Cochlear Implant Outcomes in the Chinese-Speaking Adult Population: A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to perform a systematic review of speech perception outcomes in the Chinese-speaking adult cochlear implant (CI) population. DATABASES REVIEWED: PubMed, EMbase, and Scopus. METHODS: A comprehensive English literature search was performed with MeSH search terms, keywords, and phrases. Literature written in a language other than English was not included. Full-text articles were screened by two blinded reviewers and adjudicated by a third. Relevant outcomes and demographic data were extracted. Qualitative summaries were performed of the demographics and assessment tools. Speech perception outcomes were assessed with quantitative measures. RESULTS: Forty-four studies (n = 467) notable for marked heterogeneity in speech perception assessment utilized and reporting of relevant patient demographics were included. Mean duration of deafness among studies reporting this metric was 10.27 years (range, 0.08-49; SD, 7.70; n = 250), with 80% of subjects reporting >5 years' duration of deafness and only 19 subjects (7.6%) with <1 year of deafness preimplantation. A summary of the most commonly used assessments is provided. CONCLUSION: Within the English-language literature, there is marked heterogeneity and lack of standardization regarding speech perception outcomes, tests utilized, and reported patient demographics in the Chinese-speaking adult CI population. Most Chinese-speaking CI users for whom data were available had prolonged duration of deafness before implantation. This study may serve as an initial reference for providers counseling Chinese-language CI candidates and who may be interested in adopting these tests, while highlighting the need for continued efforts to measure speech perception outcomes after CI for tonal language speakers.

Sequential Separation of Iodine Species in Nitric Acid Media for Speciation Analysis of 129I in a PUREX Process of Spent Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing.

For efficient and accurate speciation analysis of 129I in the nitric acid solution of spent nuclear fuel in its reprocessing process, a sequential procedure for stepwise separation of different iodine species in 3 mol/L HNO3 was proposed based on the solvent extraction using CCl4 and mesitylene. Molecular iodine (I2) was first separated by solvent extraction using CCl4, and iodide (I-) remaining in the aqueous phase was oxidized to I2 by adding NaNO2 and then extracted to mesitylene. Finally, iodate (IO3-) was reduced to I2 using NH2OH·HCl and extracted to mesitylene. The separation efficiency of 98-99% for tracer amounts of 129I2, 129I-, and 129IO3- in 3 mol/L HNO3 and less than 2% crossover among different iodine species were achieved. The extraction process and mechanism of different iodine species in CCl4 and mesitylene were investigated, and the problem of crossover of different iodine species due to the low extraction efficiency of low concentration of iodine in nitric acid solution was solved. A direct transfer of IO3- from HNO3 to the mesitylene phase without conversion to I2 was observed, which was attributed to the iodination of mesitylene in the HNO3 medium. Addition of a stable iodine species carrier and repeated extraction significantly improved the separation efficiency of iodine species, making their quantitative separation achievable. This method provides an approach for speciation analysis of 129I in the acidic spent nuclear fuel solution, enabling us to investigate and control the behavior of volatile 129I in the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing process.

Enhanced removal of radioactive iodine anions from wastewater using modified bentonite: Experimental and theoretical study.

Efficient and cost-effective removal of radioactive iodine anions from contaminated water has become a crucial task and a great challenge for waste treatment and environmental remediation. Herein, we present hexadecylpyridinium chloride monohydrate modified bentonite (HDPy-bent) for the efficient and selective removal of iodine anions (I- and IO3-) from contaminated water. Batch experiments showed that HDPy-bent could remove more than 95% of I- and IO3- within 10 min, and had maximum I- and IO3- adsorption capacities of 80.0 and 50.2 mg/g, respectively. Competitive experiments indicated that HDPy-bent exhibited excellent I- and IO3- selectivity in the excessive presence of common concomitant anions including PO43-, SO42-, HCO3-, NO3-, Cl- (maximum mole ratio of anions vs iodine anions was ∼50,000). An anion exchange mechanism was proposed for the selective adsorption of iodine anions. Optimal adsorption structure of HDPy+/I- (IO3-) at atomic level and driving forces of the I- (IO3-) adsorption were calculated by density functional theory (DFT) simulations. Moreover, the good durability and reusability of the HDPy-bent has been demonstrated with 5 adsorption-desorption cycles. Dynamic column experiment also demonstrated that HDPy-bent exhibited excellent removal and fractional recovery capabilities towards I- and IO3- from simulated groundwater and environmental water samples. In conclusion, this work presents a promising adsorbent material for the decontamination of radioactive iodine anions from wastewater on a large scale.