OBJECTIVETo study the principle of interaction among individuals and populations in different Glycyrrhiza uralensis growth density.

METHODThe phenological characteristics, growth status, accumulation and distribution of biomass and glycyrrhizinic acid content of G. uralensis in different growth density were studied.

RESULTDensity had effect on phenological characteristics and growth status of G. uralensis seedling. The fast growing period of plant was advanced with the increase of the density, while the duration of fast growing period was decreased. Individual biomass decreased with the increase of the density, while population biomass increased. Biomass proportion of root, stem and leaf in individual were 65.02%, 19.55% and 15.43% respectively. Their relative standard deviations were 0.57, 0.49 and 0.76 respectively. Glycyrrhizinic acid content was 0.52% -0.59% under low density and 0.29% under high density.

CONCLUSIONThe result showed that the density G. uralensis had a negative correlation with the shooting time of offshoot and underground stem, leaflet number, growth of plant height and diameter at ground, root head diameter, lateral root number, individual root and branch-leaf number, individual biomass and glycyrrhizinic acid content and a positive correlation with the population biomass.

Agriculture ; methods ; Biomass ; Ecosystem ; Glycyrrhiza uralensis ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Glycyrrhizic Acid ; analysis ; metabolism ; Plant Leaves ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Plant Roots ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Plant Stems ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Plants, Medicinal ; growth & development ; metabolism ; Seedlings ; growth & development ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo explore the safety and efficacy of cochlear implantation among elderly patients with severe to profound hearing loss.

METHODSEight pre-elderly and elderly patients with an medium age of 58 years who suffered from bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss received cochlear implantation between November 2008 and November 2009. The patients' tolerance to implant surgery and the occurrence of complications were observed. Three months after switch-on, aided threshold and speech performance were measured.

RESULTSThe surgery was uneventful in all cases with normal intraoperative neural response telemetry elicited. Three months after switch-on, average aided threshold across speech frequencies was 35 - 50 dB HL measured in sound field with warble tone. The results of speech audiometry showed large variation between individuals. Some patients achieved good performance in monosyllable recognition test, disyllables threshold test and sentences recognition test under both bubble noise and quiet conditions.

CONCLUSIONSPre-elderly and elderly patients can endure a state of general anesthesia for cochlear surgery without complications. Cochlear implant can provide reconstruction of speech recognition capabilities for elderly patients suffering from severe to profound hearing loss. Cochlear implantation can improve the quality of life of elderly patients with hearing loss.

Aged ; Cochlear Implantation ; Cochlear Implants ; Female ; Hearing Loss ; rehabilitation ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome