OBJECTIVE Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant neurocutaneous disorder, which occurs in about one in 3000-4000 people. Its hallmark features include multiple café-au-lait spots and neurofibromas. Voice characteristics of NF1 patients have been documented using both subjective and objective evaluations. However, the relative impact of these voice characteristics on daily activ...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to assess the equivalence of translations of the Voice Handicap Index (VHI). PATIENTS AND METHODS Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess equivalence of the US version and several translations including (1) Dutch, (2) Flemish Dutch (Belgium), (3) UK English, (4) French, (5) German, (6) Italian, (7) Portuguese and (8) Swedish. VHI questionnaires were gathered from 1,...

OBJECTIVES This study aims to evaluate our injection laryngoplasty experience in patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis. PATIENTS AND METHODS Sixty-eight patients (32 males, 36 females; mean age 59.5 years; range 27 to 86 years) who were diagnosed with unilateral vocal fold paralysis at our clinic and who underwent injection laryngoplasty using calcium hydroxylapatite between January 2...

There is accumulating evidence of condition-dependent mate choice in many species, that is, individual preferences varying in strength according to the condition of the chooser. In humans, for example, people with more attractive faces/bodies, and who are higher in sociosexuality, exhibit stronger preferences for attractive traits in opposite-sex faces/bodies. However, previous studies have ten...

BACKGROUND The growth of the private health insurance sector in Western countries, which is characterized by information deficiencies and limited competition, necessitates the implementation of effective regulatory tools. One measure which is widely used is the medical loss ratio (MLR). Our objective was to analyze how MLR is applied as a regulatory measure in the Israeli voluntary health insur...

Three studies (1,3,5) followed the tendon and nerve gliding exercise protocol described by Totten and Hunter (6), one study utilized only the nerve gliding exercises (4), and another study utilized modifications of the tendon gliding exercises (2). Patients with severe thenar atrophy were excluded in all cases, though only two studies specifically stated inclusion criteria of intermediate stage...

BACKGROUND Manual hyperinflation (MHI) and ventilator hyperinflation (VHI) are two methods of recruitment maneuvers used in ventilated patients to improve lung compliance and secretion mobilization. The use of VHI may minimize the adverse effects of disconnection from the ventilator, but it is uncertain whether high levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) would decrease the peak expir...