Two hundred and five patients with hypertensive intracerehral hemorrhage (HICH) received mini-puncture hematoma scavenging technique (MPST; n=80), traditional craniotomy operation (TCO; n=78), or medicine expectant treatment (MET; n=47), respectively. Clinical data demostrated that consciousness level and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was more obviously improved in the MPST group,while postoperative complication rate was relatively lower. The MPST group and TCO group saw no significant difference in over-all matality, although both were significantly lower than the MET group. Severe disability rate in the MPST group was significantly decreased. In comparison with the TCO or MET group, 1 to 3 class activity of daily life score, language function recovery and response rate in the MPST group significantly improved (all P<0.05). We suggest that because of lower severe disability rate, less postoperative complications, and improved quality of life, MPST should be a better treatment of choice for HICH patients.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) caused by enterovirus-A71 (EV-A71) has posed heavy disease and economic burdens to young children under 5 years of age and families. Elucidating the pathogenesis of EV-A71 will provide better evidence for prevention and control for EV-A71 infection. miRNAs are a class of non-coding RNA that regulate many biological processes of host cells through manipulating mRNA translation to control the protein levels by direct binding to mRNA, meanwhile, participating the virus-host cell interaction. Here, we mainly review the current knowledge on the biogenesis of miRNA, alterations of miRNA profiles induced by EV-A71, regulation of EV-A71 replication, anti-EV-A71 innate immunity and apoptosis by miRNA direct binding EV-A71 genome or host genes. All these will facilitate understanding the role of miRNA in EV-A71-host cell interaction and pathogenesis of disease caused by EV-A71.

Objective To investigate the mechanism of hearing loss caused by tympanic membrane(TM)per-foration.Methods We constructed a full ear finite element model,and the personalized finite element model of TM perforation was constructed to simulate hearing loss caused by TM perforation.The difference between the displace-ment response of the basement membrane and the baseline was applied to simulate hearing loss,and the contribution of various components of the middle ear to hearing loss was analyzed to study the mechanism of hearing loss caused by TM perforation.Results If the coupling of the round window membrane and the middle ear air was removed,the hearing loss at the low frequency was about 40 dB,while the high-frequency was the same as the baseline.Re-moval of the coupling between the inner side of the eardrum and the middle ear cavity resulted in a reduction in par-tial low-frequency hearing and an increase in high-frequency hearing loss.The continuous disconnection between the air in the external auditory canal and the air in the middle ear cavity increased the low-frequency hearing loss.How-ever,after the removal of the coupling between the round window membrane and the middle ear air and the connec-tion between the middle ear air and the lateral side of the TM,the original hearing loss of 40 dB at low-frequency dropped to 10 dB.While the removal of the coupling between the middle ear cavity air and the ossicular chain had no significant impact on hearing loss.Conclusion TM perforation may cause hearing loss by both the reduction of sound transmission and the reduction of sound pressure difference between the two sides of TM.The round window membrane can counteract the influence of the hearing loss caused by TM perforation.

Objective To study the accuracy of traditional basilar membrane displacement evaluation criteria for evaluating hearing compensation performance of round window-stimulated middle ear implant, so as to provide the theoretical basis for performance evaluation of round window-stimulated middle ear implant. Methods An acoustic microscopic finite element model of cochlea was constructed based on experimental data of the cochlea geometry. Reliability of this model was verified by comparison with experimental measurement values of inner hair cell, outer hair cell, tectorial membrane displacement. Based on this model, the displacement of basilar membrane and the stereocilia shear displacement of inner hair cells under forward stimulation and round-window stimulation were comparatively analyzed. Using the stereocilia shear displacement of inner hair cells as the criterion for sense of sound, the equivalent sound pressure level (SPL) deviation under round-window stimulation was studied when using traditional basilar membrane displacement as evaluation criterion. Results At 5 kHz characteristic frequency of the studied slice of cochlea, under sound pressures with the same amplitude, the displacement of basilar membrane and the stereocilia shear displacement of inner hair cells under round-window stimulation were lower than that under forward stimulation. Conclusions Under forward stimulation, the inner hair cells were more excited and the performance for sense of sound was better than that under round-window stimulation. Concurrently, using the displacement of basilar membrane under forward stimulation as the criterion of hearing compensation performance would overestimate hearing compensation performance of middle ear implant under round-window stimulation; but the deviation was relatively small, which was a relatively reliable evaluation method.

