Vocal fold scarring: current concepts and management

Scarring of the vocal folds can occur as the result of blunt laryngeal trauma or, more commonly, as the result of surgical, iatrogenic injury after excision or removal of vocal fold lesions. The scarring results in replacement of healthy tissue by fibrous tissue and can irrevocably alter vocal fold function and lead to a decreased or absent vocal fold mucosal wave. The assessment and treatment of persistent dysphonia in patients with vocal fold scarring presents both diagnostic and therapeutic challenges to the voice treatment team. The common causes of vocal fold scarring are described, and prevention of vocal fold injury during removal of vocal fold lesions is stressed. The anatomic and histologic basis for the subsequent alterations in voice production and contemporary modalities for clinical and objective assessment will be discussed. Treatment options will be reviewed, including nonsurgical treatment and voice therapy, collagen injection, fat augmentation, endoscopic laryngoplasty, and Silastic medialization.     

Fast Neutron Dose Measurements for a D–D Neutron Source in Water

The penetration of D–D neutrons in water has been studied through measurements of first collision dose. A relative measurement of first collision dose as a function of distance from the neutron source was made at 0°. At large penetrations the results appear to approach asymptotically the slope predicted by the theoretical calculations of Goldstein et al. [0] for a monoenergetic, isotropic 4.0-Mev neutron source in water. However as expected, the measurements close to the source where the average neutron spectrum is relatively soft indicate a steeper slope than the theoretical calculation. Further calculations will be required to obtain an explicit check of this experiment.     

Expertness, similarity, and perceived counselor competence.

Tested the effects of 2 levels of counselor similarity and expertness and 2 types of clients' problems on perceptions of the counselor's competence in an analog study. The basis for client-counselor similarity was age and student status; the basis for expertness was experience and training. Ss were 311 18-27 yr old undergraduates. They were given 1 of 8 biographical sketches of the counselor's background to read; then they heard a segment of a single taped interview. Counselor competence was assessed by evaluations on a 16-item Likert scale. It was hypothesized that suggestions of client-counselor similarity would facilitate perceptions of competence for affiliative problems, whereas suggestions of counselor expertness would facilitate perceptions of competence for academic problems. Suggestions of expertness led to higher evaluations of counselors for both problems. Findings support the importance of counselor credentials in determining clients' initial impressions of counselors. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the numerical treatment of the Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid

Summary A new approach for the numerical integration of the Navier-Stokes equations is presented. It is based on the perturbation of the Poisson type equation. The system of nonlinear partial differential equations obtained is solved by means of an explicit operator. Some results are presented for the problem of steady flow in a square cavity. They are in good agreement with the calculations made by Greenspan, Fortin, Teman and Peyret, Bourcier and FranÇois and Burgraff. Reynolds numbers up to 400 have been considered.It is concluded that the method is relatively simple and fast in the lower range of Reynolds numbers but the computing time increases very much when higher Reynolds numbers are reached.     

Effect of intravenous pyridoxine on plasma prolactin in hyperprolactinemic subjects

Intravenous pyridoxine has been reported to lower plasma PRL in normal subjects and in patients with the amenorrhea-galactorrhea syndrome. We tested the effect of pyridoxine (300-mg iv bolus) on plasma PRL in nine patients with hyperprolactinemia due to a variety of causes. There was no effect of pyridoxine on elevated plasma PRL in any of the nine hyperprolactinemic subjects. The potential utility of pyridoxine in the long term treatment of the galactorhea-amenorrhea syndrome will require further study.     

Group support for patients with metastatic cancer. A randomized outcome study

The effects of weekly supportive group meetings for women with metastatic carcinoma of the breast were systematically evaluated in a one-year, randomized, prospective outcome study. The groups focused on the problems of terminal illness, including improving relationships with family, friends, and physicians and living as fully as possible in the face of death. We hypothesized that this invention would lead to improved mood, coping strategies, and self-esteem among those in the treatment group. Eighty-six patients were tested at four-month intervals. The treatment group had significantly lower mood-disturbance scores on the Profile of Mood States scale, had fewer maladaptive coping responses, and were less phobic than the control group. This study provides objective evidence that a supportive group intervention for patients with metastatic cancer results in psychological benefit. Mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of this group intervention are explored.     

Theoretical and practical investigation of the thermal generation in gate controlled diodes

The different components of thermal generation in a gate controlled diode are studied theoretically and experimentally. Expressions for the generation current in the space charge layer, the diffusion current from the quasi-neutral bulk and the surface generation current are derived for a gated-diode. The width of the generation zone within the space charge layer is calculated as a function of the energy level of the trap and the diode reverse voltage. This leads to a characteristic of the leakage current as a function of the space charge layer width. It is pointed out that the diffusion current can influence the leakage current and cannot be neglected in structures with a low dark current. In the second part the gate controlled diode is used to characterize the thermal generation in structures with a homogeneous and low dark current. A generation lifetime of 5.5 msec and a surface generation velocity at a depleted surface of 1.5 cm/sec is derived. The generation lifetime is found to be constant as a function of depth into the substrate. A considerable diffusion current is measured which is comparable to the generation current in the space charge layer.     

Single-cavity, multiline laser system with large coherence length

We present a new approach of generating the several wavelengths required for color holography with coherence lengths in the range of several meters. Our proposed laser system consists of an argon-ion laser, which is equipped with broadband optics. Its main lasing lines include 457, 488, and 514 nm. Sufficient coherence length is achieved by means of an intracavity etalon. We report single-frequency operation at several competing wavelengths and the successful recording of multicolor holograms with the described laser system.