Objective The aim of this study was to assess long-term effects for women following the use of magnesium sulphate for pre-eclampsia.Design Assessment at 2-3 years after delivery for women recruited to the Magpie Trial (recruitment in 1998(recruitment in -2001, which compared magnesium sulphate with placebo for pre-eclampsia.Setting Follow up after discharge from hospital at 125 centres in 19 countries across five continents.Population A total of 7927 women were randomised at the followup centres. Of these women, 2544 were not included for logistic reasons and 601 excluded (109 at a centre where <20% of women were contacted, 466 discharged without a surviving child and 26 opted out). Therefore, 4782 women were selected for follow-up, of whom 3375 (71%) were traced.Methods Questionnaire assessment was administered largely by post or in a dedicated clinic. Interview assessment of selected women was performed.Main outcome measures Death or serious morbidity potentially related to pre-eclampsia at follow up, other morbidity and use of health service resources.Results Median time from delivery to follow up was 26 months (interquartile range 19-36). Fifty-eight of 1650 (3.5%) women allocated magnesium sulphate died or had serious morbidity potentially related to pre-eclampsia compared with 72 of 1725 (4.2%) women allocated placebo (relative risk 0.84, 95% CI 0.60-1.18). ConclusionsThe reduction in the risk of eclampsia following prophylaxis with magnesium sulphate was not associated with an excess of death or disability for the women after 2 years.

Hearing was preserved in 11 of the 18 patients (61.1%): 2 of 5 patients whose tumors were larger than 20 mm (40%), and 9 of 13 patients with smaller tumors (69.2%). Among the 10 cases of ear endoscope-assisted surgery, hearing was preserved in 8 (80%). Intraoperative monitoring revealed that the waveform was influenced when the posterior labium of the internal acoustic meatus was ground and drilled, or when traction or electrocoagulation was performed near the opening of the internal acoustic meatus, especially when the internal auditory artery was clamped, the tumor in the internal acoustic meatus was treated, and the arachnoid vessels in the inner-most layer of the tumor surface were clamped or electrocoagulated.

ZnO nanomaterials based surface acoustic wave (SAW) gas sensor has been investigated in ethanol environment at room temperature. The ZnO nanomaterials have been prepared through thermal evaporation of high-purity zinc powder. The as-prepared ZnO nanomaterials have been characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) techniques. The results indicate that the obtained ZnO nanomaterials, including many types of nanostructures such as nanobelts, nanorods, nanowires as well as nanosheets, are wurtzite with hexagonal structure and well-crystallized. The SAW sensor coated with the nanostructured ZnO materials has been tested in ethanol gas of various concentrations at room temperature. A network analyzer is used to monitor the change of the insertion loss of the SAW sensor when exposed to ethanol gas. The insertion loss of the SAW sensor varies significantly with the change of ethanol concentration. The experimental results manifest that the ZnO nanomaterials based SAW ethanol gas sensor exhibits excellent sensitivity and good short-term reproducibility at room temperature.

Hereditary non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss is a genetically highly heterogeneous group of disorders. To date, at least 50 loci for autosomal dominant non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss (DFNA) have been identified by linkage analysis. Here we report a huge family with late onset autosomal dominant hereditary non-syndromic hearing loss. In this family, 73 of 170 family members have been conducted physical examination, pure-tone audiometry, immittance testing and auditory brainstem response testing (ABR). The results indicated that 39 of 73 tested family members have sensorineural hearing loss in various degrees. No associated visible abnormalities in other systems were found in this family. After exclusion of the 14 known DFNA loci with markers from the Hereditary Hearing Loss Homepage (URL: http://dnalab-www.uia.ac.be/dnalab/hhh), a genome wide scan was carried out using 382 highly informative microsatellite markers at approximately 9.2 cM intervals throughout the genome. Linkage analysis was carried out under a fully penetrant autosomal dominant mode of inheritance with no phenocopies. A maximum two-point LOD score of 6.69 at theta=0 was obtained for marker D14S1040. Haplotype analysis placed the locus within a 7.6 cM genetic interval defined by marker D14S1021 and D14S70, overlapping with the DFNA9 locus.