ABSTRACTBackground: cochlear implants are electronic devices that convert sound energy into electrical signals to stimulate ganglion cells and cochlear nerve fibers. These devices are indicated for patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing losses who receive little or no benefit from hearing aids. The implant basically takes over the function of the cochlear hair cells. The implant consists of external components (microphone, speech processor and transmitting coil) and internal components (receiver stimulator and electrode array). The implant is inserted via a trans mastoid facial recess approach to the round window and scala tympani.Objectives: to determine the effectiveness and safety of non fixation method in cochlear implantation.Methods: a prospective study carried out from September 2009 to September 2012 in Gazi Hariri Hospital. Eighty patients with congenital severe –profound sensorineural hearing loss prepared for cochlear implantation involved in the study and divided into 2 groups. Group A includes 40 patients in whom the internal device was fixed to the skull by nylon suture materials through small burr holes on both sides of the well. Group B includes 40 patients in whom the internal device placed in a tight sub pericranial pocket without nylon fixation to the skull. All patients followed postoperatively for 6 months observing wound healing and local complications (hematoma, infection, wound dehiscence, device extrusion and migration).Results: mean age 4.2 years and male-female ratio was 1.3:1.Group A: 1 patient (2.5%) developed minor wound infection treated conservatively. Three patients (7.5%) developedsevere wound infection with wound breakdown and device extrusion despite the use of antibiotics and local rotational flaps, the device was explanted in those 3 patients. Two patients (5%) developed hematoma without history of trauma and treated conservatively. One patient (2.5%) had device migration without affection of its function.Group B: 2 patients developed minor wound infection treated conservatively. One patient (2.5%) had severe wound infection ends up with wound dehiscence and device extrusion despite the use of antibiotics and local rotational flaps. Explantation of the device was done for this patient. Hematoma occurred in one patient (2.5%) without history of trauma and treated conservatively. Another one patient (2.5%) developed device migration without impairment of its function.Conclusion: creation of sub pericranial pocket without internal device fixation by nylon materials is an effective and reliable method in cochlear implantation without compromising the patient safety or device performance.Key words: cochlear implantation, non- fixation, sub pericranial pocket
In the present study, the effect of new cross-section fin geometries on overall thermal/fluid performance had been investigated. The cross-section included the base original geometry of (triangular, square, circular, and elliptical pin fins) by adding exterior extra fins along the sides of the origin fins. The present extra fins include rectangular extra fin of 2 mm (height) and 4 mm (width) and triangular extra fin of 2 mm (base) 4 mm (height). The use of entropy generation minimization method (EGM) allows the combined effect of thermal resistance and pressure drop to be assessed through the simultaneous interaction with the heat sink. A general dimensionless expression for the entropy generation rate is obtained by con
... Show MoreThis piece of research work aims to study one of the most difficult reaction and determination due to continuous and rapid variation of reaction products and the reactants. As molybdenum (VI) aid in the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide in alkaline medium of ammomia, thus means a continuous liberation of oxygen which cuases and in a continuous manner a distraction in the measurement process. On this basis pyrogallol was used to absorbe all liberated oxygen and the result is an a clean undisturbed signals. Molybdenum (VI) was determined in the range of 4-100 ?g.ml-1 with percentage linearity of 99.8% or (4-300 ?g.ml-1 with 94.4%) while L.O.D. was 3.5 ?g.ml-1. Interferring ions (cations and anions) were studied and their main effect was red
... Show MoreThe implementation of the concept of project scheduling in the organizations generally requires a set of procedures and requirements, So, most important of all is the understanding and knowledge of the tools and techniques which are called the methods of scheduling projects. Consequently, the projects of the municipality administration in the holy governorate of Karbala suffer from the problem of delaying their projects and chaos in the ways of implementation. To provide assistance to this directorate and to demonstrate how to schedule projects using one of the advanced scientific methods that proved their ability to schedule any project and its potential to accelerate the time of completion, as well as ease of use and effectiven
... Show MoreThe present study aimed to use the magnetic field and nanotechnology in the field of water purification, which slots offering high efficiency to the possibility of removing biological contaminants such as viruses and bacteria rather than the use of chemical and physical transactions such as chlorine and bromine, and ultraviolet light and boiling and sedimentation and distillation, ozone and others that have a direct negative impact on human safety and the environment. Where they were investigating the presence in water samples under study Coli phages using Single agar layer method and then treated samples positive for phages to three types of magnetic field fixed as follows (North Pole - South Pole - Bipolar) and compare the re
... Show MoreObjective: The goal of this research is to load Doxorubicin (DOX) on silver nanoparticles coupled with folic acid and test their anticancer properties against breast cancer. Methods: Chitosan-Capped silver nanoparticles (CS-AgNPs) were manufactured and loaded with folic acid as well as an anticancer drug, Doxorubicin, to form CS-AgNPs-DOX-FA conjugate. AFM, FTIR, and SEM techniques were used to characterize the samples. The produced multifunctional nano-formulation served as an intrinsic drug delivery system, allowing for effective loading and targeting of chemotherapeutics on the Breast cancer (AMJ 13) cell line. Flowcytometry was used to assess therapy efficacy by measuring apoptotic induction. Results: DOX and CS-Ag
... Show MoreThe objective of an Optimal Power Flow (OPF) algorithm is to find steady state operation point which minimizes generation cost, loss etc. while maintaining an acceptable system performance in terms of limits on generators real and reactive powers, line flow limits etc. The OPF solution includes an objective function. A common objective function concerns the active power generation cost. A Linear programming method is proposed to solve the OPF problem. The Linear Programming (LP) approach transforms the nonlinear optimization problem into an iterative algorithm that in each iteration solves a linear optimization problem resulting from linearization both the objective function and constrains. A computer program, written in MATLAB environme
... Show MoreMany important archaeological sites in Iraq still need to be preserved. Some of these sites were subjected to destruction and negligence. So, exploring these sites represents a priority for its protection. A 2D Electrical Resistivity Imaging (ERI) as a non-invasive geophysical survey method was implemented at a part of the Borsippa archaeological site near Babylon to search for the subsurface archaeological artefacts/structures. Electrical resistivity measurements were carried out using a Dipole-Dipole array. Steps were taken to process and filter using Horizontal profiles, forward modelling, and 2D inverse models to analyze the resistivity measurements. The ERI inversion results show that the superficial conductive zone produced va
... Show MoreDesign of experiments (DOE) was made by Minitab software for the study of three factors used in the precipitation process of the Sodium Aluminate solution prepared from digestion of α-Al2O3 to determine the optimum conditions to a produce Boehmite which is used in production of ɤ-Al2O3 during drying and calcination processes, the factors are; the temperature of the sodium aluminate solution, concentration of HCl acid added for the precipitation and the pH of the solution at which the precipitation was ended. The design of the experiments leads to 18 experiments.
The results show that the optimum conditions for the precipitation of the sodium aluminate solution which
... Show MoreIn this work , an effective procedure of Box-Behnken based-ANN (Artificial Neural Network) and GA (Genetic Algorithm) has been utilized for finding the optimum conditions of wt.% of doping elements (Ce,Y, and Ge) doped-aluminizing-chromizing of Incoloy 800H . ANN and Box-Behnken design method have been implanted for minimizing hot corrosion rate kp (10-12g2.cm-4.s-1) in Incoloy 800H at 900oC . ANN was used for estimating the predicted values of hot corrosion rate kp (10-12g2.cm-4.s-1) . The optimal wt.% of doping elements combination to obtain minimum hot corrosion rate was calculated using genetic alg
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