The efficacy and safety of once-daily mometasone furoate nasal spray in nasal polyposis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

CONCLUSION: In subjects with mild-to-moderate nasal polyposis, treatment with mometasone furoate nasal spray (MFNS) 200 microg once daily (QD) significantly decreases nasal congestion, reduces polyp size, and improves quality of life. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of MFNS, administered QD in the morning, in subjects with mild-to-moderate nasal polyposis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled clinical trial enrolled subjects with mild-to-moderate nasal polyposis at 12 centers in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Inclusion criteria were: age > or = 18 years, a diagnosis of bilateral nasal polyps, and clinically significant nasal congestion. Following a 2-4-week run-in period, subjects were randomized to receive MFNS 200 microg QD or matching placebo for 16 weeks. RESULTS: A total of 298 subjects were randomized to treatment. Of those subjects included in the intent-to-treat efficacy analysis (n = 291), a statistically greater proportion of the MFNS group than the placebo group had improvements in investigator-assessed nasal congestion score between baseline and end point (the primary outcome) (74.3% vs 46.8%; p < 0.001). Significant benefits of MFNS were also seen for secondary end points, including polyp size, sense of smell, peak nasal inspiratory flow, therapeutic improvement, and quality-of-life measures. MFNS was well tolerated, with no unusual or unexpected adverse events.

Stability of memory traces for speech sounds in cochlear implant patients.

For this study, we examined the perception and production of vowels by postlingually deafened patients with cochlear implant. Four patients and one normally hearing subject produced typical vowel sounds of Finnish by using a speech synthesizer. Also acoustic analyses of the pronounced vowels were made. The first (F1) and the second (F2) formant frequencies were measured. The mismatch negativity (MMN), a cortical cognitive auditory event related potential, was used to measure objectively the patients' preattentive discrimination of a prototypical /i/ sound from deviants differing in the F2 continuum. In the phonetic tests the hyperspace effect was seen also among the patients. The MMN, which reflects the phonetic discrimination ability, could be identified from the patient with the best vowel perception abilities. The phonetic memory traces once developed for vowels seem to remain quite stable even though they have not been activated by vowel information for years.