Olfactory function in children is most commonly evaluated using the odour identification test despite the fact that it is difficult to properly name odorants for young children. The goal of this ...study was to evaluate the pleasantness rating of odorants by children. The participants were 182 healthy children: the first group included 63 girls and 59 boys (aged 6–7) and the second included 31 girls and 29 boys (aged 11–12). We assessed olfaction using (1) standard method of odorant identification using a U-Sniff test and (2) classifying the hedonic tone of the odorants into 5 categories. The identification test’s median differed in younger and older groups of children; the median was 8 and 10 respectively (
p
< 0.01). The unpleasant hedonic tones were butter, fish and onion. The pleasant hedonic tones were apple, orange and peach. The younger usually categorised hedonic tones as pleasant, compared with the older children, who categorised the odorant’s hedonic tones more often as neutral (
p
< 0.01).
Conclusion
: This study demonstrated that older children are able to identify odours better than younger ones. The categorisation of hedonic tones differed depending on the subject’s age. The younger children tended to categorise odorants as being pleasant and older children as neutral.
What is Known:
• The test of odour identification is the most popular because it is reliable, practical, rapid and commercially available.
• The ability to identify odours improves with age in children.
What is New:
• The categorisation of hedonic tones differs depending on age. The older children categorise odorants as being neutral significantly more often than younger children do.
Cervical mucus (CM) is a viscous fluid that is produced by the cervical glands and functions as a uterine cervix plug. Its viscosity decreases during ovulation, providing a window for non-invasive ...sampling. This study focuses on proteomic characterization of CM to evaluate its potential as a non-invasively acquired source of biomarkers and in understanding of molecular (patho)physiology of the female genital tract. The first objective of this work was to optimize experimental workflow for CM processing and the second was to assess differences in the proteomic composition of CM during natural ovulatory cycles obtained from intrauterine insemination (IUI) cycles and in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles with controlled ovarian hyperstimulation. Proteomic analysis of CM samples revealed 4370 proteins involved in processes including neutrophil degranulation, cellular stress responses, and hemostasis. Differential expression analysis revealed 199 proteins enriched in IUI samples and 422 enriched in IVF. The proteins enriched in IUI were involved in phosphatidic acid synthesis, responses to external stimulus, and neutrophil degranulation, while those enriched in IVF samples were linked to neutrophil degranulation, formation of a cornified envelope and hemostasis. Subsequent analyses clarified the protein composition of the CM and how it is altered by hormonal stimulation of the uterus.
The gold standard for treating obstructive sleep apnea in adults is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). However, it can be difficult to convince patients to adhere to this therapy. The aim of ...this study was to determine the relationship between nasal endoscopy findings/nose patency and CPAP adherence.
A cohort of 450 consecutive patients suspected of having OSA were prospectively enrolled. For further analyses, 47 OSA patients undergoing CPAP treatment were selected (13 females and 34 males, average age, 65.3 years, BMI 34.1, apnea-hypopnea index. AHI 51.0). The patients were divided into two groups: patients with good CPAP adherence (
= 35) and patients who did not adhere to CPAP therapy (
= 12). The influence of nasal endoscopy and flow measurement on CPAP adherence was explored.
We found a statistical independence between adherence to CPAP and AHI (
= 0.124), T90 (
= 0.502), endoscopic findings (
= 0.588) and nasal patency measured by a flowmeter (
= 0.498).
In our studied sample, endoscopic findings and nasal patency measured by a flowmeter were not predictors of CPAP non-adherence in the first year of the treatment. Our data show that while an endoscopic finding in the nasal cavity could indicate that a patient has a severe obstruction, compliance with CPAP therapy is not reduced in these patients and neither is it reduced with a decrease in nasal flow, according to our observation.
The article deals with lightweight concrete with non-conventional reinforcement and its application in thin-walled structures. As part of experimental research, several sets of thin-walled slab and ...complementary specimen were made to determine the material characteristics of lightweight concrete. The porous aggregate Liapor was used in the recipe. Two-dimensional carbon and 3D glass textiles were used as reinforcement. The impact study of different casting technologies and recipe on the material characteristics of lightweight concrete was included in the research. Fresh concrete for the slab production was placed in special wooden molds. The slabs were concreted in vertical and horizontal position. The casting method has a significant impact on the element material characteristics. Reinforced specimens have shown high strength, even in thin-walled structures with low bulk density.
