BACKGROUND This report compares the different surgical methods for large and pneumatized mastoid cavity (large cavity) and small and poorly pneumatized mastoid cavity (small cavity) cholesteatomas and their results for the facial nerve and mastoid cavity. METHODS In the period from January 1996 to December 2000, 101 ears with cholesteatomas underwent tympanoplasty with mastoidectomy. In the l...

BACKGROUND The treatment of levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease (PD) is an unmet need with no approved drug therapy. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of 274 mg ADS-5102 (amantadine) extended-release capsules (equivalent to 340-mg amantadine HCl) for levodopa-induced dyskinesia in a randomized controlled trial. METHODS PD patients ...

BACKGROUND The selective class III antiarrhythmic agent ibutilide prolongs action potential duration and terminates atrial flutter (AFL) and fibrillation (AF), but the mechanism of its antiarrhythmic efficacy in humans has not been fully characterized. This study compared the antiarrhythmic effects of ibutilide with the class IA agent procainamide in humans during AFL and AF. Antiarrhythmic dru...

BACKGROUND The English National Training Programme for Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery introduced a validated objective competency assessment tool to accredit surgeons before independent practice. The aim of this study was to determine whether this technical skills assessment predicted clinical outcomes. METHODS Established consultants, training in laparoscopic colorectal surgery, were asked ...

Exercise training improves cardiovascular disease risk, but individual responses are highly variable. We hypothesized that common polymorphic gene variations would affect these responses. Sedentary obese hypertensive older men who had undergone exercise training were typed at the apolipoprotein (apo) E, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) loci. Individuals of all g...

BACKGROUND Rodenticide poisoning remains a major public health problem in Asian countries. Nevertheless, very few data are available in world literature regarding the outcomes of these patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical outcomes of rodenticide poisonings in our hospital and to compare these data with published reports from other international poison c...