Lipo-prostaglandin E1 in combination with steroid therapy is effective for treatment of sudden sensorineural hearing loss in Korean patients with Type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is a risk factor for sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL), possibly as a result of microvascular damage, increased blood viscosity and embolic and thrombotic episodes. Aim To perform a prospective, randomized clinical trial to determine the therapeutic effect of lipo-prostaglandin E(1) (lipo-PGE(1)) on SSNHL in Korean patients with Type 2 diabetes. METHODS: The study group consisted of 270 consecutive Korean patients (130 male, 140 female) in whom SSNHL was diagnosed. Patients were classified as diabetic or non-diabetic by the new American Diabetes Association criteria. With the approval of the institute ethics committee, patients were randomly assigned to treatment with of 10 microg lipo-PGE(1) (lipo-PGE(1) group) given as a continuous infusion over 5 days, or saline (placebo group). In addition, all patients studied were treated with 48 mg methylprednisolone for 5 days. RESULTS: The overall recovery rates after treatment were 51.5% in diabetic and 64.2% in non-diabetic patients. In diabetic patients, there was a significantly higher rate of hearing improvement in the lipo-PGE(1) group (64.7%) compared with the placebo group (37.5%), whereas, in non-diabetic patients, there was no significant difference in rate of hearing improvement between the lipo-PGE(1) group (70.3%) and the placebo group (58.3%). CONCLUSION: Lipo-PGE(1) may have beneficial effects in the treatment of SSNHL in Korean patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Distribution and hydrodynamic model of the Keumdong oil spill in Kwangyang Bay, Korea.

Oil concentrations in the seawater, seabed sediments, and shoreline sediments were measured from the samples collected 165 days after the Keumdong oil spill accident, which had occurred in Kwangyang Bay of the South Sea, Korea in September 1993. Distribution patterns of the concentrations in the seabed and shoreline sediments have allowed us to hindcast the transport and fate of the spilled oil. Overall, the patterns agree better with the southward (seaward) surface water circulation than with the northward (landward) bottom water circulation over the region. Rapid, initial dispersal of the spilled oil to the south and its subsequent grounding onto the intertidal seabed sediments, as well as onto the shorelines, appear to have made ineffective the subsurface oil transport by the bottom current.

Glove permeation by semiconductor processing mixtures containing glycol-ether derivatives.

Results of permeation tests of several glove materials challenged with semiconductor processing formulations containing glycolether derivatives are described. Commercial glove samples of nitrile rubber (Edmont), natural rubber (Edmont and Baxter), butyl rubber (North), PVC Baxter), a natural rubber/neoprene/nitrile blend (Pioneer), and a natural rubber/neoprene blend (Playtex) were tested according to the ASTM F739-85 permeation test method (open-loop configuration). The liquid formulations examined included a positive photoresist thinner containing 2-ethoxyethyl acetate (2-EEA), n-butyl acetate, and xylene; a positive photoresist containing 2-EEA, n-butyl acetate, xylene, polymer resins, and photoactive compounds; a negative photoresist containing 2-methoxyethanol (2-ME), xylene, and cyclized poly(isoprene); and pure 2-methoxyethyl acetate (2-MEA), which is the solvent used in a commercial electron-beam resist. With the exception of the negative photoresist, butyl rubber provided the highest level of protection against the solvent mixtures tested, with no breakthrough observed after 4 hr of continuous exposure at 25 degrees C. Nitrile rubber provided the highest level of protection against the negative photoresist and reasonably good protection against initial exposure to the other solvent mixtures. Gloves consisting of natural rubber or natural rubber blends provided less protection against the mixtures than either nitrile or butyl rubber. For most of the glove samples, permeation of the glycol-ether derivatives contained in the mixtures was faster than that predicted from the permeation of the pure solvents. Increasing the exposure temperature from 25 to 37 degrees C did not significantly affect the performance of the butyl rubber glove. For the other gloves, however, exposures at 37 degrees C resulted in decreases in breakthrough times of 25-75% and increases in steady-state permeation rates of 80-457% relative to values obtained at 25 degrees C. Repeated exposure of nitrile rubber samples resulted in shorter breakthrough times for all mixture components. In fact, exposure for as little as one-half of the nominal breakthrough time followed by air drying overnight resulted in measurable quantities of one or more of the component solvents at the inner surface of the gloves at the beginning of the next exposure. This effect was not observed with the butyl rubber samples. With the exception of the negative photoresist, heating previously exposed nitrile rubber samples at 70 degrees C for 20 hr prior to retesting reduced or eliminated the effects of residual solvents, permitting reuse of the gloves. The use of thin PVC or natural rubber gloves adjacent to the nitrile gloves provided moderate increases in permeation resistance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Ischemic colitis in a crack abuser.

We report a case of acute colitis temporally associated with smoking crack. Colonoscopy revealed a patchy left-sided hemorrhagic inflammation from the rectosigmoid colon to the splenic flexure. Biopsy specimens were consistent with resolving ischemic colitis. This entity should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute bloody diarrhea in recreational drug users.