Fluroide concentrations in teeth from the canton of Vaud were about at the same level reported from regions with 1,0 ppm F in the drinking water and from children receiving fluoride tablets during tooth formation age.

Administration, Oral↗

PubMedDate not supplied

MR compatibility of Med EL cochlear implants: clinical testing at 1.0 T.

PURPOSE: Our aim was to evaluate the MR compatibility of Med EL cochlear implants by performing in vitro and in vivo tests. METHOD: All experiments were done on a 1.0 T machine. Potential movement of the cochlear electrode relative to a scale was recorded. Potential dislodgment of the magnetic receiver coil was evaluated with the coil fixed to the retroauricular skin of a volunteer. Temperature changes were measured with temperature sensors fixed to the electrode, performing standard MR sequences. In 11 patients, MRI of the brain was performed 1 day before explantation of the devices using standard MR sequences. Testing of the auditory abilities was done before and after the examination. All explanted devices were assessed for function. RESULTS: There was no detectable movement of the electrode or the receiver coil nor any temperature change. There were no adverse events for the patients. All 11 explanted cochlear implants retained their function. CONCLUSION: Med EL cochlear implants are not a firm contraindication for MRI.

Artifacts↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of the TEMPO+ ear-level speech processor and the cis pro+ body-worn processor in adult MED-EL cochlear implant users.

A study was conducted to compare the new MED-EL TEMPO+ ear-level speech processor with the CIS PRO+ body-worn processor in the COMBI 40/COMBI 40+ implant system. Speech tests were performed in 46 experienced subjects in two test sessions approximately 4 weeks apart. Subjects were switched over from the CIS PRO+ to the TEMPO+ in the first session and used only the TEMPO+ in the time between the two sessions. Speech tests included monosyllabic word tests and sentence tests via the telephone. An adaptive noise method was used to adjust each subject's scores to approximately 50%. Additionally, subjects had to complete a questionnaire based on their 4 weeks of experience with the TEMPO+. The speech test results showed a statistically significant improvement in the monosyllabic word scores with the TEMPO+. In addition, in the second session, subjects showed a significant improvement when using the telephone with the TEMPO+, indicating some learning in this task. In the questionnaire, the vast majority of subjects found that the TEMPO+ allows equal or better speech understanding and rated the sound quality of the TEMPO+ higher. All these objective and subjective results indicate the superiority of the TEMPO+ and are mainly attributed to a new coding strategy called CIS+ and its implementation in the TEMPO+. In other words, based on the results of this study, it appears that after switching over from the CIS PRO+ to the TEMPO+, subjects are able to maintain or even improve their own speech understanding capability.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Speech understanding in quiet and in noise with the CIS speech coding strategy (MED-EL Combi-40) compared to the multipeak and spectral peak strategies (nucleus).

This study compares sentence understanding in quiet and in noise with 3 different speech coding strategies for cochlear implants. The results show that the spectral-peak (SPEAK) and continuous-interleaved-sampling (CIS) coding strategies, based on spectral signal analysis, allow for better speech understanding in quiet as well as in noise, than the multipeak (MPEAK) coding strategy, which relys on speech feature extraction. In the intrasubject comparison of the MPEAK and SPEAK strategies, the SPEAK coding strategy provided a considerable improvement in quiet and in noise for the majority of patients using the Nucleus 22 Mini-implant. In the intersubject comparisons, the mean results in noise with the CIS strategy were superior to both the MPEAK and the SPEAK strategies. The difference was greatest for the most difficult tests in noise. Understanding in noise was least reduced for the CIS strategy. Understanding in quiet was not significantly different between the CIS and the SPEAK strategies; both strategies were significantly better than the MPEAK strategy in quiet. These results are still preliminary, due to the relatively small number of patients and the great inherent intersubject variability of results.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of performance with the COMBI40 cochlear implant in adults: a multicentric clinical study.

