BackgroundTobacco use and unhealthy lifestyle habits amongst youth contribute to most major health issues in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and worldwide. However up to date and comprehensive statistics are not available on the current behavior, experimentation and environmental influences on teenagers in the UAE’s expatriate community, who are greatly impacted by the country’s culture and environment, as well as bringing influences from their cultures of origin. Expatriates comprise a majority of the UAE population, making them an important subset of the population to study.MethodTo address this gap in knowledge, a survey was conducted to collect information on tobacco use, physical activity and nutrition behaviors, anti-tobacco media/legislation effectiveness and health education gaps.ResultsOur results provide a summary on each of these topics with regards to ninth grade expatriates in the UAE. We offer the first statistics on dokha use in this age group and uncover signs of underlying eating disorders.ConclusionsIn conclusion, we call for a tobacco use, nutrition and physical activity intervention targeted at this age group of UAE expatriates.

No abstract

No abstract

Objective: To assess bimodal auditory performance in children with a cochlear implant (CI) and contralateral auditory brainstem implant (ABI). Methods: This is a retrospective case review performed at a tertiary referral center. Four patients with cochlear nerve deficiency initially underwent cochlear implantation but were not benefiting from their devices and underwent ABI in the contralateral ear. The main outcome measures included age-appropriate speech perception and production assessments. Results: Three subjects performed better on their auditory perception assessments using both of their devices than with either device alone. One subject had only preliminary outcomes, but subjectively performed best with both devices. Conclusions: We observed continued improvement in CI performance over time, even if no benefit was evident before the decision for ABI. This could suggest that ABI and CI have a synergistic effect, or it could simply be the adaptive ability of the developing brain to utilize the signals coming from these devices. There is preliminary evidence to support choosing the ear contralateral to the CI for an ABI in a pediatric patient with bilateral cochlear nerve deficiency.

No abstract