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Background/Objectives: Given the importance of emotion recognition for communication purposes, and the impairment for such skill in CI users despite impressive language performances, the aim of the present study was to investigate the neural correlates of emotion recognition skills, apart from language, in adult unilateral CI (UCI) users during a music in noise (happy/sad) recognition task. Furthermore, asymmetry was investigated through electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythm, given the traditional concept of hemispheric lateralization for emotional processing, and the intrinsic asymmetry due to the clinical UCI condition. Methods: Twenty adult UCI users and eight normal hearing (NH) controls were recruited. EEG gamma and alpha band power was assessed as there is evidence of a relationship between gamma and emotional response and between alpha asymmetry and tendency to approach or withdraw from stimuli. The TAS-20 questionnaire (alexithymia) was completed by the participants. Results: The results showed no effect of background noise, while supporting that gamma activity related to emotion processing shows alterations in the UCI group compared to the NH group, and that these alterations are also modulated by the etiology of deafness. In particular, relative higher gamma activity in the CI side corresponds to positive processes, correlated with higher emotion recognition abilities, whereas gamma activity in the non-CI side may be related to positive processes inversely correlated with alexithymia and also inversely correlated with age; a correlation between TAS-20 scores and age was found only in the NH group. Conclusions: EEG gamma activity appears to be fundamental to the processing of the emotional aspect of music and also to the psychocognitive emotion-related component in adults with CI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cochlear implants (CI) allow deaf patients to improve language perception and improving their emotional valence assessment. Electroencephalographic (EEG) measures were employed so far to improve CI programming reliability and to evaluate listening effort in auditory tasks, which are particularly useful in conditions when subjective evaluations are scarcely appliable or reliable. Unfortunately, the presence of CI on the scalp introduces an electrical artifact coupled to EEG signals that masks physiological features recorded by electrodes close to the site of implant. Currently, methods for CI artifact removal have been developed for very specific EEG montages or protocols, while others require many scalp electrodes. In this study, we propose a method based on the Multi-channel Wiener filter (MWF) to overcome those shortcomings. Nine children with unilateral CI and nine age-matched normal hearing children (control) participated in the study. EEG data were acquired on a relatively low number of electrodes (n = 16) during resting condition and during an auditory task. The obtained results obtained allowed to characterize CI artifact on the affected electrode and to significantly reduce, if not remove it through MWF filtering. Moreover, the results indicate, by comparing the two sample populations, that the EEG data loss is minimal in CI users after filtering, and that data maintain EEG physiological characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malignant otitis externa (MOE) also known as skull base osteomyelitis or necrotizing otitis externa, is a rare inflammatory and infectious condition mainly caused by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, mainly affects elderly, diabetic and immunocompromised patients. Due to the rapidity of development, it is associated with a high rate of motility/morbidity. In this case report, we describe a rare neurological presentation in a 58-year-old male patient, diabetic, who presented with onset of right otitis externa associated with otalgia, otorrhea, and ipsilateral headache. The auricular swab was positive for Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, the necrotizing inflammation evolved rapidly with progressive clinical involvement of right cranial nerves VII, V, X (Right recurrent laryngeal nerve), III, IV, VI. The role of imaging was to confirm the initial oto-mastoid involvement and to specify the extent of the lesion. CT-scan assessed bone involvement and the MRI delineated the extent of the inflammatory pathology. During the first months of his recovery, the patient contracted SARSCOV-2 infection, which induced a clinical and radiological worsening of the initial pattern in relation to the hypoxemic states achieved in the course of interstitial pneumonia. Finally the patient was treated with Meropenem 1 g ev per day. At the end of treatment, the patient presents almost complete resolution of pathology on both clinical and radiological bases. The aim of this manuscript is to report the management and treatment of a rare case of MOE co-infected with SARS-COV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this clinical report is to present our surgery approach combined to the preoperative embolization and the follow-up management of a patient with a Juvenile Nasopharyngeal Angiofibroma (JNA). JNA is a relatively uncommon vascular benign neoplasm that affects almost exclusively adolescent males and represents 0.05% of all head and neck tumors with an incidence of 1:150,000. We present a case of a nineteen-year-old patient with severe and recurrent episodes of epistaxis in the last months. Nasal endoscopy showed a vascularized neoformation that obliterate the right posterior nasal cavity and rhinopharinx. A skull computed tomography (CT) study with contrast medium showed a three centimeters soft tissue mass within the right posterior nasal cavity with extension to the homolateral pterygopalatine fossa and adjacent sphenoid sinus; a little forward bowing of the posterior wall of the right maxilla (Holman-Miller sign) was reported. An angiographic exam was performed, in the same time, was carried out an embolization of intense vascular supply of the mass. We decided to perform an endoscopic approach supported by neuronavigated computed tomography to remove the mass. The advance in the endoscopic surgery approach in cases of such complexity with the support of a neuronavigation system and the possibility to perform a pre-operatory embolization lead to a change in the management of JNA now may be considered for endoscopic sinus-surgery removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psoriasis is a systemic inflammatory disorder associated with many other chronic and progressive diseases. There are few studies on the association of psoriasis with alterations in auditory function. A clinical and instrumental pilot study of auditory function was performed with 77 psoriatic patients and 77 age- and sexmatched healthy controls. The main results were: (i) hearing loss, mostly of sensorineural type, was significantly more frequent in patients than in controls; (ii) conductive and mixed hearing loss were more frequent in arthropathic than in non-arthropathic psoriatic patients; (iii) duration of psoriasis > 10 years or smoking were associated with higher frequency of hearing loss; (iv) psoriasis was more severe in patients with hearing loss than in those without hearing loss. Tympanogram abnormalities were found in patients more often than in controls. These data expand the list of extracutaneous conditions associated with psoriasis, and support the need for further basic and clinical research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]