Objective To explore the real ear to coupler difference (RECD) changes in children with hearing aids .Methods 132 severe to profound hearing impaired children who came to hearing center for hearing aids exami-nation and adjustment were recruited into the study .They were put into 6 groups according to the test age ,<1 yr group(15 cases) ,1 yrs group(26 cases) ,2 yrs group(36 cases) ,3 yrs group(29 cases) and 4 yrs group(26 cases) . And all of them had the RECD tests for both ears with custom earmolds .Results The average RECDs for both ears decreased with the age increased .There were statistically differences for the same lateral ears when age differences surpass 2 years except for the difference for left ears between the children in the <1 yr group and 2 yrs group .This study showed there were statistically differences between left and right ears for majority of groups (except for 2 yrs group) .Conclusion RECD is an important factor for individual adjustment .The current results show that the chil-dren with hearing aids should have RECD tests for both ears at least once per two years .

Objective To study the correlation between cognitive distress and tinnitus related handicaps.Methods One hundred and ninety-two primary tinnitus subjects ninety-nine males and ninety-three females were included in this study.The average age was 45±15.52 years old.The average durations of tinnitus for male and female were 25.67±37.71 months and 27.12±45.42 months, respectively.The patients were asked to fill the Mandarin tinnitus questionnaire (MTQ) and Mandarin (Chinese) tinnitus handicap inventory (THI-CM).The correlation between cognitive distress (CD) and tinnitus related handicap was studied.Results The average score of MTQ was 36.95±20.06.The average score of CD (Q17,18,23,41, and 42)was 2.61.The average score of question 17,18, 23,41, and 42 of MTQ was 2.81,2.63,2.59,2.40, and 2.41,respectively.The average score of THI-CM was 23.89±20.06.The correlation between CD and THI-CM was 0.64(P<0.01);for male and female were 0.63 and 0.66(P<0.01),respectively.The correlations between CD and THI-CM among young, middle and old age groups were 0.02,0.07 and 0.38(P>0.01),respectively.The correlations between CD and THI-CM among the nondisabled, mild, moderate and severe groups according to the scores of THI-CM were 0.30(P<0.01),0.29(P>0.01),-0.12(P>0.01), and 0.23(P>0.01),respectively.Conclusion No strong correlation was demonstrated between the CD and the THI-CM.The same results were shown for males and female.No correlation was demonstrated between ages and cognitive distress.Correlation coefficient of cognitive distress was increased with age.The tinnitus handicaps of patients might be vulnerable to cognitive distress with ageing.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between passing rate of otoacoustic emission (OAE) and pure tone thresholds. METHOD: OAE including both transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) and distortion products otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) as well as pure tone thresholds were measured in subjects with normal hearing and sensory hearing loss. The passing rates of OAE were calculated in subjects with different age groups and different pure tone thresholds. RESULT: TEOAE can identify hearing loss at frequencies of 2 kHz and below. For TEOAE and 2 kHz DPOAE, passing rate has no difference between different age groups. For 4 kHz DPOAE, the passing rate in age over 50 years group is lower than other groups. The passing rate decreased as the pure tone threshold increased. When TEOAE and DPOAE suggest " pass", 70%, 81%, 79% subjects had pure tone threshold lower than 25 dB HL and 94%, 96%, 93% lower than 40 dB HL respectively. When they suggest "refer", 93%, 84%, 87% subjects had pure tone threshold higher than 25 dB HL and 71%, 58%, 68% higher than 40 dB HL respectively. CONCLUSION TEOAE is sensitive to hearing loss at middle and low frequencies but not at high frequencies. Measuring both TEOAE and DPOAE might provide more information of hearing loss at 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 kHz. It is worth noting that even OAE suggest "pass" or "refer", because there is still exist the possibility of hearing loss.
Audiometry, Pure-Tone ; Auditory Threshold ; Hearing Loss, Sensorineural ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Otoacoustic Emissions, Spontaneous

