Clinical Characteristics of Tinnitus in Elderly / 대한이비인후과학회지

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tinnitus is commonly known to occur in the elderly, while presbytinnitus is not known as well. This study compared the clinical characteristics of tinnitus between the elderly and adults. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: This prospective case-control study enrolled 148 patients who had subjective tinnitus. Demographic data, otologic history, tinnitus questionnaires, the tinnitus handicap inventory (THI), a visual analogue scale, and audiological examinations were evaluated. RESULTS: The effect of tinnitus on the quality of life and the severity of tinnitus in the elderly were not different from those in adults. The elderly were more annoyed with the tinnitus than adults. The elderly had louder and longer tinnitus. Nevertheless, the elderly had a lower THI score. The effect of tinnitus on the quality of life was not correlated with tinnitus loudness, duration, or hearing threshold. In the elderly, the effect of tinnitus on the quality of life was correlated more with the emotional score of the THI than the other subscales of the THI. CONCLUSION: Tinnitus has a great effect on the quality of life of the elderly. This is related more to psychological factors than to otological factors.

Production of monoclonal antibodies against serum immunoglobulins of black rockfish (Sebastes schlegeli Higendorf)

The present study was undertaken to produce monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against immunoglobulin (Ig) purified from black rockfish (Sebastes schlegeli Higendorf) serum using protein A, mannan binding protein, and goat IgG affinity columns. These three different ligands were found to possess high affinity for black rockfish serum Ig. All of the Igs purified eluted at only 0.46 M NaCl concentration in anion exchange column chromatography and consisted of two bands at 70 kDa and 25 kDa in SDS-PAGE; they also had similar antigenicity for MAbs to Ig heavy chain in immunoblot assays. Therefore, black rockfish Ig is believed to exist as a single isotype within serum. The MAbs produced against Ig heavy chain reacted specifically with spots distributed over the pI range from 4.8 to 5.6 with a molecular weight of 70 kDa on two dimensional gel electrophoresis immunoblot profiles.