ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives@#Hearing thresholds across frequencies must be obtained for hearing aid fitting. Narrow-band noise (NBN) and speech sounds are often used as stimuli in pediatric audiologic assessments to elicit children’s attention due to their wider frequency ranges as compared to pure tones. However, obtaining complete responses across frequency ranges is challenging in pediatric practice. Therefore, we developed a frequency-specific phoneme screening tool, the Mandarin Phoneme Detection Score Sheet, to help clinicians evaluate aided performance in pediatric practice. @*Subjects and Methods@#A total of 30 adults with typical hearing and 30 children aged 3-12 years with hearing loss were recruited. Threshold ranges for the aided detection of Mandarin phonemes and NBN were measured using 95% confidence intervals. A stepwise regression analysis was then performed to identify the Mandarin phonemes that can predict NBN detection performance. @*Results@#The Mandarin Phoneme Detection Score Sheet was developed based on the results of the regression analysis. It was shown that the phonemes /ɤ, a, tɕh/ could predict detection performance at different frequencies. @*Conclusions@#The Mandarin Phoneme Detection Score Sheet can allow audiologists and early intervention professionals to determine the benefits of hearing aids for pediatric patients in the early stage of hearing loss conditions.
ABSTRACT
The epidemiological hip fracture leads to a high death rate in the elderly with osteoporosis worldwide. However, the appropriate surgical styles or anti-osteoporotic therapy could prevent these patients with hip fractures from suffering refracture, but the efficacy of such treatment remains elusive for first hip fractured patients. Our retrospective analysis was conducted on 508 hip fracture patients who were enrolled from Show Chwan Memorial Hospital from January 2005 through December 2011 and followed up until the end of 2012. However, bipolar hemiarthroplasty replacement and open reduction internal fixation [ORIF] are treatment options for femoral neck and intertrochanic hip fracture in our study population. Among these patients, 82 suffered 2nd hip fracture [refracture] with femoral neck or intertrochanteric fracture and 39 died after surgical intervention accompanied complications. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a better outcome in patients with bipolar hemiarthroplasty replacement or fosamax therapy of hip fractured patients than those with femoral neck/ ORIF and intertrochanteric/ ORIF or without fosamax therapy. Multivariate cox regression analysis revealed the lowest incidence of refracture and mortality in hip fracture patients with received bipolar hemiarthroplasty replacement surgical intervention [OR=0.732, 1=0.587-0.912; P=0.006]. It is therefore concluded that fosamax therapy may improve bone density and increase bone tissue repair to prevent patients with hip fracture from refracture, and bipolar hemiarthroplasty replacement may promote patients who undertake outdoor activities to produce more vitamin D than those who have received ORIF
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Angiomyolipoma is the most common benign kidney tumor. However, literature describing FDG PET findings on renal angiomyolipoma (AML) is limited. This study reports the FDG PET and PET/CT findings of 21 cases of renal AML. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study reviews FDG PET and PET/CT images of 21 patients diagnosed with renal AML. The diagnosis is based on the classical appearance of an AML on CT scan with active surveillance for 6 months. The study is focused on the observation of clinical and radiographic features. RESULTS: Six men and 15 women were included in our study. The mean age of the patients was 57.14 +/- 9.67 years old. The mean diameter of 21 renal AML on CT scans was 1.76 +/- 1.00 cm (Min: 0.6 cm; Max: 4.4 cm). CT scans illustrated renal masses typical of AMLs, and the corresponding FDG PET scans showed minimal FDG activities in the area of the tumors. None of the 21 AMLs showed a maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) greater than 1.98. No statistically significant correlation was present between SUVmax and tumor size. CONCLUSION: Renal AMLs demonstrate very low to low uptake on FDG PET and PET/CT imaging in this study. When a fat-containing tumor in the kidney is found on a CT scan, it is critical to differentiate an AML from a malignant tumor including an RCC, liposarcoma, and Wilms tumor. This study suggests that FDG PET or PET/CT imaging is useful for differentiating a renal AML from a fat-containing malignant tumor.