Jianyong Chen

Background: Following successful canalith repositioning procedures (CRPs), some patients with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) may experience residual symptoms. There is currently no consensus on whether these residual symptoms are related to the disease duration. Objective: To examine the impact of BPPV duration on the persistence of residual symptoms following successful CRP. Methods: A total of 102 idiopathic BPPV patients were enrolled and categorized into short-course and long-course groups based on the duration of the disease. The course of disease in the short-course group was less than or equal to 7 days. The long course of disease was longer than 7 days. All patients underwent swivel-chair-assisted CRP and were followed up 7–10 days after successful CRP. The Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) questionnaire was administered to all patients before and after CRP. Results: Before CRP, significant differences were observed between the two groups in total DHI score and its subdomains: Physical (DHI-P), Functional (DHI-F), and Emotional (DHI-E) ( p < 0.05), indicating that long disease duration significantly affected all patient aspects. After CRP, significant differences remained in total DHI, DHI-P, DHI-F, and DHI-E scores ( p < 0.05), with the long-course group consistently scoring higher. However, no significant differences were found in the changes in DHI scores across dimensions before and after CRP between the two groups. Conclusion: The duration of BPPV did not influence CRP outcomes, but patients with a longer disease course were more likely to experience residual symptoms after successful CRP.

Autophagy and apoptosis have a complex interplay in the early embryo development. The development of spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs) in addition to Corti’s organ in the mammalian cochlea remains crucial in the first two-week postnatal period. To investigate the roles of apoptosis and autophagy in the development of SGNs, light microscopy was used to observe the morphological changes of SGNs. The number of SGNs was decreased from P1 to P7 and plateaued from P10 to P14. Immunohistochemistry results revealed positive expression of cleaved-caspase3, bcl-2, microtubule-associated protein light chain 3-II (LC3-II), Beclin1, and sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1/P62) in SGNs. The apoptotic bodies and autophagosomes and autolysosomes were also identified by transmission electron microscopy at P1 and P7. Real-time PCR and western blotting results revealed that the apoptotic activity peaked at P7 and the autophagy activity was gradually upregulated along with the development. Taken together, our results for the first time showed that autophagy and apoptosis in SGNs play distinct roles during specific developmental phases in a time-dependent manner.

Universal neonatal hearing screening (UNHS) started late in some underdeveloped areas in China, with relatively scarce screening resources and a wide regional distribution. This study aimed to compare the screening performance between rural and urban populations, and to examine the characteristics and problems of UNHS in underdeveloped regions in China. A two-step hearing screening program was used in neonates born in Liuzhou Maternal and Child Health Hospital and in patients who were born in other hospitals, but admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit. This program involved distortion product otoacoustic emission and automated auditory brainstem response. Characteristics of each newborn, as well as the screening outcomes and performance were compared between rural and urban populations. A total of 19,098 newborns were screened with a referral rate of 17.9% at the first step. Sixty-three (0.33%) newborns had hearing loss. The prevalence of permanent hearing loss was 2.25‰. The average screening age was significantly older in the rural population than in the urban population in the first (P < 0.01) and second steps of screening (P < 0.05). The rural population had a higher referral rate in both steps than the urban population (P < 0.01). The follow-up rate was much lower in the rural population than in the urban population (P < 0.05), but dramatically increased in 2014 compared with the previous 2 years. A low follow-up rate is a critical issue when carrying out UNHS in developing countries, such as China, especially for rural populations. The government should establish more hearing referral centres to increase service coverage and supply financial assistance for low-income populations.

We report herein the structure-based design of a class of conformationally constrained, potent, cell-permeable small-molecule inhibitors to target the SH2 domain in STAT3. Compound 11 (CJ-1383) binds to STAT3 with a K_i value of 0.95 μM, dose-dependently inhibits cellular STAT3 signaling and cancer cell growth, and induces apoptosis in the MDA-MB-468 cancer cell line with constitutively activated STAT3.