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In teacher professional development (PD), grouping teachers with varying levels of experience can be a productive and empowering way to stimulate the exchange and co‐generation of content and pedagogical knowledge. However, less experienced teachers can face socio‐emotional risks when engaging in collaborative science content reasoning tasks with more experienced colleagues, and these risks may impact the collaborative experience of both parties and the learning environment in teacher PD. This exploratory case study examines the process of productively navigating socio‐emotional risks and interpersonal tensions encountered by a veteran and pre‐service physics teacher during one episode of discussing physics content. We use a single term, comfort‐building, to encapsulate discursive moves that result in increased feelings of comfort and safety by the participants. Comfort‐building includes moves that serve to mitigate social risk, ease tension, and avoid discomfort, as well as those geared toward finding common ground and co‐navigating challenges. These moves can carve out conversational space for teachers to more confidently face risks associated with being accountable to the physics content knowledge and engage in discipline‐based conversations more deeply. The presented case was followed by video‐stimulated individual interviews to determine how consciously the teachers connected their participation to explicit risk and comfort. This case study highlights an affective dimension for consideration in the continued study and facilitation of science teacher PD, especially programs that bring together teachers with a variety of backgrounds and skill sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Involvement of the middle ear after viral infections of the upper airways may lead to serous otitis media with effusion in the absence of bacterial infection. This can be accompanied by a concomitant shading of the mastoid air cells, which could manifest as a reduced opacity on computed tomography (CT) in the absence of a history of chronic mastoiditis or acute inflammatory signs. This can lead to a subsequent impairment of inner ear function. CT scans reveal an extended pneumatization of the temporal bones in affected patients. Inner ear hearing impairment can probably be attributed to a concomitant labyrinthine reaction—the so-called toxic inner ear lesion. If no remission occurs within 5 days after initial conservative treatment (paracentesis or hemorrheologic infusions), surgical treatment with a mastoidectomy can accelerate hearing restoration. We conducted a retrospective, nonrandomized study of short- and long-term hearing outcomes in patients with a toxic inner ear lesion who had been treated with conservative measures alone (CONS group) or with surgery (SURG group) in a tertiary care referral center. Our study group was made up of 52 consecutively presenting patients (57 ears) who had been seen over a 10-year period; there were 20 patients (21 ears) in the CONS group and 32 patients (36 ears) in the SURG group. Initially, 15 CONS patients (75%) and 18 SURG patients (56%) complained of dizziness or a balance disorder. The initial averaged sensorineural hearing loss (over 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 kHz) was 32.4 ± 15.6 dB in the CONS group and 35.4 ± 12.0 dB in the SURG group. At follow-up (mean: 31.7 mo), the SURG group experienced a significantly greater improvement in hearing (p = 0.025). We conclude that patients with viral otitis media and concomitant noninflammatory mastoiditis with impairment of inner ear function (sensorineural hearing loss) experience a better hearing outcome when a mastoidectomy is performed during primary treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viral infections of the upper respiratory airways can lead to a delayed viral otitis media (VOM) caused by a diffusion of viruses/virus particles through the round window membrane and resulting in sensorineural hearing loss. The treatment of choice is immediate paracentesis, evacuation of all fluids from the middle ear cavity, and haemorrheological infusions. However, in some cases, persistent symptoms may be an indication for a surgical approach using mastoidectomy. In high-resolution computed tomography, an extended small-sized pneumatisation of the mastoid cells with complete shading was found in these non-responsive cases. Therefore, a direct means of inner ear affliction through weak parts of the labyrinthine bone may be hypothesised. Patients suffering from a toxic inner ear lesion (TIEL) following a common cold, treated over a 10-year period in a Tertiary Care Centre ( N = 52, 57 ears), were identified and the morphological characteristics of the temporal bones of affected patients were examined by means of high-resolution computed tomography (hrCT). The findings were compared with a matched control group of 64 normal ears (CONT). Measurements included the grade of pneumatisation, distances within the temporal bones and Hounsfield units (HU) at defined anatomical structures. In the TIEL group, we found a small-sized pneumatisation in 79.4 % and a medium-sized pneumatisation in 10.9 %, thus differing from the CONT group and the literature data. Thickness of the bone wall of the lateral semicircular canal (LSC) and distances within the aditus ad antrum were significantly reduced in the TIEL group. HU's were markedly lower in the TIEL group at the precochlea, the LSC, and dorsolateral to the promentia of the LSC. There was a correlation between the HU's at the prominentia of the LSC and the hearing loss ( p = 0.002). Persisting interosseous globuli, as described in 1897 by Paul Manasse, form an osseochondral network within the otic capsule and may be responsible for a direct means of toxic inner ear infection. The CT-morphometric results support this thesis. In the group of these patients (TIEL) a CT-scan and in non-responders to conservative treatment a surgical approach by mastoidectomy is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]