Voice training in teacher education: the effect of adding an individualized microteaching session of 30 minutes to the regular 6-hour voice training program.

In a previous study, we investigated the effect of a twofold voice-training module in student teachers. In the present study, the original training module of 3 hours of indirect and 3 hours of direct group training was expanded with a 30-minute individual counseling session for each participant. The main focus was on the effects of this threefold training paradigm on the voice of the participants. The subjects were 81 students at the academic teaching program at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. The trained group (n=51) received the entire voice-training program, whereas the control group (n=30) received no voice training at all. A multidimensional test battery consisting of subjective evaluation and objective measurements was applied to both the groups at the study onset and again 4 months later to assess training results. Other than an improvement in the parameter strain, no significant change was observed for the subjective judgments. Several of the objective parameters did however improve in the trained group only, most significantly in female subjects. The impact of the 30-minute individual counseling session was small and differed for males and females. However, the results support the effectiveness of this training module and favor its introduction in the education of student teachers.

Poor voice quality in future elite vocal performers and professional voice users.

The voice quality of 86 occupational voice users, i.e., students of a high school for audiovisual communication, was assessed by means of a multidimensional test battery containing: the GRBAS scale, videolaryngostroboscopy, maximum phonation time, jitter, lowest intensity, highest frequency, dysphonia severity index (DSI), and voice handicap index (VHI). In a questionnaire on daily habits the prevalence of smoking, eating habits, and vocal abuse were recorded. A comparison of the voice characteristics of the future occupational voice users with a control group revealed significant differences. The results of the VHI and the DSI of these students revealed significantly worse scores than the score of a control group characterized by no vocal complaints. Moreover, the questionnaire on daily habits showed that the future elite vocal performers and professional voice users take less precautions for the care of their voices. These findings support the importance of a good balanced vocal coaching.

Complications of CO2-laser endoscopic excision of deep endometriosis.

The complications during and following endoscopic excision of deep endometriosis were analysed. The data of 225 excisions performed in 212 women had been collected prospectively into a database immediately following surgery and during the follow-up visit. The data confirmed the association of severe pelvic pain and deep endometriosis, severe pelvic being the only indication for surgery in 67, 78 and 76% of women with type I (n = 99), type II (n = 55) and type III (n = 71) lesions respectively. They confirmed that type II and type III were the largest lesions and that they were found predominantly in revised American Fertility Society (AFS) class II. The duration of surgery decreased with expertise (P < 0.01), but increased when deeper or larger lesions were excised (P < 0.0001) and when cystic ovarian endometriosis was also present (P < 0.001). Excision was clinically judged to be complete in 94, 96 and 85% of women with type I, II or III lesions respectively. In order to achieve this, part of the bowel wall had to be resected in 6.3% and part of the posterior vaginal fornix in 13.6% of cases. This risk was associated mainly in type II or III lesions and with larger lesions (P = 0.001). This was not considered as a complication, since all lesions could be repaired endoscopically and since follow-up was uneventful. Complications were one ureter lesion and seven late bowel perforations with periotonitis. Our data did not permit the evaluation as to whether medical pretreatment could improve completeness of surgery or decrease the risk. They revealed, however, that in six of seven women with type III lesions--in whom excision was judged to be complete--no pretreatment had been given and that luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) agonist treatment decreased the volume of type II lesions (P = 0.04). In conclusion, complete endoscopic excision could be performed in over 90% of women with deep endometriosis, but required bowel surgery in over 6% of cases. Ureter lesions were rare, but postoperative bowel perforations with periotonitis occurred in 2-3% of cases. Medical pretreatment is advocated since LHRH agonist treatment was shown to shrink the deep endometriotic lesion.

Regional distribution of the two subtypes of angiotensin II receptor in rat brain using selective nonpeptide antagonists.

We have demonstrated the existence and localization of two angiotensin II (AII) receptor subtypes in different regions of the rat brain using competitive radioligand binding technique. The identification of the subtypes was made by the reciprocal selectivity of DuP 753 and PD123177 for the AII-1 and AII-2 receptors, respectively. In the pituitary gland, DuP 753 inhibited 95% of the specific AII binding with a Ki value of 1.85 x 10(-9) M while PD123177 had little effect. In the whole brain, thalamus-septum and midbrain, PD123177 inhibited 90% of the specific binding with Ki value of 7.77 x 10(-8) M, 8.21 x 10(-8) M and 4.93 x 10(-8) M, respectively while DuP 753 had little effect. In the hypothalamus, DuP 753 and PD123177 had Ki values of 5.67 x 10(-8) M and 1.60 x 10(-7) M, respectively, for their respective receptor subtypes. In the cerebellum and cerebral cortex, the AII specific binding was low. The data suggest there are at least two subtypes of AII receptor in the rat brain and that they are not uniformly distributed.