Objective To study the influence of middle ear malformation on the performance of round window stimulation, so as to provide references for optimization of the round window stimulation middle ear implant. Methods The finite element model of human ear including an asymmetrical two-cavity non-helical cochlea was constructed and compared with experimental data to verify reliability of the model. Based on this model, the effects of three kinds of middle ear malformation, i.e., ossicular chain fixation, ossicular chain fusion and ossicular defect on round window stimulation were simulated by changing material properties of the corresponding tissues. Results The middle ear malformation mainly affected the low-frequency performance of round window stimulation. The ossicular chain fixation and the ossicular chain fusion had a deteriorating effect on round window stimulation. The stapes fixation had the greatest effect on the performance of round window stimulation, with the reduction as high as 47.93 dB. Ossicles defects could improve the performance of round window stimulation, with the maximum increment of 6.24 dB. Conclusions The middle ear malformation had an effect on the low frequency performance of round window stimulation. It is necessary to specifically increase output of the actuator when implanting the round window stimulation middle ear implant.

Otitis media is one of the common ear diseases, and its accurate diagnosis can prevent the deterioration of conductive hearing loss and avoid the overuse of antibiotics. At present, the diagnosis of otitis media mainly relies on the doctor's visual inspection based on the images fed back by the otoscope equipment. Due to the quality of otoscope equipment pictures and the doctor's diagnosis experience, this subjective examination has a relatively high rate of misdiagnosis. In response to this problem, this paper proposes the use of faster region convolutional neural networks to analyze clinically collected digital otoscope pictures. First, through image data enhancement and preprocessing, the number of samples in the clinical otoscope dataset was expanded. Then, according to the characteristics of the otoscope picture, the convolutional neural network was selected for feature extraction, and the feature pyramid network was added for multi-scale feature extraction to enhance the detection ability. Finally, a faster region convolutional neural network with anchor size optimization and hyperparameter adjustment was used for identification, and the effectiveness of the method was tested through a randomly selected test set. The results showed that the overall recognition accuracy of otoscope pictures in the test samples reached 91.43%. The above studies show that the proposed method effectively improves the accuracy of otoscope picture classification, and is expected to assist clinical diagnosis.
Computers ; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted ; Humans ; Neural Networks, Computer ; Otitis Media/diagnosis*

To investigate the influence of the preload and supporting stiffness on the hearing compensation performance of round window stimulation, a coupling finite model composed of a human ear, an actuator and a support was established. This model was constructed based on a complete set of micro-computed tomography (Micro-CT) images of a healthy adult's right ear by reverse engineering technology. The validity of the model was verified by comparing the model's calculated results with experimental data. Based on this model, we applied different amplitude preloads on the actuator, and changed the support's stiffness. Then, the influences of the actuator's preload and the support's stiffness were analyzed by comparing the corresponding displacements of the basilar membrane. The results show that after applying a preload on the actuator, its hearing compensation performance was increased at the middle and high frequencies, but was deteriorated at low frequencies; besides, compared with using the fascia as the actuator's support in clinical practice, utilizing the titanium alloy to fabricate the support would enhance the hearing compensation performance of the round window stimulation in the whole frequency range.

In order to study the effect of middle ear malformations on energy absorbance, we constructed a mechanical model that can simulate the energy absorbance of the human ear based on our previous human ear finite element model. The validation of this model was confirmed by two sets of experimental data. Based on this model, three common types of middle ear malformations,
Ear Ossicles ; Humans ; Incus ; Malleus

In order to study the influence of tympanic membrane lesion and ossicular erosion caused by otitis media on the hearing compensation performance of round-window stimulation, a human ear finite element model including cochlear asymmetric structure was established by computed tomography (CT) technique and reverse engineering technique. The reliability of the model was verified by comparing with the published experimental data. Based on this model, the tympanic membrane lesion and ossicular erosion caused by otitis media were simulated by changing the corresponding tissue structure. Besides, these simulated diseases' effects on the round-window stimulation were studied by comparing the corresponding basilar-membrane's displacement at the frequency-dependent characteristic position. The results show that the thickening and the hardening of the tympanic membrane mainly deteriorated the hearing compensation performance of round-window stimulation in the low frequency; tympanic membrane perforation and the minor erosion of ossicle with ossicular chain connected slightly effected the hearing compensation performance of round-window stimulation. Whereas, different from the influence of the aforementioned lesions, the ossicular erosion involving the ossicular chain detachment increased its influence on performance of round-window stimulation at the low frequency. Therefore, the effect of otitis media on the hearing compensation performance of round-window stimulation should be considered comprehensively when designing its actuator, especially the low-frequency deterioration caused by the thickening and the hardening of the tympanic membrane; the actuator's low-frequency output should be enhanced accordingly to ensure its postoperative hearing compensation performance.
Acoustic Stimulation ; Ear Ossicles ; pathology ; Finite Element Analysis ; Hearing ; Humans ; Otitis Media ; physiopathology ; Reproducibility of Results ; Round Window, Ear ; physiology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tympanic Membrane Perforation