November 26th, 2011 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in Health Tips, True Stories
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Can you imagine giving birth and then immediately discovering that you couldn’t hear anyone? That you were completely deaf? That’s exactly what happened to Heather Simonsen, a mother of three who lives in Utah. Simonsen noticed after each previous pregnancy that sounds would come and go and her ears felt clogged. She saw an ear, nose and throat specialist who advised her that she was gradually losing her hearing in the left ear. She also began to hear a ringing in her ear.
Simonsen didn’t realize that she was developing a condition called Otosclerosis, a disease of the bones of the middle ear. The bones of the middle ear (the maleus, incus and stapes) are usually flexible and transmit sound but with Otosclerosis, this is not possible because the bones become fused together. Simonsen is one of the Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
November 13th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Research
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Researchers in Iowa have discovered what makes a lion or tiger roar so effectively. Apparently, there is a layer of fat within large feline vocal cords that makes the vocal cords especially prone to vibrate easily with minimal exhalation effort.
What import does this have to humans?
Well, there are patients who have a very weak voice due to vocal cord atrophy as well as vocal cord paralysis. Standard interventions include voice therapy as well as surgical procedures using an implant or injectable material in order to “bulk” up the vocal cord.
In fact Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
August 17th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Health Tips, Research
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Attention, pregnant women! The foods you eat now might influence your babies’ palates after they are born. New research published in the journal Pediatrics, shows that the fetus actually drinks amniotic fluid in the womb. The amniotic fluid is flavored by the foods the mother has recently eaten and flavors can be transmitted to the amniotic fluid and mother’s milk.
It makes sense that as the baby is developing, memories are being created by a sense of taste. Could what a mother eats influence food preferences and odor preferences for life? Researchers fed babies cereal flavored with carrot juice vs. water. They showed that babies who experienced daily carrots in amniotic fluid or mother’s milk ate more carrot-flavored cereal and made less negative faces when eating it.
Julie Mennella studies taste in infants at the Monell Chemical Senses Center (Philadelphia) and she says Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
June 19th, 2011 by ChristopherChangMD in Health Tips, Research
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There have been a number of studies in the past investigating whether it is healthy for a baby to be around pets and whether such exposure increases or decreases risk of becoming allergic to them later in life.
In a recent study (published online June 2011), the researchers found that among males, those with an indoor dog during the first year of life had half the risk of becoming allergic to dogs at age 18 compared with those who did not have an indoor dog in the first year of life regardless whether born by C-section or vaginally. Also, teens with an indoor cat in the first year of life also had a decreased risk of becoming allergic to cats. Neither cumulative exposure nor exposure at any other particular age was associated with either outcome. So it appears that Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Fauquier ENT Blog*
May 8th, 2011 by KerriSparling in True Stories
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So on Sunday night, I finished singing BSparl her bedtime song and leaned in to tuck her into her crib. But because she was giggling and reaching for me, I leaned in to give her an extra hug.
NEVER GO IN FOR THE EXTRA HUG.
Or at least that’s what someone should have whispered in my ear.
Because when I leaned it, she happened to reach up at the same time and her thumb met my eye with such force that it knocked me to my knees. Apparently, her thumb nail scraped off a section of my cornea (or, as my eye doctor said, “You know when you eat string cheese and you pull a section of the cheese off?” Thanks, Dr. S. I will never, ever eat string cheese again. Ever.) and severely damaged my eye. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
Can you imagine giving birth and then immediately discovering that you couldn’t hear anyone? That you were completely deaf? That’s exactly what happened to Heather Simonsen, a mother of three who lives in Utah. Simonsen noticed after each previous pregnancy that sounds would come and go and her ears felt clogged. She saw an ear, nose and throat specialist who advised her that she was gradually losing her hearing in the left ear. She also began to hear a ringing in her ear.
