, acoustic reflex measurement, otoacoustic emission test (OAE) and auditory brainstem response (ABR) tests were applied to all participants., Results: Hearing loss was determined in 17/24 patients (12 glycogen storage disease type I and 5 non type I) with pure tone audiometer. Interpretation of all the findings revealed a total of 8 patients had conductive and 9 had mixed hearing loss. All parameters were significantly different than the control group., Conclusions: This is the first study to comprehensively assess the auditory functions of patients with hepatic glycogen storage disease. Audiological findings determined a significantly increased prevalence of conductive/ mixed type hearing loss in the patient group which is a new finding in the literature. Further studies with extended patient numbers are required to enlighten the underlying pathophysiology.

Objective: The Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale (SSQ) is a self-report scale that evaluates hearing in complex daily life situations in the areas of hearing quality, speech perception, and spatial perception. It is also frequently used in the follow-up of hearing-impaired people, hearing aid and cochlear implant users. It is aimed to translate and adapt SSQ into Turkish, and to investigate its test-retest reliability, and construct validity and reliability, and further to present associations of SSQ scores with the pure tone averages (PTA)., Methods: The Turkish SSQ (Tr-SSQ) scale was administered on 114 adults including those with and without hearing loss. Cronbach's alpha was used to assess its reliability. The reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated by test-retest method. Associations of SSQ scores with PTAs in better and worse hearing ears (BHE and WHE) were evaluated., Results: Tr-SSQ presented high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.984) and test-retest reliability (r=0.994). Tr-SSQ scores were lower in the subjects with hearing loss and correlated with PTAs. Age was found to be correlated with PTAs; regression analysis demonstrated that only WHE-PTA was extracted as explanatory variable for average Tr-SSQ, speech perception and spatial perception scores while both BHE-PTA and WHE-PTA were found to be predictors of hearing quality, but not age for any of Tr-SSQ scores., Conclusion: Tr-SSQ is a convenient tool for assessing the hearing abilities of individuals with hearing impaired., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors., (©Copyright 2021 by Official Journal of the Turkish Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery.)

Aim: To evaluate the adverse effects of noise on hearing. Methods: Thirty-two infants that had been admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and 25 healthy controls were included in this study. Noise levels were recorded continously during the hospitalization period. Results: All healthy controls passed the hearing screening tests before discharge and on the sixth-month follow up. Hospitalized infants had lower "Distortion Product Auto Acoustic Emission Signal Noise Ratio" (DPOAE SNR) amplitudes (dB) at five frequencies (1001, 1501, 3003, 4004, 6006 Hz in both ears). DPOAE fail rates at 1001 Hz and 1501 Hz were higher than in hospitalized infants (81.8% and 50.0% vs 20.0% and 4.0%). Infants who failed the test at 1001 and 1501 Hz were exposed to noise above the recommended maximum level for longer periods of time. Conclusion: Hearing tests performed at sixth-months of life were adversely affected in NICU graduates.

