BackgroundAccording to the guidelines of the European Scientific Consensus on Hearing (European Federation of Audiology Societies ‘EFAS’ Congress, June 2011, Warsaw, Poland), the detection and treatment of communication disorders in early school-age children is of the highest importance. This objective was adopted by the Polish president of the EFAS Council from the second half of 2011; as a result, pilot programs on children’s hearing screening were initiated in various European countries. This paper reports data from a pilot program in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.Material/MethodsWe randomly selected 143 children from 2 primary schools. Each child was assessed by pure tone audiometry and 2 questionnaires (dedicated to parents and children). The study allowed the validation of: (i) hearing screening procedures in young children, and (ii) data collection via a telemedicine model.ResultsHearing impairments were identified in 34 cases (23.7%) with a 50% ratio between unilateral and bilateral losses. We found a higher incidence of hearing impairment in children than that reported in previous Polish studies.ConclusionsThe data from the present study suggest that it is possible to use a telemedicine model to assess the hearing status of children and to provide a long-distance expert assistance. The latter is very important for rural areas without specialized medical services.

The leading priority for the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union was to reduce health inequalities across European societies, and, within its framework, prevention and control of respiratory diseases in children. This very important paper contain proposal of international cooperation on the prevention, early detection and monitoring of asthma and allergic diseases in childhood which will be undertaken by the EU member countries as a result of EU conclusion developed during the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This will result in collaboration in the field of chronic diseases, particularly respiratory diseases, together with the activity of the network of national institutions and NGOs in this area. Paper also contains extensive analysis of the socio-economic, political, epidemiological, technological and medical factors affecting the prevention and control of childhood asthma and allergy presented during Experts presidential conference organized in Warsaw-Ossa 21–22 September 2011.

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A test for CAPD should be included in the hearing screening of school-age children. The results of this study form the basis for developing Polish standards in this area.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an extremely common polymer that is used in typical everyday products throughout the world, especially in food and beverage containers. Within the last ten years, it has been found that the BPA monomer tends to leach into foodstuffs, and nanogram concentrations of it may cause a variety of deleterious health effects. These health problems are very evident in developing children and in young adults. The aim of this study was to expose developing pigs to dietary BPA at both legally acceptable and ten-fold higher levels. Livers that had been exposed to BPA showed vacuolar degeneration, sinusoidal dilatation, vascular congestion and glycogen depletion that increased with exposure levels. Furthermore, the livers of these models were then examined for irregularities and double-labeled immunofluorescence was used to check the innervated hepatic samples for varying neuronal expression of selected neuronal markers in the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS). It was found that both the PSNS and all of the neuronal markers showed increased expression, with some of them being significant even at recommended safe exposure levels. The implications are quite serious since these effects have been observed at recommended safe levels with expression increasing in-line with exposure levels. The increased neuronal markers studied here have been previously correlated with behavioral/psychological disorders of children and young adults, as well as with childhood obesity and diabetes. However, further research must be performed in order to develop a mechanism for the above-mentioned correlations.

THI-POL is a valid and reliable self-administered tool, which allows the overall tinnitus handicap of Polish-speaking patients to be effectively assessed.

Background Disorders connected with the musculoskeletal and central nervous system dysfunction are the most significant clinical problem worldwide. Our earlier research has shown that back and spinal disorders and lumbar disc disorders were most frequently diagnosed using MRI scanner at the University Clinical Hospital (UCH) in Olsztyn in years 2011–2015. We have also observed that another two diseases of spinal column, spondylosis and cervical disc disorders, were also very prevalent. The main objective of this work was to analyze the prevalence of spondylosis and cervical disc disorders in the study population diagnosed at UCH in years 2011–2015. Methods The digital database including patients' diagnostic and demographic information was generated based on MRI reports from years 2011–2015 and analyzed using SPSS software. Results Within the study group (n = 13298) the most frequently MRI-diagnosed diseases were musculoskeletal group (M00–M99; n = 7711; 57,98%) and cervical disc disorders (M50; n = 1659; 12,47%) and spondylosis (M47, n = 611; 4,59%). More women (67%) than men (33%) were enrolled in the study, and the largest fraction of the study population was in the range of 51–60 years, with about 1/3 of cases of both diseases diagnosed in early age range of 31–40 years. Conclusion Significant number of patients presenting with either of the spine disorders at the young age of 31–40 years points to the necessity of introducing methods preventing disorders of the vertebral column at younger age, preferably at school age.

IntroductionThe objective of the presented study was to develop and evaluate a P300 experimental protocol for simultaneous registration of event-related potentials (ERPs) and functional MRI (fMRI) data with continuous imaging. It may be useful for investigating attention and working memory processes in specific populations, such as children and neuropsychiatric patients.Materials and methodsEleven children were investigated with simultaneous ERP–fMRI. To fulfill requirements of both BOLD and electroencephalographic signal registration, a modified oddball task was used. To verify the ERP–fMRI protocol we also performed a study outside the scanner using a typical two-stimuli oddball paradigm.ResultsLocalization of the P300 component of ERPs partially corresponded with fMRI results in the frontal and parietal brain regions. FMRI activations were found in: middle frontal gyrus, insula, SMA, parietal lobule, thalamus, and cerebellum. Our modified oddball task provided ERP–fMRI results with high level of significance (EEG SNR = 35, fMRI p < 0.05–Bonf.). ERPs obtained in the scanner were comparable with those registered outside the scanner, although some differences in the amplitude were noticed, mainly in the N100 component.ConclusionIn our opinion the presented paradigm may be successfully applied for simultaneous ERP–fMRI registration of neural correlates of attention in vulnerable populations.