György Várallyay

Visual and neurologic deterioration in otogenic lateral sinus thrombosis: 15 year experience

OBJECTIVES Otogenic lateral sinus thrombosis is a rare complication of acute otitis media whose clinical presentation has changed with the early use of antibiotics. The aim of this study was to analyze the changing clinical signs, vaccination status, therapeutic management and outcome of these patients. METHODS Retrospective chart review of 10 children treated with otogenic lateral sinus thrombosis in a tertiary level teaching hospital in Budapest, Hungary, from January 1998 till August 2013. RESULTS Patients were divided into Early and Late presenting groups. In the Early presenting group, sepsis developed within one week after the onset of acute otitis media. At admission otological symptoms were predominant. The Late presenting group experienced acute otitis media several weeks prior to presentation and in this group neurologic symptoms dominated the clinical picture at admission. All patients received antibiotics. Eight of them were also treated with low molecular weight heparin. All children underwent cortical mastoidectomy. After surgery, the clinical signs of elevated intracranial pressure transiently worsened. This manifested as progression of papilledema in seven children, causing severe visual disturbance in two cases. After medical treatment and serial lumbar punctures all patients except one recovered. This child has permanent visual acuity failure of 0.5D unilaterally. At one year follow up complete and partial recanalization were noted in five and two patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS After mastoidectomy the signs of elevated intracranial pressure can transiently worsen, papilledema can progress. Daily bedside monitoring of visual acuity and regular ophthalmoscopy with neurologic examination is recommended during hospitalization. Close follow up is advised up to one year. When the dominant sinus is occluded, the clinical scenario is more protracted and severe.

Melody Shape - A Suggested Novel Attribute for the Biomedical Analysis of the Infant Cry

The biomedical analysis of the infant cry is aimed to find connections between several diseases during infancy and their influence on the human sound production system. A new, non-invasive diagnostic tool could be created, if these connections were fully discovered. Various reports have already dealt with the analysis of the crying sound for physiological, psychic, physical, developmental, etc. reasons. In these studies characteristic attributes of the infant cry were obtained and analyzed. In the time domain mostly absolute and normalized durations, in the frequency domain frequency components, intervals were determined. The melody of crying was analyzed occasionally as there were no exact methods for categorizing the shapes of the melodies. In this paper the authors introduce a new system for categorizing the melodies. By this system the analysis of the melodies can be evaluated in an easy and objective way that it could be included in further biomedical researches dealing with the infant cry.

Biomedical engineering education and research activity in Hungary

Abstract Biomedical Engineering is a relatively new interdisciplinary science. This paper presents the biomedical engineering activity, which is carried out at Budapest University of Technology and Economics and its partner institutes. In the first part the main goals and the curriculum of the Biomedical Engineering Education Program (BMEEP) is presented. The second part of the paper summarizes the most important biomedical engineering researches carried out mostly in the Biomedical Engineering Laboratory of our university.