IntroductionHearing loss as a sequel of chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is often conductive, but recent studies have found an additional sensorineural component in these patients, thus demonstrating inner ear damage. The aim of the study was to determine the association between CSOM and sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and to assess the influence of patient’s age, duration of disease, and presence of cholesteatoma and ossicular erosion on the degree of SNHL.MethodsIn a retrospective study, the medical records of 119 patients who underwent surgery was reviewed. Seventy patients met the inclusion criteria of unilateral otorrhea, normal contralateral ear on otoscopy, and age between 10–65 years with no history of head trauma or ear surgery or familial hearing loss. Bone conduction (BC) thresholds for affected and contralateral ear were measured at frequencies of 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 13 with independent-samples t-test, Pearson correlation test, and two-tailed analysis. A p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsSignificant higher BC thresholds were found in the affected ear than in the normal ear for each frequency (p < 0.001), which increased with increasing frequency (7.00 dB at the 500 Hz and 9.71 dB at the 4000 Hz). There was a significant correlation between age and degree of SNHL (r = 0.422, p < 0.001) but no significant correlation was in duration of the disease (r = 0.119, p > 0.05). There was no relationship between presence of cholesteatoma and ossicular erosion with SNHL (p > 0.05).ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that CSOM is associated with some degree of SNHL and cochlear damage, and higher frequencies are more affected. Aging can act as a precipitating factor in this pathological process.

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BackgroundThe present study was designed to determine whether zinc supplementation would increase the effects of restricted calorie diet (RCD) on obesity.Methods and materialsA randomized, double-blind clinical trial was performed on 40 obese subjects who were randomly assigned to receive zinc supplements (30 mg/day) or placebo for a period of 15-weeks. Both groups were under a restricted calorie diet (~ 300 kcal lower than the estimated energy requirement). Anthropometric measurements, biochemical markers, appetite, and dietary intakes were determined during the study period.ResultsThe reductions of body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, and hip circumference were significantly higher in the zinc group compared to the placebo group (P = 0.032, 0.025, 0.003, and 0.0001, respectively). Lower levels of high sensitivity C-reactive protein, apelin, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and appetite score were observed in the zinc group in comparison with the placebo group (P = 0.0001, 0.001, 0.031 and 0.001 respectively).ConclusionThis study indicates that Zn supplementation with a restricted calorie diet has favorable effects in reducing anthropometric measurements, inflammatory markers, insulin resistance and appetite in individuals with obesity, and may play an effective role in the treatment of obesity.Trial registration This clinical trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NCT02516475).

Growing evidence suggests that metabolic syndrome (MetS) has both genetic and environmental bases. We estimated the heritability of the MetS and its components in the families from the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (TLGS). We investigated 904 nuclear families in TLGS with two biological parents and at least one offspring (1565 parents and 2448 children), aged 3-90 years, for whom MetS information was available and had at least two members of family with MetS. Variance component methods were used to estimate age and sex adjusted heritability of metabolic syndrome score (MSS) and MetS components using SOLAR software. The heritability of waist circumference (WC), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TGs), fasting blood sugar (FBS), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) as continuous traits after adjusting for age and gender were 27, 46, 36, 29, 25, 26 and 15%, respectively, and MSS had a heritability of 15%. When MetS components were analysed as discrete traits, the estimates of age and gender adjusted heritability for MetS, abdominal obesity, low HDL-C, high TG, high FBS and high blood pressure (BP) were 22, 40, 34, 38 and 23%, respectively (P < 0·05). Three factors were extracted from the six continuous traits of the MetS including factor I (BP), factor II (lipids) and factor III (obesity and FBS). Heritability estimation for these three factors were 7, 13 (P < 0·05) and 2%, respectively. The highest heritability was for HDL-C and TG. The results strongly encourage efforts to identify the underlying susceptibility genes.