Comparison of mizolastine with loratadine in the treatment of perennial allergic rhinitis.

Mizolastine is a new, non-sedating antihistamine providing satisfactory symptomatic relief in seasonal allergic rhinitis. The purpose of this study has been to compare mizolastine to loratadine in perennial allergic rhinitis. This multicentre, double-blind study has involved 68 patients, randomly allocated, after a one-week placebo run-in, to 10 mg mizolastine or 10 mg loratadine, both given on a once-daily basis, for four weeks. Comparable symptom relief occurs in both groups resulting, respectively for mizolastine and loratadine, in a 66.6% and a 61.3% decrease in total nasal score, to a 74.8% and a 76.4% decrease in total ocular score, and to a 69.0% and a 64.8% decrease in global total score. Safety is satisfactory in both groups. Mizolastine is at least as effective as loratadine in relieving perennial allergic rhinitis symptoms and its safety profile allows its use in the treatment of this disease.

Audiologic findings in presbycusis.

Presbycusic Ss (N: 64) were studied using tests for cochlear functions (SISI test, Metz test, delta F threshold, remote masking), for retrocochlear involvement (tone-decay test), and for central auditory impairment (tonal binaural MLD, ipsi- vs contralateral acoustic reflex). Recruitment was present in about half the cases; remote masking (supposed a test of stiffness of the cochlear partition) was almost always pathological; tone decay rarely was abnormal; tonal MLD and/or acoustic reflexometry yielded pathologic values in more than half of the Ss. Tonal test patterns demonstrated that in presbycusis there is a frequent alteration of the monaural and binaural analytic processes of intensity, frequency and phase; a constant increase of stiffness in the hydrodynamic system of acoustic energy transmission; and, sometimes, an increase of resistance of neural transmission.

Clinical experience with remote masking.

Remote masking (RM) consists of a rise of the threshold for low-pitched tones when the ear is exposed to a high-frequency noise band delivered with high intensity. This phenomenon has been attributed to mechanical non-linear distortion of the cochlear partition, as an effect of the envelope of a non-uniform signal. The authors studied RM in patients suffering from unilateral Menière's disorder, acoustic neuromata, other sensorineural lesions and presbyacusis. The behaviour of RM in the different experimental groups shows that the RM value is normal in acoustic neuromata; it is variable and not related to the severity of the hearing loss in sensorineural losses, and it is reduced in the affected ear in patients suffering from Menière's disorder. Finally, RM is reduced as a function of ageing, progressively and symmetrically in both ears in presbyacusic subjects. The results of the research seem to confirm the hypothesis that RM may be due to mechanical effects in the inner ear and suggest the possibility of using RM as a test of cochlear partition rigidity.

[Remote masking as a test of cochlear conductive hearing losses (author's transl)]. / Le "remote masking": un test de surdité de transmission cochléaire.

The authors studied the remote masking (RM) in patients with Menière's disorder during the hearing loss fluctuations produced either by the disorder or by the glycerol test (Klockhoff). The RM was recorded for pulsed tones of 250, 500 and 1 000 Hz; the masker was a continuous narrow-band noise centered at 3 000 Hz, with 305 Hz (2 875-3 180 Hz) bandwidth, delivered at an overall level of 98 dB SPL. The results showed that the RM decreases during the acute phase, i.e. when the hearing loss increases, and, increases if the glycerol tests do not significantly modify the RM value. They seem to confirm the hypothesis that the RM may be due to a mechanical effect in the internal ear and suggest the possibility of using the RM as a test of end-organ rigidity.

Remote masking in presbycusis.

Remote Masking (RM) (a rise in threshold for low-frequency tones when the ear is exposed to a high intensity noise band of high frequency) has been attributed to mechanical nonlinear distortion of the cochlear partition, as an effect of the envelope of a nonuniform signal. Clinical studies using RM have revealed RM is normal only when both the endolabyrinthine pressure and the cochlear hydrodynamics are normal. Increasing the stiffness of the cochlear partition affects adversely the mechanism of motion of the cochlear duct and reduces RM values. We studied RM in normal young Ss and in patients with presbycusis in order to determine whether aging of the inner ear also induces stiffness of the cochlear partition. In presbycusic Ss the RM values were indeed reduced symmetrically in both ears and progressively as a result of aging. Thus RM demonstrates the existence of cochlear conductive presbycusis and can be considered a useful test of stiffness of the cochlear partition.

Masking level differences in central nervous system diseases.

The relationship between the tonal masking level difference performance and the behavior of the "sensitized speech tests" according to Bocca and Calearo, were studied in subjects with normal hearing who were suffering from CNS diseases. The results have shown that pathological masking level difference values are present in all cases with pathological sensitized speech tests, and are related principally to the following two conditions: (1) the bulbo-pontine lesions and (2) the central hearing functional asymmetry. In subjects with normal hearing who have CNS diseases, pathological tonal masking level differences indicate the existence of central hearing pathways lesions.