Preliminary study on the feasibility of a two-stage screening strategy for otitis media with effusion in children.

AIM: To evaluate the feasibility of a two-stage screening strategy for otitis media with effusion (OME) in pre-school and school children. The risk factors of OME were also studied. METHODS: One hundred and eighty-nine children aged 4-8 years were recruited. The two-stage screening consisted of an on-site screening with a portable otoscopy along with a questionnaire to both diagnose children with OME and identify children at risk, and a standard screening performed at a regional hospital for final diagnosis. The prevalence detected from the two-stage screening approach was compared to the actual prevalence. RESULTS: The detection rate of OME through the two-stage screening approach was not significantly different from the actual prevalence rate (12.7% vs. 13.4%, P = 0.847). Children from the urban area had a lower risk for OME than that from the rural area (P = 0.007, odds ratio (OR) = 0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.11-0.74). Compared to childcare dining, family dining helped to reduce the chance of OME (P < 0.001, OR = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.06-0.38). CONCLUSIONS: The two-stage screening strategy was effective for screening for OME among pre-school and school children. It can be used in rural areas that have a high prevalence of OME and limited medical resources.

Green Tea Polyphenols Protects Cochlear Hair Cells from Ototoxicity by Inhibiting Notch Signalling.

Notch signalling pathway plays an essential role in the development of cochlea, which inhibits the proliferation of hair cells. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant polyphenol in green tea, which presents strong antioxidant activation and has been applied for anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory. In this study, we treated the cochlear explant cultures with EGCG and found that EGCG can protect cochlear hair cells from ototoxic drug gentamicin. We demonstrated that EGCG could down-regulate the expression of Notch signalling pathway target genes, such as Hes1, Hes5, Hey1 and Hey5. However, the Notch pathway ligands such as Delta1, Jag1 and Jag2 were not affected by EGCG. To further illustrate the mechanism of recover cochlear hair cells, we demonstrated that EGCG inhibited the activity of γ-secrectase to suppress Notch signalling pathway and promoted the proliferation and regeneration of hair cells in the damaged cochlea. Our results suggest for the first time the role of EGCG as an inhibitor of the Notch signalling pathway, and support its potential value in hearing-impaired recovery in clinical therapy.