OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationships of electrophysiological characteristics between speech evoked auditory brainstem response (s-ABR) and auditory mismatch negativity (MMN), so as to provide more clues for the mechanism of speech cognitive behavior. METHOD: Thirty-three ears in 33 normal hearing adults were included in this study. Their s-ABR were recorded with speech syllables /da/ at 80 dB HL intensity. Meanwhile, two MMNs were recorded with 1 kHz frequency deviant extent and 40 dB intensity deviant extent in them. The electrophysiological characteristics of s-ABRs and MMNs, as well as the relationships of MMN latencies between s-ABR parameters including latencies in time domain, fundamental frequency(F0) and first formants(F1) in frequency domain were analyzed statistically. RESULT: MMN latency of frequency deviance showed a negative correlation tendency with s-ABR transient components, and it showed a positive trend with sustained components of s-ABR. While MMN latency of intensity deviance showed a positive correlation with s-ABR latency of peak V, A and D respectively, and it negatively showed a correlation with s-ABR latency of other peak s and amplitude of F0 and FI respectively. Only the s-ABR latency of peak F and MMN latency of frequency deviance, and the F0 amplitude of s-ABR and MMN latency of intensity deviance were moderate correlation statistically. CONCLUSION It was probably the neurons of frequency deviant MMN unmatched the characteristics of frequency with the neurons of s-ABR transient component, but well matched the characteristics of frequency with the neurons of s-ABR sustained component. Similarly, the neurons of intensity deviant MMN probably matched the characteristics of intensity with neurons of different components of s-ABR or not. These results may formed as a valuable clue for further investigation of speech perception and temporal processing abilities.
Acoustic Stimulation ; Adult ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem ; Humans ; Speech ; Speech Perception

Objective:To investigate the speech-evoked brainstem response (speech-ABR) of normal young people under different recording periods,which can provide the experimental evidences for researches on the stability of speech-ABR and promote its applications in clinical researches.Methods:40 healthy young people were randomly divided into two groups,which were tested following the same protocol at different time of two months interval.Latencies and amplitudes of the feature peaks in these groups were compared and the rates of appearance (detection rate) of the feature peaks were analyzed statistically.Results:Speech-ABRs were recorded successfully in two groups.The latencies and amplitudes of feature peaks in these groups were not different statistically,and the detection rates of V,A,C and F peaks were higher than others.Conclusion:The speech-ABRs of the two groups are stable,and the V,A,C and F peaks can be used as important indicators of clinical observation,showing that Speech-ABR is a promising tool in the study of Speech perception mechanism.

OBJECTIVE To explore the latency characteristics of speech evoked auditory brainstem response(speech-ABR)from healthy Chinese adults by different stimulation intensities and its significance in neural encoding of speech in the brainstem. METHODS ABRs to speech syllables of 32 subjects were recorded in four stimulus intensities varied from 20 to 80 dB SPL by 20 dB steps, under 11.1/s stimulus rate. A set of featured waves were determined under these intensities, and then the characteristics of their latencies were analyzed. RESULTS A series of featured waves were observed starting from onset response(including V and A waves), transitional C wave, then following frequency-following responses(FFRs), and the offset O wave. As the reduction of stimulus intensity, the latencies of speech-ABR delayed significantly(P

ObjectiveTo compare the clinical efficacies of acupuncture plus TDP lamp versus acupuncture plus moxibustion in treating rheumatoid arthritis.MethodOne hundred and fifty patients were randomly allocated to treatmentand control groups, 75 cases each. The treatment group received acupuncture plus moxibustion and the control group, acupuncture plus TDP radiation.Both groups were treated for two courses. The VAS scores and the clinical sign grades and scores were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.ResultThe VAS score and the clinical sign score improved in both groups after treatment compared with before (P<0.05). The total efficacy rate was 93.3% in the treatment group and 78.7% in the control group; there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). The effect was better in the treatment group than in the control group.ConclusionAcupuncture plus moxibustion is more effective than acupuncture plus TDP lamp in treating rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective:To compare the time domain and the frequency domain of speech-evoked auditory brainstem response measured by stimulation of left and right ears, and to explore the difference and possible reasons of neural coding for speech from different ears in auditory brainstem.Method:Speech-ABRs to syllable /da/ of 31 healthy adults were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed on time-domain parameters, such as latencies and amplitudes of featured peaks, and frequency-domain ones, such as amplitudes of the fundamental frequency and the first formant of speech-ABRs ranging from 20-50 ms. A scoring criterion to grade the appearance of featured waves was proposed for waveform evaluation.Result:There were no significant difference for the latencies of binaural featured peaks and amplitudes of feature peaks(except peaks A and O). The waveform scores of right ear were greater than that of left ear. The amplitudes of fundamental frequency of binaural waves were both greater than that of the first formant. There was no significant difference of amplitudes of fundamental frequency and the first formant between two ears.Conclusion:The origins and distributions of speech-ABR are essentially symmetrical in brainstem in contrast with the hemisphere asymmetry of speech.

