Association between guardian's first notice of autism symptom of children and time to seek medical care / 中华流行病学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To understand the symptoms of autism of children that caused the first notice of guardian, related risk factors and the influence on the time to seek medical care.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The children with autism aged <5 years were selected from autism rehabilitation centers in Wuhan, Changsha, Haikou, Liuzhou and Changsha between September 2012 and April 2014, and their guardians were retrospectively surveyed by using questionnaire. SPSS 13.0 software was used for statistical analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 415 children with autism were included in the study. Including 355 boys (85.54%) and 60 girls (14.46%), the sex ratio was 5.9 : 1. The most common concern of guardian were: language dysplasia (20.72%); ignoring of people or lack of interaction with others (18.55%); repeat and weird action pattern (14.94%). The age when the first symptom occurred, which causing guardians' concern, ranged from 8 months to 28 months, the time when guardian began to concern varied with symptom (χ² =46.64, P<0.000 1). Guardian's educational level, guardian's contact time with the children, guardian's intimate degree with the children, the age of guardian, family type and tie had no statistical association with the fist autism symptom that caused guardian's concern. The age of the children at first medical care seeking ranged from 10.5 months to 33 months, the time of the first medical care seeking varied with symptom (χ² =46.10, P<0.000 1). Up to 90.74% of the guardians delayed the medical care seeking of the children with autism, but the symptom specific differences in medical care delay had no statistical significance (χ² =9.46, P=0.579 6).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The symptom of the children with autism causing guardian's first notice were mainly verbal communication barrier, social interaction barrier and restricted interests and behaviors. Guardian's educational level and intimate degree with children had no correlation with the symptom which caused guardian's first notice. The time when guardian began to concern and the time for children's medical care varied with guardian's first notice.</p>

Cochlear implantation with suprameatal approach in Chinese children / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the technique of the suprameatal approach for cochlear implantation in Chinese profound sensory hearing loss children.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Suprameatal approach for cochlear implantation were used in 50 cases (total 53 ears) with profound sensory hearing loss from May 2005 to January 2007. The electrode was passed through the suprameatal tunnel and went between the incus and chorda tympani into the scala tympani.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Electrodes were completely inserted in 51 ears. There were no postoperative complications in all cases. Although the long effect need to be observed, all cases received better hearing and speech development benefit from cochlear implantation in the follow-up period. Among the 50 cases, 26 had speech perception in the open condition; 18 patients could speak short sentences although not clearly; and 6 patients learned to speak individual words only.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The suprameatal approach was found to be a simple and safe technique that does not need mastoidectomy and avoid endangering the facial nerve and the chorda tympani. It enables wide exposure of middle ear and is especially suitable for cases with narrow facial recess or anteriorly located facial nerve.</p>

Duration-tuning of the neurons in the inferior colliculus of guinea pigs and the role of gamma-aminobutyric acid mediated inhibition / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate duration tuning in the inferior colliculus (IC) of guinea pigs and the role of GABA-mediated inhibition on this tuning.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 23 healthy albino guinea pigs of either sex were employed in this study. After anesthesia, spikes of neurons in inferior colliculus were recorded using five-barrel glass-pipettes. The characteristic frequency was determined by recording iso-intensity response curves at moderate intensity level (40-70 dB SPL) and duration tuning was measured with signals of fixed intensity and varied durations. GABA-A receptor antagonist, bicuculline, was applied to neurons by means of in vivo micro-iontophoresis through one channel in the five-barrel glass-pipettes.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>IC neurons of guinea pigs, especially for those who showed sustained temporal response pattern, showed stronger duration tuning in their transient response peak to signal onset. Among 207 neurons recorded, totally 93 neurons were found to show clear duration selectivity. The duration selectivity was eliminated or turned to be weaker in most of the neurons in which the effect of bicuculline was observed successfully.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Unlike what was reported in bats, duration selectivity may be a transient process for most of IC neurons in guinea pigs. Duration selectively of IC neurons in the guinea pig was also largely dependent on the GABAergic inhibition.</p>

Cochlear function after selective spiral ganglion cells degeneration induced by ouabain / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Ouabain, a cardiac glycoside that specifically binds to Na/K-ATPase and inhibits its activity, was applied to gerbils to develop a method for studying auditory neuropathy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Ouabain was applied to the round window of the cochlea in each gerbil by using a piece of gelfoam with 3 microl or 24 microl (1 mmol/L) ouabain solution. The changes of the threshold of auditory brainstem response, cochlear function round window electrocochleography, as well as the morphological changes of the spiral ganglion cells of the cochlea were observed after application of ouabain for 24 hours or 96 hours.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In ouabain treated gerbils, auditory brainstem response and compound action potential thresholds showed either elevation or no response at all. However, the thresholds of cochlear microphonic and distortion product otoacoustic emissions were not affected. Degeneration and necrosis of some spiral ganglion cells in ears with applications of ouabain (24 hours, 3 microl, 1 mmol/L; 96 hours, 24 microl, 1 mmol/L ouabain). The number of spiral ganglion cells was decreased (24 hours, 3 microl, 1 mmol/L ouabain) or near to a total loss (96 hours, 24 microl, 1 mmol/L ouabain).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>These results indicate a high degree of independence between the spiral ganglion cells and the outer hair cell systems in the cochlear transduction mechanism. The method used in this study would provide a valuable tool for studying auditory neuropathy.</p>