"Something is just not right with my hearing": early experiences of adults living with hearing loss.

OBJECTIVE: To understand the psychosocial process of how adults experience hearing loss; specifically, their readiness to accept that they may have hearing loss, and the challenges and coping strategies associated with it. DESIGN: A grounded theory methodology guided the research. A patient-orientated research approach informed the study. Thirty-nine individual interviews and six focus groups were completed. STUDY SAMPLE: Participants included 68 individuals aged 50 years and older with self-reported hearing loss living in Newfoundland and Labrador. RESULTS: The theoretical construct, 'Realising that something is just not quite right with my hearing' captured individuals' experiences as they gradually awakened to the fact that they had hearing loss. Three categories describe the process: (1) Rationalising suspicions, (2) Managing the invisible and (3) Reaching a turning point. CONCLUSIONS: Many individuals do not recognise hearing loss in its early stages, although they may be already experiencing its negative effects. It is important to identify motivators to engage individuals as early as possible in their hearing health. Taking a proactive approach to hearing health can help mitigate the potential negative outcomes of hearing loss.

Frozen-sectioning yields similar results as traditional methods for fetal cephalic examination in the rat.

BACKGROUND: An integral component of developmental toxicity studies is the evaluation of fetal anatomy, which consists of external, visceral, and skeletal examinations. The visceral examination includes an assessment of the fetal head which, in the rat, is typically completed after chemical fixation. Because chemical fixation requires approximately 7 days, a comprehensive visceral examination, including the head, of the fetal rodent cannot be completed at the time of cesarean section. An alternative method to chemical fixation was desired, whereby one could complete an overall visceral examination at the time of cesarean section. In addition, the method would also have to present fetal cranial structures in a manner consistent with that derived after chemical fixation. METHODS: Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were administered either 6-aminonicotinamide (6AN), 6 or 12 mg/kg on gestation day 13, or all-trans retinoic acid (RA) 5 or 25 mg/kg on gestation days 9 and 10, untreated dams served as a control group. On gestation day 20, fetuses were sacrificed and removed via cesarean section and one-half of the fetuses from each litter were placed in Bouin's solution (chemical fixation) and the remaining fetuses maintained under refrigeration until just before frozen tissue preparation (freeze fixation). Sectioning of the fetal head was similarly conducted after either chemical or frozen-fixation. Fetal cranial findings observed after chemical fixation were compared to those observed after frozen-fixation in the untreated control and 6AN and RA-treated groups. RESULTS: The incidence and severity of the cranial findings, including effects on the eye, brain, and palate, were similarly observed, regardless of fixation method. CONCLUSIONS: A frozen sectioning method for evaluation of the fetal head, yielding results comparable to those derived after chemical fixation, is described. This procedure provides a viable alternative to chemical fixation, and allows the teratologist to complete a comprehensive fetal visceral examination at the time of cesarean section.