1,720,960 research outputs found
Drug induced sleep endoscopy and simultaneous polysomnography to predict the effectiveness of mandibular advancement device in obstructive sleep apnea treatment
No full textPurposes To evaluate whether mandibular advancement device therapy is recommended in patients affected by obstructive sleep apnea. Methods In order to predict oral appliances therapy response, drug induced sleep endoscopy with cardio-respiratory polygraphy and mandibular advancement device simulator was carried out. Patients in which upper airway obstruction was resolved on all levels and AHI was normalized (< 5/h), were referred for oral appliance therapy. At 5 months follow up, a cardio-respiratory polygraphy with MAD was performed. Results 36 patients who have evidence of resolution of UA collapse and AHI below 5 events per hour, were referred for MAD therapy. At follow up, the mean AHI decreased from 29.1 +/- 13.1 to 3.3/h +/- 1.9 (p < 0.001). All the patients were responders. Conclusion Combining the evaluation of drug induced sleep endoscopy and cardio-respiratory polygraphy data simultaneously during mandibular protrusion, has the potential to be a useful tool for prediction of MAD therapy response
Metabolic alterations and hearing acuity: lack of a significant clinical correlation
No full textObjective: To contribute to assessing the extent of the clinical significance of metabolic alterations in terms of hearing deterioration. Study design: The design enabled comparison of the serum level of cholesterol, apolipoproteins, glucose and uric acid in a homogeneous, controlled population of subjects with normal hearing and with symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss, respectively. All subjects were enrolled within the Brisighella Heart Study (BHS), a prospective, population based longitudinal epidemiological investigation involving almost 3000 randomly selected Caucasian subjects living in Brisighella, a small town in northern Italy. Results: No statistical difference was identified in the metabolic assessment of the two groups (normal hearing vs. impaired hearing). In particular, alteration of the serum lipids, glucose and uric acid parameters is not significantly associated with hearing loss (p > 0.01). Conclusions: The findings, apparently in disagreement with common opinion, seem to imply that the role of metabolic disorders is not pre-eminent in the genesis of non-acute hearing loss. It is possible to hypothesize that all mechanisms regulating the microcirculation of the inner ear can constitute a ‘buffer’ against the related cellular damage. It is likely that if a convenient and sufficiently stable degree of oxygenation is maintained, this might be enough to preserve hearing function even under unfavourable metabolic conditions
Cardiovascular risk factors and hearing impairment: a non-automatic correlation
No full textBackground: In the literature the association between common cardiovascular risk factors and/or major events and inner ear diseases has been widely considered. Despite the controversial related results, a recent review underlines that while a direct and causal correlation between cardiovascular risk factors and hearing impairment is lacking, the former are thought to have an influence on hearing acuity: this should imply some correlation between arterial conditions and inner ear function. Aims: Aiming at verifying the reliability of the correlation between arterial conditions and inner ear function, the hearing function of a population with metabolic syndrome and a population without metabolic syndrome were matched. Methods: All the examined subjects were enrolled within the Brisighella Heart Study, in order to obtain a detailed knowledge of the cardiovascular and metabolic parameters. 142 subjects were enrolled, including 89 healthy subjects and 53 affected by metabolic syndrome, having ruled out those cases associated with external and/or middle ear pathologies, or unilateral sensorineural hearing loss or with a history of previous ototoxic drugs and ear surgery. Among the examined parameters was arterial stiffness, as evaluated by means of the Vicorder® device with a non-invasive procedure, which had not previously been considered in relation to labyrinthine function. Results: The lack of any statistically significant correlation between common cardiovascular risk factors and hearing deterioration, as emerged from the study, has a particular significance. Conclusions: The inference from this result is that the relationship between the systemic circulation and inner ear conditions must be more complex than frequently considered
The possible role of Vicorder® apparatus in the diagnostic protocol of inner ear diseases
No full textObjective: Cardiovascular risk factors are widely reputed to be a possible cause for hearing impairment, and the role of arterial stiffness as a cardiovascular risk predictor has been recently emphasized. For these reasons pulse wave velocity (PWV) could represent a useful parameter in order to rapidly assess or rule out the existence of an underlying overall deteriorating circulatory condition in cases of inner ear impairment. Method: In order to assess the real significance of PWV for audiological purposes, a study was carried out comparing this parameter in subjects with normal hearing and those with symmetrical sensorineural hearing loss. Results: The results suggested an apparent lack of correlation between arterial stiffness and hearing deterioration. Conclusion: The findings appear to indicate that the relationship between systemic circulation and inner ear function, when excluding acute and/or well identifiable impairment factors, is not as linear as expected
Maximum voluntary retrusion or habitual bite position for mandibular advancement assessment in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea patients
No full textBackground There is no consensus on whether the range of mandibular advancement for the construction of mandibular advancement devices in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients should be measured from a starting position of maximum voluntary retrusion or habitual bite position. Objective The purposes of this study were to investigate the differences in mandibular advancement registrations starting from maximum voluntary retrusion or from habitual bite position and to evaluate the reliability of these assessments. Methods A retrospective cohort analysis of 126 patients with OSA was performed. All patients had their mandibular range of motion evaluated twice (starting from maximum voluntary retrusion and from habitual bite position) through the George Gauge before undergoing drug-induced sleep endoscopy. The Dahlberg formula and paired t test were used to calculate random and systematic errors of dental positions assessment. Test-retest reliability was quantified using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Results The mean mandibular range starting from maximum voluntary retrusion and from habitual bite position were 12.49 +/- 2.19 mm and 7.68 +/- 2.29 mm, respectively, with a mean distance between the two starting positions of 4.81 +/- 1.75 mm. No systematic error was found (P > .05), and random errors ranged from 0.30 to 0.95 mm. ICC values were excellent for maximum voluntary protrusion (ICC = 0.986) and maximum voluntary retrusion (ICC = 0.956), whereas habitual bite position showed a good value (ICC = 0.818). Conclusion The difference between maximum voluntary retrusion and habitual bite position is potentially relevant. Maximum retrusion is advisable as starting point of the mandibular advancement registration since it provides a more reliable measure
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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