The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze the distribution of pressure under the feet School Children who were carrying different loads on their backs and were walking through the Footscan plantar pressure distribution analytical system. The result showed that the maximum force on the second and third metatarsus increased and the contact phase of walking delayed while walking with a bag weighing 4 kilograms. The variation of center of sure (COP) in mediolateral (M/L) direction was larger. The children must move limb to maintain balance. The proportion of foot pronation and supination enhanced the cause of an ankle sprain. The findings of this study suggest that, for prevention of abnormal corpus callosum and for the normal development of the arch, attention should be given to restricting the weight of children's schoolbags and to avoiding their overloaded walking or standing for a long time.
Biomechanical Phenomena ; Child ; Female ; Foot ; physiology ; Humans ; Lifting ; adverse effects ; Male ; Pressure ; Walking ; physiology ; Weight-Bearing ; physiology

Objective To investigate residual hearing of children with sensorineural hearing loss in whom wave V was not found in ABR testing and to emphasize the importance of behavioral audiometry in determining the residual hearing.Methods Residual hearing obtained by behavioral audiometry of 101 children with SNHL was studied in relation to the absence of wave V in both click-ABR and tone burst-ABR tests.Results All children have residual hearing of different degrees at different frequencies.There appeared to be a higher percentage of lowfrequency residual hearing than middle and high frequencies.Also,the residual hearing at low frequencies appeared to be better than those in the middle and high frequencies.Average residual hearing thresholds in the right ears from 500 to 4 000 Hz were 106.81±7.13,110.00±7.90,111.78±5.22,112.06±7.08 dB HL and those in the left ears were 98.01±3.98,111.30±7.18,112.06±7.08,108.33±7.23 dB HL.Conclusion The absence of wave V in ABR does not mean total deafness.For those children with no wave V in ABR,behavioral audiometry must be conducted to determine children's behavioral hearing thresholds in order to know their residual hearing.

DLUT4060 piezoelectric multi-component force platforms and DVM8820 three-dimensional infrared image capture system were used to test the sit-to-walk (STW) movements of 11 healthy elderly (72. 6 +/- 12. 2 years old) and 11 healthy young (19. 7 +/-1. 3 years old) individuals. Firstly, we studied the effects of seat-heights on the ground reaction forces, the velocity of the center of mass, and action time duration. Then we discussed the movement strategies and falling risks of the persons in the two age groups respectively. Finally, we decided the best seat height for the two age groups. It was found that the best seat heights for both the two age groups were 100% popliteal height. This height may make the subject get the greatest biomechanical advantages and the lowest falling risks. The popliteal height must be concerned when designing and fixing up the public activity area facilities and daily life of the elderly. To some extent, it can reduce the falling risk of the elderly.
Accidental Falls ; prevention & control ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Ankle Joint ; physiology ; Buttocks ; physiology ; Hip Joint ; physiology ; Humans ; Interior Design and Furnishings ; Knee Joint ; physiology ; Leg ; anatomy & histology ; physiology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Movement ; physiology ; Posture ; Weight-Bearing ; physiology ; Young Adult

Objective We undertook this study to analyze anxiety in tinnitus patients .Methods The partici‐pants were recruited from patients seeking treatment for primary tinnitus and were asked to complete self rating anx‐iety scale(SAS)and Chinese (Mandarin) tinnitus handicap inventory(THI -CM) .Results A total of 224 tinnitus patients were included in the study .The mean score of SAS was 46 ± 2 .55 .The average SAS score among different degrees of anxiety (no ,mild ,moderate ,severe) participants were 65 .63% ,20 .54% ,8 .04% ,5 .80% .The average SAS score for male and female were 46 .35 ± 12 .81 ,46 .28 ± 12 .40 ,respectively .No statistic differences were ob‐served among different genders whenever the degrees of anxiety and different ages (p>0 .01) .The mean SAS scores among young ,middle ,old age groups were 47 .72 ± 12 .80 ,44 .56 ± 12 .83 ,40 .28 ± 7 .24 ,respectively .The pearson correlation between tinnitus duration and the score of SAS was 0 .36(P=0 .594) .The pearson correlation between the scores of THI-CM and SAS was 0 .548(P<0 .01) .Conclusion Most tinnitus participants had mild or didn't have anxiety .Only 13 .84% participants have moderate or severe anxiety .Tinnitus handicap degree increased with the increase of anxiety .No anxiety difference was observed among different sex ,tinnitus duration and age groups . The anxiety of young age group was more severe than that of old groups .

