The Effects of Utilizing Cartilage Conduction Hearing Aids among Patients with Conductive Hearing Loss.

The cartilage-conduction hearing aid (CC-HA) is a new hearing device that is suitable for use in patients with conductive hearing loss. It has been 5 years since the introduction of the CC-HA. Although the number of users has increased, the CC-HA is not yet widely known. This study examines the effects of CC-HA on patients with conductive hearing loss and investigates factors that affect the willingness to use the device by comparing purchasers and non-purchasers of CC-HA in patients with unilateral conductive hearing loss. Eight patients had bilateral conductive hearing loss, and 35 had unilateral conductive hearing loss. Each patient underwent sound field tests and speech audiometry, and the effects of the CC-HA were compared with those of conventional bone conduction hearing aids (BC-HA). In patients with bilateral conductive hearing loss, the CC-HA was non-inferior to BC-HA. The CC-HA improved the hearing thresholds and speech recognition in patients with unilateral conductive hearing loss. Moreover, in patients with unilateral conductive hearing loss, experiencing the effect of wearing the CC-HA under conditions such as putting noise in the better ear could affect patients' willingness to use the CC-HA.

Importance of "meal first" strategy and effective situations of supplement use in elite athletes: Japan high performance sport center position stand.

The "meal first" strategy is traditionally recommended for athletes' conditioning. However, the importance of the "meal first" principle has not been detailly well documented in athletes' lives. Supplement use has recently become a common part of athletes' diets, but unmonitored supplement use can cause negative consequences, such as anti-doping violations and health issues. Therefore, this review summarizes how the "meal first" strategy and planned supplement use are important for enhancing athletes' health and performance. We believe that the "meal first" strategy is beneficial in terms of the following aspects: (1) consumption of multi-nutrients and other functional components simultaneously; (2) positive effects on psychological well-being; (3) contribution to athletes' health by way of mastication; and (4) less risk for anti-doping violations. Before supplement use, we recommend that athletes first verify their basic factors (e.g., diet, training, and sleep), given that the benefits of supplements are examined and demonstrated with the control of those factors. Otherwise, athletes cannot obtain maximal benefits from the supplements. In contrast, there are situations in which supplements in athletes' lives can be advantageous, such as (1) nutrient deficiency due to ongoing dietary characteristics; (2) interruption of meals due to disease; (3) inaccessibility of quality food during athletic travel; (4) difficulty preparing food due to societal restrictions associated with disasters or infection outbreaks; (5) having a meal before, during, or after exercise is difficult; and (6) achieving targeted intake of performance-enhancing ingredients is not practical. In summary, we emphasize that the "meal first" strategy is recommended for athletes' conditioning, but there are several contexts when supplement use can be more useful in athletes' lives.

Telefitting of Nucleus Cochlear Implants: A Feasibility Study.

Purpose This study aims to describe the recommended equipment and procedures required for successful telefitting, based on our experience, document and evaluate patient satisfaction with telefitting, and assess its clinical usefulness and address the existing issues. Method Twenty (seven children and 13 adults) individuals who lived far from cochlear implant (CI) centers and who were Nucleus CI users underwent conventional face-to-face fitting and telefitting. We examined the participants' subjective satisfaction and cost and time saved with the telefitting experience. Results The telefitting sessions lasted for an average of 16 min. Majority of the participants responded positively to the telefitting experience. Eighty percent (16/20) of the participants were satisfied with the new procedure, and 85% of them agreed to use telefitting again. Conclusions The results of our feasibility study suggest that telefitting was well received by CI users and is a viable alternative to local MAPping, even in young children with CIs. Although there are some limitations in terms of adaptability, telefitting could be an effective means of delivering CI service to remote locations.

Comparison of Site-Specific Bone Mineral Densities between Endurance Runners and Sprinters in Adolescent Women.

We aimed to compare site-specific bone mineral densities (BMDs) between adolescent endurance runners and sprinters and examine the relationship of fat-free mass (FFM) and nutrient intake on BMD. In this cross-sectional study, 37 adolescent female endurance runners and sprinters (16.1 ± 0.8 years) were recruited. BMD and FFM were assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Nutrient intake and menstrual state were evaluated by questionnaires. After adjusting for covariates, spine and total bone less head (TBLH) BMDs were significantly higher in sprinters than endurance runners (TBLH, 1.02 ± 0.05 vs. 0.98 ± 0.06 g/cm²; spine, 0.99 ± 0.06 vs. 0.94 ± 0.06 g/cm²; p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between groups in other sites. The rate of menstrual abnormality was higher in endurance runners compared with sprinters (56.3% vs. 23.8%; p < 0.05). FFM was a significant covariate for BMD on all sites except the spine (p < 0.05). Dietary intake of vitamin D was identified as a significant covariate only for pelvic BMD (p < 0.05). The BMDs of different sites among endurance runners and sprinters were strongly related to FFM. However, the association of FFM with spine BMD cannot be explained by FFM alone. Other factors, including nutrition and/or mechanical loading, may affect the spine BMD.

Outcomes of visually impaired patients who received cochlear implantations.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with multiple sensory deficits, including hearing loss and visual impairment, present a unique problem. We evaluated the clinical outcomes of cochlear implantation in patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss and visual impairment. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed eight patients with severe sensorineural hearing loss and visual impairment who underwent cochlear implantation at our institution between 1993 and 2014. The follow-up period was between 2 and 20 years. We evaluated the case histories, etiologies of hearing loss and visual impairment, pre- and postoperative pure-tone thresholds, speech perception rates after CI using the Japanese CD speech discrimination scoring system (CI-2004 test) for words and sentences, and pre- and postoperative communication means. Postoperative speech discrimination scores were compared between patients with and without visual impairment who underwent cochlear implantation. RESULTS: The outcomes of cochlear implantation were good in all patients, with seven showing the ability to hold a conversation with others. The average proportion of correct answers for words and sentences in the CI-2004 test was 72.3 ± 19.1% and 86.0 ± 16.1%, respectively, for the patients with visual impairment and 62.1 ± 21.7% and 78.5 ± 20.9%, respectively, for those without visual impairment (based on auditory senses only). There were no significant differences in results between the patients with and without visual impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Cochlear implantation is important for the rehabilitation of patients with severe auditory loss and visual impairment. Medical staff members require additional skills to perform auditory evaluations and rehabilitate patients with multiple sensory deficits.