Objective: Otosclerosis is an underlying disease of the bony labyrinth. This disorder, occurring only within the area of a person’s temporal bone, is characterized by a progressive hearing loss and tinnitus. Material and Methods: The study looked for the answer to the question of whether the presence or absence of Carhart notch in the presurgical tonal audiogram affects the final outcome of the otosclerosis surgery. Results: The analysis included 140 patients operated on for the first time due to otosclerosis between 2010 and 2016. The study group consisted of 107 women aged from 19 to 62 (average age: 40.33) and 33 men aged 27 to 59 (average age: 38.23). Analysis showed a statistically better result of stapedotomy in patients without the notch than in the same procedure in patients with the notch present. The opposite situation occurred in the case of stapedectomy. Conclusion: (1) The presence of a refraction of the bone conduction curve with a depth of 10 to 20 dB at a frequency of 2000 Hz (the so-called Carhart notch) in the presurgical tonal audiogram is an unfavorable prognostic factor in relation to closing the cochlear reserve and improving bone conduction after the stapedotomy. (2) Regardless of the presence or absence of Carhart notch in the presurgical tonal audiogram, stapedotomy is the procedure with the highest efficiency in the treatment of otosclerosis.
Headaches are one of the most common pain syndromes experienced by adult patients. International Classification of Headache Disorders identifies about 300 different entities. Primary headaches (migraine, tension-type headache, trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, other primary headaches) has the common occurrence. Although effective treatment of these disorders is possible, it is inefficient or poorly tolerated in some patients. Neuromodulation methods, being element of multimodal treatment, provide an additional treatment option in pharmacotherapy-refractory patients. Both invasive and non-invasive stimulation methods are used. The non-invasive techniques is transcutaneous nerve stimulation using Cefaly device. In this study, Cefaly was used as prevention treatment in patients with pharmacotherapy-refractory headaches. This device is indicated for the prophylactic treatment of episodic primary headaches. A total of 91-patients (30 without and 61 with tSNS) were enrolled in the study, including 60-patients with migraine and 31-patients with other primary headaches. Ten courses of non-invasive peripheral (supraorbitral/supratrochlear) nerves stimulation were delivered to 57-patients; in the remaining 4 patients, the treatment was abandoned due to poor tolerance. Patients were observed for 30 days after stimulation treatment. Compared to the pre-treatment period, the reduction in the intensity of pain was observed in both the migraine group and patients with other types of headaches; this included the number of pain episodes being reduced by half, with simultaneous reduction in average pain intensity and duration of individual pain episodes. The subjective assessment of pain reduction was in the range of 40-47%. Based on our data we recommend tSNS as useful tool in the prophylaxis of primary headaches, including migraine.
We employ a modified atomic layer deposition process utilizing in-situ mixing of precursors to obtain doped hafnium oxide thin films with improved ferroelectric properties. The method is demonstrated with aluminum, silicon, and lanthanum doping, where film composition and crystal structure are analyzed. With the modified process, low dopant concentrations are shown to be accessible, and improved wafer-level uniformity of dopant concentration is demonstrated for Si and La doping. Characterization of the ferroelectric hysteresis confirms increased remanent polarization values with the modified process variant for all examined dopants. The switching density of the 10 nm thick films is analyzed by using first-order reversal curve measurements, where confined peaks are observed, which are an indication of low defect density and reduced internal bias fields. Emerging applications of doped hafnium oxide thin films such as nonvolatile memory, infrared sensors, or neuromorphic devices may benefit from the enhanced stoichiometry control and film properties by using the proposed deposition method.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.