In TTH patients (ETTH, CTTH, ETTH + MwoA), the stabilometric findings show a proprioceptive alteration induced by cervicofacial muscle contraction, which was peripheral in origin. In MwoA patients the alterations appear under OKN and support a control impairment in involuntary oculomotility of central origin.

No abstract

The dynamic test proved to be more useful in the weeks after the onset of dysfunction. Given the greater sensitivity of this test, the reduction in perception error time makes it more suitable for revealing false negatives that emerged when using the static test alone.

We present the results of tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) in a group of patients suffering from tinnitus and/or hyperacusia. Based on the scores from a specific questionnaire and the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), the patients were classified into five categories and began therapy according to Jastreboff's criteria. Depending on the individual case, therapy envisaged counselling sessions, ambient sound enrichment, sound generators and hearing aids. At the end of the 18-month period, therapeutic success was observed in 79% of the patients. The initial numerical values of the scale of the symptoms and the THI seem predictive of treatment outcome. The use of instruments (sound generators) increases the success rate, but the study also demonstrates the effectiveness of counselling and ambient sound enrichment. Failures mainly involved patients with hypacusia who refused to wear hearing aids, as this influenced the effectiveness of ambient sound enrichment and counselling. Paralleling the data in the literature, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of TRT, which cannot be attributed to a placebo effect given the extended duration of treatment.

The combined VEMPs-canal test study shows predictive value regarding certain evolving clinical pictures of vestibulopathy. The absence of VEMPs confirms the role of otolithic dysfunction in the onset of dizziness. Likewise, it suggests that a vestibular origin of these disorders should be considered in cases that have shown aspecific symptoms since onset, without frank vertigo and with normal vestibular response to canal function testing.

In the tested newborns and at the levels of stimulation used in this study, the emissions obtained with the derived technique were noisier than those obtained with the linear technique, this being intrinsically due to the type of averaging. Therefore, screening criteria based on the evaluation of the SNR (or similar parameters) could be influenced by the type of averaging used during the acquisition.

Children hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU) present an increased risk for Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SNHL) due to prematurity, hypoxia-ischemia, hyperventilation, low birth weight and the use of ototoxic drugs. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of SNHL in newborns hospitalized in a NICU using Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions (TEOAE) and Automated Auditory Brainstem Responses (A-ABR) and analyze the associated risk factors. A sample of 153 newborns hospitalized in NICU underwent TEOAE, A-ABR and clinical ABR to evaluate the presence of hearing deficits. Prevalence of SNHL was calculated and odds ratio for specific risk factors was measured. One-hundred fifteen babies (86.7%) presented normal hearing at TEOAE and A-ABR. Fifteen children had a REFER response at TEOAE and a PASS response at A-ABR. Twenty-five children (16.3%) had a REFER A-ABR and were addressed to clinical ABR. A diagnosis of SNHL was made in 12 (7.8%) newborns. An increased risk of SNHL was observed in preterm children <28 weeks (p=0.0135), in children with neurological disorders (p=0.02), that underwent surgery (p=0.0002), affected from premature retinopathy (p=0.0006), craniofacial malformation (p=0.007) and that had sepsis (p=0.04). Additional risk factors for SNHL in our sample were a maternal disease during pregnancy (p=0.0011), cesarean delivery (p<0.0001) and a twin pregnancy (p<0.0001). SNHL in newborns is correlated with hospitalization in NICU. An accurate hearing screening associated to a rigorous clinical medical collection of data is necessary to promptly identify cases of SNHL in children with a special attention to those hospitalized in NICU and plan proper intervention.

In this double-blind, randomized study, five healthy subjects per group received doses of 15, 20, or 25 mg of teicoplanin per kg of body weight, and one subject per group received a 0.9% NaCl placebo as single intravenous infusion over 30 min. Serial blood samples and urine were collected for 13 days postadministration, and concentrations of teicoplanin were determined by microbiological assay. The pharmacokinetic data were analyzed by noncompartmental and compartmental analyses. Laboratory safety tests, audiometry, and serum creatinine clearance measurements were done prior to day 1 and on days 2 and 14. In the three groups, peak levels at the end of the infusion averaged 194, 197, and 253 mg/liter, respectively. Mean concentrations in plasma 24 h after the administration were 10.5, 13.6, and 19.8 mg/liter, respectively. Mean values of volume of distribution at steady state were 0.80, 0.87, and 0.87 liters/kg, respectively. Terminal half-lives averaged 88, 83, and 92 h. Mean total clearance values were 10.9, 11.0, and 11.3 mg/h/kg, respectively, with renal clearance accounting for 75, 81, and 78%, respectively, of the total. The 13-day cumulative mean urinary recovery ranged from 71 to 78% of the dose within the groups. The pharmacokinetics of teicoplanin appears to be linear in the range of administered doses. Teicoplanin was generally well tolerated. Side effects, appearing in five subjects, were represented by fevers, chills, and skin reactions; these adverse reactions were mild, but one episode of rash necessitated the interruption of infusion, and one episode of chills necessitated treatment with corticosteroids. There was no indication of drug-related modifications of laboratory test results.The pharmacokinetics of teicoplanin has been extensively investigated in numerous studies (17) carried out with both healthy volunteers and patients, with a range of doses from 2 to 6 mg/kg of body weight. In healthy volunteers, teicoplanin shows a triexponential plasma kinetic profile. Concentrations of around 70 mg/liter have been observed 5 min after the intravenous (i.v.) administration of 6 mg/kg (4, 5, 17). The apparent terminal half-life ranged in different studies from 34 to 163 h after a single dose, depending on the length of sampling (4-6, 13, 16-19, 21). A preliminary analysis of experience in the United States of the treatment of endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus, mainly in drug addicts, indicates that dosages of less than 12 mg/kg/ day did not approach the anticipated efficacy for this patient population, thus suggesting that the daily dose of teicoplanin for this specific condition would have to be increased. Since earlier studies on the tolerability of increasing doses of teicoplanin among normal volunteers did not include such a high dose, this study was carried out in order to obtain information on the tolerability and pharmacokinetics of teicoplanin among volunteers in a dose range of 15 to 25 mg/kg.(This work has been previously presented in part at the 29th Interscience Conference on Antim...