Background/aims: Vestibular rehabilitation has an important role in the reduction of symptoms and in the recovery of patients in peripheral vestibular pathologies. Objective and subjective vestibular assessment tools are needed to assess vestibular rehabilitation effectiveness. The aims of the study were to develop the Turkish version of the internationally used Vestibular Rehabilitation Benefit Questionnaire (VRBQ) measure and to demonstrate the reliability and validity properties of the Turkish version in patients with peripheral vestibular hypofunction (PVH)., Materials and Methods: 110 patients with unilateral PVH were included. For the analysis of test-retest reliability, Turkish version of VRBQ developed by translation-back translation method was applied to patients on the day of admission and the day after admission. To assess validity, patients were also evaluated with the VRBQ, Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), Vertigo Symptom Scale-Short Form (VSS-SF), Vertigo Dizziness Imbalance (VDI) Questionnaire., Results: The VRBQ showed moderate to excellent internal consistency in total score and subscales scores (VRBQ-total Cronbach’s α = 0.91; dizziness α = 0.81; anxiety α = 0.68; motion-provoked dizziness α = 0.89; aypmtoms α = 0.88; health-related quality of life α = 0.87). In the test-retest reliability of VRBQ-total score was excellent (ICC = 0.94). The dizziness, the anxiety, the motion-provoked dizziness, symptoms and the health-related quality of life domains’ ICC were found respectively 0.90, 0.89, 0.84, 0.90, and 0.92. The construct validity of the VRBQ was determined. The VRBQ total was correlated with all parameters (r: 0.308 to –0.699, P < 0.05). The highest positive correlation was found between VRBQ total and DHI-functional (r: 0.680). The highest negative correlation was found between VRBQ total and VDI-total (r: –0.699)., Conclusion: The results suggest that the Turkish version of the VRBQ is reliable and valid for evaluating the vestibular rehabilitation results., Competing Interests: This article has no conflict of interest and funding sources., (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)

Purpose The effects of neurological diseases on the auditory system have been a notable issue for investigators because the auditory pathway is closely associated with neural systems. The purposes of this study are to evaluate the efferent auditory system function and hearing quality in Parkinson's disease (PD) and to compare the findings with age-matched individuals without PD to present a perspective on aging. Method The study included 35 individuals with PD (mean age of 48.50 ± 8.00 years) and 35 normal-hearing peers (mean age of 49 ± 10 years). The following tests were administered for all participants: the first section of the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale; pure-tone audiometry, speech audiometry, tympanometry, and acoustic reflexes; and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) and contralateral suppression of DPOAEs. SPSS Version 25 was used for statistical analyses, and values of p < .05 were considered statistically significant. Results There were no statistically significant differences in the pure-tone audiometry thresholds and DPOAE responses between the individuals with PD and their normal-hearing peers ( p = .732). However, statistically significant differences were found between the groups in suppression levels of DPOAEs and hearing quality ( p < .05). In addition, a statistically significant and positive correlation was found between the amount of suppression at some frequencies and the Speech, Spatial and Qualities of Hearing Scale scores. Conclusions This study indicates that medial olivocochlear efferent system function and the hearing quality of individuals with PD were affected adversely due to the results of PD pathophysiology on the hearing system. For optimal intervention and follow-up, tasks related to hearing quality in daily life can also be added to therapies for PD.

In this work, the structural, electronic, and optical features of quinoline derivatives were carried out by experiment and density functional theory (DFT). Our results show that a change in the substitution position of methyl group (CH 3 ) gives rise to a decrease in the bandgap of quinoline derivatives from 2.75 to 2.50 eV for 2-Chloro-5,7-dimethylquinoline-3-carboxaldehyde (C7DMQCA) and 2-Chloro-5,7-dimethylquinoline-3-carboxaldehyde (C8DMQCA), respectively. From dipole moment, the C7DMQCA has stronger intermolecular interaction which is comparable with the bandgap energies. The absorbance maxima are found between 313 nm (3.96 eV) and 365 nm (3.39 eV) for C7DMQCA and C8DMQCA. The refractive index and optical conductivity of the C7DMQCA are found to be higher than that of the C8DMQCA. Besides, the transmittance, angle of incidence and refraction, and (αhϑ) 2 curves were investigated in detail. Theoretical predictions are also compatible with experimental findings. The study shows the C7DMQCA has desirable properties such as lower optical bandgap, higher refractive index, and optical conductivity than the C8DMQCA.