The present multicentric clinical study involves 19 centres, 16 of them in German-speaking countries, 1 British, 1 Polish and 1 Hungarian. 60 postlingually deafened adults with a mean age of 47.5 years (20-70) and mean duration of deafness of 5.3 years (0.5-20) have been evaluated with the MED-EL COMBI 40 cochlear implant which implements a high-rate continuous-interleaved-sampling strategy with 8 channels. Safety and effectiveness data have been collected. Speech perception tests include a 16-consonant, an 8-vowel, a sentence and a monosyllabic-word test in all languages and a 2-digit figure test in all languages but English. Test intervals are 1, 3, 6 months and 1 year after first fitting. 41 of the 60 postlingually deafened adult study patients have completed their 6-month evaluation. While their pre-operative monosyllabic-word score was 0%, their mean monosyllabic-word score 6 months after first fitting was 48% (8-90) with a median of 50%. The mean sentence understanding was 84% (24-100) with a median of 90%. The respective values for the 1-year evaluations with 25 patients are a mean of 50% (5-85), with a median of 60% for the monosyllables and a mean of 89% (30-100), with a median of 97%, for the sentences.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Detection of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (M. p.) by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and culture experiments in animals in Austria].

The polymerase chain reaction and cultural method was applied to detect Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (M. p.) in fecal samples of 165 suspected and of 35 diseased cattle, 18 intestinal tissues and 14 lymph nodes of diseased ruminants as well as organ material (n = 10) were also tested. An agreement (+/+, -/-) in the results between both methods was found in 89.7% of all cases examined. 12.7% of samples of suspected and 9.1% of diseased animals were only positive by PCR. In cases of intestinal lymph node and tissue as well as udder tissue of diseased cattle a total agreement between PCR and culture was observed. Lymph node of lung of one diseased cow was positive only in PCR.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Resistance patterns of ovine mastitis pathogens].

For control of the udder health status of milk sheep the minimal inhibitory concentration of mastitis causing pathogens to 12 different chemotherapeutics was determined by means of Sensititre microplate method. 73 staphylococci- and 8 streptococci-strains was examined. Following staphylococci-strains were found: S. aureus (11), S. epidermidis (34), S. chromogenes and S. xylosus (6 each), S. hyicus and S. warneri (each 5) as well as S. sciuri and S. simulans (3 each). MIC-values to penicillin, amoxycillin and ampicillin of 2 penicillinase-positive S. aureus-strains were more than 4.0 micrograms/ml. The remaining isolates and the major part of coagulase-negative staphylococci displayed MIC-values up to 1.0 microgram/ml to beta-lactamantibiotics except cloxacillin. Against cephalosporines, cephalexin excluded, and aminoglycosides very low MIC-values concerning staphylococci were observed. In case of spiramycin MIC-levels more or less than 8.0 micrograms/ml were determined. Streptococci exhibited MIC-values in the range of 0.06 to 0.5 microgram/ml against beta-lactamantibiotics with exclusion of cloxacillin, cefoperazone and cefquinome and spiramycin as well.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Factors influencing the content of urea in the milk of ewes].

In total records of 363 East Friesian breed of sheep and 15 Lacaunes from 15 flocks located in Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Styria were available to investigate the influences on milk urea content. In one flock different groups of ewes were fed with low, medium and high amounts of energy and protein, but constant protein and energy ratio. The milk urea levels exhibited to statistically significant differences but the tendency of the feeding effect could be confirmed. Additional parameters influencing the urea content of milk of ewes are: herd specific factors, stage of lactation, mastitis, preservation and different analytical methods. The content of urea in milk is not suitable for assessment of the energy/protein-ratio of ewes with mastitis problems. Due to the special composition of sheep milk it is important to take account of the analytical method for determination of urea. Thus milk urea of one flock should be evaluated but not of individual sheep. In spite of these influence factors the determination of milk urea is a valuable tool for assessment of the energy and protein intake.

Animals↗