Volume 13 Issue 2 (2023)

Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer who started his career as the front man of The Four Seasons. This pop group became one of the biggest pop acts of the 1960s. Valli is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice. In the late 1960s, he developed otosclerosis. The hearing loss got so bad that Frankie could not hear himself on stage. He toured the national rounds of hearing specialists. And over and over again, he was told, “Can’t help”. The success of his group suffered. Finally, stapes surgery was performed, and this restored his hearing and brought the singer back to entertain us for a lifetime! Frankie Valli is now 89 and still touring!

Background: The aim of the study was to determine which steroids effectively treat idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL).

Methods: Records of patients who were followed up for ISSNHL diagnosis between 2014 and 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. The efficacy of different steroids (systemic, intratympanic, and systemic+intratympanic) in the treatment of ISSNHL was evaluated. Eighty-nine patients diagnosed with ISSNHL were included in the study. In addition to steroid treatment, all groups received standard treatment. It was observed that 43 patients received steroid treatment orally, 17 received intratympanic, and the remaining 23 received combination treatment. The recovery was evaluated according to the modified Siegel’s criteria.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 50.2 ± 14.7 years; 60% (n=53) were male, and 40% (n=36) were female. The median values of pure tone averages before treatment were 43.41 ± 17.92 dB, 53.9 ± 14.70 dB, and 51.86 ± 12.76 dB in the systemic steroid, intratympanic steroid, and combined treatment groups, respectively. After treatment, hearing levels improved by 22.62 ± 15.87 dB, 38.4 ± 18.83 dB, and 34.26 ± 17.98 dB, respectively. The treatment efficacy of the groups was statistically significant in terms of pure tone averages (P < .05). The improvement rate with systemic treatment was 4.25 times higher than that of intratympanic treatment. There was no significant difference between patients who received intratympanic treatment and those who received combination therapy (P=.55). There was no significant difference between patients receiving systemic and combination treatments (P=.058).

Conclusion: Systemic steroids are more effective than intratympanic treatment for ISSNHL. This study showed that systemic steroids were more effective during initial treatment.

Background: Masks may have negative impacts on health; thus, it is important to investigate mask-related symptoms and the effects of masks on mucociliary clearance. We conducted our investigation using 4 study groups to determine the longterm health effects of both surgical and respiratory masks.

Methods: We studied 139 people aged 18-65 years. Participants were divided into 4 groups: single surgical mask, double surgical mask, N95 or equivalent mask alone, and surgical mask in combination with N95 or equivalent mask. The saccharin test was used to measure the mucociliary clearance times. We performed the saccharin test with a 1 × 1 × 1 mm piece of saccharin (Hermesetas®) and sterile-appropriate technique.

Results: In this study, no significant difference was found between the groups in terms of saccharin transition time. Prolongation of mask wearing time was positively correlated with headache symptom, with the correlation coefficient of 0.26 (P=.002). It was also found that not wearing an N95 mask reduced the symptom of earache 0.35 times (P=.025).

Conclusion: In this study, no severe symptoms were detected that would limit the use of masks. It was demonstrated by the saccharin test that the use of masks did not affect nasal physiology.

Background: This study is the first to have been assessing epistaxis cases in respect of the geographic and seasonal variations in 2 distinct cities 900 km apart in 2 different regions of Turkey, whereas most studies in the literature about this entity had evaluated patients in the same residential area. The purpose of this study was to compare seasonal and regional variations in the presentations of patients with epistaxis in the regions of Central Anatolia, which has a continental climate, and the Eastern Black Sea, which has a marine climate.

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted in Karaman Training and Research Hospital and Trabzon Kanuni Training and Research Hospital throughout 2019, a total of 2141 cases (Central Anatolia: 1247; Eastern Black Sea: 894). The data of patients who presented with epistaxis were scanned retrospectively from patient records. Weather parameter data on the day of admission to hospital were obtained from the Regional Institutes of Meteorology.

Results: The number of cases (1247 vs. 894, P < .001) was significantly higher in the Central Anatolia than in the Eastern Black Sea, in which higher results of mean humidity, air pressure, rainfall, and wind speed were recorded. A weak positive correlation was determined between the number of cases and mean temperature (r=0.397) and a weak negative correlation between the number of cases and air pressure (r=−0.261) and rainfall (r = −0.288).

Conclusion: The study results suggest that the meteorological parameters of mean temperature, rainfall, and air pressure could have a significant effect on epistaxis.