Pregnant Patients with Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Treatments and Efficacy.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to study the safety and effectiveness of oral and tympanic hormone injection in the treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss during pregnancy. METHODS: Data were collected via prospective method. A total of 102 pregnant women with sensorineural hearing loss as experimental group and another 102 patients of sensorineural hearing loss without pregnancy as control group were simultaneously included in the study. Pure tone audiometry test was examined at pre- and posttreatment in 1 week, 2 weeks, and 12 weeks. The experimental group received oral and tympanic hormones, while the control group was treated with the Clinical Practice Guideline: Sudden Hearing Loss (2019) of USA. Recovery rate and hearing gain were assessed by the Clinical Practice Guidelines. RESULTS: After treatment, the effects of the experimental group and the control group were compared at the 1st, 2nd, and 12th week after treatment. It was found that at the 12th week after treatment, the curative effect of the experimental group was significantly different from that of the control group, and the difference was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The pregnant women with sensorineural hearing loss were more serious than nonpregnant women, and the treatment efficacies were worse than control group. For pregnancy patients with sudden deafness, oral steroids and tympanic cavity injection is an effective, safe first-line treatment options.

Chemometrics-based Discrimination of Virgin and Recycled Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene Plastics Toys via Non-targeted Screening of Volatile Substances.

Owing to the growing emphasis on child safety, it is greatly urgent to identify and assess the unknown compounds and discriminate the recycled materials for plastic toys. In this study, gas chromatography mass spectrometry coupled with static headspace has been optimized by response surface methodology for non-targeted screening of unknown volatiles in acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) plastic toys. Optimum conditions for static headspace were 120 °C for extraction temperature and 48 min for extraction time. A total of 83 volatiles in 11 categories were qualitatively identified by matching the NIST database library, retention index and standard materials. Considering high positive rate and potential toxicity, high-risk volatiles in ABS plastic toys were listed and traced for safety pre-warning. Moreover, the differential volatiles between virgin and recycled ABS plastics were screened out by orthogonal partial least-squares discrimination analysis. Principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis and linear discrimination analysis were employed to successfully discriminate recycled ABS plastic toys based on the differential volatiles. The proposed strategy represents an effective and promising analytical method for non-targeted screening and risk assessment of unknown volatiles and discrimination of recycled materials combining with various chemometric techniques for children's plastic products to safeguard children's health.

Application of VIP Care in Patients with Advanced Tumors in the Western Region of China.

Objective: The objective of this study is to explore the application of a very important person (VIP) intervention mode in patients with advanced tumors in the western region of China. Methods: One hundred and sixty-three patients were randomly divided into a control and experimental groups. The control group received routine care, and the experimental group received VIP future care. The willingness to end-of-life treatment, decision-making certainty, and quality of life were compared between the two groups before intervention (T0), after intervention (T1), and 1 month after intervention (T2). Results: There were no significant differences in the basic data of the two groups. Unlike the control group, the experimental group preferred palliative care at the end of T1 (P < 0.05), and the acceptance rate of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and mechanical treatment decreased significantly. After the VIP intervention, the patient was transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) (P < 0.05). After 1 month of intervention (T2), the results showed that the overall quality of life, physical discomfort, negative emotions, care and support, survival predicament, and lifetime value of the patients were significantly higher than those before the intervention (all P < 0.05). Decision certainty results showed that the differences between the T0, T1, and T2 time points and the interaction between groups and time were statistically significant, and the interaction was more significant at T2 (P < 0.05). Conclusion: VIP future care can change patients' wishes for end-of-life care, improve patients' and quality of life, and increase patient decision-making certainty.

Survival Impact of Delaying Postoperative Radiotherapy in Patients with Esophageal Cancer.

The purpose of the current study was to retrospectively assess the effect of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) delay on survival for patients with esophageal cancer. From 2008 to 2011, patients with esophageal cancer who had undergone postoperative RT in five different hospitals in China were reviewed. Clinical data, including time interval between surgery to RT, were prospectively collected. Kaplan-Meier method was conducted to estimate the effect of each variable on progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), with differences assessed by log-rank test. Univariate Cox proportional-hazards models were performed for both PFS and OS for all assumed predictor variables. Statistically significant predictor variables (P < .05) on univariate analysis were then included in multivariate Cox proportional-hazards models, which were performed to compare the effects of RT delay on PFS and OS. A total of 316 patients were finally enrolled in this prospectively multicentric study. Time to RT after surgery varied from 12 days to over 60 days (median, 26 days). Multivariate analysis showed that delay to RT longer than the median does not appear to be a survival cost. There was also no statistically difference in PFS (P = .513) or OS (P = .236) between patients stratified by quartiles (≤21 days vs ≧35 days). However, patients with particularly long delays (≧42 days) demonstrated a detrimental impact on OS (P = .021) but not PFS (P = .580). Delaying postoperative RT of esophageal cancer does not impact PFS, but results in a significant reduction on OS if delaying longer than 6 weeks.

[Determination of trace extractable lead in artificial acid sweat from ecological textiles by GFAAS].

Extractable trace level lead in artificial sweat solution from ecological textiles is a key item limited by eco-textile standard. But the content of this extractable Pb is not so easy to determine for the strict limit of eco-textile standard, the complicatedness of extractable solution matrix and the strong background interference of NaCl. In the present paper a method for the determination of trace extractable lead in artificial acid sweat from ecological textiles by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) is described. Based on a number of experiments by using different single and mixed matrix modifiers including (NH4)2 H2PO4, NH4 NO3, Pd(NO3)2, Ni(NO3)2 and ascorbic acid, an effective modifier and its quantity were selected and the graphite furnace operating parameters were optimized. Experimental test results revealed that adding 5 mL (1 : 1) mixed solution of 50 g x L(-1) ammonium nitrate and 100 mg x L(-1) palladium regent was an effective way to inhibit volatile lead and reduce background signals. The detection limit could reach a low level of 0.7 microg x L(-1). The relative standard deviation was 3.2%. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the recoveries ranged between 95.5% and 105%.

[Simultaneous determination of the total content of As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Se, Sb in paint coating on toys by ICP-AES].

ICP-AES was used for the simultaneous determination of the total content of As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Se, Sb in paint coating on toys. Digestion procedures of these materials with different acid mixtures have been developed. The sample was dissvolved in the acid mixture of nitric acid, tartaric acid, and a little phosphoric acid. The matrix elements effect was studied and the preferable experimental conditions were investigated. The recovery rates of this procedure were between 99% and 109%. The RSD was within 1.5%. The proposed method was simple, rapid and can be used in daily inspection of toys.

[Study on the method for the determination of Fe, Si, Cu, Mg, Mn, Ni, Zn, Ti, Cr, Sr in aluminium alloy by ICP-AES].

The method for the determination of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Mg, Ti, Si, Ni, Cr, Sr in aluminum alloy has been developed in this study. The sample was dissolved with sodium hydroxide, the matrix interference and interference among tested elements were studied and then corrected by matrix match and interference coefficient respectively. The method is rapid, simple and accurate, and it is suitable for daily testing of aluminum alloy for import and export.