Exploration on the new situation of HIV/ADIS epidemic and the necessity of interdisciplinary concern in Tanzania / 中华流行病学杂志

Through the effort in nearly 40 years of Tanzania, the total number of reported cases, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS and the number of death have declined, while the number of patients receiving antiretroviral therapy has increased significantly in Tanzania. At the same time, however, there are new challenges that require more attention, such as the HIV spread to rural areas, middle and lower social classes, and female teenagers. Although the overall performance of the HIV/AIDS prevention and control response is great, there is still a need to survey the new trends of this disease at the micro-level in Tanzania. In addition, there is a necessity of interdisciplinary concern due to the prevalence of heterosexual anal sex in Tanzania.

Comparative study of nasal packs and postoperative negative-pressure septal drainage in patients undergoing nasal septal surgery / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To study whether negative-pressure septal drainage could be an alternative to packs after septoplasty.@*METHOD@#This was a randomized controlled trial. The study involved 60 patients who underwent septoplasty. Patients were randomly divided into two groups, one with anterior nasal packs and the other with negative-pressure septal drainage. Patients were asked to record pain levels using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Postoperative symptoms and complications were compared during 24 h and 48 h postoperative period including pain, drying sensation of mouth, sleep difficulty, conjunctival congestion, haemorrhage. VAS scores and incidence were evaluated during 1 week and 6 weeks postoperative period including pain, bleeding, haematoma, septal perforation, synechiae and septal perforation.@*RESULT@#Patients of negative-pressure septal drainage suffered from less pain than patients of nasal packs during the first 24 h and 48 h postoperative period. The results for pain, drying sensation of mouth, sleep difficulty, conjunctival congestion, haemorrhage were different between groups (P 0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Using negative-pressure drainage instead of nasal packs after septoplasty seems a more reasonable option. The negative-pressure drainage technique may be the preferred option to provide higher patient satisfaction and has the same level of postoperative complica.tion to nasal packs as for septoplasty surgery.

Audiological evaluation in Chinese patients with mitochondrial encephalomyopathies / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Hearing impairment has been reported to be common in patients with mitochondrial disorders, a group of diseases characterized by pleiomorphic clinical manifestations due to defects in oxidative phosphorylation of mitochondria. This study aimed to investigate the audiological characteristics in a large cohort of patients with mitochondrial disease.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Comprehensive audiological evaluations, including pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, speech audiometry, otoacoustic emissions, electrocochleography and auditory brainstem evoked potentials, were performed in 73 Chinese patients with mitochondrial encephalomyopathy and with confirmed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) defects.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Among the patients, 71% had hearing impairment. However, the incidence rate and severity of hearing impairment were much less in the chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO) subtype than in the mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS), myoclonic epilepsy with ragged red fibers (MERRF) and Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS) subtypes. While most of our patients had a predominantly cochlea origin for the hearing deficit, five patients had an auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder and three patients had impairment of both cochlea and auditory cortex.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Various portions of the auditory system could be involved in patients with mitochondrial diseases, including cochlea, auditory nerve, auditory pathway and cortex. Hearing loss was more associated with multisystem involvement. Genotype, mutant load of mtDNA and other unknown factors could contribute to heterogeneity of hearing impairment in mitochondrial disease.</p>

Analysis of the clinical audiological characteristics in 92 Chinese Alport syndrome cases / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the clinical audiological characteristics in Chinese Alport syndrome, and investigate the relationship between the genotypes of Alport syndrome and hearing phenotype.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical hearing data of 92 cases diagnosed as Alport syndrome from 2008 August to 2013 August were reviewed and analyzed. All coding exons of COL4A3 and COL4A5 genes were PCR-amplified and sequenced from genomic DNA, or mRNA of COL4A5 gene was RT-PCR-amplified and sequenced from skin fibroblast in 17 cases.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Eighty-seven out of 92 cases were found with X-linked dominant inheritance (XLAS); 5 cases with autosomal recessive (ARAS); 44 cases had normal hearing, but 14 young cases had abnormal OAE; 48 cases (52.2%, 35 male, 13 female) had sensorineural hearing loss. A total of 44 cases with XLAS had hearing loss (49.4%), wherein the incidence of hearing impairment was 55.0% in male XLAS, and 37.0% in female XLAS. Mild and moderate hearing loss were found in XLAS. Audiometric curves including groove type (21 cases), descending type (13 cases), flat type (10 cases), high frequency drop type (3 cases) and ascending type (1 case) were found in AS. Sixteen mutations of COL4A3, COL4A5 gene were found in 17 cases with Alport syndrome, including severe mutation in 8 cases with moderate hearing impairment.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Mild and moderate hearing impairment, and groove type of audiometric curve are mainly found in Chinese Alport syndrome, which is different from Alport syndrome in western countries. OAE in the early diagnosis of hearing loss is important. Hearing phenotype is related certainly with genotype.</p>

Auditory Brainstem Responses with Forward -Masking in Newborns / 听力学及言语疾病杂志

Objective To study the characteristics of auditory brainstem responses with different forward - masking intervals in newborns with normal hearing ,and to find out the most efficient interval .Methods Auditory evoked brainstem responses were recorded from 30 newborns(60 ears) ,with forward - masking intervals of 4 ms ,8 ms ,16 ms ,32 ms ,and unmasked as control .The ABR data were statistically analyzed with SPSS 13 .0 .Results With forward - masking intervals ,all waves Ⅰ ,Ⅲ ,Ⅴ latencies and Ⅰ - Ⅴ ,Ⅰ - Ⅲ ,Ⅲ - Ⅴ interpeak latencies were significantly (P< 0 .01) prolonged compared with those of in the unmasked ,except wave Ⅲ and Ⅰ - Ⅲ interpeak latencies with 4 ms forward - masking intervals .The waves from 8 ms interval were the most prolonged .Conclusion Forward masking increases human newborn ABR latencies and interpeak latencies .The interval time influenced the effect ,and 8 ms interval is the most efficient .