South African medical journal = Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir geneeskunde
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Trauma is a leading cause of death in the developing world. Blunt thoracic trauma represents a major burden of disease in both adults and children. Few studies have investigated the differences between these two patient groups. ⋯ Thoracic injuries in children are the result of pedestrian collisions more often than in adults. They suffer fewer rib fractures and BCIs, but more lung contusions. Despite similar ISSs, children have significantly lower mortality than adults. More effort needs to be concentrated on child safety and preventing pedestrian injury.
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Comparative Study
Hearing loss in the developing world: evaluating the iPhone mobile device as a screening tool.
Developing countries have the world's highest prevalence of hearing loss, and hearing screening programmes are scarce. Mobile devices such as smartphones have potential for audiometric testing. ⋯ Using the iPhone, uHear is a feasible screening test to rule out significant hearing loss (PTA > 40 dB). It is highly sensitive for detecting threshold changes at high frequencies, making it reasonably well suited to detect presbycusis and ototoxic hearing loss from HIV, tuberculosis therapy and chemotherapy. Portability and ease of use make it appropriate to use in developing world communities that lack screening programmes.
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Deafness is the most common sensory disability in the world. Globally, mutations in GJB2 (connexin 26) have been shown to play a major role in non-syndromic deafness. Two other connexin genes, GJB6 (connexin 30) and GJA1 (connexin 43), have been implicated in hearing loss, but these genes have seldom been investigated in black Africans. We aimed to validate the utility of testing for GJB2, GJB6 and GJA1 in an African context. ⋯ Mutations in GJB2, GJB6 and GJA1 are not a major cause of non-syndromic deafness in black Africans and should not be investigated routinely in clinical practice.