Background/aim: Autoimmune diseases are a remarkable issue for researchers due to their adverse effects on the auditory system, but for primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) there is little research on the comprehensive audiological findings in literature. The main objective of this study was to investigate the medial olivocochlear efferent functions of subjects with pSS and to examine the audiological findings., Materials and Methods: The study included 36 subjects with pSS and 36 healthy subjects. All the subjects underwent testing including pure tone, speech, and high frequency audiometry; tympanometry and acoustic reflexes; distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE); and suppression of DPOAE., Results: The hearing thresholds of the pSS group were higher than those of the control at all frequencies (P < 0.001). Minimal to mild sensorineural hearing loss was observed in 52.77% of all the subjects with pSS. Additionally, all of the subjects had type A curve tympanograms, but the static compliances of the pSS group were lower and the acoustic reflex thresholds were higher than in the control (P < 0.001). In suppression levels of DPOAE, no statistically significant difference was found between the groups (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: The study indicates that because of obtaining normal suppression levels in DPOAE, the medial olivocochlear efferent system is functional in pSS. However, there is a need for more tests, including auditory brainstem response, to evaluate the afferent auditory system in pSS., Competing Interests: none declared, (This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)

This study describes the synthesis and characterization of a non-peripherally tetra-substituted copper(ii) phthalocyanine bearing 4-(trifluoromethoxy)phenol groups. Some spectroscopic techniques such as FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, MALDI-TOF, SEM and UV-vis were used to characterize the compounds. The novel molecule of 3-(4-(trifluoromethoxy) phenoxy) phthalonitrile (1) was confirmed and its molecular structure and supra-molecular dynamics were revealed by the analysis of single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. Ligand (1) and its copper(ii) phthalocyanine (2) were theoretically examined via HF and B3LYP, M06-2X methods by using the 3-21G, 6-31G and sdd basis sets. The calculated values of IR, NMR and UV-Vis spectra for ligand (1) and its copper(ii) phthalocyanine (2) were compared with the experimentally obtained values. The absorbance and reflectance spectra, optical band gaps, refractive indices, and the optical and electrical conductivities of compound (2) for different concentrations were investigated in detail. We fabricated a photosensitive diode and investigated its photo-electrical properties under dark and light conditions.

Long term average speech spectra (LTASS) is a commonly used voice analysis method for different purposes. This method offers an acoustic representation of the language in daily conservations. Results of that method can be altered by the deteriorations in the auditory feedback loop. Hearing losses occurred in the post lingual stage of life have some serious negative effects on the auditory feedback loop. Cochlear implantation may help these patients with regards to auditory feedback loop. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the LTASS of cochlear implant users whose have a post lingual hearing loss. We assessed the LTASS of 24 cochlear implant users and compared our findings with normal hearing subjects. Our findings revealed that cochlear implant users have similar LTASS findings with normal hearing subjects. We conclude that cochlear implantation helps to the recovery of auditory feedback loop in patients with post lingual hearing losses., (Copyright © 2019 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Review of the literature clearly reveals that little is known about the association between functional and mental status, and Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction (LUTD) in patients with stroke., Objective: The aim of this study was to assess functional and mental status in stroke patients and to identify possible associations with the prevalence, severity and bother of LUTD., Material and Methods: This study was designed as a cross-sectional study and included 260 stroke patients enrolled from six different hospitals in Turkey. The patients were questioned using the Danish Prostatic Symptom Score (DAN-PSS) Questionnaire to evaluate LUTD, and evaluated using the Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Incontinence Quality of Life Questionnaire (I-QoL), and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE)., Results: At least one LUTD finding was reported in 243 (93.5%) patients; the most commonly encountered complaint in these patients was nocturia (75.8%). The mean MBI, MMSE, and I-QoL scores were found to be significantly lower in LUTD (+) patients compared to LUTD (-) patients (p = 0.000, p = 0.005, and p < 0.01, respectively). Similarly all parameters (MBI, MMSE, and I-QoL scores) assessed were found to be significantly lower for patients with urinary incontinence than those without incontinence (p = 0.000, p = 0.000, and p < 0.01, respectively)., Conclusion: LUTD is a common problem in patients with stroke. LUTD is associated with poorer cognitive and functional status and the quality of life in these patients. We, therefore, suggest that bladder dysfunction should not be overlooked during rehabilitation of stroke patients.