A 10-year longitudinal follow-up study of hearing was conducted in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in order to elucidate the mechanism of hearing loss in irradiated ears. Ten NPC patients were subjected to a battery of audiological tests before irradiation and 6 months, 5 years, and 10 years after irradiation. The tests included pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, eustachian tube function testing, and myringotomy to confirm middle ear effusion. The prevalences of otitis media with effusion (OME) were 25%, 25%, 40%, and 25% at the 4 testing periods described above, respectively. The prevalences of chronic otitis media were 0%, 0%, 15%, and 25%, respectively. In myringotomized ears (n = 17), the mean hearing levels for both air conduction and bone conduction were preserved from the preirradiation period to 10 years after irradiation. In contrast, in grommeted ears (n = 3), the mean hearing levels for both air conduction and bone conduction deteriorated progressively from the preirradiation period to 10 years after irradiation. We conclude that hearing can be preserved in NPC patients 10 years after irradiation if middle ear inflammation is well controlled. We do not recommend grommet insertion in irradiated NPC patients with OME, as it may result in persistent otorrhea and hearing deterioration.

The nerve trunks within the internal auditory canal are widely affected in HZO patients with vertigo. Both superior division and inferior division of the vestibular nerve attribute to the vertiginous attack. Further, large numbers of HZO patients undergoing caloric testing and VEMP testing are required to support this tentative conclusion.

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In order to explore stable route safety evaluation indicators, this study discusses the relationship between the heart rate variability (HRV) and other factors, such as design speed, operating speed, acceleration rate, and velocity gradient through a lot of experiments. The results show that operating speed coordination and velocity gradient (Gv) outperform others as road safety indicators. Speed coordination evaluation criteria:|ΔV85|≤10 km/h, good coordination; 10 km/h≤|ΔV85|≤ 20 km/h, general coordination, route indicators of adjacent sections should be adjusted, so that the speed difference is not more than 10 km/h;|ΔV85|≥20 km/h, poor speed coordination, it needs to readjust the design of the adjacent sections. Speed gradient evaluation criteria:Gv≤0.10, good road safety;0.10≤Gv<0.15, common road safety;Gv>0.15, poor road safety and the adjacent sections need to readjust. The conclusions provide the theoretical reference for highway safety evaluation.

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