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Objective: To investigate whether the residual hearing of severely hearing-impaired children and adults could be preserved using the soft surgery approach. Patients and Methods: This project employed a prospective study design. All testing and surgery took place in the Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warsaw, Poland. Twenty-six patients (7 children and 19 post-lingually deafened adults) with residual hearing were assessed. Subjects were assessed using conventional pure-tone audiometry at least 1 month prior to surgery. Cochlear implant surgery with a Med-El Combi 40/40+ standard electrode array was conducted, using the soft surgery approach. Pure-tone audiometry thresholds were re-assessed at least 1 month after surgery. The researchers assessed change in auditory thresholds using pure-tone audiometry to determine preservation of residual hearing. Results: Sixteen of 26 patients (62%) retained their residual hearing within 5 dB HL of pre-operative scores. Only 5 of 26 patients (19%) lost all measurable residual hearing after cochlear implantation. This suggests that surgeons are often able to preserve residual hearing during cochlear implant surgery using the soft surgery technique. Conclusions: Preservation of residual hearing is an important consideration in cochlear implantation in the light of changing selection criteria for cochlear implant candidates, and as younger children are receiving implants. This is important, as we do not know yet the long-term effects of inner ear damage due to traumatic insertions of electrodes. This finding suggests a good prognosis for future possibilities of re-implantation.

Hearing was preserved in 9 of 10 cases. One subject uses a hearing aid to amplify low frequency hearing, the remainder use natural low frequency hearing. Improvements in monosyllabic scores over time in both quiet and noise were significant, particularly within the first 3 months of PDCI use.

Vitamin D plays important, pleiotropic role in the maintenance of global homeostasis. Its influence goes far beyond the regulation of calcium and phosphorus balance, as diverse activities of vitamin D and its natural metabolites assure proper functioning of major human organs, including skin. Recently, we reviewed the current understanding of vitamin D impact on human health from historical perspective (Wierzbicka et al. (2014) The renaissance of vitamin D. Acta Biochim Pol 61: 679-686). This article focuses on its functions in the skin. The skin and its appendages, creates a platform connecting and protecting internal organs against, usually harmful, external environment. It uppermost layer - epidermis in order to maintain a protective barrier undergoes a constant exchange of cornified keratinocytes layer. Its disturbance leads to development of serious skin disorders including psoriasis, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis and skin cancer. All of those dermatopathologies have a huge impact on modern societies, affecting not only the physical, but also mental state of patients as well as their social status. Furthermore, multiple human systemic diseases (autoimmune, blood and digestive diseases) have skin manifestation, thus "condition of the skin" often reflects the condition and pathological changes within the internal organs. In humans, the skin is the natural source of vitamin D, which is produced locally from 7-dehydrocholesterol in photoreaction induced by ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation from the sun. It is also well established, that the process of proliferation and differentiation of keratinocytes is tightly regulated by calcium and the active form of vitamin D (1,25(OH)2D3). Thus, the skin physiology is inseparably connected with vitamin D production and activity. Unfortunately, UVB, which is required for vitamin D production, is also known as the main cause of a skin cancer, including melanoma. Here, we are going to review benefits of vitamin D and its analogues in the maintenance of epidermal barrier and its potential use in the treatment of common skin diseases.

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The shallow electrode array insertion with preserved low-frequency hearing is a highly effective method for the treatment of partial deafness. The combination of HA and CI processor, i.e., the DUET, is beneficial in noise and in quiet.

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Immediate hearing preservation (3 months postoperatively) was 92.9% (39/42). The surgery-related hearing preservation 13 months after surgery varied from 85% (34/40) to 90% (36/40). The ipsilateral implanted ear showed significant differences between preoperative and postoperative hearing thresholds (p < 0.005). Comparisons of thresholds for the control ear showed a significant difference between preoperative and postoperative thresholds tested 13 months after surgery (p < 0.05). When the subtraction factor of the mean contralateral hearing loss for each tested frequency for the same time interval was applied to the implanted ear, no significant hearing loss was found, showing that postoperative ipsilateral progressive hearing loss was caused by etiology rather than surgery.