To improve the hearing results associated with tympanoplasty, we performed the operation in 113 cases (124 ears) using ossicular replacement prostheses made of titanium. The results demonstrated that among all the operated ears, 115 of 124 (92.7%) had a hearing gain of more than 10 dB. The average improvement of pure-tone hearing was 24.6 dB, and the average reduction of the air-bone gap was 23.2 dB. No rejection reaction or recurrent cholesteatoma was found. This operative technique, based on animal experiments and applied anatomic study of the suprastapedial structure in human beings, has had a good rate of success and has resulted in remarkable hearing improvement of a relatively large magnitude. The application of a new material-titanium-which has high biocompatibility with human body tissues, is in large measure the reason for this success. The ossicular replacement prosthesis was appropriately designed and manufactured. It fit well, could be tightly joined to the suprastapedial structure, and was difficult to displace. We also adopted the method of enlarging the tympanic isthmus, which led to good aeration of the mastoid and attic, resulting in the best state of mobility of the tympanic membrane. All these factors contributed to the effective hearing gain.
Direction parameter θ is one of the important parameters of GLCM (gray level co-occurrence matrix). A fixed angle (such as θ=45°) or the average of the measurements in four direction (θ=0°,45°,90°,135°) were usually used in calculating GLCM. However, these methods are just empiristic idea, lacking of theoretical support. In fact, the above-mentioned idea are usually failed to describe the image texture, especially for those texture images with strong directional characteristics. In this paper we propose a new method of choosing the main direction of texture image by calculating the correlation of GLCMs of different direction. Through selecting the texture characteristics value of main direction, combine with the average of the measurements in other three directions, a set of characteristics which includes more texture information and rotation invariance were extracted. The experiments on Brodatz and Outex texture database show that the characteristic set we selected is more discriminate and more accurate.
Background Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments are growing in popularity as alternative treatments for common skin conditions. Objectives To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the tolerability and treatment response to CAM treatments in acne, atopic dermatitis (AD), and psoriasis. Methods PubMed/Medline and Embase databases were searched to identify eligible studies measuring the effects of CAM in acne, AD, and psoriasis. Effect size with 95% confidence interval (CI) was estimated using the random-effect model. Results The search yielded 417 articles; 40 studies met the inclusion criteria. The quantitative results of CAM treatment showed a standard mean difference (SMD) of 3.78 (95% CI [−0.01, 7.57]) and 0.58 (95% CI [−6.99, 8.15]) in the acne total lesion count, a SMD of −0.70 (95% CI [−1.19, −0.21]) in the eczema area and severity index score and a SMD of 0.94 (95% CI [−0.83, 2.71]) in the scoring of atopic dermatitis score for AD, and a SMD of 3.04 (95% CI [−0.35, 6.43]) and 5.16 (95% CI [−0.52, 10.85]) in the Psoriasis Area Severity Index score for psoriasis. Limitations Differences between the study designs, sample sizes, outcome measures, and treatment durations limit the generalizability of data. Conclusions Based on our quantitative findings we conclude that there is insufficient evidence to support the efficacy and the recommendation of CAM for acne, AD, and psoriasis.
As the climate changed in recent years, an increase in summer indoor temperatures in severe cold and cold regions of China has started to affect thermal comfort. However, the local design standard for energy efficiency does not recognize this phenomenon. This paper reports the potential overheating phenomenon in residential buildings and examines the rationale for the current thermal designs adopted in severe cold and cold regions of China. In this study, the two most commonly used building materials, reinforced concrete (RC) and cross laminated timber (CLT), are used separately in the design of an 18-story residential building envelope located in six different cities in the severe cold and cold regions. The energy consumption and indoor operative temperatures during the operation of these buildings are simulated using Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IES VE). The results demonstrate that both the RC and the CLT buildings experience varying degrees of overheating in any climate subregion. The CLT buildings have longer overheating hours compared to the RC buildings, especially in the cold regions. The results also indicate that for apartments on higher stories, the cooling energy consumption and indoor temperature also increase gradually. The research results suggest that the local design standard for energy efficiency needs to be adjusted by adding thermal design methods for summer to reduce the periods of overheating.
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