The paper describes the differences in several test methods, which are used for tensile strength analysis of cementitious composites. It explains tests arrangement, their benefits and disadvantages. ...The conversion factors between detected strengths were quantified in experiments, depending on the particular composition of the composite.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of 3 different commercially available extenders – AndroMed® (soy lecithin-based), Optidyl® (with the addition of ionized egg yolk), and BULLXcell® ...(with the addition of fresh egg yolk) – on bull spermatozoa quality, which was evaluated using the parameters of spermatozoa motility, viability, plasma membrane damage, acrosome damage, and mitochondrial activity after thawing and during a 2 h long thermoresistance test. The spermatozoa quality indicators were appraised by computer-assisted semen analysis and a flow cytometer. Significant differences (
P
< 0.01) between bulls were registered in all indicators measured. The highest average values of spermatozoa total motility and viability were achieved using BULLXcell® extender (44.33%; 52.06%). Variances in comparing this extender with Optidyl® and AndroMed® were −0.83%, −2.64%; −8.33%, −9.51%. The differences found between the egg yolk-based diluents (BULLXcell® and Optidyl®) and AndroMed® were significant (
P
< 0.01). Therefore, the more valuable extenders for bull semen dilution were egg yolk-based extenders, which provided higher post-thaw spermatozoa survival and quality than the soy lecithin-based extender.
Objectives
Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is common and carries significant personal and societal burden. Accurate assessment is necessary for good clinical and research practice but is highly dependent ...on the assessment technique used. Current practice with regards to UK/international clinical assessment is unknown. We aimed to capture current clinical practice, with reference to contemporaneously available guidelines. We further aimed to compare UK to international practice.
Design
Anonymous online questionnaire with cross‐sectional non‐probability sampling. Subgroup analysis according to subspeciality training in rhinology (‘rhinologists’ and ‘non‐rhinologists’) was performed, with geographical comparisons only made according to subgroup.
Participants
ENT surgeons who assess olfaction.
Results
Responses were received from 465 clinicians (217 from UK and 17 countries total). Country‐specific response rate varied, with the lowest rate being obtained from Japan (1.4%) and highest from Greece (72.5%). Most UK clinicians do not perform psychophysical smell testing during any of the presented clinical scenarios—though rhinologists did so more often than non‐rhinologists. The most frequent barriers to testing related to service provision (e.g., time/funding limitations). Whilst there was variability in practice, in general, international respondents performed psychophysical testing more frequently than those from the UK. Approximately 3/4 of all respondents said they would like to receive training in psychophysical smell testing. Patient reported outcome measures were infrequently used in the UK/internationally. More UK respondents performed diagnostic MRI scanning than international respondents.
Conclusions
To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive UK‐based, and only international survey of clinical practice in the assessment of OD. We present recommendations to improve practice, including increased education and funding for psychophysical smell testing. We hope this will promote accurate and reliable olfactory assessment, as is the accepted standard in other sensory systems.
Summary Introduction: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the ability of a whisper hearing test together with an examination of transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAE) to detect a hearing ...loss at the first contact with an adult patient with the indicated hearing impairment. This can be helpful in situations when a threshold pure tone audiometry cannot be performed. Methodology: We included a group of patients who were examined simultaneously with a classical whisper hearing test, TEOAE and a pure tone audiometry at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery of the Pardubice Hospital. Sixty-two patients with a hearing impairment and 14 healthy subjects were tested. Results: A sensitivity of the whisper hearing test alone was 85% and that of TEOAE was 71%. The sensitivity increased to 94%, when both of them were used. At the same time, a relatively high specificity (75%) of the examination was present. Using the whisper hearing test and TEOAE, we did not detect 3.3% of patients with hearing loss detected by pure tone audiometry. Conclusion: In the situation when no pure tone audiometry is available a combination of the whisper hearing test and TEOAE may be used to detect a hearing loss. The combination of these two methods can be considered for a recently much-discussed screening for hearing impairment in the elderly. Key words whisper hearing test – transient evoked otoacoustic emissions – TEOAE – hearing loss – screening
The electrical resistivity is an important parameter describing materials’ ability to conduct electric current. Dry cementitious materials exhibit very high value of the electrical resistivity due to ...their insulating nature. Indeed, the electrical resistivity of an oven-dried concrete is about 109Ω m. However, it can be significantly decreased by a sufficient amount of electrically conductive admixture. Such an enhancement is beneficial in self-sensing or self-heating concrete design, but it is not convenient in special cases such as design of concrete used for railroad ties production. In this case, mechanical properties (tensile strength) need to be improved without an accompanying decrease of the electrical resistivity. In this paper, reference concrete together with three types of steel-fibre reinforced concrete (0.5% vol., 1% vol., 2% vol.) were prepared and analyzed in terms of determination of electric properties. Experiments were carried out in both, DC and AC electric regime by means of precise DC multimeter and LCR meter measurements.
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