Objective To assess the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography(CEUS)in evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of uterine leiomyoma treated by radiofrequency ablation(RFA)and to discuss the value of its application.Methods Forty-four patients which were diagnosed as uterine leiomyomas by ultrasonic guidance needle puncture biopsy preoperation were examined by CEUS before and one week after RFA treatment respectively,and the patho-results were got again after the surgery.Routine ultrasonography was performed in 1,3,6,12 months after the treatment to compare the volume change of uterine leiomyomas with the change of the clinical symptoms.Results After the treatment,CEUS showed that the contrast agent didn't appear in thirty-five patients'uterine leiomyomas and the nonperfusion regions matched the size of the uterine leiomyomas completely.The contrast agent enhanced on the edge of the uterine leiomyomas in nine,the patho-results confirmed that the nonperfusion regions of the contrast agent were necrosis tissues and the marginal local enhancement regions were incomplete necrosis.Three month after RFA treatment,the uterine leiomyomas began to shrink,which showed obviously in 6 months after the treatment.There were significant differences in the parameters before and after the treatment(P＜0.05).Clinical symptoms improved obviously in thirty-five patients(90%)after the treatment.Conclusions RFA is an effective minimally invasive surgery of the uterine leiomyoma.CEUS can identify the treatment range and the remaining tissues.It has significant value in guiding the supplementary treatment.

[ABSTRACT]OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationships between electrophysiological characteristic of speech evoked auditory brainstem response and Mandarin phonetically balanced maximum, so as to provide more clues for the mechanism of speech cognitive behavior. METHODSThe speech discrimination scores were obtained by Mandarin phonemic-balanced monosyllable lists via speech audiometric software in forty-one ears of normal hearing adults. Their s-ABRs were recorded with speech syllables da with the intensity of phonetically balanced maximum (PBmax). The electrophysiological characteristic of s-ABR, as well as the relationships between PBmax and s-ABR parameters including latency in time domain, fundamental frequency (F0) and first formant (F1) in frequency domain were analyzed statistically.RESULTS While divided the subjects into three groups by PBmax1= 100%, 100%

In some auditory evoked potential (AEP) examinations, high rate stimulation paradigms deliver more stimuli with the same period of time, which might lead to overlapping responses. At present, several established techniques can be proposed to address such problem, thus the research scope in both scientific and clinical applications is expanded. In this study, the restoring efficiency of evoked responses is investigated using a simulation strategy. We examined the AEPs derived from three paradigms--conventional ensemble averaging, continuous loop averaging deconvolution (CLAD) and maximum length sequence (MLS). Their performances were evaluated by correlation coefficients and Euclidean distances between ideal and the derived responses. We found that MLS can only slightly enhance the performance at the cost of larger stimulus jitter and much more stimulus numbers; while CLAD method with lower jittering even degenerates the quality, suggesting that, in practical use, the recording efficiency will not be significantly improved by simply using high rate stimulation with overlapping responses introduced.
Acoustic Stimulation ; Algorithms ; Artifacts ; Electroencephalography ; methods ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory ; physiology ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem ; Humans ; Models, Theoretical ; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

Speech evoked brainstem responses (s-ABRs) elicited by a speech syllable /da/ are composed of four parts: onset response (OR), transitional response, frequency following response (FFR) and offset response. FFR elicited by periodic events behaves like a quasi-periodic waveform corresponding to the stimulus sounds. The fast Fourier transform based spectra are commonly used to exam the characteristics of s-ABR in practice, which is, however, unable to trace the occurrence of the main components of s-ABR. The FFR is usually not obvious in the original individual s-ABR waveform. In this paper, we proposed a novel approach to observe the FFR by an instantaneous energy spectrum performed on the intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) after empirical mode decomposition (EMD) of the s-ABR. We demonstrated that the FFR is most pronounced on the second layer of IMFs. This finding suggests a new way which may be available to characterize and to detect the FFR better. This will benefit the clinic applications of s-ABRs.
Adult ; Brain Stem ; physiology ; Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Brain Stem ; physiology ; Female ; Fourier Analysis ; Humans ; Male ; Speech ; Speech Perception ; physiology ; Young Adult

Objective To analyze ultrasonographic imaging feature of primary fallopian tube carcinoma (PFTC) and the reasons for misdiagnosis.Methods Clinical data and ultrasonographic imaging feature of 41 patients with pathologically confirmed PFTC were retrospectively analyzed from August 2008 to November 2016 in General Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army.Results Ultrasonographic characteristics of 41 PFTC cases:(1) Type Ⅰ (6 cases),the cystic adnexal mass with single or multiple papillary projections and circuity tubular structures,color Doppler flow imaging showed abundant blood flow signal inside the nipples.(2) Type Ⅱ (2 cases),the sausage shaped complex adnexal mass showed clear boundary,the cystic area that lined along the fallopian tube was around or at the side of the solid part,color Doppler flow imaging showed rich or abundant blood flow signal inside the solid part.(3) Type Ⅲ (13 cases),the sausage shaped hypoechoic adnexal mass showed clear boundary,color Doppler flow imaging showed rich or abundant blood flow signal inside the mass.(4) Type Ⅳ (14 cases),the single or multiple adnexal masses showed irregular surface,with predominant solid components,color Doppler showed rich or abundant blood flow signal inside the tumor;the normal ovarian structure was not detected in unilateral or bilateral adnexa area;and one or more signs of metastasis were found,such as the peritoneal thickening of vesicouterine pouch,uterine rectum pouch and omental,metastasis to other distant organs,and so on.(5) Type Ⅳ (6 cases),only hydrosalpinx or no abnormal ultrasonographic changes in the adnexal area.Nineteen (46.3％,19/41) cases were correctly diagnosed by preoperative ultrasonography,while 22 (53.7％,22/41)cases were missed or misdiagnosed.Conclusions Ultrasonography imaging of PFTC has certain characteristics,but it tends to be missed or misdiagnosis when the lesion is small.Ultrasound can show the location,size,internal echo,blood flow and distant metastasis of lesion,which can be taken as the first choice of imaging methods for preoperative diagnosis and postoperative follow-up of PFTC.