Auditory lifestyles and beliefs related to hearing loss among college students in the USA.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the auditory life styles and beliefs of college students with reference to exposure to loud sounds in the context of the health belief model. A survey was administered to 238 (40 men, 198 women) students in the USA. Results suggest that 44% of the students use noisy equipment without ear protection and 29% (69/238) of the students work in noisy environments. Of the 69 who worked in noisy surroundings, only ten reported wearing hearing protection devices although 50 (72.46%) reported tinnitus. The use of hearing protection devices (HPDs) was associated with previous experience with hearing loss and tinnitus. Although 75% of the students were aware that exposure to loud sounds could cause hearing loss, 50% of the students appeared to be exposing themselves to potentially harmful loud music. Furthermore, 46% of the students reported not using HPDs during loud musical activities because they felt that the music was difficult to hear with HPDs. Most students in this study considered hearing loss to be serious but 76% of the students believed that they would not lose their hearing until a greater age. Although 66% of the students had experienced tinnitus, 58% of these students reported not being concerned about it. These results suggest a critical need for promoting healthy hearing behavior among college students. Possible strategies could include improved education, experience with simulated hearing loss for extended periods and availability of cosmetically appealing or invisible HPDs with uniform attenuation across the frequency range.

Eclipse (Enfoque Clínico del Paciente Sustentado en la Evidencia) / Eclipse (Clinical Approach of the Patient Sustained in Evidence)

En el siguiente artículo, ejemplificaremos el proceso de la medicina basada en la evidencia, con sus cuatro etapas, partiendo desde un escenario clínico, desde donde se formula una pregunta, se realiza la búsqueda de la información, se analiza críticamente la evidencia obtenida, y finalmete se resuelve el escenario a la luz de la nueva información.

Otitis in Children

This study had conducted in the ENT out patient department of Rajshahi medical college Hospital and Microbiology department of Rashahi Medical College during the period April 2001 to July 2001. Out of 48 cases, the prevalence of only bacteria, only fungus and both bacteria and fungus cases were 45.83%, 16.66% and 37.50%respectively. Maximum [25%] numbers of cases were from age group 2.5 to 3.5 years. Only bacteria cases were common in the younger age group [0.5 to 3.5year] and only fungal cases were common with increase of age [3.5 to 6.5 years]. There was no specific relationship of age with both bacteria and fungal cases. Among the fungal causes candida albicans was predominant followed by Aspergillus spp. and occasionally Rhizopus spp. The isolated bacteria were Esh.coli, Staph. aureus, strept. Pyogens, proteus and pseudomonas. Male was 28 [58.33%] and female was 20 [41.67%] and female was 20 [41.67%] and majority cases were from urban area