Objective To explore the signal-to-noise ratio loss (SNR loss) of the people with normal pure-tone audiograms .Methods A group of 10 patients were recruited into the study ,who complained they could not hear speech clearly in the real world environment but had normal pure-tone audiograms ,immittance and word rec-ognition score (WRS) results .The Mandarin hearing in noise test (M-HINT ) was administered to them and the results were compared to the normal ranges published in the journal .Results All of them had SNR loss when noise (speech spectrum) came from front of them ,but 9 patients had SNR loss when noise came from 90 degree left or 90 degree right of them .Conclusion The current study showed the patients had speech hearing loss in the noisy envi-ronment ,regardless of whether they had normal audiograms ,immittance and WRS results .So we should pay atten-tion to such patients and adopt some special tests (eg M-HINT) .It is better for us to communicate and counsel with them .

Objective To explore the clinical value of ITMAIS in the early prelingual auditory development (EPLAD)assessment for bilateral profound hearing impaired children with hearing aids.Methods Profound sensorineural hearing impaired children fitted with hearing aids during October 2008 and July 2011 in our center were recruited in this retrospective study, and they would be tested with the ITMAIS at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months after hearing aids fitting.A total of 51 children were recruited in the study, and divided into 2 age groups according to the age at fitting, 1 yr group (28 children) and 2 yrs group (23 children).Results The EPLAD of children in both groups improved significantly in the first half of year after fitting (P<0.05).The mean EPLAD levels of children in both groups were close to or achieved the mean level of severe sensorineural hearing impaired children without intervention when they had had the hearing aids for 6 months.Conclusion Hearing aids could help the children with profound sensorineural hearing loss to improve the abilities of EPLAD.ITMAIS is a simple, an effective tool for assessing the early outcome of children with hearing aids, especially for the children who could not cooperate with the behavioral hearing test.

Objective To study the effects of angiotensin Ⅱ (AngⅡ) on insulin signal transduction pathway in skeletal myoblast of L6 rats,and further to explore the possible mechanism of AngⅡ on glucose utilization.Methods Myoblast cells of L6 rats were cultured and induced to differentiate.They were divided into 4 groups according to different treatment by AngⅡ or JAK2-PKA inhibitor H89:normal control group ( NC group),insulin group,insulin + AngⅡ group and insulin + AngⅡ + H89 group.Expression of IRS1 and GLUT4 mRNA was detected by RT-PCR.Expression of IRS1,Ptyr-IRS1 and GLUT4 (total and membrane protein) were detected by Western blot.Results The difference of GLUT4 mRNA expression in the 4 groups detected by RT-PCR had no statistical significance(P ＞ 0.05).The difference of IRS1 mRNA expression among the latter 3 groups had no statistical significance(P ＞ 0.05),however,IRS1 expression in the latter 3 groups was higher than that in NC group(P ＜ 0.05).Western blot results showed expression of IRS1,Ptyr-IRS1 and GLUT4 (membrane protein)was higher in the latter 3 groups than in NC group(P ＜0.05).The difference of IRS1 expression among the latter 3 groups(P ＞ 0.05 ) and GLUT4 (total protein) expression among the 4 groups had no statistical significance (P ＞ 0.05).The expression of of ptyr-IRS1 and GLUT4 membrane protein in Ins + AngⅡ + H89 group was much higher than that in Ins + AngⅡ group,and lower than that in insulin group(P ＜0.05).Conclusion AngⅡ inhibits IRS1's tyrosine phosphorylation and GLUT4's transfer from cytoplasm to plasma membrane in skeletal muscle cells through JAK2-PKA signaling pathway,and therefore induces insulin resistance.